If you were to ask every Xbox 360 owner what games they are most looking forward to this fall, I'd be willing to bet my meager salary that 99 out of 100 would have Gears of War in their top 2 or 3. As for that other guy, well, screw him. He obviously just doesn't "get it." Epic's sci-fi shooter has been touted as one of the system's must-have games from the moment it was announced, and the hype train just keeps rolling along. We were all wowed by the action that we saw at E3 this year, and while we've played the multiplayer mode a few times, we've yet to spend any real time with the game's single-player element. That all changed today at X06, Microsoft's European showcase in Barcelona, Spain. We had a chance to sit down to talk with Lead Designer Cliff "Cliffy B" Bleszinski, who gave us a brief tutorial, answered a few questions, then let us loose on the show floor to kill some Locusts.

Since you've probably already read at least one (or all, hopefully) of the previews we've written in the last year or so, we'll skip all that nonsense about the game's storyline. Now, don't get us wrong, the game definitely has a compelling story, but you've likely heard it all before. While we really didn't learn anything new about the plot, we did find out a bit more about Marcus Fenix's supporting cast. The coolest news of the day was undoubtedly finding out that Lester "The Mighty Rasta" Speight -- famous for his gripping portrayal of Terry Tate, Office Linebacker -- will be playing Gus, a former thrashball player turned COG. We also learned that Marcus will be accompanied by Baird, a wiseass fixit guy who is eerily reminiscent of comedian Denis Leary.


When our hands-on portion of the demo kicked off, we were right back in the prison we last saw Cliffy B -- er, Marcus escaping from during his E3 presentation. After picking the left path (tutorials are for sissies), we stopped, popped, and blasted our way to the exit, where we hopped into a helicopter and were whisked away. The banter in the chopper alternated between serious and semi-humorous, and we quickly learned that Marcus was being taken to meet Colonel Hoffman, something he wasn't too keen on. Upon landing, Hoffman chewed him out, saying that "a traitor didn't deserve to wear that uniform." He didn't get a chance to elaborate, as the team was quickly pinned down by enemy fire.

Hoffman told Marcus and the boys that they had to obtain some targeting data for the Lightmass bomb, which would allow the humans to crush the tunnels in which the Locust lived. With that, we were sent on our way to find Alpha Squad in Embry Square, which was deep in one of the game's bombed-out cityscapes. The game switched to the gameplay, and the first thing we did was hit the A button to slam into a wall for cover. Along with the right and left triggers, the A button is basically the game's most important input, as it'll allow you to take cover, vault over objects, sprint across open areas, and make yourself a sandwich. Actually, I made that last one up, but you get the picture.