18 Greatest Video Games Of The PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 Generation

16. Gears Of War

You have to admire a man who sees a weapon as violent as a gun and decides it needs to be a bit more extreme. Cliff Bleszinski's Lancer (an assault rifle with a chainsaw attached) might not be the most conventional of weapons, but it sums Gears Of War up perfectly; loud, abrasive and extremely bloody too. It's also become one of the more influential shooter games around. It might not be the first game to introduce a cover system, but the idea of moving from cover-to-cover fluidly and utilising it as often as possible is a key concept. Combine that with some awesome feeling gunplay and satisfyingly gory up-close and personal combat and you've got a winning formula. The co-op play and the multiplayer are the real icing on the blood-stained cake though. Getting a buddy to tag along for the whole campaign adds to the experience and the multiplayer is fast, frantic and furious; it's known for being massively unbalanced (the shotgun is basically the go-to weapon) but that actually makes it a unique and fun experience - dominating in Gears online is a feeling like no other. No wonder it's quickly become one of Microsoft's key franchises.