Gears of War was overhyped beyond belief. Anyone who owned a 360 at the time said it was the best game ever, not because it actually was, but because the 360 finally had something worth playing. I played GoW on the PC, which came out longer after its release on the 360 so all of the hype was dead. I was able to accurately judge the game without my emotions clouding my judgment.
Want to talk about repetitive? This is GoW:
Run forward
Enter room
Shoot, cover, shoot, move, shoot, throw nade
Run forward, climb over toppled column
Enter room
Shoot, cover, shoot, move, shoot, throw nade
Run forward
Oh no, surprise attack
Shoot, cover, shoot, move, shoot, throw nade
You can't even pretend the story makes the game worth playing, because there really is no story. The game, itself, is incredibly short. After I defeated the dude using bats to shield him from my bullets (...), the game just ended. I thought I was, at best, at the middle of the game, but no sir. That was it. The big shabang was a train crashing into a cave and collapsing a bunch of tunnels. Worst ending ever.
And of course, there is no free-roaming to fool around with. The game is completely linear. Move forward, fight, kill, move forward. Over and over and over and over until 2 hours later (exaggeration alert!), the game is over. What did I like about the game? The motion blur. That's the only thing I can honestly say I liked.
Assassin's Creed could be exactly like GoW, but free-roaming would be its one saving grace, catapulting it above and beyond GoW.
