Yeah, I hear you. On the one hand it strikes you as a cheap thing, trying to oversimplify a system that's been in place for years. But when you get down to it, it does, as you say, keep the focus right on the action, but it also keeps everything intense. In Gears, you're *always* about to die, so you can never get comfy and start fucking around and let your nice juicy full health bar take the brunt of your carelessness. The latter aspect I really like, the former, not as much. My big thing is I like to explore so I like getting the chance to hunt for hidden health items and that kind of thing, and Gears had a pretty conservative amount of that. A little more secret stuff and I'd have been happy.
Anyway, yeah, I think I dig the mechanic as well. I don't care as much for the way Halo does it with the recharging shield, and though a few games have done the same thing better, I still don't care for it in comparison to the way Gears just keeps you near death at all times and just recharges your small bit of health once you cover a few. But I think that's because I tend to enjoy games where there's not *too* much room for error. Do something stupid, pay for it. I dig that.
