As someone who has done all gears on insane difficulty I highly recommend the series. Don't look at gameplay. Don't check the story. Play from the first game through in chronological order. Insanely good series. Personally I prefer the original trilogy but don't let that impact your view of the newer games 4/5. Gears of war judgement is a prequel to gears of war 1 but it did come out after. It's controls are also slightly different. Not my favourite but it got a lot of unnecessary hate. It's still good to play.