The reason we're looking at Gears of War on a PC is, bluntly, that Microsoft has decided PC gaming is important again.

Sensing the crossover potential between the Xbox 360 and PC as gaming platforms, replete with Gamer Points and online gaming being traded between the two, Microsoft has backed up its latest gaming love affair with the machine by porting over one of its biggest 360 hits to date. What's more, Gears of War is no straight photocopy: there's added material that goes some way towards compensating for the fact that it's taken a year to get it to the PC.

Still, whereas the PC port of Halo 2 earlier this year was rightly derided for offering too little too late, the only major problem Gears of War faces is turning up at the wrong time to make an impact. Back in 2006, the Xbox 360 software catalogue needed Gears of War. However, it's arrived on the PC in the midst of The Orange Box, Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3. End result? It's got a little trampled in the crush - unfairly.

The core game of Gears of War is fundamentally the same as on the 360. It's still the story of the world being under attack from Locust invaders, and while the narrative gets little more sophisticated than that, it's perfectly sufficient to stage a smashing-looking, big, fun and dumb blaster. Which is just what Gears of War is.

You have to go past a more detailed than usual user licence agreement for a game - cheers, Microsoft! - and to save progress you need a profile on your PC, but once past those obstacles this is very much the Xbox 360 hit, albeit with more precise controls (assuming you use the keyboard and mouse; a joypad is supported too).

Viewed from a third-person perspective, the game is full of poster moments (not for nothing does Gears of War allocate a button so you can focus your view on the latest major happening around you), from enormous enemies, outrageous weaponry and some superb set pieces. It's enthralling stuff, occasionally almost unfairly difficult, but in many ways hard to resist. We particularly enjoyed the way you can attach yourself to cover and fire from a position of slightly lessened danger. It's exhilarating stuff.

There's little getting away from it: Gears of War is a flat-out action extravaganza, laced with extra fabulous inclusions such as a co-op mode and an added annex game mode exclusively for the PC. It does require a PC with a good bit of beef to it - the X1900 card in our test machine that ran Call of Duty 4 without blinking was certainly sweating - but again, it's worth the effort.

So while it is possible, in the avalanche of spoils PC gamers are enjoying at the back end of 2007, to pass over Gears of War as a year-old game that's been ported over, it deserves more than that. It works superbly well on the PC, has been treated with respect and is one of the most gloriously outrageous shooters we've had the pleasure of playing in some time.

Far more than a straight port, Gears of War is a frenetic, devilishly entertaining and frequently jaw-dropping action treat.