Just because you don't like a style or genre doesn't mean that it is "absolute shit." I don't think Halo (1,2 or 3) were the best FPS games I have ever played but I do think that they brought a lot of good things together well on the console which led to a massive amount of MP. I like that. I also like my games to look good so yeah, GoW2 got really good ratings with me. It didn't do anything earth shattering or change much from GoW but that was good with me, I enjoyed Gears 1 a lot. It took a great, unique gameplay and made it a little smoother and look a lot nicer.
The Force Unleashed was a good game and I believe it was over hyped because there hadn't been a defining Star Wars game in a while. I think that the story line was good, but could have been massively better and the game play was decent. It was the same as KoTOR except faster, more fluid, and more flashy. Oh not to mention less dynamic and less character development.
For me the empitamy of gaming was Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon on PC. None of the expansion packs, none of the console. It was a down and dirty, gritty fire fight. Great multiplayer and even incrediable single player campaign. Heck the first expansion was an incrediable campaign without ruining the multiplayer like the third expansion was.
I see video gaming moving more and more to the console because that is where the money is and until you get an "indie" style development studio you aren't going to get an incrediable gameplay game (accompanied by horrible graphics). I will settle for my GoW2, Fable II, Dead Space and End War (which was actually done very well for a Console, the voice command thing made it much smoother).