Sat down and finished the game on normal difficulty tonight. It was awesome all the way through (11 stages total), and I KNOW it took me longer to beat than what the clock listed...I'd say it must have been around 10 hours total (counting all the retries) if not more. The last stage was incredibly short and the boss was pretty easy compared to the rest, but it was still insanely cool. I also literally flew through the last level and missed all the regular enemies to get right to the boss. Still have to collect the medals hidden on the stages, too.
Now it's time to concentrate on multiplayer. In ranked play, you gain levels, and at around 30 or 40, you start to unlock new skins and stuff to use. I definitely enjoyed this more than Gears, despite the cheesy storyline and lack on co-op.
Oh, and the last level is different than the rest...think Zone Of The Enders.
