Lets get things straight; the first Gears was a great game and more importantly is was popular, a commercial success. Epic had a lot to live up to with part two of their proposed trilogy but fortunately the game lives up to the standard set by the first game and maybe just nudges past it.
Gears 2 continues where the first game left off, the locust are still a threat and the COGS must struggle on with the fight for victory. The story isn't revolutionary but has more twists and turns than the first and Dom's search for Maria is a welcome emotional sub-plot for the overarching story. That said, GoW2 doesn't really take advantage of its narrative potential. Yes, Cole Train is still undeniably funny, Baird's cynicism is still annoying and Fenix still thinks he can take on the horde single handedly, it's a fantastic team. I do think that Epic could've made more of new characters like Dizzy and Tai but that's their decision, I can only assume that want to keep delta squad a constant.
With that in mind I don't suppose your average Gears player will be that involved with the story and more interested the sound of popping heads in horde. The game play mechanics are exactly the same, which is fine, there's no need to fix what isn't broken. The introduction on new weapons works well, nothing new is overpowered as such, it is a good split between power and speed. The mortar is devastating but you walk slower than anything seen in Gears to date, each style of play is catered for.
Of course the majority of any gamers time on Gears will be dedicated to online play and this is where Gears is a let down, a very frustrating let down. I am not a hardcore Gears player, I'm the kind of guy that will run headlong into a match of execution and either pull of 3 or 4 class kills or just walk into a line of fire to be obliterated by the enemy. Luckily I play with some good guys who are without doubt much better than I am, who often save me the embarrassment of losing every game. However there are several factors that stop the Gears multi player becoming legendary. Matchmaking takes forever and often puts teams at unfair advantages, also if your team mates leave you can be left in a 1 vs 5 situation and the software will do nothing to help you. This is not a rare occurrence. There are many times when you seem to die from nothing and though I agree that sometimes you just get outsmarted and beaten, it is very annoying when you die from game glitches like torque bows pinging into your shins with no charge. The shotgun battles seem endless at times often resulting in a 'first punch gets the kill scenario'. Gears has tactics that work and if you do not follow them, you are destined to lose unless you are incredible. For someone of my skill this makes me not want to play the game, I find myself just dieing repeatedly - this is not a forgiving game. You must know where weapons spawn and how long it takes you to get to them, ie, is it worth rushing the boomshot or will I be sniped by the time I get there? These mathematical tools must be utilised, otherwise you will be running into battles severely underpowered. I do not expect this to be fixed, this is Gears, it is how it has always been and as long as they get rid of glitches (weapon slides, invisible shields, guns that cannot fire etc) then the game will be played and the frustration - of myself - will continue to rise!
There is no doubt that you should definietly team up with your mates for a good session at killing the horde. This game mode is so much fun with a good team and watching the bigger locusts come to get you is frightening and laughable at the same time. Having four of your friends crawl to you to be revived or piling clip after clip into an oncoming bloodmount will have you screaming down your mic for help, it's awesome. There are 50 waves to complete and if your playing on insane I wouldn't expect to do this anytime soon!
That is my opinion though and I know I am not great. I also keep coming back to play the game which just reinforces how good the game is, so good that I keep returning to have my ass handed to me! Gears 2 isn't bad at all, it will just make you want to scream sometimes. The story is great in single player and co-op and if you're going for things like seriously 2.0 then you will certainly be playing for a long time. The online play is annoying as hell but you will return again and again, I promise you. Any self respecting shooter fan will pick this up and I urge anyone who likes any of the things mentioned to give it a go, the visuals alone will have you playing till the very end. If the multi player was not so buggy and did not give such a blatant host advantage then this game would get a much higher score.
Gears of War 2
released 7th November 2008
8.1/10
Achievements:
GoW2 is a safe 1000 points for a hardcore gamer, the only two that are sticking points are Seriously 2.0 (100,00 kills - in any mode) and Party Like It's 1999 (play 1999 rounds). The rest can be picked up relatively easily and are a combination of story, multi player wins and weapon specific kills. A casual gamer will still be able to get a good 600+ points without a great deal of trouble.
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