Bigger, bloodier and more badass! (Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360))

Member Name: Stunt 101

Product:	Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
Date:	02/12/08 (227 review reads)
Rating:

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Back in November 2006, Microsoft and Epic released Gears of War to excite players in the holiday season, and it did. Receiving exceptional reviews and glorious praise (including from me) the game was one of the systems best exclusives that year and still is played by die-hard fans to date on the game's brilliant multiplayer suite. It pushed the system to the limits, and is still the best looking game on the system in my opinion. But that was so 2006-it's been two years now and with a bevy of games being released using the same cover system, including Mass Effect, Kane and Lynch, Uncharted and more, the system which Gears refined has now been used a lot since. The inventor is back though, with Gears 2 finally hitting store shelves. Is it a worthy sequel?

-(The Story)-
Gears 2 follows on a good six months after the first game as you retake the role of the original game's protagonist, Marcus Fenix. Despite the powerful efforts to wipe the Locust clean from the world in the first game's ending, it failed and now the Locust are more powerful than ever. Not only are they pounding on the human race, but they are also sinking entire cities with an unknown force. Now, it's up to Marcus and his delta squad to destroy the Locust once and for all. This time around things are taken more seriously-there's intimate drama with Dom looking for his wife, and simple things like when Cole loses his squad are taken much more seriously than the first game. It's more moving, yet it felt like the game answered the previous game's questions with more questions. Make no mistake-the ending shows there could be Gears 3. How it will happen-we will have to wait and see, but for now we must settle with a cryptic ending. It's a shame, Gears 2 improved on most aspects of the story.

-(The Controls)-
The controls are pretty much identical to the first game. With the first game, they were quite different to most games like Halo or Call of Duty. However, it's been two years and hundreds of Gears of War multiplayer matches later and this control scheme is natural. The new mechanics are probably mapped to the same buttons as other controls for example; planting a grenade on a wall is mapped to the same button as, well, planting enemies with grenades. This means adapting to new mechanics of the game is relatively easy. The aiming is excellent; the cover system has been tweaked so you're not sticking to random cover and other tweaks have improved the controls. There are some minor issues though, like the fiddly switching of weapons you have equipped.

-(The Gameplay)-
To call Gears of War 2 slightly similar to its predecessor would be a slight understatement. The progression of the game is pretty much identical to the first game. The game is split up into five acts, each with several chapters to progress the story and game. It also plays quite similarly to the first game-the game is all about taking cover. Whether it's a slab of concrete, a recently blown up car or whatever is solid enough to block enemy fire-you should smack yourself behind it. Standing out in open air will get you killed, as the game uses the same health system from the first game. As you take damage, a red ring builds up in the centre of the screen. Once it's full, you'll be taken to the ground. Unlike the first game you won't immediately die once you've taken enough damage. You can crawl to a delta squad member and they can revive you, making the game easier this time around. The game remains mostly similar to the first game. Most of the improvements are subtle. For example, the cover system is improved because there's less sticking to random surfaces this time around.

The biggest improvement to the formula is the game's scale. The levels are much larger this time around, with more room for experimentation of tactics. There are more enemies this time around, making it feel like a real war. Some of the levels and number of enemies is very impressive. As you roam through an expansive area of volcanic countryside, suddenly a whole platoon of Locust come out of the ground, as well as a friggin Brumak beast coming from the side make it feel really epic. Speaking of which, there are larger enemies in Gears 2. In the first game, you only fought one giant spider, whereas this time around you fight three at once. And my complaint last time around about there being no fights against Brumak, well this time not only do you fight multiple Brumaks, but you even get to ride one near the end of the game. The scale of the game has greatly increased.

Unfortunately, one of the other improvements, destructible cover, is barely used here. Some objects like tables for example, can be destroyed which exposes the enemy to your bullets. However, it rarely is used as most cover can't be destroyed. It's a shame, and doesn't come close to the level of Battlefield: Bad Company. However, smaller improvements help add to the experience. When an enemy is down, you can pick them up and use them as meat shields which block all bullets until the body explodes eventually. There are more ways to kill downed enemies, whether it's punching them to death or smacking their head off with a sniper rifle. And there are more varieties of enemies, including exploding bugs, giant butchers, boomers wielding flame throwers and Blood mounts which is a locust riding a hideous beast. It makes it feel like you're fighting an army.

Gears of War featured some of the best weapons in the business. The Lancer rifle, with the chainsaw on the bottom, the torque bow and the hammer of dawn are still some of my favourite weapons and they all return here. However, the new weapon set is fantastic. Including all those fantastic weapons, the game adds several new weapons to the mix as well. The Hammerburst rifle, typical of the Locust horde, is a fantastic alternate to the Lancer assault rifle, which is a short burst rifle which, with the right aim, can take off an enemies head. The Gorgon pistol is a quick burst assault rifle which is a great weapon and one of three pistols. There's also new weapons in the form of the Boomshield, which is a shield which you can throw down for portable cover, the Sorcher which burns enemies alive in a satisfying way and the mulcher and mortar guns which are heavy guns which slow down your character, but are incredibly powerful when used. The weapons are very satisfying to use, which is all you could ask for.

The campaign can again be played co-operately with another friend. I know it's a shame you can't play with more people, but don't fret-the co-op is just as brilliant as the first game. The biggest change is that both players can choose their own difficulty. This is good because if you have a friend who is new to Gears, you can go on Insane while he goes on the easier difficulties. This isn't the only co-op mode though. The newest mode is Horde, a five player co-op mode where you choose one of the multiplayer maps and must fight wave after wave of increasingly harder Locust enemies. This is a brilliant mode because it requires one thing some co-op games don't force you to use-teamwork. It's a mode where not using teamwork won't get you far as each player uses different weapons for different situations. It's challenging, especially if you're trying to get to Wave 50, but it's a brilliant mode and has immeasurable replay ability thanks to different spawn patterns and different maps.

The competitive multiplayer mode, one of Gears 1's strongest features is back and boy it kicks ass. The modes from the first game are here, including Warzone (standard team deathmatch) and Execution (Warzone except you must execute everyone) as well as new ones. Submission is my personal favourite of the new modes. A fantastic twist on capture the flag, rather than capturing a flag, you must take down a stranded wielding a shotgun, pick them up as a meat shield and then drag them to specific points. It's brilliant. There's also Guardian where once the main VIP is dead, then the players on the same team die too. The new modes, topped onto the original modes as well as the King of the hill mode exclusive to the PC version of the first game, and being able to set up a party CoD4 style and TrueSkill ranking, make for an exciting time.

-(The Graphics)-
Graphically, Gears 2 looks mostly similar to its predecessor. Characters like Marcus and his squad, some of the locust grunts and the weapons look pretty much identical to the first game, though that's not bad as they looked excellent. However, the art design has received a major increase in awesomeness. The colour palette, which consisted of greys and other dark colours, features more reds, yellows, greens and other colours to make Gears 2 stand out. The environments break from typical corridors to the more elaborate areas, like caves, countryside and much more open, spacey areas which look incredible. The animation is perfect; from curb stomping a Locust's head to the clean smack of someone's head as it flies off their body-Gears 2 is a bloody ballet. It's gory, yet perfectly executed. The only minor issue is some texture pop-in before the multiplayer matches begin, but it's minor. Not enough to make Gears 2 look ugly, that's for sure.

-(The Sound)-
Gears 2 sounds excellent. The voice work from most of the returning cast like John Di Maggio (Futurama), Carlos Ferro (too many videogames to count) and more, is great with less of the cheesy dialogue from the first game and more emotion. The dialogue is like this too. The epic score from the first game return, with the orchestral music coming in at the perfect moments to add whatever emotion is needed at the point of the game. The sound effects are excellent; with the chainsaw effects still the most awesome in gaming, and all the weapons packing a very satisfying punch. If there are any issues, it's that sometimes the sound quality was a bit muffled at times, though that was a rarity it was just very noticeable.

-(The Replay Value)-
Gears 2 will entertain you for months to come. The game's single player will last you over 10 hours, which is much longer than the first game. There's so much extra content in Gears 2 it will blow your mind. There's the horde mode-getting to wave fifty will take a long time unless you either play on the easier difficulty or have made skills with the COG warfare. Of course, it's such a cool mode you will play it more than once. There's the co-op campaign, which is excellent fun despite that it's limited to two players. Then there is the multiplayer component, which once you get into, can be excellent fun. There are also 50 achievements, which aren't the best in the world, in my opinion anyways. Too much of the gamer score is catered to the hardcore, where you will miss out on 225gs if you play the campaign on the easiest difficulty. Thankfully, multiplayer achievements are rare and can be boosted online. Still, the game makes your £40 worth every penny, and then some.

-(The Score)-
Controls: 9
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 10
Sound: 9
Value: 10
Overall: 9.4

-(The Conclusion)-
Gears of War 2 is a worthy sequel to one of the best games on the system. It does what a sequel should do-amp up everything to eleven. It improves over the original with a much larger scale, a better colour palette, some fine tweaks to the gameplay and more. It's just improved in most regards-the story is much more dramatic with less cheese and more emotion in the form of Dom's missing lover, the multiplayer has more modes to play with and the new horde mode is an absolutely blast of a co-op mode, which almost makes up for the lack of more players in the story campaign. The thing is that while there are many improvements, it doesn't exactly refine the experience the first game offered. It's quite similar in most ways, meaning those who hated on the first Gears will hate on this game too. However if you loved the first game, there's no reason not to pick this game up too-they're both fantastic.

-(The Extra Info)-
This was published by Microsoft and developed by Epic Games.
This was released exclusively on Xbox 360 on November 7th, 2008.
This is rated 18+ for strong bloody violence.
This is available from Game.co.uk for £39.99

Summary: Not a huge innovator, but a slick coat of paint on an already superb game.