Gears of War 2 - 360 - Review

[El Duderino]

Gears of War 2

Fans of the series have had to wait two long years to lay their hands on part 2. Playing six months after the first Gears 2 has big footsteps to fill. Many games fall short to impress fans after the first successful part, others try to hard to top the experience of the first and fail to recapture the flair that made it special. Does Gears 2 manage to top the first without overshooting its goals ? It does and it does so with great elegance, giving fans of the first everything they loved about the original and adding more depth to the overall experience.


The first thing everybody asks about this game is how it looks, many who have played just the beginning might think the famed Unreal 3 engine hasn´t improved much in the last few years, you start in a small group and fight against a handful of enemies at a time inside a darken hospital. But this only makes the game look more impressive as it goes on. Soon you are driving huge vehicles through forests and wastelands, even the underground is impressively sized and offers far views and great lighting. Lighting is one of the bigger improvements over the first which was often criticized as gray and dull. Gears 2 leaves this all behind, the player models look sharper and more dynamic, levels go from dark corridors to huge daylight landscapes. Fire burns bright and shades have a fantastic range. Flesh looks and feels... well fleshy, which doesn´t happen much in videogames. The water is just amazing, from the single drops that splash on the camera to the rings that circle trough the water after every gunshot on to the waves that almost make you seasick the water gives large parts of the game stunning visual atmosphere. The Locust also got a visual update, ripping them to shreds with the chainsaw is even more satisfying that way, also the lager range of areas is met with a much larger number of enemies, while you still fight waves of five to ten foes most of the time there are also areas where dozens of Locust swarm the screen, but don´t worry there are also more friends there to help you.

The gameplay keeps its simple yet brilliantly functional approach leaving the cover system fully intact and adding to it in some areas, in the first Gears for example all enemies would be shoot down in a similar fashion and that was the end of the fight, in Gears 2 however the outcome of a battle can have different flavors depending on the player. Wounded enemies (and players) will fall to their knees and can be killed with a single shoot, you can also however wait for another enemy to try to revive him and kill both, or you run up to him and finish him with a variety of "finishing moves" that also depend on what equipment or weapon you are using. The most fun thing to do however is grab a downed enemy and use him as a "meatshield" defending you from frontal attacks until he is blown up by his friends. There are also real shields that you can take from the Locust that will shield you longer but slow you considerably and force you to use a handgun. This is not a problem in Gears 2 since a very useful UZI style handgun has been added, another needed addition to the weapons is the new Locust rifle which is not just cheap Lancer (human chainsaw rifle) but a completely different rifle with lower shooting speed but higher damage. Other new weapons include the flamethrower, minigun and mortar. The flamethrower is perhaps the most fun to use of the new weapons mainly because of the beautiful fire effects and realistic flame. The other two can do even more impressive damage though. Many who already criticized the small range of rather convectional weapons in the first part will do the same with the second. The majority however will be happy that Epic has held a straight line with the series and didn´t push fore more futuristic weapons. Gears of War is not a SciFi shooter in the conventional sense, humans fight with tanks, helicopters and machine guns... they might call their atomic bombs lightmass bombs and have laser satellites, but Gears plays in a parallel world very similar to ours and they fight similar to us as well. In our world infantry fighters have a handful of standard weapons and a few specials, in Gears its the same, weapons are well balanced and all have their straights and weaknesses. Every weapon has its purpose and adding more special weapons with complicated functions would ruin the balance and atmosphere of the game completely. Also many may have problems with the characters and dialogues, if you expect to play multidimensional heroes who quote Shakespeare as they feel the pain of their enemies, you might not be disappointed. The Gears experience is not supposed to be too realistic, the characters are war torn, herculean hulks who only think about killing as many Locust as they can to ensure the survival of mankind. The story reveals more personal motivation behind some of the main characters and hints at more complex plots going on, but while it adds more atmosphere and depth to the game in never gets in the way of what the game is actually aiming for, a over the top badass war experience that makes most Hollywood blockbusters seem like Sunday school. Gears 2 never makes any compromise at that, its fast paced and exploding with action and tense atmosphere that will keep you wanting more. Thankfully in addition to two player co-op Epic had added some new interesting multiplayer modes such as the co-op Horde mode which lets you fight wave after wave of Locust until you are helplessly outnumbered. Other modes and a combination of reworked Gears 1 maps and new Gears 2 maps add tons of replay value that should keep fans playing for months to come.


Score:

Gears 2 manages to perfectly expand of the experience the predecessor without losing the original appeal. The story, the characters, the music, level-design, visual atmosphere and overall polished presentation give Gears 2 a very satisfying feel that no action fan should miss and future games of the genre have to match.


9.6/10

[Don Ramón]

Great Review Dude.... I got the game yesterday... And surely the game rocks and amaze me

[El Duderino]

^^ Yeah its just an amazing game... I tried to find some usable images but they all have the name of the site they came from written on them... anyway I got the unofficial artwork for the casual friendly version...

[Kenzomatic]

Great review

Yeah I just beat the game last night, and it was awesome. I was really suprised with the character development, though the story was still lacking. Also I did die once or twice looking at the scenery instead of fighting. OH and not to be a fan-boy but how was Snake rated higher then Marcus on IGN's most hardcore commando. I'm sorry but when people talk hardcore commando its all about up front body count, blood and being just killtaculer. I mean come on you can cut your enimies in half with a chain-saw. Anyways the game was a blast.

[Mr. M]

Yeah, this is one of those games i have been highly anticipating can't wait to finish the campaign, and to dig deep into the multiplayer....

[El Duderino]

^^Hi Mr. M welcome to the forum... yeah gears 2 is fantastic... can´t wait till the weed clears my memory of it so I can play it for the first time again

[MesoZombie]

ghmmmm.....i still have one about half way finished...it not bad but i dont know if i really care for it

[Kenzomatic]

ghmmmm.....i still have one about half way finished...it not bad but i dont know if i really care for it

So you played 2 hours of it?

Just remember that Marcus is Bender from Futurama and it will make it much better.

[Don Ramón]

Hey Guys Lets PLay Horde together!
What do you think?

[MesoZombie]

ghmmmm.....i still have one about half way finished...it not bad but i dont know if i really care for it

So you played 2 hours of it?

Just remember that Marcus is Bender from Futurama and it will make it much better.

last thing i can remember if fightng that big spider looking crab thing

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