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If you've been following the trailers in anticipation for Gears of War 2 over the past year as well as every bit of news you can bear to read, then you'll know some of the fundamentals and are already aware that Gears of War 2 takes place just six months after the original's end. The end of the last game is where war hero Marcus Fenix successfully rigged the light-mass bomb to detonate deep underground in the Locust tunnels, before just barely escaping with the rest of Delta Squad. The Locust however are back, and they're [Removed]ed off sinking and bringing down city after city, with only Jacinto left standing. With humanitie's back against the wall, it's upon Marcus, Dom and the usual suspects of Delta Squad to suit up once again, only this time they're taking the fight underground to the Locust in one epic and dramatic encounter as they fight for not only their own survival, but to attempt to save human kind from imminent extinction.
In Gears of War 2 a more dramatic and intense story is on offer, Epic having a Television writer on board clearly shows in the progression of the story and the more dramatic nature of the game. That's not to say the first game didn't have a story, but it was certainly lacking in this department, with little bits of information given out during some cutscenes or more often than not, whilst Marcus and Dom offer up some chit-chatter during actual gameplay - which simply laid the seeds to be fleshed out at a later date in a sequel, and so here we are. While I'm not going to unleash a horde of spoilers, needless to say those seeds planted in the original, well, we most certainly get some of our answers and thus, a more intimate involvement with the characters. Now, all the soppy stuff aside, Gears 2 brings the guns, the explosions and intense-action, and of course some needed humour, courtesy of our favourite soldier, the epitome of 'badass' - Augustus “Cole Train” Cole.
The original Gears of War released in November 2006, and proved a massive hit amongst the gaming masses, whether it was the two player co-operative campaign that lured gamers in, and the multiplayer that kept them hooked, it was inevitably the addictive nature of the gameplay combined with those features that kept them coming back for more. Just what does Gears of War 2 do to refine this experience, and more importantly does it bring anything new to this blockbuster series?
Gameplay:
The original game's emphasis was around a two player co-operative campaign, this is very much still the case with the sequel. Though needless to say, it wasn't co-op that kept gamers regularly putting that disc into their Xbox 360s, it was most certainly the addictive and gory nature of the multiplayer on offer, enabling players to decimate their friends and team up with them online. Nor will the campaign be the reason that players will continue to play Gears of War 2, while it is indeed an improvement over the original, it's once again the multiplayer, which is now refined with a matchmaking system and plenty of more modes on offer that will keep gamers hooked and coming back for more, as well as a little new co-operative mode, called Horde.
The game plays very much like the original, with several tweaks and new additions. The concept of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' gets thrown around a lot these days, and the same applies to Gears of War. For the very few that have not played the original game, Gears is all about cover based combat, and that's a big emphasis on the use of cover. Being able to pop up at will to pick off enemies works a treat, as does maneuvering whilst in cover, as well as safely switching from cover to cover. In the campaign, certain items can be turned into cover, slide into cover against a fold-down hospital bed, and Marcus (or Dom) will simply flip the bed down to provide better cover. There's also a shield at your disposal now, it's available from the get-go on some multiplayer maps, though in campaign you'll have to get a hold of this shield by killing a rather large grenade wielding Locust. This shield is absolutely essential for a new co-operative mode in the game, especially in the later waves, though the problem is just finding a moment when you're not getting continuously shot at to be able to kill and safely acquire the shield. One nice little addition is the ability to chip away at cover, opening fire on an enemy behind cover and you may notice bits off rubble come flying off, it's nothing too dramatic, but you may reveal just enough to get in a sly headshot with the Longshot Sniper provided you're on slightly higher ground.
Whilst the shield may be one form of movable cover, there is another in the form of one of Gears 2's execution moves. If you get an enemy down (shooting at the legs is key provided you're not after a quick kill), you then have the opportunity to perform a variety of execution moves on him to finish him off, one of these includes using your downed opponent as a meat-shield. This basically works the same as when you have the actual shield, enabling you to blast away at enemies without taking much damage, and when you're done a quick button press is all that's required to dispose of your enemy by a violent snap of the neck, lovely. Other executions include using the Longshot Sniper rifle as a sledgehammer to crush the skull of your downed opponent, as well as kicking an enemies head off using the Torque Bow, punching your foe to death, or of course the classic curb stomp, only this time turn them over so they can see your boot coming down for the squish.
The newest introduction to the Gears universe is a new game mode, known simply as Horde. This is essentially a five player co-operative mode, where you can team up with up to four friends and tackle 50 waves of Locust, on any of the multiplayer maps and of varying difficulty options available. Each wave brings with it more enemies, and the further you progress even more and bigger enemies will becoming in for the Gears after each wave. Maps can be littered with literally dozens of Locust Drones, Boomers, Jackals and the annoying Tickers, which have essentially replaced the lambent Wretches, so needless to say they go off with quite a bang. The Kantus' prove a notable pain in the rear, they can withstand more damage than the typical Drones, though are essential to be taken out as if you get any Locust down but not out, then the Kantus are able to revive them without being anywhere near them, apparently they're Locust with religion... a chainsaw through the back should put him in his place quickly. Whilst on the subjects of revives, the Locust in both campaign and Horde can revive each other, and more surprisingly is that if you get downed, other squad members can now even revive you in Campaign, if playing solo or co-op. One of the new features for Gears 2, whilst down but not out, is the ability to crawl, leaving a noticeable bloody trail behind you in the process as you attempt to escape your enemy and seek revival from squad mates. There's really nothing quite like playing Horde with a bunch of buddies, and trying to hold your ground, though there's always one that decides he needs to run to the opposite end of the map to go and get the Hammer of Dawn or Longshot Sniper, only to get pummelled halfway, then attempts to crawl away from the Locust, coming back literally on his hands and knees begging to be revived, right before he bleeds out. Yes, you won't catch me coming out to help you just so I can get shot at and downed, potentially managing to revive you just so you can run off with your new precious weapon, and leaving me to get curb-stomped by some nasty Locust vermin. Yes, you know who you are! Needless to say, the Horde mode is an absolute blast and is easily the best new feature in Gears of War 2, another thing to note is that Gears 2 now incorporates bots, after all these are the guys who brought us Unreal Tournament, so they know what they're doing when it comes to bots. These bots can be added in as fillers in multiplayer, enabling your friends who get online later to immediately jump in and just replace one of the bots. Another rather convenient added feature is the ability to access the friend's list in game, without having to pop open the guide. The friends list in Gears 2 is known as 'What's Up?' and is your quick gateway to accessing your friends list, immediately listing all of your friends as per usual, though conveniently having anyone currently playing Gears 2 at the top of your friend's list for quick ease of access.
In the sequel, the multiplayer is completely revamped and includes the much requested matchmaking system. So, gone are the days of having to create Ranked matches, telling your pals what map, round duration and game type to search for in the hope they can find the specific game amongst dozens, just so you can actually play as a team in ranked matches. Well, matchmaking and trueskill are in Gears 2, much like Halo or Call of Duty you can't actually search for specific custom unranked games any more, but you can create your own private party to play with friends and have the freedom to tinker with the game settings. Public matches are ranked, and enter you into matchmaking where you can pick from some choices to break game types down, and then must vote with other players to decide on the actual map and game mode that you're about to do battle on.
The multiplayer now includes a plethora of gaming modes including a Gears twist on the more recognised Capture-the-Flag mode, where both the COG and Locust teams have to find a Stranded bot marked on the map, down him and bring him to a specifically marked location on the map to capture the meat-flag. This Epic take on the CTF mode was originally called meat-flag, but has since been renamed to a much more tamer name in Submission. The CTF meat-flag concept just works so well in the Gears universe, the Stranded A.I. doesn't just stand there waiting to be downed, he's ready and waiting with shotgun in hand, and won't hesitate to kill anyone from either team. It just makes for all out carnage, and with enemies around it's no easy feat getting the meat-flag back if the enemy has him in hand... though a quick throw of the smoke grenade will knock anyone nearby to the ground – this is especially useful as the meat-flag has to be held in the capture area for several seconds before a winner is declared. Returning game modes include the likes of Warzone and Execution, which are basically team deathmatch variations where the only difference is really with Execution, in being that once you have an opponent downed you have to be physically within arms length of your downed opponent to score a kill. Several modes, including Wingman, work in a similar way to Execution, in that you have to be nearby to kill a downed enemy. Though there are means and ways of acquiring your kill on a far-off downed opponent if the need arises, such as sniping him in the head, somewhat more difficult if he is crawling about, though taking explosive measures will get the kill taken care of, so a Boomshot or Frag Grenade will almost always do the trick, as of course will roadie-running over there and giving him a good old curb-stomp. Wingman could potentially also be considered another co-operative mode in Gears of War 2, as it's essentially five teams of two players dueling it out, where the last team alive is declared the winner, and chaos will quickly ensue, as with multiple teams spawning around the map at the start, you're not going to be all that far apart. Annex which was released as DLC at a later date for the Gears original re-emerges for Gears 2, as does the King of the Hill mode, the latter of which was only available in the PC version of Gears of War. Both modes are fairly similar to one another in that a ring will light up around a specific weapon location on the map, at least one player needs to get inside the ring to capture it, the opposing team must then rush the ring and enter it to break the capture, and stop the opposing team from accumulating the required amount of points before the rounds end – both modes have unlimited respawns. The main difference between Annex and King of the Hill, is that on Annex the ring changes to a different weapon location when a certain amount of points have been earned in the location. On King of the Hill, the ring stays in the same spot until the rounds end, and the only other catch is that a player needs to remain inside the ring to continue to earn the required amount of points. Sticking a smoke, frag or poisonous ink grenade to nearby cover as a proximity mine is almost always effective in gaining your team some more time as the points tick down.
It seems Gears 2 in Public ranked matches blocks the ability to quit, obviously those who wish to quit can exit to the dashboard or turn their Xbox 360 console off, if they so wished. It's somewhat of an odd choice, you know, sometimes you've just got to go, though undeniably there are far too many games where players seemingly just quit for no apparent reason, other than the fact they may be losing. If it keeps the majority of players in then it's a featured that gets a thumbs-up, and if you really have to go somewhere, then your Xbox is probably going to get turned off anyway. The idea though is clearly to keep those players in that just quit because they're losing, and hopefully it may do the trick in some cases, as if you're losing is it really worth kicking it back to the Dashboard and then relaunching the game just to search for another match all over again? No, I think not.
Whilst Gears of War 2 is as every bit as addictive as the original in the gameplay department, it does sadly have some teething problems. It's general issues like this, and in other games too, where you can see how having pre-release multiplayer Betas is becoming so popular for fine-tuning the retail product. No doubt this would have been picked up straight away, as it has been since the game's release by gamers eager to get their hands on Epic's new baby. The Gnasher shotgun has been weakened considerably, as expected. Though the problem is with the Lancer, it is now the more dominant starting weapon, basically online matches have just turned into a chainsaw-fest. While sticking a chainsaw through someone online is very gratifying, as is the amount of blood that squirts its way onto your screen. The problem here though is with the Lancer's chainsaw bayonet, i.e. if you stumble around a corner and bump into someone with their chainsaw revving away, the chances of being able to shoot them briefly to make them stumble is rather slim, unlike the original game. It does still work, though only at a certain distance. If you're in too close then you're to be cut into little chunks of meat, this will inevitably force some players to hold onto the Lancer now, as it's easier to just rev up your own Lancer and initiate a chainsaw duel. Though button mashing the melee button may not have been the best concept; it's probably some latency issue, but you could feel like you have the upper hand mashing away, only for you to get chainsawed, each and every time. This stands out more when it's always the same player that winds up winning multiple chainsaw duels in a single match, on several different players. There have been complaints floating about already regarding the chainsaw and people just exploiting it for the sake of racking up some easy kills. It's not like people wouldn't try chainsawing in the first game, but it was more balanced in Gears 1, if you got caught off guard you would be mince meat, but if on your toes you had up until the very last second to react and to plough some bullets into your opponent, thus making them stumble and lowering their chainsaw bayonet. The original title saw several title updates throughout its life span, Gears 2 is not a game that I have too many issues with. Other than the this niggling chainsaw problem, Gears of War 2 does tick all the right boxes, and most certainly is without doubt, currently the best action game available, well, since the original. I expect and hope that developer Epic Games will be looking into fine tuning the chainsaw, the game is by no means riddled with bugs or anything of the sort, but the chainsaw issue does stand out as a significant enough hindrance that needs further refinement.
The shotgun being "dumbed" down is something I can live with, it certainly seems more difficult to pop heads off and blast enemies into pieces with a single shot, at least that is, whilst shooting from the hip. Though taking a quick second to line it up and aim, then it can prove to be just as effective. The shotgun tweaking should sort the complaints of 'host advantage' from the first game (hopefully chainsaw duels don't end up being the new host advantage), where the host player could just go on a rampage around the map with his shotgun, taking heads off from more than 10 feet away... although as mentioned above, it's no longer the shotgun that is garnering the complaints.
Achievement tracking in Gears of War proved problematic, especially for things such as trying to track or workout how many kills you may have for a specific achievement. Gears 2 successfully solves this niggling issue from the original via. its War Journal, which is accessible from the main menu. In here you can track everything, with even a little progress bar showing you how close you may be to say getting the Seriously 2.0 achievement or how far you're into melee 30 Tickers, and so on. Though it doesn't quite end there, each time you hit a milestone for a specific achievement a ticker-tape box will pop up on screen in the corner, during game, and give some quick information for a few seconds. It's fairly similar to an Achievement Unlocked notification in that of its size and time on screen; though the information it gives is useful, like it could pop-up saying 'Seriously 2.0: 100/100, 000 kills'. Which for many players coming over from the original Gears, they will no doubt certainly appreciate a reminder every once in a while.
The War Journal is also the place where you can access your in-game photos that you have taken. A photo mode being yet another new feature to Gears 2, this is basically something to keep you from nodding off should you get killed early on in a match where respawns are disabled. Meaning you can take pictures of your buddies getting their asses handed to them in Horde mode or multiplayer (not available in Campaign), or even try and capture a perfect shot to be uploaded to and retrieved from the Gears of War website. Photos also offer up points, you get more points based on the action taking place in the photo, such as: explosions, number of enemies/friendlies in the shot and their actions.
Graphics:
There are very few games on consoles that look anywhere near as detailed as Epic's Gears of War 2, although one title does spring to mind, and that's the original Gears of War. While there have been a handful of games that stand out for immense amount of detail, titles including Bioshock, Dead Rising and Devil May Cry 4, little else goes anywhere near matching the quality seen in Gears 2. The original Gears of War I still believe is the best looking title on the console, that is until now, I'm impressed by just how much juice Epic continue to squeeze out of the console, and it's no doubt all due to their enhanced Unreal Engine 3 technology. One of the stand out things with this, is that it clearly offers up better lighting, which certainly shows at some key points in the game. Although when you look at Gears 1 and Gears 2, there's certainly more detail in the characters on-screen in the sequel, and the environments 'appear' to be vastly more open (even if they're not), with wide open backdrops and view of smokes filling the sky from destroyed cities. At some points mass amounts of Locust can be on screen at any one time. The colour is something to also take note of, though this is probably due to some of the environments offered up earlier on but Gears 2 certainly appears to take on more of a warmer colour palette and it does look exceptionally better than the original. The cutscenes themselves are much improved, though this is due to their being more substance to them, which is no doubt down to the slightly more fleshed out story, and getting some of the more dramatic scenes in the game in their. Although as far as cutscenes go, there's none in Gears 2 that can match up to the one early on in the original Gears of War, where Raam took out Lt. Kim as Marcus looked on. Although if it's eye candy you're after, then Gears 2's cutscenes do well to highlight the details further. The only slightly annoying problem is with texture pop-in, which as with the first game, is present in multiplayer. In some instances, it does take considerably longer to load-in on Gears 2, but does very little to hamper the overall experience. With the option of installing the game when the NXE Dashboard update hits, I would hope that we can get rid of these delayed texture pop-ins altogether, and that's not just for Gears of War 2, but several high profile titles that do suffer from the issue, and certainly suffer from it more than Gears 2 does.
Sound:
Audio wise, Gears of War 2, much like the original, delivers the goods rather flawlessly. The dramatic soundtrack plays a big part, kicking in at all the right moments of action, and this time round, during some dramatic scenes as we now appear to have an actual story unveiling ever so slightly. The voice-overs are perhaps the most impressive, once again much like the original, as cutscenes are kept to a bare minimum, as most of the story is unveiled via. Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago's communications with each other, as much as it is with Anya keeping you up to date in real-time on your missions, and any forthcoming information, via. your tac-com. One of the things I loved so much about the original Gears was that a variety of some of the more basic voice-overs would carry on over to the multiplayer. The same also applies to Gears 2, your character shouts in pain to be revived, as he crawls his way as far as possible away from the enemy. The same also applies to active reloads, getting kills, being chainsawed and actually chainsawing someone. No mater what you do, there will be the odd random voice that pops in every so often that just fits in with that specific action that you may be doing at the time. The sound effects of explosions, the weapons, and even the grotesque and strange voices from the Locust deliver just the finishing touches on an overall unprecedented package of gaming goodness.
Longevity:
The campaign weighs in with a good solid 8 hours or so of gaming, though the longevity of Gears of War 2 goes far beyond this. With the campaign being playable co-operatively, either locally, or naturally over Xbox Live. Playing with friends and various difficulties is bound to offer up several re-play sessions. Let's not forget the latest inclusion to the Gears universe, the five player co-operative Horde mode, where you take on up to 50 waves of Locust, each wave getting more difficult, with various different types of Locust being introduced. With the difficulties ranging from Casual to Insane, and having a good selection of multiplayer maps to choose from, then Horde is no doubt going to provide hours of entertainment as you and your buddies fight for survival. The multiplayer in Gears 1 kept me and no doubt many more playing regularly since it released in November 2006. Now, with some new maps to rev up our chainsaw bayonets in, some new weapons to get accustomed too, such as the Scorcher flamethower, devastating Mulcher and Mortar, as well as a variety of ways to finish your opponents off, the multiplayer should once again keep you coming back for more, as will the inclusion of the innovative Horde mode.
Overall:
If there was only one thing I was slightly disappointed in, it would have to be the actual story itself. While it's more fleshed out than the original game, it's still only bits of information. It seems the premise is that the game itself is a story in its own right. Though I was hoping things to go somewhat more deeper than they actually have done. Much like with Gears 1, there's no sense of conclusion to the game's story. It's as if, dare I say it, it's being dragged out over a couple of titles. While it's no secret that Gears of War 2's emphasis is on Dominic's search for his wife, Maria, other then that there's still a lot that remains unanswered. Like, why is the Cole Train so “badass,” and why are we still left with specific things unanswered from the original game? Oh well, looks like we'll have to wait for Gears of War 3. On the plus side, the lack of information can act as semi-confirmation for the inevitable third game.
Blood and guts aside, there's something very special about the way Gears 2 plays that will just lure you in, and keep you coming back for more. Yes, popping your enemies head off with the Longshot Sniper is most certainly addictive, but it's just the fluidity in the motion, the sound of the head popping off and the quick squirt of blood before your enemies body stumbles to the floor. That's one scenario of an example of what Gears of War 2 is all about. It's simply the gameplay, graphics and sound all being at an incredibly high level and it all seemingly complimenting one another to create one of the most satisfying sci-fi/action experiences currently available in gaming.
| Review By: Wayne Julian - Overall Rating 9.5 (out of 10) |
| Gameplay: |
9.5 |
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| Graphics: |
10 |
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| Sound: |
9.5 |
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| Longevity: |
10 |
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| Overall: |
9.5 |
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