Gears Of War 2 Review

GoW2 continues the story of Marcus and Dom

by Sith Lord Jim:

©2008 Jim McIntyre:

I was a very big fan of Epic’s Gears of War, but even I can say that it had quite a few things wrong with it. The biggest of these problems was the storyline, it was not conveyed very well, and left the gamer more confused than anything.

Then there were all the multiplayer problems like glitches, and host powers making the player who was host way more deadly than anyone else.  Gears 1 was not a perfect game, but it was damn good fun. Gears of War 2 attempts to alleviate those issues, and for the most part it really has improved on a formula I thought would be hard to top.

GoW2 continues the story of Marcus and Dom, COG soldiers fighting for the survival of the human race, against the locust. This time around the story isn’t just there to move on the action. There is real emotional depth to the still overly macho storyline.

There will be moments that move you, especially if you were a fan of the original and have already connected with the characters. It will shock some people to hear this after the lack of story from Gears 1, but Gears of War 2′s storyline is probably the best we have seen this year. Full of brilliant dialogue, and emotional moments, the storyline will drag you in and keep you playing.

Game-play follows the same basic formula as the original, but adds some a few noteworthy new features. The biggest amongst these would be the stopping power. I was astonished to see just how big an impact this has, especially in multiplayer.

Stopping power is simply when you shoot someone they are slowed by the impact of your bullets. This means charging straight at enemies with your shotgun, is always going to end badly. There will undoubtedly be people who hate this, but GoW was always meant to be about the cover, and this feels like a logical inclusion.

Also amongst the new features is an abundance of ways to deal with your downed foes. You can pick them up and use them as meat-shields, or execute them in a variety of gruesome, but satisfying ways. It may not be massively important game-play-wise, but it is oh-so-satisfying. Your downed foes also now have the opportunity to try and crawl away to safety.

In co-op players now can pick individual difficulties. This means if your playing with someone who hasn’t played before or someone with more experience you can make it so neither player is out of his depth.

Speaking of difficulties, if you have played Gears of War 1 go straight for hardcore simply so you can unlock insane. I am not great at Gears, but hardcore was never particularly hard. Insane is where the parties at.

There are a few new weapons in the mix as well as some changes to the old weapons. New toys of death include the mortar, boomshield, flamethrower, mulcher, ink grenade, and the gorgon pistol. The smoke grenade has been changed so that when it explodes it knocks over anyone within its blast radius, making it perfect for lobbing into annexes during multiplayer. Boomshot now has more ammo when you pick it up and can take 8 shells.

The campaign is not without its issues. The vehicle sections are stupidly cumbersome, went for way too long, and had me ready to turn of the console and walk away. Its easy to see why the developers thought they were necessary to break up the action, but I guarantee the whole time your driving a vehicle you will be wishing you could just jump off and shoot stuff normally. For me this was really the biggest problem I had with the entire game. They were just that cumbersome to deal with.

Multiplayer is still the best thing about the Gears of War series. All the new additions to the game-play carry over into the multiplayer, and make the game require more team-work than ever. New game modes are Submission (Meatflag), King of the Hill, Wingman, horde, and Guardian. Execution, Warzone, and Annex all return.

Submission places a stranded in the middle of the level and tasks both teams with downing and then taking him as a meatshield to the scoring zone. The stranded has his own score and will attempt to kill you while your trying to capture him.

Wingman is 2v2v2v2v2 battle. The emphasis is on sticking with your team-mate and using team work to accumulate the most kills and win the match.

Guardian is assassination with respawns. The catch is you can only respawn if your leader is alive. So the aim is to kill the enemy leader, and then all the enemies.

King of the Hill is the same as in any other game. Stand in the “hill” and accumulate points while holding off the enemy.

Horde is where most people will be spending the majority of their Gears of War 2 experience. Horde places you and up to four other players against 50 waves of Locust enemies. As you progress the waves get more and more difficult. If you die you respawn at the end of the wave as long as one of your team-mates made it through. Horde is brilliant.

The team-work and the frantic game-play really make this one of the best multiplayer options available. If you have played before yet again steer clear of casual, even on the later waves, it was almost boring if you were playing tactically.

Sound has been beefed up. Every noise has more depth to it. The music fits the game perfectly and helps elevate the atmosphere of the experience.  The sound is incredibly well done. You won’t know what I mean until you fire some of the weapons in game and listen to the noise.

Graphics are better than the original, but a fairly big mix in quality. Some textures look amazing, and others are fairly bland. Artistically the levels look fantastic, and there is a great variety in environments.

Gears of War 2 at least in my mind is the undisputed game of the year for 2009. Nothing else will be able to compete with the brilliant storyline, engaging dialogue, amazing multiplayer, fantastic co-op, and addictive game-play. It isn’t perfect, but it is definitely up there. Do not miss this game!

©2008 Jim McIntyre:

“9.8/10

Share us

Filed under: 1st Party Titles, Console gaming, Microsoft Games, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | Cliff Bleszinski, CliffyB, Epic Games, Gears Of War 2 review, gears of war 2 reviews, Gears Of War reviews, GoW2, GoW2 review