Gears of war 2: A lesson of why games should not be trilogies

Gears of war 2 Is a perfect example of why games should not be trilogies. I know that many are screaming in their seats that I’m probably a Sony fanboy but just let me speak for a bit. I’m going to list why this game shouldn’t be rated over 8/10, and why the gaming press couldn’t be more wrong. Now:

1. Big is not better: Gears of war contained all the action in very small maps that made your heart race thinking that there was no where to run. Gears of war 2 maps however decide that everything needs to be huge, and this screws the game completely. Take a perfectly good multiplayer mode called “Wingman”, a mode like this would have done wonders in Gears 1. However in Gears 2 the maps are so big that the mode is just flat out tedious, and in most cases boring.

1. Where did the narrative go: Gears 2 story flat out sucks. 4 Acts of worthless dialogue and 1 final act where something actually happens is not a 9/10 game. There is no event such as Kim’s death in Gears 2, Carmines death is so predictable that you just sit there wondering when something is going to happen. The so called “Facility” level is one of the most boring levels I’ve seen out of a game all year. It serves no purpose whatsoever, isn’t explained at all, and to top it all off introduces an enemy that is even more boring then the “tickers.”(the enemy is of course the “sires”)

1. Stop trying to copy Halo: This is one of those things that you just sigh at. It’s like MMORPG’s trying to be like World of Warcraft. Gears of War 2 so called “matchmaking” system is copied right out of Halo 3, and it is a system that ultimately fails in comparison to Gears 1’s system.

1. I didn’t ask for realism: Gears of war 2 employs much more “realistic” detail compared to Gears 1. I don’t get this at all because the so called “cartoonish” graphics of Gears 1 were fine as they were, and they also added a more novel feel to the game.

I’m not being a fanboy either Gears 2 has tons of good features. Horde mode is flat out awesome, Submission mode rocks as well. It has rests on a lot of the Gears 1 gameplay which of course is fantastic. I’m not saying that we should hate Gears of war 2. In fact I think it’s a pretty good game. But Epic failed to deliver an experience on par to their prior work, and also attempted to milk the series for money by making it a trilogy. You see the exact same problem with games like “Too human”, “Advent Rising”, and of course the “Halo” series. Yeah I know I included “Halo” in there but screw the fanboys. I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that games shouldn’t venture into the trilogy department. Gaming is simply a different narrative then movies or books. If you want to make a sequel that’s fine, just don’t make long ass trilogies.

Gears of war 2 Is a perfect example of why games should not be trilogies. I know that many are screaming in their seats that I’m probably a Sony fanboy but just let me speak for a bit. I’m going to list why this game shouldn’t be rated over 8/10, and why the gaming press couldn’t be more wrong. Now:

1. Big is not better: Gears of war contained all the action in very small maps that made your heart race thinking that there was no where to run. Gears of war 2 maps however decide that everything needs to be huge, and this screws the game completely. Take a perfectly good multiplayer mode called “Wingman”, a mode like this would have done wonders in Gears 1. However in Gears 2 the maps are so big that the mode is just flat out tedious, and in most cases boring.

1. Where did the narrative go: Gears 2 story flat out sucks. 4 Acts of worthless dialogue and 1 final act where something actually happens is not a 9/10 game. There is no event such as Kim’s death in Gears 2, Carmines death is so predictable that you just sit there wondering when something is going to happen. The so called “Facility” level is one of the most boring levels I’ve seen out of a game all year. It serves no purpose whatsoever, isn’t explained at all, and to top it all off introduces an enemy that is even more boring then the “tickers.”(the enemy is of course the “sires”)

1. Stop trying to copy Halo: This is one of those things that you just sigh at. It’s like MMORPG’s trying to be like World of Warcraft. Gears of War 2 so called “matchmaking” system is copied right out of Halo 3, and it is a system that ultimately fails in comparison to Gears 1’s system.

1. I didn’t ask for realism: Gears of war 2 employs much more “realistic” detail compared to Gears 1. I don’t get this at all because the so called “cartoonish” graphics of Gears 1 were fine as they were, and they also added a more novel feel to the game.

I’m not being a fanboy either Gears 2 has tons of good features. Horde mode is flat out awesome, Submission mode rocks as well. It has rests on a lot of the Gears 1 gameplay which of course is fantastic. I’m not saying that we should hate Gears of war 2. In fact I think it’s a pretty good game. But Epic failed to deliver an experience on par to their prior work, and also attempted to milk the series for money by making it a trilogy. You see the exact same problem with games like “Too human”, “Advent Rising”, and of course the “Halo” series. Yeah I know I included “Halo” in there but screw the fanboys. I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that games shouldn’t venture into the trilogy department. Gaming is simply a different narrative then movies or books. If you want to make a sequel that’s fine, just don’t make long ass trilogies.

I honestly doubt that matchmaking is something that is originally from halo...

First : I completely disagree  , none of your statements made sense whatsoever
Second : Gears of war is not gonna be a trilogy and as far as I know we will see a Gears of War 5 in future

"I honestly doubt that matchmaking is something that is originally from halo..."

Yeah, what really matters is: Gears is fun. I like chainsaws. Bite me.

Reviews are opinions and you're not always going to agree with them. That being said, you obviously don't like Gears 2 and that's fine.  I think Wingman is awesome and I think the big maps are nice too. The Act with the Sires was not unnecessary, I thought that was a very interesting. Obviously the next Gears game will expand upon many things that were in this game. Having that area gives us some possible theories on who the Locust are. Also, many people have wished that Gears of War 2's matchmaking was like Halo's. It's not. I don't know how you see this.

I think planned trilogies are much better than when game's get unplanned sequels (this sometimes results in the sequel being carried out by a whole different team and doesn't result in a good game). That being said, Gears is said not to be a trilogy, they could carry on the series much further.

I find it odd that you would complain about the SP as it's one of the better SP shooter experiences this gen. The MP does have some problems but for a console shooter it's near the top quality wise. you say wingman is bad because of the large maps, when really the problem with wingman is weapon spawns and host advantage. I find smoke nades, wall tags, weapon respawn times, and limited options in matchmaking to be the biggest problems with gears2.

"Endogene said:

"I honestly doubt that matchmaking is something that is originally from halo..."

i'm pretty sure halo 2 is the first game with it

"First : I completely disagree  , none of your statements made sense whatsoever
Second : Gears of war is not gonna be a trilogy and as far as I know we will see a Gears of War 5 in future"

"Endogene said:

"I honestly doubt that matchmaking is something that is originally from halo..."

i'm pretty sure halo 2 is the first game with it


and OP ur not looking at the big picture: GEARS 2 IS FUN AND LONG LASTING"

"crunchUK said:

"Endogene said:

"I honestly doubt that matchmaking is something that is originally from halo..."

i'm pretty sure halo 2 is the first game with it

Did the original UT not also have this? It has been a while since i played it but i thought it did."

"crunchUK said:

"Endogene said:

"I honestly doubt that matchmaking is something that is originally from halo..."

i'm pretty sure halo 2 is the first game with it

Did the original UT not also have this? It has been a while since i played it but i thought it did."

Wow what a load of a take op.  Gears 2 is improved so much from the first game and we can hope the game evolves again even more in the next installment.  The sp is so much bigger, longer ,and more fun.  They expanded the core gameplay(fight hordes of locusts)that was by far the most fun from the first, and dropped most of the tired, tedious, typical boss gameplay from the first.  The narrative while mildly interesting, is really pretty superfluous because the gameplay is so fun, just like the Halo series.  And the game is flatout gorgeous and just looks better and better the farther you get in the sp, certainly not 'cartoony'.  Horde mode alone makes the mp far better, and the matchmaking is getting updated and smoothed out promptly.  10 maps and 5  reduxs for free, so you get 15 to start.  And DLC already available.  Shit, what more do you want?  Gears 2 does everything better than the first, admittedly with a little easier difficulty.  Meeting the masses half way was to be expected....still a load of fun to play thru insane w/a bud online.

Aside from SPOILERS AHOY the scene where Dom finds Maria END SPOILERS, the whole thing just feels terribly overdone. I preferred the original games "Gun, bad guys, big bomb underground." storyline, as opposed to a plot which combines the worst elements of a space marine shooter and a jrpg.
I actually prefer the new gameplay style, even if I am disappointed a bit by the difficulty(I can handle drones at close range without cover on Normal.)
But co-op Horde makes up for the flaws.