Gears of War 2

Gears of War was one of the only shooters I can say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed – the over-the-shoulder camera, new cover system and a great multiplayer mode all contributing to what I felt was a truly epic (no pun intended) game. Fast forward two years and Epic has finally released the game’s sequel, which has been quoted of being “bigger, better and more badass”. While I don’t feel all of these terms are completely fitting descriptions of Gears 2, I can say that this is one sequel that shooter fans do not want to miss out on.

It’s clear that Epic have really strived hard to present you with a real blockbuster with Gears 2, and first impressions are simply stunning. The soundtrack has been orchestrated by the same man behind Transformers and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Steve Jablonsky, and really sets the dark mood during the game’s campaign. Sound effects are all very crisp, but crisper still are the visuals. A lot more detail is presented in Gears 2 than its predecessor, as well as some fantastic lighting in the game’s new environments, which really makes the game all the more immersive.

The story is set roughly six months after the events of the first game, and the situations are a lot darker this time around. The locust enemies of Sera’s underground have sunken cities all around the human’s last retreat, Jacinto, and the Gears are forced to, essentially, take the war to the Locust if they have any hope of saving the world from Locust takeover. Marcus’s companion, Dominic Santiago, is also searching for his lost wife Maria, a plotline probably made to give a bit more emotion to the characters which up until now were only noticed to express anger and fear. At times these gooey plot advancements can feel a bit awkward given the gory, testosterone-high gameplay which has always driven Gears rather than the plot, but it doesn’t detract from the game – rather, giving all the more reason for the player to keep playing until they reach the next set piece.

It’s evident from the very beginning that the designers have upped the scale in Gears 2, and it won’t be too long before you’ll be taking on the toughest enemies from the original, including the giant Corpser spiders and walking dino-tanks, the Brumaks, as if they were like any other regular enemy in the game. The level design enforces this belief of ‘bigger is better’, moving away from the tightly-enclosed ruin areas from the first game and using a large variety of new locales, including forests, mountains, underground caverns and enemy fortresses. There’s also a range of new weaponry and new gameplay mechanics for players to mess with. You’ll have access to flamethrowers, portable mortars and chain guns, portable cover in the form of a ‘boomshield’ as well as some new grenade types which can be used to poison opponents over time. There’s a bunch of new execution moves, the ability to stick grenades to terrain as a form of mine, as well as the ability to enter a chainsaw duel each time you approach an enemy when both of your chainsaws are revved. I found that not only was the control of weapons tighter this time around, but the superior level design coaxed me into trying out weapons I would never have thought of touching in the previous game. There’s a nice amount of effective opportunities for sniper rifles, flamethrowers are really neat for catching close up enemies hiding in cover, whereas mortars can be used to send a hail of heavy fire down upon multiple enemies from far away. While I may have been more than satisfied about using my standard chainsaw-equipped Lancer and a couple of grenades for each set piece in the original game, I think the variety of well-balanced weapons available here makes the campaign that much more enjoyable.

The campaign itself will likely take between ten and fifteen hours for most players, but this also depends on which difficulty level you’re playing and whether you’re going solo or co-op with a friend. It was lucky for me that I found a commitment-free weekend to go through the campaign, since once I got started it was far too hard to stop. The set pieces are nicely varied, and while the first Gears game featured the same sorts of firefights each after the other, there’s enough split in between these basic skirmishes in order to keep you entertained. Unfortunately all good things come to an end, and in the case of this game’s campaign it happens a bit too quickly. You’ll find the campaign slowly building up as you go but it reaches a premature climax at the end of Act 4, and everything thereafter feels quite disappointing in comparison. And while I realise Gears has never been revered for its boss fights among all things, you can’t help but shake your head at how incredibly awful the final ‘boss fight’ is, especially with the mouth watering, visually outstanding cutscenes leading up to this point in time.

Now, what allowed the original Gears to live so long was its multiplayer, and while I can say that multiplayer here is impressive and can be fun, it doesn’t offer such a groundbreaking experience as its predecessor. One of the first things I tried after purchasing the game was the public online multiplayer in one of the versus match types, but this didn’t turn out too well for a couple of reasons. Matchmaking has been broken, and the inconsistent lag for non-host players still exists. A personal example being when I approached an enemy from behind with my chainsaw revved before being hit with lag – the next thing I knew I myself had been chainsawed by that very player. These aren’t the only problems experienced, as players will soon realise that there are a plethora of exploitable bugs in the multiplayer which can be used to gain the upper hand, so eventually winning a public match comes down to learning how to glitch, else you’ll lose.

Playing privately with friends you can trust solves this, as well as having the benefit of being able to rub in that great headshot after the match ends. What it doesn’t solve, however, is the lag and host advantage if you’re online, which is something which should have been solved after the first game with some proper, dedicated servers. Perhaps the best addition to the multiplayer is the new Horde mode, which allows up to five players to play cooperatively against the locust, fighting to survive each successive wave of enemies as the horde grows stronger. It takes a lot of teamwork and can get very hectic later on, but is easily one of the most fun multiplayer modes I have played in a long time. For the more competitive types, there’s a number of other new modes which have been thrown into the mix. Submission is a Gears rendition of the classic capture the flag, except that now your ‘flag’ is a hostile, stranded human with a shotgun who will try to kill anyone who approaches him, regardless of which team they’re on. Another nice addition is the Wingman mode, which features up to five teams of two going head to head at once, a mode very dependant on heavy teamwork between you and your partner if you have any hope of outlasting the rest of the teams.

If you didn’t fancy the concept of Gears beforehand, then chances are your views on Gears 2 are going to be similar. The underlying formula is still the same and most improvements come as small additions to the already well established formula in a ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ manner. However, I feel that these minor embellishments really add up in the end, and despite some small issues with a few aspects of the multiplayer and campaign Gears 2 has turned out to be a very worthy sequel which is sure to give many an action fan their fix for a long time.