Gears of War 2

Well the first question that sprung to my mind when I heard that Gears of War will have a sequel was, How would they top it? All I can say now is that they have gone so far passed the top they are almost out of this world. Gears of War 2 has not only built on what the first game was about but it has actually added things which has made the game feel fresh.


The main thing that Epic was promoting about this game was a more bigger single player experience. The story starts about six months after the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb at the end of the first game, and from there you are thrown straight into the battle against the invading Locust Horde, again. There are five acts to go through and a lot of variation through the levels so that you don't get bored of seeing the same environments. It will take you through ruined cities, vast forests, the Locust undergrounds and even up mountains. The story will take about 10 hours to complete depending on what difficulty you do it on and Epic have provide enough variation in difficulty for everyone. The story in general is a lot more flushed out and has great boss battle, great cut scenes which move the story along at a steady pace and even new characters which gave the whole story and world a more believable feel.


All the weapons from the first game make a welcome return. However, they are now a lot more balanced and there seems to be a weapon for every scenario. They have thrown in a few new weapons for good measure like the Scorchers which is basic flamethrower, a new pistol which fires in bursts. Some heavy weapons like the Mulcher which is a Gatling gun, Mortar and a shield that you can deploy for cover. There is also a new meaning in this game of close quarter combat.


The new executions are some of the most gruesome and brilliant things in gaming history. Thereare roughly 11 different executions from punching someone to death when they are on the ground, to using your gun as a club to smack a head off. Its all there. Then the standard curb stomp is back and a standard melee. You can also now take people hostage when they are down and use them as a human shield to block enemy shots until the body is cut to bits by gun fire. One of the biggest additions to the system is chainsaw duels. If two people run at each other with a chainsaw revving they will go into a small mini game where you have to hammer B for about 4-5 seconds and who ever press it the mosts get to slice the other in two. All of these features just makes the game feel fresh and you keep wondering how should I show off my superiority.



All of these features spread over into the multiplayer which has not changed much, which is good because why change what already works. However they have definitely cleaned up on some of the problems that the first one had. The major thing is that you can take a party of four of your friends into a matchmaking lobby. However I have noticed that it is very slow at matching you up with people to play with. Here you can fight on any game modes that allows the full five people fighting. They still have the classic Warzone, Execution Annex and King of the Hill but on top of that they have Wingman which is a 2v2v2v2v2, which is basically assassination from the first one but revamped to make it better where if the Leader dies your team cannot respawn. Finally there is Submission which was called MeatFlag and this is just basically Capture the Flag but the flag is a man called Franklin and yes he can kill you and most of the time he will.


One big addition is the Horde mode where you can have again up to four of your friends join you as you tackle wave after wave of Locusts. There are 50 waves and even though you think you might be the best at Gears of War you will need help in this. After every 10 waves the enemies will get more accurate more stronger and much more f@*king annoying, in a good way. This mode has so much to offer. You can set the A.I difficulty and you can play it on all the maps which gives you different experiences every time, as you have to think of different points to defend against the onslaught.


The whole feels of the game comes across in the graphics. Even thought it looks the same it should. However everything is a lot more detailed and bigger. The slicing someone in two has never looked better and by the time you get to the end of the game your jaw will be on the floor. There are just so many moments in the game which takes your breath away. The sound design is brilliant as well. The music has been revamped and you can really feel the tension rise when the music hits in the bigger moments of the game. The weapons have also had a sound upgrade. The Lancer feels punchier and all around the whole packed is great.


So after all of that I will answer the question. Is Gears of War 2 just Gears of War 1.5. NO. It is so much more. Epic has raised the bar for cinematic gameplay and story telling but not only that they have given the great Gears of War multiplayer we always wanted them to balance. This game is brilliant and even though there are some still graphical texture loading problems they have smoothen the animated instead of the jump in they used to do. Gears of War 2 has brought back great memories and I am hoping it will live on through its multiplayer.