Gears of War 2

So, I just finished up Gears of War 2 recently and I have to say it's not an entirely huge improvement over the first one. That's not really too bad though, since the first one was such a stellar game. Tweaks to some of Gears 1's shortcomings are improved here, and while some additions are downright awesome (Horde, I'm looking at you) there are others that are a bit questionable.

We'll start with the campaign. Two player co-op returns, unfortunately for those of you who were hoping for a chance to go four-player. Here, you'll find that shortly after the curtains fell on the first Gears, the Locusts have retaliated in full force despite the heavy blow dealt them by the Lightmass Bomb. The Kryll have all been annihilated along with many of the horde's numbers. The war has taken it's toll on both sides, and now human and locust alike are desparate to end the war as quickly as possible. The locust's tactic? Bringing down entire cities one after the other, and after much success they're now coming straight for humankind's last bastion: Jacinto. This is where you resume your role as Marcus Fenix, gritty and foul-mouthed leader of Delta Squad, and where the game starts. Despite the first game's seemingly hollow storyline and often criticized script, bringing along respected talent Joshua Ortega, who has tenure in the comic book industry (with such superheroes as Spider-Man and Batman) has shown a huge improvement in the overall narrative. There are a few tear-jerking moments here, and a nice twist for those patient enough to wait out the credits (a la Metal Gear Solid). My only hope is that there's a prequel story somewhere that goes into depth about Marcus' mysterious father and the oft-mentioned Pendulum Wars.

Now, for the gameplay. You'll not see a huge improvement here, much of the same (the old adage "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" can be applied here) . New guns shake things up a little bit, though some of them (Gorgon, Flamethrower, etc) are a bit side-lined by your mainstay's reliability and ammo-availability. They're flashy additions, but nothing I'd miss if they weren't there. Although there's nothing quite as satisfying as finding your mortars bombarding helpless locusts and the sounds of the bombs and bits flying apart. It truly speaks Gears.

Online! Here's where Gears of War was somewhat faulted (though criticism seems polarized, you love it or hate it). You'll now find a huge amount of new content, ranging from 5 on 5 warzone/execution to the newly dubbed "Submission" mode, where you must down a living target and drag him(a.k.a. the meatflag) to a ring (a la annex) for the win. It's basically a saddistic game of Capture the Flag. Horde mode is by far the biggest and best of the new game modes, pitting 5 player controlled Gears vs. wave after wave of Locusts. There are 50 in all, so be prepared for a marathon of locust-slaying mayhem, assuming your team is up for the challenge. I won't lie, this is pretty difficult without teamwork, and those lone rangers out there will find themselves in a heap of trouble should they decide to stick to their "charge in and shoot" tactics. Gone are the lobbies of old; replaced with a Call of Duty 4/Halo 3-esqued party match-up. I have to be honest though, while it's better than having to wait for 8 players to jump into a room before the host starts the game, there are often times where I'll be sitting in a playlist waiting for other players to spawn. I don't know if this is due to network issues, or people just not playing those particular playlists. And since you can't drop in and out of matches already in session, you might find yourself waiting for a match to start for a bit longer than you expected. So, I don't think it's much of an improvement over the last entry, but somewhat streamlined nonetheless. You now have to vote for which map you play on, which can be kind of lame since a lot of people love playing Gridlock so you hardly get to see another map if that one happens to pop up. This is good or bad depending on which you prefer. Speaking of Gridlock, for those of you who are just renting this game, unfortunately you won't be able to play any of the 5 "Flashback" maps (Subway, Mansion, Gridlock, Tyro Station, and Canals) unless you purchase the game and download the pack via the code included with the game. And you'll find a lot of people seem to prefer these maps over the new ones. As for the tweaks to gameplay mentioned before, here there are numerous that will either please you or make you WISH you were playing Gear 1. Firstly, the old days of charging up and going at it with shotguns are long gone. There's just an odd recoil to the shotgun now and it seems to do a little bit less dmg than before. Also, your lancer now has "stopping power" to it, so if you're charging someone and they're putting lancer fire on you, you'll run very very slowly, almost guaranteeing yourself downed. The random chainsaw vs. chainsaw bs from before is gone, now with a "press B as fast as possible" minigame when two chainsaw-baring opponents collide. It's over real fast and one winner emerges, albeit blood-soaked. Or, someone could just come up and shotgun you while you're in the middle of it, which is usually the case. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Gone are the days when curb-stomping and chainsawing left you in God-mode for a few seconds. So choose wisely if you want to show off those awesome new executions (11 in all!).

Now, for the achievements. I like achievements. If it's a multiplatform game, I'm definitely coming for the xbox version for the achievements. Now, this time around, the achievements are WAY easier to get. There's no more "get 100 of these" achievements, and in one play-through you could rack up about 500 gamerpoints. Add another 150 if you play through again on Insane. The rest are from collectibles in the game, and your standard "win these types of games" and "get a few kills with this weapon" achievements. There are only a couple that stand out as difficult in my opinion, and those are the "Hoard the Horde" achievement (where you must win all 50 waves of Horde) and the "Seriously 2.0," where this time around you need 100,000 kills. It's not too bad though, seeing as how kills from any game mode count towards this achievement (yes, even campaign).

All in all, Gears of War 2 is an outstanding game. It's lived up to being bigger, better, and more badass. It's shortcomings are few, it's hype well-deserved, and every bit worth the $60, despite seeming almost like a Gears 1.5 at times. But that's not a bad thing at all, because Gears 1 was so amazing anyways. The campaign is an action-packed ride from start to finish and will leave you wanting more and the online component is so diverse that it may very well tide you over until Epic throws us a Gears of War 3. Hopefully with 100% more Carmine :)