Review: Gears of War 2By Locke on January 14th, 2009
Hey there, like I promised, here is my review for Gears of War 2: If you remembered anything from the first Gears of War, it’s that this wasn’t your daddy’s shooter. Nothing has changed. Gears of War once again pits you against the merciless Locust Horde, but this time, thanks to advances in the Unreal Engine, they come in massive waves. How big you say? Think marching bands with fuming, ugly faces. Once again you take control of Marcus Fenix, on a routine patrol of Jacinto, mankind’s last city in the wake of the Locust War. They give you a tutorial of sorts when a new Carmine brother joins Delta. You can either take a patrol with him to learn the ins and outs of Gears if you’re rusty, or dive straight into the action. Combat is intense, the Locust have gotten smart. In the last game they preferred to shoot and flank, using covering fire for safe passage. Now they’re shooting to hold you down while their second squad comes in to stomp your head in. They’ve added a few new weapons each of which is fairly effective in most situations. My favorite new weapon is their mortar gun. In tight situations where you are facing huge numbers of locust, or a very big one, this weapon levels the playing field quite nicely. A close second is a flamethrower you encounter about half-way through the game. Although it’s range is a big downside, it comes in handy when you are trying to take down those quick little Wretches before they can jump on you. A nifty new feature is the ability to crawl away when you are down and dying. This gives you time to move to a safe place before the Locust can finish you off. Unfortunately this works both ways; the Locust need to be killed before they can crawl away, or you’ll be missing the bullets. You can also pick up a crawling enemy and use them as a shield. This is handy when you want to press through heavily guarded areas and Dom hasn’t quite caught up to you. Not that Dom isn’t handy in this game; I’ve cursed his name many times in Gears 1, mostly because he either kept getting killed, or he refused to revive me, despite the fact that I was close enough to bleed on his boots. There are many moments where the story tears away from the Locust war to Dom’s personal mission; finding his lost wife Maria. While at first I found this a distraction from what I came for, it soon grew onto me, and I was drawn into this character’s history. Dom was different from the other Cogs, he had a family once. Suddenly he was a deeper character than the simple sidekick that spouted a few good quips during the game. The sequences in Gears never really leave you bored at all. The first game’s campaign was great, but this one is a freakin’ rush. Once it ends you feel satisfied with what was accomplished. You can feel a sense that the developers put a lot of effort into making a game world that you can believe in. Action is fast, and well-paced, with just the right amount of exploration mixed in between. It allows you to take in the local that makes up the world of Sera, and the characters that dwell in it. The game ends with closure thankfully, it doesn’t pull a cliff-hanger like Halo 2 did. But because this is part of a trilogy, there’s something at the end that hints at a sequel. The Multi-player in Gears is just as extreme as ever. The new weapons come with new challenges to overcome. Mastering each and every weapons is a great challenge, especially for me; I’m a horrible Gears player. There are new gametypes to enjoy, as well as maps from Gears 1 that have been remade for Gears 2. Horde mode is very fun; it’s a gametype where you and a squad of fellow gamers square off against wave after wave of Locust. They come in armies, so movement is essential. This game is fun online, but there are a few huge gaping flaws that I think need immediate attention. Connecting to a game was extremely annoying, each time a set was finished, I’d lose connection and have to go through an eight minute process of getting into a new server, which would not always load correctly. If this is the punishment for sucking at a game, how can one be inclined to keep playing if they are always kicked out before they can get the hang of the game? Glitches are very annoying, being punched through a wall, or shoot to death by an invisible jerkwad really gets on my nerves. Bungie has a policy against these kind of things, but with this many glitches, I’m not sure Epic can address them all. Lag! There’s no way at all to see if you’re lagging or not in a game. Halo and COD both have a way to check your connection in the matter of seconds to see if you’re not just sucking. I couldn’t tell whether or not I was lagging or if my opponents where demi-gods shot up with Valkyr. Automation! The process of picking a server manually has be removed indefinitely, leaving no choice but to trust the computer to pick the best server for you, rather than letting you pick the server with the map and gametype that YOU want. On the whole, Gears of War 2 is a must buy for it’s single player campaign. The multi-player is not for the faint at heart; you can expect to die many, many times before you start getting some frags. There is a mode to practice with bots, but it’s ultimately up to your skills with each weapon that determines victory for you. The game is near perfect and a damn fine sequel. Epic, you can expect my money in your pockets if you were to make a Gears of War 3. ————————————— Bottom Line: Gears of War 2 gets a 9/10 for it’s great story, stunning graphics, and epic gameplay. If you own an Xbox, and haven’t played a great shooter in a while, place your trust in this game. -Locke |
lol a lot of different games you are talkin about 😉
I recommend Dark orbit…