The Official Geekscape Gears of War 2 Review

The holiday season has officially begun with the release of Microsoft’s newest release: Gears of War 2. It’s been a two-year long wait and every die-hard fan just about has it now. For those of you on the fence, this is review is for you.

The Humans of Sera have known nothing but war and bloodshed. Ninety six dead face them, and battles have plagued the planet’s surface. Humanity was thrown into a conflict that is known as the Pendulum Wars. Humanity was then forced to unite itself as one against the underground monsters known as the Locusts.

Now, if you’ve played the first game, you know all of this. You know that Humanity is at the brink of extinction and is defending its last hope of surviving: Jacinto. The game opens up with a theatrical vibe. We know what’s going down so it jumps right into the action. We get the same Delta Squad we left in Gears 1. Marcus and Dom’s friendship is portrayed as a stronger one, as it should be. The characters that are worth a damn are mentioned within the first 10 minutes.

There is a much-needed injection of large-scale battles in the game, something that Gears 1 cried out for. With your new comrades, you no longer have to rely on your co-op partner to pick you up during that firefight – but just because you have more support behind you doesn’t mean the enemies are any easier to kill.

The playing style is the same: take cover when being fired at and rev that chainsaw up when it gets up close and personal. The Lancer has a slower rate of fire, but it’s for the best. It kicks ass. The Hammerburst no longer has the burst in it. It’s a change, but it adds variety to the weapons. New additions include a mortar, a flamethrower, and a large machine gun. These babies have the power to take down a Locust of any size. And for these babies to have any fun, they need toys. Toys in the form of things to kill.

The most noticeable change in enemies is, of course, the Boomers. What used to be the giant brutes that made the ground shake with every step, now come in different preferences. You wouldn’t want to run into one of these in a dark alley.

Other Locusts have the ability to pick up fallen allies for another go around at your human ass, while some simply toss ‘nades at you. You either don’t run into the same class often, or sometimes it’s too intense for you to notice. Take your pick.

As far as graphical achievements, many might say they see no difference. That can be partly true, but only in character detail. The scenery and environments are gorgeous. This is definitely one of the best looking 360 games out there. There aren’t any stumbles with framerate and at some points, you may just want to look around. This game will not bore you with the same walls in every chapter and destructible environments. Even in the multiplayer, they helped build on this.

Overall, the game’s story has taken a turn toward the dark side, (and I don’t mean force. Just an overall feel). The music in the campaign is somewhat depressing and so are the elements in the story. It makes a good and engaging session for any gamer that takes the story more seriously than others. I did shed a tear once or twice, as you’re meant to. So shut up. The characters are easy to love, some more than others depending on who you are, and the game wraps up some lose ends along with creating new questions. The first game was clearly a setup. Some deep stuff went down in the story and setup to what could be a third title.

If you play Halo, are into Call of Duty, and are planning on getting a shooter this week, definitely make that shooter Gears of War 2.

– Jake108