Sweeeeet Emulsion 

Title: Gears of War 2
Publisher/Developer: Microsoft Games/Epic Games
Platform: Xbox 360
Release Date: 11/07/2008
Number of Players: Single-player and Co-op Campaign/ 10 players Online

You already know how this will end… Yeah, the commercials for this bad-boy are still stuck in my head. Rightfully so, too, given that I am still playing the hell out of Gears 2 to this very date (yes, I am an achievement monger so working for “Seriously” and “Party Like It’s 1999” are some achievements that take a little time). As I look back on 2008 I am taking the time to re-review some games that have already been covered by some of our other writers. When it came to First Person Shooter sequels for 2008, two were high on my list. I will cover the second one in another article. Suffice it to say, Gears 2 was one of them. So what are Marcus and Dom up to theses days? Well, I will tell you that whatever they are up to, they are up to their necks in it.

If you’ve playerd Gears of War 1 you should know pretty much what to expect out of Gears of War 2. If you haven’t played Gears of War 1 what the hell have you been playing? Okay, assuming you’re new to Gears here’s the “Previously On…” scoop. First, no matter how much you may think the cities and the planet itself may look like Earth, it’s not. Welcome to Sera, a colony filled with pesky Earthlings. As man is man, there was some contention over who would control the energy source found on Sera called “Emulsion”. Some fisticuffs ensue, some expletives were hurled about, and lots of guns were brought to bear.

Of course, none of that meant squat since no one apparently bothered to see if Sera was already inhabited. Enter the Locust; humanoid, underground dwelling, and pissed. As per the Hollywood usual, mankind forgets their petty squabbles to face down this outside threat. Needless to say, it’s a bitch when the “outside threat” actually likes to come up from out the ground pretty much wherever they please.

Enter the Anti-Hero, Marcus Fenix. Gears 1 recap: Marcus was in jail because he didn’t follow orders and his father was none to loved by the COGs. Locusts attack. Marcus is released from jail to help fight. Big bomb, Locust die, Marcus apparently doesn’t even complain that he’s done jail-time now… he’s got a gun and that makes him happy. There, now you are up to speed.

Gears of War 2 takes place roughly 6 months after the ending of Gears of War 1. Needless to say “big bomb” didn’t quite do what the humans thought it would do. The Locust are back and they are pissed. How pissed you ask? How about sinking entire cities down into the bowels of Sera? Yeah, I’d call that pissed. You know what else pissed them off? Not having chainsaw bayonet guns themselves. So apparently the Locust started shopping at the same hunting goods stores this time around because their bringing Lancers of their own, the mainstay weapon of choice for the COG (Coalition of Organised Government) forces.

The Gears series has mastered the “cover system” in combat like few other games can boast. Sure, you have to overlook the convenient fact that there’re waist-high walls just about everywhere, but the system works great. While Gears is technically an FPS (First Person Shooter) you’re more than welcome to fire blindly from the 3rd person perspective you will see for the majority of the game, just don’t expect to hit as much. There wasn’t really a lot in the way of changes to the combat system in this Gears outing. In fact, I can only think of one or two things really. That’s not to say that it’s a bad thing; Epic just nailed it the first time around. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Now I did say “one or two” things. I am going to pause a moment and go over one of those changes because, well, it kick rumps and takes names. The Lancer Bayonet, a chainsaw that someone opted to weld to the bottom of a big-ass assault rifle, was always fun to use to split your Locust enemy in two in Gears 1. Want to take it up a notch? How about locking bayonets in a struggle for life and limb with a Locust who’s none too happy to see you invading his (or her… kinda hard to tell) turf? In Gears 2 you can lock blades in a power struggle with your Lancer-wielding Locust counter-parts. Furiously pressing buttons to make sure you’re the hacker, not the hackee. While this may sound “ho-hum” to some people let me tell you that the first time you are in the middle of a fire fight and you find yourself suddenly locked in a chainsaw struggle with Mr. Ugly, it will get your attention. Not to mention, there’s a nice little achievement for winning these little melee matches waiting for you.

Gears 2 runs on the Unreal 3 Engine, pushing the Engine for all it’s worth if you ask me. Despite some graphical errors, the game looks great. I still think the character models all look like they’ve been on the Mr. Universe weight-bulking and body-building diet plan, but that’s a personal preference. To me, one of the biggest achievements pulled off in this generation of graphics is the fact that you can see a location off in the distance and assume that it is background imagery just like we’ve been used to for years. However, you can actually keep your eye on that location as you approach and realise that it is, in fact, part of the map, closing in and coming into focus as you approach.

Graphically, the game suffers from two issues. The first is an art preference, while the second is a technical issue.

The first issue is the drab, bland colour pallet used in the game. Yes, we get it, things are in ruins. We’re underground. It’s not a pretty world. The problem is that it is easy to lose sight of things as they just sort of blend into the brown and grey background. This isn’t s much a problem on the surface as it is underground, but it can get annoying nevertheless.

The second issue I have seen on a few 360 titles that were not there on their PC counter-parts. Texture loading can sometimes be out-of-sync. Occasionally when loading into a new map, be it through the campaign or multiplayer, textures will take a little longer to load up than they should. What this means is you’ll actually hit the ground running while shooting and the textures of the environment may still be loading under your feet from low-res to HD. It’s obviously not a game-stopping flaw, but I can’t help but notice it every time it happens. Then again, this is my job, I am supposed to notice when things like that happen.

The campaign for Gears 2 is roughly 8-9 hours long depending on your skill-level and at which difficulty setting you are playing. This is a sweet-spot for me when it comes to shooters because, frankly, you can only do the same thing so many times. There are the obligatory “fighting from vehicle” moments in the game, but they (Epic) did decide to mix tings up this time around… which I won’t give away. But nonetheless, once you have hopped over enough cover and blown up enough Locust, you’ve done it all. I am not saying that this is a bad thing. I just feel it is more to the point that the story is the driving point. 8 Hours is fine for telling the story without dragging it out.

Oh, but the hours upon hours upon hours added by the Multiplayer modes! Now this is somewhere the Gears series shines. Let me go ahead and say this now so that a certain group of fans can look up my address and mail me death threats: Gears of War trumps the Halo series when it comes to multiplayer in my book. There, I’ve said it. It’s out. You know how I feel. In Gears 2, the same great multiplayer modes are there: 5v5 versus matches and campaign co-op fighting. However, this time around we were given the “Horde”. 50 waves of ever increasing in difficulty and number Locust charging you and 4 friends as you try to hold out for as long as you can. Sounds easy enough… well… I have made it to 32 rounds. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but damned it is fun.

With the multiplayer and co-op systems in place I can happily say that you will get every penny’s worth of your money out of this game. With new maps added via DLC there’s a steady pace of “newness” to come back to and the co-op mode lets you get a different experience from the campaign depending on who you have as your wingman. In this economic day and age it is very, very nice to see games that offer the consumer a hell of a lot of playtime. In this, Gears 2 does not disappoint.

The Review:

Story:

Honestly, the story is fun and adequate, but I am not going to act like it’s an Oscar-worthy script. What I will ask you, the reader, to stop and realise though is this: You may think you’re the good guy. You make think you are the savior of the human race. You may think the Locust are nasty, good-for-nothing grubs. But remember this, you invaded Sera. They were already there.

Gameplay:

It’s a great blend of 1st to 3rd person perspective. Of course, the “duck and run with a shaky cam” system is still not for those prone to motion sickness. There was no need to steer away from the tried and true “cover system” from Gears 1. It works, and I like it that way, dammit. I will state though that occasionally slamming against a wall when you were intending to run gets obnoxious. Changing the “take cover” and “run” buttons to separate input would have been a wise idea.

Music/Sound:

As I sit here writing this review in silence I am trying to recall the music from the game. You know what? I really can’t. Other than the menu music with is hauntingly militaristic I cannot recall the music. That’s either because it didn’t stand out, or the gunfire drowned it out.

The voice acting is top-notch. Who cares is the dialogue is cliché, it’s supposed to be. DiMaggio is great as Marcus Fenix. Warning: Unless you change the settings, prepare yourself for the “F-bomb” every 90 seconds or so (I think that was a calculation Epic put in place).

Graphics:

The Unreal 3 Engine has been one of the best and most widely used graphic engines out there. It doesn’t fail to amaze in Gears 2. Some of the above ground shots are just stunning. Other than the two flaws I listed above, the graphic ability of Gears 2 stands up there at the front of the class.

The Good:

Replayability out the whazoo (which is where replayability comes out of in case you were wondering). With the Co-op system and the great multiplayer modes you will get a lot of enjoyment out of Gears 2.

The Bad:

The texture load issue is something I just can’t overlook and will, unfortunately, lose a few points for the game in my book. With the powerhouses of modern platforms, this really shouldn’t be happening. Frankly, I will accept a few seconds longer on a “loading screen” to avoid having to see this.

The Ugly:

The multiplayer is great… when you can get the matchmaker to give you a break. Find team, wait for 4 other members of similar “skill”, find 4 other members, wait to find opposing team of similar  “skill”, ready to… dammit, someone left because this was taking too long. Now we have to start over. A more traditional game server listing would have really done a lot better here.

Overall:

3 times through the campaign and 100s of multiplayer matches and I am still loving the game. In fact, even though I am a review writer and I have literally dozens of games every few weeks to play and review, I find myself going back to Gears 2 in the wee hours of the night to just blow off steam. There weren’t any real vast improvements over Gears 1, but that’s simply because the game didn’t need it. It’s simple, it’s fun, and it will keep you coming back. What more can you ask for?

Final Vote: 8.5/10