Gears Of War 2 Review

BY Rabie Hassoun and Tarell Salem | POSTED: 08 November 2008

An evolutionary sequel that curb stomps its predecessor in every way.



It’s safe to say the way action shooters were played and developed was altered forever with the release of the first Gears of War. Many gamers bought the game because of the hype; they wanted to see what was up with all the high scores and favourable reactions from every site and magazine on earth. Well most of those people that did buy the game are probably still playing the game online to this day. Some people beat it multiple times on each difficulty. Others made sure every friend they have had bought a 360 and finished the game online on coop with them. That is how huge and enjoyable the first Gears of War was. So with the release of the highly anticipated sequel, one can only wonder how Epic could possibly top themselves. After spending the past few days with Gears of War 2, we can say with confidence that Epic has indeed outdone itself.

First off, this game has epic written all over it, and no we don’t mean the developer. While the first 10 minutes in the game might seem too familiar to veterans of the first, the action picks up fast and almost never let’s up until the credits roll. It’s very true though that the foundations the first game laid down are still intact. They have however in almost all cases been tweaked or greatly improved upon. These include having more cover options this time around such as the Rock Worm, which crawls around in search of glowing underground fruit to munch on allowing you to use its bulletproof body as cover. Not to mention a greatly improved AI, and storyline that’s been expanded and improved upon over the first games efforts (or lack thereof). The latter is done through far better scripted (and to a degree voice acted) cut scenes that largely focus on Dom’s search for his wife Maria, making the War with the Locust hordes all the more personal. Without spoiling anything though we will say the story does proceed into some clichéd waters during the games final few Acts, but overall the story twists are appealing despite being seen coming from miles away.

Players will again assume the role of Marcus Fenix and his brooding bad ass ways (or Dom in coop). The other members of Delta, Cole and Baird are back and better than ever. You’ll quickly find that unlike the first game, your allies AI is vastly improved, so much so that when all 3 are together at the same time you can pretty much twiddle your thumbs for the most part, unless you’re playing on insane that is. Not only do your team mates seem to be near immortal at times but they can even revive you as well on lower difficulties should you bite it. It’s a great feeling no longer having to baby sit and make sure they stay in one piece. Now they revive each other, take cover and watch your back during intense battles. We can easily recall 10 situations in which the AI came up big and saved the day and our useless asses at the same time. There are rare occasions though where your team mates take a back seat and leave everything up to you, but this happens so rarely we only noticed it two or three times during our playthroughs.

The enemy Locust AI has seen improvements as well, and they will actively go out of their way to harass the hell out of you. Whether that means flanking your only means of cover or kamikaze rushing your location, should they feel the urge. The buggers can even revive each other, just like your team mates. There are some new additions to the Locust army for you to blow up as well. These range from Tickers, new fast moving explosive carrying crawlers that rush towards you and explode. Variations of the Boomers found in the first game that carry portable Mulchers or swinging maces and holding shields (which you can use yourself once you down them). The most notable new addition would have to be the Locust Kantus. These resilient and fearsome warriors roll away from your fire and take cover almost as well as you do. They even throw a new kind of poison gas grenade at you forcing you out of your cover and into their fire. The mighty Brumaks that you were teased with in the first game are out in full force this time around, giving those who didn’t play the PC version numerous chances at killing them. The boss battles deserve special mention as well, if not for their increase in number this time around, then because of how fun and awesome they are. With the exception of the last boss of course which we won’t talk about for obvious reasons.

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