[XBOX 360] Gears of War 2

 

 

 

Everyone knows Gears of War, the first game was revolutionary and a classic. and a much wanted sequel followed

In Gears of war 2 its a continuation of everything in the first game, theres a few new features and mechanics like meat shields and chainsaw duels among others.

Its the same game as GOW1, all the shooting and cover based mechanics are very much unchanged, its really just more levels and continuation of story.
Though, a ton of new enemy types have been added which are awesome.

Theres four difficulties, three are unlocked by default and the hardest you need to finish the campaign atleast once.
Of course, I played in cooperative mode on the 2nd hardest difficulty (hardest avalible by default)

So the levels can be actually hit and miss.
And honestly the first half of the campaign is underwhelming
You have a lot of the standard in the streets/apartment buildings levels which are decent, but a significant chunk of the campaign is these 'filler' levels. There is atleast 6 entire vehicle levels, be it flying these alien monsters, driving tanks, vehicles ,
Then you have another handful of boring levels where you just sit on a turret and mow enemies down for 15 minutes, or stand on a moving platform like a train. Theres a lot of that crap in the first half of the campaign and it just feels like filler.

Besides those moments, you have some really memorable and amazing segments, mostly and especially in the second half of the game, lots of weird alien caverns, and places that look like they belong in Quake 1 or something, some really crazy bosses like the sea monster and another level which takes place inside of the guts of some huge monster.

One of the greatest things about the game is the gigantic variety in monsters. It seems every 30 minutes you're always coming across some new variety of enemy to fight, they all look awesome and menancing and are engaging too. You got these ticking time bomb little crawling monsters, giant guys with flails/swords/shields, standard grunt soldiers,  sniper guys, Commanders with exploding crossbows, the list goes on.

A lot of the game is spent in dimly lit caves or city streets, which is fine, but it does lack a some exciting locations from time to time.

Sometimes you have these options in co-op to pick a path where you and your IRL partner split up , but usally theres another AI teammate to help you if you go down. These parts are decent for mixing it up, but sometimes the way to progress can be annoying and unobvious like tiny switches hidden on the walls in huge rooms.

A lot of the love for this game I think comes from the story and dialogue. The writing is genuinely entertaining and has a lot of hilarious parts and funny voice acting , just tough guys saying macho shit and being snarky. Its also a very emotive story, looking for loved ones and some crazy dark cutscenes like the one where the guy gets his brain warped and then commits suicide.

The difficulty felt just right and definitely a good game for co-op teamwork, the classic 'downed' mechanic where you crawl around and your buddy can pick you back up causes a lot of high tension moments.

The gunplay of course is very similar to gears 1, its unique and a lot of weapon variety, but it can feel like the enemies are bullet sponges while youre dumping magazines into them just for them to hide behind cover and regain health, not really a negative more a nuance of the gameplay, the enemies are almost as tough as the players.

So the first half of the game is a lot of crawling around generic looking caverns, dark apartment buildings, city streets, some turret/train sections though it has one unique level inside the monsters belly, so the first half could be a bit dull. But the second half of the game it started to pick up, except for the vehicle sections like the tanks and the flying monsters crap, filler filler.

The levels in the section have are very other worldly and nautical, and it has a few boss fights which really helped out the experience. You start to get introduced to more and more enemy types , and it gets more challenging and levels more interesting.
Like you start to experience levels that are like big open medevial castles and creepy palaces, deep into the enemy hive. The arenas start opening up, and you have these places where you can lower or raise cover to hide behind with switches. These parts were the highlight of the game as it had a lot of expansive combat opportunitys and large scale battle without the filler.

The graphics are also very impressive for a 2008 game and a lot of the models and draw distance and enviorments are great, especially the monster designs and that insane water boss, it just looks incredible no matter what the release date is.
Theres a few other bosses, like the one where the guy knocks down the pillars and goes into chainsaw battles with you, pretty high tension thrilling cooperative action there as well.

Then the last hour or so of the game is spent on this stupid flying monster vehicle which again, just felt like lame filler. These sections are even more boring in co-op because the co-op partner barely does anything just shoots the turret. After that you fight through the streets some more, then get into yet another vehicle section some giant mech, which felt like more filler, then you see the "final boss" where you shoot him for 10 seconds then the game ends.

Its a great co-op game, a decent Gears game, but personally I think some of the level design was under whelming and had a bit too much filler in my opinion to call a 'masterpiece' like a lot of other people seem to think it is. Its a classic gears game, the controls are great (albeit with some hiccups like accidentally snapping to cover instead of rolling out of danger, a problem in all gears games for me) graphics are very impressive, and the story, characters, and dialogue are engaging and fun.

7/10