Off the bat, Gears of War 2 has number of improvements over its predecessor. In particular, the story is much stronger and delivered in a much more meaningful manner, though knowledge of the original is recommended. The story will never be deep enough to compare with a game such as GTA IV or Metal Gear Solid 4, as there is still a lot of meat-head military banter flying around. However, the constant doubt seeded in the player’s mind over which faction, the humans or the Locust, is actually winning or doing the ‘right’ thing, as well as the deeper character development and one heck of a wild ride is what makes for a more exciting and fulfilling narrative, even if a few things are left unexplained or don’t make sense.
The addition of colour is nothing to smirk at.
Overall, Gears of War 2 is a better game, though essentially the same one as its predecessor. There have been some minor improvements, though given the success of the original, the development team obviously went with the old mantra ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’. Thankfully, a few of the things that were broken have been fixed, to an extent. While Gears of War 2 provides the same type of visceral and intense action of its predecessor, it does so with an increased level of variety and a stronger design. Still, not everything is quite where you’d expect it to be, especially for such a blockbuster title.
The crux of Gears of War had players moving taking control of either the main protagonist, Marcus Fenix or his squad mate Dom Santiago, through numerous situations involving the use of cover and stop-and-pop gunplay. Gears of War 2 follows a similar structure, though there is an added variety to the situations that you’ll encounter. While said variety is stronger in the first half of the game, there are numerous memorable and exciting set pieces that the player really has to experience for themselves to make the most of them.
It’s not all stop-and-pop, as there are a few curly situations through out the game. These include a sequence where you’re required to manufacture your own cover from 'razor hail', carry an explosive box with a partner and protect your partner from automated security systems. The most interesting one was where you had cover that you have to ‘move’ in order to protect your partner and that was certainly the high point of variety. Furthermore, there are a few more boss fights and they’re much more exciting and breathtaking this time around. There are a couple of vehicle sequences, though the main one is very frustrating due to very slippery controls and a couple of trial-and-error parts. There other two, well, you’re best off seeing them for yourselves. A few other minor additions to the games arsenal include a poison grenade, boom shield, flamethrower, Gatling gun and Mortar cannon.
Yeah, that's going to work.
The major improvements come from the friendly AI and difficulty curve. Believe it or not, you now actually have AI partners that are useful. They’ll take cover as required and actually help you pick off enemies. Even though they are still prone to gaffs (such as a reluctance to rush to revive you), this improvment is the most welcome. Sometimes when you’re lost, they’ll line up at the place where you’re meant to go next, which is quite handy. It certainly makes for a less frustrating game, though not necessarily an easier one. The difficulty curve is much smoother this time around. The set pieces aren’t so erratically difficult, so you’re only likely to be repeating the one sequence a lot at the back end of the game.
If your main beef with Gears of War was the control scheme, then you’re not going to like it any better this time around. Apart from the addition of a few finishing animations, the controls in the sequel are the same as before. However, the level design is much stronger now, so their limitations are not as exposed as they were before. This holds true for most of the game, as there were far fewer moments where we were left for dead. However, there were times were the A button assigned to everything would do something that we didn’t want it to, such as jump when we actually wanted to run.
The single player experience in Gears of War 2 is an unrelenting 10 to 12 hour ride that only lets up once the final credit has rolled past and is a more enjoyable experience than the original. However, the whole freshness and aspect of ‘new’ that came with the first game won’t really come across here unless you haven’t played the original. Unfortunately, for a game as high profile as this one, there seems to have been something missed in QA. Through out our play through, we had to restart at the last checkpoint no less than three times through the one play through because of glitches. Once was because our vehicle got stuck and once because Dom decide run off a platform and the game leaving us stuck. As complicated and ambitious as the title is, and while not necessarily game breaking, such occurrences are unacceptable in this day and age.
My what a big gun you have.
While the single-player experience has improved thanks to a better AI and design. However, the game is still best played with a partner in co-op. Still catering for the two players, you’ve got similar options such as split paths and the ability to revive one another if need be. However, there aren’t a lot of split paths this time around and there isn’t too much done with them outside of the first and second chapters, which is somewhat disappointing. Basically, they seem like they’ve been put there for the sake of it later in the game.
Gears of War multiplayer sessions were some of the most frequented on Xbox Live and without a doubt, Gears of War 2 will be no different. There are now eight different game modes, including those that are new and improved, as well as the ability to have up to ten players in a match, over the previous eight. Furthermore, bots can now be employed to fill in any missing spots. Micro additions to the gameplay include the ability to pick up down players and use them as shields, as well as the ability to crawl while incapacitated, in the hope that a nearby team mate will revive you.
In addition to modes such as ‘Guardian’, where you can only respawn if the designated guardian is still alive and ‘Submission’, where the ‘flag’ is a stranded NPC with a gun, you have a co-op mode called ‘Horde’. Here, up to five players fight off wave after wave of invading Locust. This goes on for 50 waves, though you can save after every five. Overall, the additions and refinements to the multiplayer are sure to be a hit. However, there are reports of issues such as host advantage and lag. With regards to the latter, it is unknown whether this is related to the lack of players at the moment, or whether it will get worse once everyone else hits. Either way, anything less than a stellar performance is disappointing, particularly given Epic’s track record with online multiplayer.
Here comes the Horde.
As mentioned in our hands-on preview last month, the addition of colour and vibrance makes for much more visually appealing experience. Gears of War was and still is one of the best looking HD titles available and Gears of War 2 now has the one-up on it. We could write another entire review on the visuals alone, though we’ll just say that when a developer can fit this much eye-candy onto the one DVD, those crying about disc space need to utilise their programming skills better. Disappointingly, there are a few weird glitches that pop-in and take away a little from what is otherwise brilliant looking game. The audio is very intense, loud and will definitely give you surround sound a good work out. The sound track for the game is actually quite exciting and suits the game very well, though aspects such as the voicing and the like are fairly typical. The actual use of the sound could have been a bit better, as sometimes it can be hard to tell where a noise is coming from.
Even though Gears of War 2 is very close follow-up to the original blockbuster, it has made a number of the necessary additions and improvements that make it a better experience overall. The campaign is a wild ride with some amazing sites and sounds, while the multiplayer experience promises to be everything that the original provided and more. While not as ‘new’ as the original, and with what seems to be a disappointing lack of polish, what with the minor glitches that have crept in, there aren’t many other experiences that will come out over this holiday period that will provide the same intensive ride that could only be pulled off by a skilled developer such as Epic. Unless you really didn’t like the scheme from the last game, Gears of War 2 is one of the most viscerally enjoyable experiences you're likely to have this holiday season.
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