Gears of War 2

(4 out of 5 stars)

Marcus Fenix and Dom are back in Gears of War 2 and compared to the first game, Gears 2 blows the previous title out of the water. The story follows on from Gears and puts you right back in the action with some familiar faces and some new blood with hordes of Locust to gun down or rip into pieces with the handy Lancer chainsaw blade. The main campaign's length is probably between 12-15 hours depending on the difficulty level and your gameplay style. Just like you are capable of beating down an opponent who is 'bleeding out' they can also return the favor with vicious head-stomps and other painful execution moves. Gears of War 2 brings new tricks to the table with a heavily tweaked cover system and new weapons. There are some gameplay tweaks to come in terms of balance and several of the weapons, whilst looking great, have the feeling that you're really using a popgun against a tank. Overall though it's fairly solid right out of the box and there are five free maps to download from Epic as well.

Gears 2 keeps the same weapon switching mechanic from the first game and whilst it seems tricky to have to switch to grenades to throw them, you soon get used to it again and with a quick tap of the button you can stick a grenade onto a Locust or slam it against a surface where it primes as a proximity explosive. Epic have added a knock-back value to their weapons design as well, so there's stopping power to a lot of the guns, the shotgun especially. Unfortunately the Locusts will use the stopping power of their weapons to prevent you from closing for a melee kill and it's almost impossible to get a chain-blade kill for the same reason. Gears of War 2 is a good looking game, better looking in lots of ways than the previous title. Epic have pulled out all the stops and it shows, the shadows are deeper, the lighting is better and the graphics engine can handle structural integrity simulation nicely, allowing the player to see visible changes to the surrounding environment as the battle goes on.

Epic's architecture and level design for this game is excellent, they have also taken steps to ensure that every battlefield in Gears 2 provides a fresh set of challenges to constantly keep you entertained. With the new graphics engine it is also possible for Epic to simulate hordes of enemy troops, so Gears 2 has more Locusts to blast than before. There are some truly awe-inspiring moments in the game in terms of battles and cut-scenes. With the Locust AI being better than ever these combats are frustratingly good, as you battle against sniper fire, mammoth new Locust types and incoming mortar shells. On the harder levels it's nearly impossible to get through on your first try. It's not just the single player game that's taken a new look, Epic have improved the multi-player aspect as well, adding scores of new maps, redesigning favourites and allowing a mix of human and AI players across all of the new modes. There are many modes and types to choose from, with an expansive tutorial that lets you get right into the action and learn these game types before you play them against others. Epic have once again proven that they are kings of game AI, since the bots from Gears of War 2 are excellent and provide a solid challenge at the higher levels of play.

Taking a tip from their previous experiences with Unreal Tournament style tricks, Epic have made some of their maps with interactive features. A firm favourite of mine has been Avalanche, where you are safe as long as you listen for the warning klaxon and get under cover before the massive avalanche pounds down on the map and covers everything with ice and snow. Any Cog or Locust caught out in the open is killed and the level's design is altered, since now the snow provides a thick layer to battle on.

With all of this good, some bad did leak in. The game suffered terribly from matchmaking issues with massive wait times for players online. This has been fixed by Epic in a patch over Xbox Live and the game will automatically update when the title is launched. Some of the weapons are a little weak and there are AI issues with Dom in some places within the single-player game. The story from Gears was epic and the story in Gears 2 is even more so, answering questions from the first game and asking even more in this installment, its great fun and deserves to be on any serious shooter fans shelf. It's great to play on your own or in matches against friends.