- Sep 5, 2004
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Gears of War 2 is here! Post your thoughts and comments and such!
Critic Scores:
Metacritic: 95/100
Gamespot: 9.0/10
Gametrailers.com: 9.5/10
IGN: 5/5
Gamespy: 9.5/10
Gears of War Website
Anandtech Member Reviews (if you wanna write a review lemme know and I'll add it):
Kabob
*Spoiler free* (as in, all the stuff I'll mention you'll find out about within the first chapter of the game)
Critic Scores:
Metacritic: 95/100
Gamespot: 9.0/10
Gametrailers.com: 9.5/10
IGN: 5/5
Gamespy: 9.5/10
Gears of War Website
Anandtech Member Reviews (if you wanna write a review lemme know and I'll add it):
Kabob
*Spoiler free* (as in, all the stuff I'll mention you'll find out about within the first chapter of the game)
I sat down at about midnight and didn't stop playing until I beat the game. Normally I wouldn't do that (and in fact I'd probably laugh at people who did) but I really wanted to know how the game ended, so here's my review based off of 1 days playing.
Campaign:
Let me start off by saying that the rumors are true, there is much more depth to the campaign in the sequel. Characters actually have background and show a little emotion. Dom's struggle to find his wife, Carmine trying to be the great warrior, etc. It's all gravy. I won't spoil anything for those who've not played it so I'll leave it at that. That said, this is a MUCH darker story overall than the first Gears. In this game you want the good guys to win and the bad guys to lose, the good guys have drive and motivation (something that was lacking from game 1). If the first game was Terminator 2 this is more of a "Kill Bill" movie. And there is lots of killing. I take back what I said to James earlier, this is probably the bloodiest game I've ever played all thanks to one chapter (those who have gotten more than halfway through the game know what I'm talking about). But it still holds to the "haha that's ridiculous" gore level than to the scary creepy "holy crap" gore level that some of the more serious games have.
The campaign took me around 7 1/2 hours to complete on my first go around, granted alot of that time was me exploring the game. I didn't want to zip through it TOO fast. But halfway through or so I thought "this game feels longer than the first game did." In reality it's probably about the same, but it seemed to go on for a while. The campaign has a wide range of environments and overall was very good, altough with a bit of a letdown for a "final boss" battle.
Presentation:
On the technical side the graphics have certainly been revamped. Even the character models look more detailed. Facial expressions and mouth movements seem to match the spoken words quite well. The weapons look fantastic as well. The barrel of your Lancer glows red after shooting several shots and smoke billows out of it. The various maps and locales all seem very detailed and realistic. Shooting parts of the map will result in chunks being blown off of the wall. While in a perfect works you could completely destroy the environment even the graphical effects are definately a nice touch. It makes the world seem more concrete.
The sound has also been revamped to give the game more edge. The Lancer has much more of a "pop" than it did in the first game. Explosions sound more real, and the overall sounds of the battlefield work very well to draw you into the game. Bullets whizing by, grenades exploding nearby, it feels very real, mad props to Epic for bringing it all together.
Gameplay:
Gameplay is quite good, although if you're familiar with the first Gears there's nothing new. Not necessarily a bad thing, don't miss with a winning formula I guess. For someone who's new to the series the controls might be a little confusing at first (running, diving, taking cover, taking hostages all with the same button), but after a little playing they feel natural. There are definately a few glitches that need to be worked out, but they are relatively minor.
The weapons for the most part are more balanced than they were in Gears 1. There are no more 1 shot downs with the sniper rifle (unless you're already damaged), the hammerburst is actually a good weapon now, and pistol whipping doesn't seem as powerful. My biggest complaint is with the shotgun/chainsaw matchup. I know they specifically wanted to detune the shotgun for Gears 2, but I think they took it too far. I can shoot point blank at someone with it and sometimes it will kill them, sometimes it won't. It definatley lacks the punch it had in the first game...but it's also lost it's effectiveness. The shotgun was the gun I never put down in Gears 1 multiplayer, now it's the first thing I'll get rid of. Also, on a similar note I know the Lancer is the Gears of War iconic weapon, but the chainsaw is once again overly powerful. Just as Gears 1 was when it first came out, Gears 2 is mostly a chainsaw match now. I think it was Purebeast who mentioned that the chainsaw usually beat the shotgun now, I'd take that a step further and say it almost always beats the shotgun now. Considering the short range of the shotgun, by the time you're close enough to stop them in one shot they're close enough to chainsaw you. And I don't think it matters when you pull that trigger, they'll give the kill to the chainsaw guy every time. I tried using the Hammerburst as my default multiplayer weapon but gave it up after I realized how invaluable the chainsaw was (specifically in matches where you respawn, as EVERYONE will be in the same general area with chainsaws running). Chainsaw duels are a neat idea, but I'm not a big fan. Maybe my fingers aren't fast enough (I can't imagine how anyone can hit it much faster), maybe I'm just unlucky, but I (literally) lost every chainsaw duel I've had in multiplayer thus far, and that's probably 25 or so. Even if I've got my chainsaw revving and I run at them, if they get most of the way around and tap the B button it starts the duel...I miss "getting the drop" on people.
Multiplayer:
The new mix of multiplayer maps are great (although I've not played most of them). The levels are well made and balanced, and the locales are excellent. River seems to be the most detailed. One of my favorite little bits though is on the level with the dock on it, there's actually things happening around the battlefield (this is the first level I noticed it on). King Ravens flying all around, a very small but very impactful effect, suddenly the worlds don't feel so small.
The new game modes are good as well, although I've already found fault with the Submission mode. Games...can...last...FOREVER! We had one round (not match, one round) that lasted over half an hour yesterday. Moving with the submitted guy is way too slow in my opinion. By the time you kill off the opposing team and drag him to towards the goal they've all respawned and...well...it just takes too long. The one good part though is that they've made the submission characters VERY tough. At the end of our long round he had more kills than any of the players in the game. He'll shotgun you or beat you down, it's really quite funny. At one point we had a guy in our game yell "OH CRAP, CHAPS IS UP!" He then killed 4 players before going down.
Wingman is one of my favorite modes, I love the small multiple teams. Although I kinda wish it was Warzone style rather than Execution style, having to run up to finish someone off often ends in your death.
Horde is a ton of fun, I can't say much about it as I've only played 8 rounds but it's designed well and it's fun to strategize with friends rather than try to kill each other every once in a while.
Overall I'm extremely pleased with the game. I honestly think I like the "total" package of Gears 1 just a slight bit more, but Gears 2 is oh so close, and it definately has alot more variety. And as I play it more I'm sure there'll be more bits that I enjoy.
*update*
Alright, I've played a few rounds of vs. mode on multiplayer and I have the by far my biggest gripe with the game. The lag can be HORRIBLE! Forget host advantage from the first game, at one point I was getting 8-9 seconds of lag. And it didn't matter who the host was. A guy on our team, a guy on another team, lag was terrible both times. It concerns me that it is moving this slowly. The only one unaffected was the host (who, of course, just ran around and shotgunned people). This has got to be addressed...