"I'll let you in on a little secret. I like Halo, but I love Gears of War. I like the combat, I like the look, and I even find the story more engaging. Gears of War made slight changes to the shooter formula we've been playing forever, but a little tweak here, a borrowed element from another game there, all of that made such a difference. In so doing, Epic created something that felt very fresh and original.

And Gears of War 2 is even better. Again, the changes and improvements are subtle, but they go a long way and are sure to make fans of the first game happy. It worked for me."

Jason's Score:

9.5

As the game opens, it's a dark time for humanity. The Locusts are pushing into Jacinto, the last safe human stronghold on Sera. Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are sent on a mission to halt their advance. But as Napoleon once observed, no battle plan ever survived contact with the enemy, and so Fenix's mission takes a few unexpected turns... more would be telling.

Old gameplay issues have been smoothed over, but the action is still gritty and gripping. I opened with the story though because it's one of the first noticeable improvements. It's told better than before, with more direction in the cutscenes and the in-game scripted moments. Old characters return and stand out better, such as Cole Train, who gets the game's funniest monologue, a nasty rant against the Locusts. Dom Santiago gets the game's most emotional moment, a story development that wrenches your heart, punches you in the gut, then spins you around and kicks you in the ass.

More backstory is also provided by hidden collectible newspapers. It adds more colour to the game, and collecting them leads to achievements, so why not? Oh, and the game has a more satisfying finish than the first.

Probably the best improvement in my mind is the levels, which are much more interesting than before. The original GoW's levels were built to serve the game's covering system. It worked fine for that purpose, but it made the battlefields seem somewhat inert. Now, there are more scripted moments than before, making the environments much livelier. The battlefield will occasionally shift, or some big event will happen, plus there's more crosstalk between you and your squadmates. Don't worry, the game didn't become Half-Life 2; the tactical elements remain intact, but there's more variety to the environments, and more going on. One level that sticks out is a biological one that is absolutely, positively disgusting. In a good way. It also leads to the line of the game. No spoilers, but it's about coughing up blood.

Vehicle sequences are back, and these are way more interesting than before. As the E3 demo teased, you do indeed get to not just ride a Brumak, but actually drive it, guns blazing. There's a pretty decent tank sequence and there are also levels where you don't drive, but ride shotgun, and these are well done too. You even get to spend a little more time in the air. Personally, I kinda like the giant mobile weapons platforms and want to take one to work.

GoW2 presents a host of new monsters: Small, Large and Holy God Is That Big. There is the Ticker, a speedy blob that explodes near its target. They have a very distinct sound which is your cue to crap your pants, although some judicious targeting of them can make them just as dangerous to the Locusts. The biggest new pain in the ass is the Kantus, a warrior priest that can revive downed Locusts and spread poisonous black smoke everywhere. I pack a sniper rifle just for the heads of these puppies. Then there are Blood Mounts, a two-in-one threat. You not only have to take care of the rider, but the beast itself, which goes berserk once its master is dead.

Some of the returning enemies are made more interesting too, thanks to the new weapons and tools they use against you. I like Maulers, which haul around a big shield. Kill them, and that shield can be used by you. You can even plant the shield in the ground to turn it into mobile cover. On the subject of cover by the way, one of the biggest improvements in the game is that your characters now hug the cover better and expose less of themselves. No need to explain how handy that is.

Then there are the ginormous monsters, three of them. Don't worry, I won't reveal what they are, but the battles against them are unlike anything from the first GoW. These are pretty memorable, and the creature designs are great. They look like Frank Herbert and HP Lovecraft came up with the ideas for them after a good pubcrawl.

Then there are the new weapons, like the flamethrower. These are fine, though to be honest I found myself sticking with old favorites. Still, the new weapons have their uses: that flamer has a surprising range. You can also pick up mortars and chain guns, but they slow you down, so don't pick them up just before you need to run to cover.

As improved as the game is, some of the improvements need improvements. As I said, I liked the story better and it is clearer, but it could still use some tweaking. There's a major plot development that I (apparently) completely missed. I am wondering if it was explained during the middle of a gunfight, when I was otherwise occupied. In any event, it's an important piece of info that explains much of the Locust's motivation, so it should have been expressed better. It didn't detract from the action though.

Speaking of action, let's get back to it. The multiplayer modes have some new ways to get your heart pumping, including new fixes and new modes. Taking gunfire will now shove you back, so it's much harder to shotgun-roll someone. If you're incapacitated, you can now crawl to a friendly unit for revival (this is true in single player as well). You can also grab incapacitated foes and use them as living shields. There's actually a new multiplayer mode built around this idea, called Submission, in which you must incapacitate and then haul an NPC back into one of your control zones. Kinda like Capture the Flag with a sentient flag.

My favourite new mode is Horde, a co-op mode which requires players to face wave after wave of Locust forces, with more and more dangerous creatures popping out of the woodwork. A buddy and I have it down to a system; we take over a corridor, plant grenades on the walls at either end to act as trip mines, then buckle down. We haven't cleared wave 50 yet, but we're working on it and we will get there, I promise you.

Both single player and multiplayer modes are a step up from Gears of War 1, and it's not like that game was horrible to begin with. Again, Gears of War 2 is not a radical reinvention of the first game, so if it did nothing for you, the second one is unlikely to change your tune. If you're a fan of the first one like me though, everything you love is back, it's just a little bit better.

Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

Jason's Score:

9.5