The game is stunning and will leave you with a happy grin on your face and the multiplayer is perfect.

User Rating: 9.5 | Gears of War 2 X360
Only weeks before the release I was really into Gears 1. The action there was in the multiplayer based on the shotgun. That aspect has been kicked out of the game. When I first heard this I was just scared. I was afraid they ripped they soul of the game out by changing this. I was wrong.

First of all: the campaign. It's awesome. The cut-scenes follow each-other in quick tempo. There's always happening something, somewhere. The action will thrill you untill the very end. Stunning enviroments, vehicles with style, the sickest executions. Man. This game is heavy. In the campaign the lancer will be your faithful companion and it was the gun I always carried. Sometimes I changed my shotgun for a sniper or for the great new weapons, but without a long-distance gun you are nowhere. The hammerburst has been balanced better and now is a great alternative for the standard lancer. But back to the gameplay: in contradiction with the first game this game will force you to use tactics and hold your position longer. Weapons have been improved to help you improve your tactics. Small things like that a smokegrenade now does explode give help by breaking the cover of your oppenent. And not only in the multiplayer, in the campaign too this is helpful. You almost feel sorry for those beautiful Locust temples when you tag a grenade in a wall. This is another improvement, tagging grenades in the wall allow you to set up traps.

The epic feeling the campaign gave me dissapeared in some of the vehicle-scenes, which are the negative aspects of the game. It frustated me when I spent an hour driving in a stupid tank shooting gigant Reavers. The whole take cover and use your brain mentality was gone in these parts. I was pissed off at the A.I. in this parts because they sometimes where just too strong. But, hey, what am I compaining about? The tank-scene was just a small one and the rest of the vehicle-scenes worked out better. Not good, but better.

Well, what did I like about the campaign? As I said, the long-distance fights and the enviroments. The story has improved and there even is emotion in the game. Yeah, that's right. The machos break. Dom cries, that part of the story nearly made me cry, Marcus is worried about Anya. Man, I didn't know the Gears had that much emotion. The characters are more clear now, the cockyness of Baird really made me laugh and Cole stole my heart. Well, I'm not in love with him but he now is my favourite multiplayer character. And then the epic feeling the campaign gave me. The beautiful cut-scenes, the action. It is just perfect. And the boss-battles. Sorry if I'm gibbering, but, man, the boss-battles are so cool! You will fight a huge fish, a Locust with dreadlocks and creatures too wicked to discribe. Really awesome, sometimes a bit too hard, but stil awesome.

And then the part where the whole game is based on. The multiplayer. The adrenline rush you'll get when you have your first shotgun fight is nearly better than sex. That the shotgun plays a smaller role in this game doesn't mean it has totally vanished. You'll sometimes grab your shotgun if it really gets up close and personal. But when you have enough space to aim, the lancer or hammerburst will do the job just fine. And the action still feels the same, altough you now use other weapons and tactics. The ways to rob your enemy of his life are sicker than ever. And that's just my style. Nearly every weapon has its own execution and that rocks.

The bots which are new in the game work fine. Not excellent, but fine. Sometimes you'll get the feeling the bots are too good. Sneaking up to someone to give him a taste of your chainsaw is nearly impossible. They will always discover you in time. And sometimes when I crept up to someone who was in cover, they quickly equipped a shot gun and hit lethally in my chest before they even got out of the cover. Felt unrealistic and pissed me off. But the bots feel the empty space quite good if your xboxlive is expired. Not as good as real players, but if you are as noob as I am you can finally feel how it is to be a pro.