The new environments, gameplay tweaks and multiplayer modes make Gears of War 2 an outstanding achievement
The story in Gears of War 2 picks up six months after the ending of the first one. The Locust survived the Lightmass Bomb and are now sinking entire cities from below. The humans are becoming even more desperate now due to a disease called rust lung. Jacinto, the humans' last safe city, is now in danger, and it's up to Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago to take the fight to the Locust. Survival is the key plot in the story, but there's also death, love and family mixed in with the grand plot. And while it ultimately ends up leaving you with more questions than answers, the game has a much more engaging story than its predecessor.
The gameplay is nearly the same as the first game, but anyone who's played it should notice some new refinements. The cover system makes you cling to objects more accurately and the weapons are more balanced than before. The revival system has been considerably altered. Your teammates can now revive you when you play the campaign, and you'll also be able to crawl towards them by repeatedly tapping A. If you happen to be holding a grenade when downed, you can blow a foe up with if he's next to you. These changes make the difficulty seem a lot fairer and create many exciting moments where you crawl to your teammates before the enemy kills you.
While the lancer still remains your go-to weapon for the campaign, there are some new weapons that have been added. New to the series is the flamethrower, which is excellent for close-quarter combat. There are also some heavier weapons that prevent you from roadie running but make up for it with their impressive firepower. The mulcher is a high-caliber that can cut through large enemies within a matter of seconds, and the mortar rains explosives down on your enemies. The grenades have also been improved; you can stick them to walls to use as proximity mines, there's one that delivers a cloud of poisonous gas, and the smoke grenade features an after-blast that knocks players to the ground.
Gears of War was one of-if not-the most violent game[s] to come out in 2006, and its sequel takes it to an even higher level. You'll now have four ways to kill an enemy, all of which are on the joypad. X will perform the classic curb stomp, B delivers a melee attack to the back of the head, Y flips your enemy over to repeatedly punch him to death, and A allows you to grab downed enemies to use as meat shields, granting you some cover until they get shot dead, or until you decide to break his neck. If you ready a chainsaw from behind an enemy, it will saw upward, and if two players ready their chainsaws, the duo enter a duel that's one by the person who can tap the B button faster. These new additions make the already satisfying melee combat even better.
Gears of War 2 features different environments than its predecessor. The first game featured devastated cities and crumpling monuments, but the majority of your time will be spent in outdoor spaces and underground caverns. You'll also notice some new enemies, and the reappearance of old ones, except for the Berserker and Kryll. There are different types of Boomers, ranging from ones that have flamethrowers or boomshields, which act a lot like a meat shield. Some enemies you'll encounter are so huge that you'll have to go inside them to kill them. There are also vehicle sections, and although they can be a bit annoying, they are short and infrequent.
While the lack of a four-player co-op campaign mode is a definite disappointment, the two-player co-op features drop-in support and independent difficulty levels. The competitive multiplayer is engaging, fun and flat-out more addicting than before. Warzone, Execution, Annex and Assassination are still here, along with King of the Hill, being introduced in the PC version. There are three new multiplayer modes called Wingman, Submission and Guardian. Submission is like Capture the Flag, except the flag is a civilian, which you have to down and carry to a checkpoint using the meat shield option. The civilian also has a gun and is hostile to anyone that comes toward him, adding a good twist to the mode. Guardian is exactly like Assassination; keep the team leader alive and everyone can respawn, but if he dies, that privilege is done. Wingman has five teams of two players in each, and team has to work together to stay alive, much like Army of Two. These modes may sound familiar, but they fit perfectly into the Gears of War 2 multiplayer and add tons of longevity to it. The advantages of being the host are reduced, making the match fairer.
The last multiplayer mode is Horde, and it's the most addicting mode of them all. Five COG soldiers take on fifty waves of Locust attacks, and each wave gets harder with larger enemies. As long as one player stays alive at the end of each wave, the game keeps progressing. There are five different training missions for multiplayer with bot players to help novices get a feel for the multiplayer. You can also have bot players for any mode except Horde.
There are ten multiplayer maps in total, plus a code to download five reasserted ones from the previous game. Most of the maps are inspired by the campaign locations, but environmental effects change some maps as you're playing. For example, the map Hail features razor-sharp rain that eventually kills anyone left out in the open. Also, Avalanche gets completely transformed when a snowstorm hits, and it instantly kills anyone in the open. These effects aren't featured in every multiplayer map and mode, but they do add more excitement to the otherwise typical game modes.
Gears of War was undoubtedly the best-looking game to come out in 2006. The sequel raises the bar again, featuring gorgeous environments and character models. The visuals also offer walls that crumple under gunfire and, at one point, several dozen enemies on screen at once. It's hard to say if the audio is even better than the visuals, since the voice acting, great weapon effects and an incredible cinematic soundtrack, but there's no question that the two work extremely well together.
Gears of War 2 feels a lot like its predecessor, but the new environments, enemies, weapons, gameplay tweaks and multiplayer modes make it seem like a dramatically different and bigger game. The co-op options, weapons and melee attacks make for an epic single player experience that you'll want to complete numerous times, and the multiplayer modes add loads of longevity. It all comes together to form an outstanding package that is most definitely one of the year's best.
Final Score - 9.1