Before I talk about Gears of War 2, let me just say that I was a huge fan of the first game, and although I know it had its flaws, it was a great start to a phenomenal series. With that being said, Gears 2 brings back what Gears 2 did right, and more.

When I first picked up Gears 2 last Friday, the first thing I did was the obvious choice: Play the campaign. Although not everyone was a big fan of Gears 1's multiplayer, the reason the Gears series is so big today is the highly acclaimed campaign story. The game picks up 6 months after the original game I believe. Humanity is on the brink of extinction as the Locust attempt to crush what is left of it. The city of Jacinto stands as humanity's last "safe" haven, and this plays a big part in the story later on.

Right off the bat you should notice the improved visuals. Gears 1 ha spectacular graphics, but somehow Gears 2 found a way to make them even better. The environments are breathtaking, and if you pay attention to the details you will see some really cool things. So once again you take control of Marcus Fenix, (or Dom Santiago if you are playing coop) and take on the Locust hordes.

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Speaking of coop, I found it interesting that you and whoever you are playing with can set a different difficulty. I thought I would mention that, it seems like a neat idea. Also players can now can join their friends campaign mid-game, which is a big improvement from the last game where you had to start it together and if one person left the game would end.

Back to the story, an important part is Dom's search for his lost wife Maria, which serves as kind of a seperate story almost. It makes for a lot of and anger for Dom throughout the story. Along the way you will team up with old friends: Baird, Cole, Hoffman, and Anya is still the voice in your ear keeping you up-to-date with info you need. Also you are introduced to a couple of new characters, the first being Ben Carmine, the brother of Anthony Carmine who was killed during the first game. There are a few jokes involving him/his brother, none of which he gets so listen for that when you are playing. Another new character is Tai, a very spiritual Gear who is an old friend of Marcus. He is a very tough guy who is described as "tough to kill" The last new friend you meet is Dizzy, a redneck who drives a derrick named "Betty" so you can tell from that he is a little messed up in the head.

Keep in mind there are quite a few new enemies, but I'm not going to go into detail on them. Vehicles are used quite frequently as well, some more fun than others. Overall the campaign was very immersive and addicting to me. It definitely didn't disappoint, and provided plenty of WOW! moments, as well as the typical Gears humor. Baird and Cole have some pretty memorable moments. Like the last game, utilizing active reloads, and the cover system will be important to your success.

While every good game needs a great story, the real replay value of course comes from the multiplayer. I have been a huge fan of the Gears MP system since the first game, but it is definitely not for everyone. I like that it provides a big change from your typical shooter. No respawns(in most modes) and the importance of the cover system really makes for great gameplay and use of tactics.

10 new maps are shipped with the game, and I haven't even played all of them yet. The ones I have played are very good though. Also if you bought the game on the first day, you receive a code for a map pack composed of 5 original Gears maps(Gridlock, Tyro Station, Subway, Mansion, and Canals). I think it's too late to get now if you haven't already bought it, but I guess you can pay for it on the marketplace.

As for weapons, you have a lot of the same, but they have been changed somewhat and now feel different. You have the Lancer, Shotgun, Hammerburst, Longshot, Boomshot, Hammer of Dawn, Torque Bow, etc. With the Lancer equipped, you can still chainsaw, but they have now added chainsaw duels. So if two people are trying to saw each other, the winner will be decided by who smashes B the fastest. There are also some new weapons: The Scorcher is a flamethower, the Mulcher is a turret you can carry(inaccurate) or mount somewhere and then fire. The Mortar is exactly what it says it is, and is very effective on groups of enemies. Keep in mind the Mortar and Mulcher will slow you down while carrying them. The Gorgon pistol is a four-burst pistol that can be effective but fires kinda slow. The Boomshield is exactly what it says, a shield. You can carry it, or plant it in the ground for instant cover. I forgot to mention the smoke grenade has been changed, if you are in the blast radius you will be knocked off your feet for a few seconds. There is still your regular grenade as well, but lastly the ink grenade is a new, poisonous grenade that will slowly kill you if you are in the poison cloud. The cool thing about grenades is you can still tag people with them, but now now you can plant them on a surface like a mine. Killing 10 people that way is an achievement.

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While I am talking about achievements I like what they did regarding them. It tracks how close you are to getting certain achievements. Say you kill a person with a planted grenade, a box will pop up saying you are 1/10 of the way to getting that achievement. It only notifies you at "milestones" though. By that I mean the first time, then 5, 10, 20, etc. It varies for the different achievements though. Another thing that was kinda nice was EPIC rewarded those of us who played the first game by using "linked achievements" So basically if you have a certain achievement in Gears 1 it made a certain character unlocked in Gears 2 for you to play with in MP. This is one of those little things I thought was very cool.

Back to gameplay, curb stomping has returned. If you down an enemy you can still run up to them and press X to stomp their face off. But now they have added new weapon-specific executions. Depending on which weapon you have in your hand, you can walk up to them and press Y or B and you will get a cool animation. Be aware these take a little while to perform so you could get blasted after it ends. Another new element of gameplay is the ability to crawl after being downed. Instead of being stuck in one spot while down, you can now crawl in hopes of getting to a teammate or out of the line of fire. So if utilized correctly this can save your life. Something else new is that after you die during a match, you can use different camera angles to watch what is going on, and then take screenshots if you choose. I haven't tried this yet but it sounds cool. It might be a little difficult to catch something cool live but this is still a good idea nonetheless.

Now we come to the MP modes. You still have Warzone, Execution, Annex, and Assassination has been changed a bit and is now called Guardian. The rules are similar but now until you kill the leader there are infinite respawns. I am not going to go into much detail on the modes, but Submission is Capture the Flag, but in this case the flag is a person. You must grab him as a Meatshield(basically you are holding him hostage, and this can be done with any enemy after they are downed to help protect you) and take him to the scoring zone. King of the Hill is self-explanatory. Wingman is like Multi-Team in Halo 3. Multiple teams of 2 face of in a deathmatch. There is also the ability tro practice with bots so I guess that could be considered a mode as well.

This brings us to arguably the best part of the mulitplayer, and maybe the whole game: Horde. Horde involves you and up to four friends facing off against wave after wave of Locust with the enemies getting tougher as you go on. You can set the difficulty level anywhere from Casual to Insane, just like the campaign. There are 50 waves to complete and depending on how good you and your friends are, this can make for quite a long game. Teamwork is very important to completing all of these waves, without it you have no chance. Even on Casual you will find the higher waves are no pushovers. What I like so much about Horde is I don't see how it will ever get old. Granted I haven't played it for that long, but there is just something addicting about it. I am looking forward to playing this some more when I get the chance.

One complaint I have about the MP right now is the matchmaking system. I am happy that EPIC decided to change their old system, but it is very difficult to find a match, unless you have a full party of 5 players, and even that can take a little while. This should be a fixable issue so maybe they will release a patch or something.

Overall Gears 2 is everything I wanted and more. I couldn't have asked for a better sequel to an amazing first game. A great story, multiplayer, and beautiful graphics help to make this game truly great. EPIC fixed the little issues and then went crazy expanding on the series. This really makes me wonder what they will have in store for us for Gears 3. Anyone who does not have the game already needs to get it, I could not give a higher recommendation. I hope this review helps, I put a lot of time and effort into this and hopefully it will help convince some of you to get this game.