This... was the way Gears was meant to be played.
This game has really made some drastic improvements from the first game. Through visuals, story, weapons, maps, and online play, this game truly shines above it's predecessor in so many ways.
No longer will players rush at you with a shotgun without slowing down to a dead halt with successive lancer or hammer-burst rounds. Which is a huge relief. Gears of War 1 fell away from the true feel of fire fights when most people just ran up with shot guns and blew each other away. It didn't have the feeling I intended, and apparently Epic felt the same. Now, with the lancer being the trusty weapon of choice to keep, the shotgun is finally realized for what it was truly meant to be in the first game, a trump card, or a last resort, even then, I often disregard it for another weapon. The next thing I really enjoyed was the many methods of dispatching your opponent's. x button initiates the infamous curb stomp, y button is an extended kill which is executed in a variety of ways depending on which weapon you have equipped at the time, b button activates a swift kill, and a button picks them up to use them as a meat bag. Which is very helpful in many situations, believe me. The maps are much larger now in order to accommodate for the two extra players that have been added to make it a 5x5 all out hate fest. and most of all, I won't have to here about anymore active snipe complaints ever, ever again!
This is a really good game though, and while I'd go into detail about the campaign's story mode and it's horde co op playlist, I'm just too dang tired too. But believe me when I say, as a die Hard gears fan this game definitely puts a restful slumber to it's predecessor.