Introduction
Gears Of War 2 is a third person shooter, developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 in November 2008.
Review
After Marcus Fenix and his squad, Delta Squad, set off the lightmass bomb to deal a blow to the Locust horde, they found out it didn’t cripple them as much as originally thought. So this time, they take the fight straight to the Locusts themselves! So it’s time to head underground and see the world that the Locusts have made for themselves, all while you see more destruction, devastation, and some surprisingly emotional scenes!
This time around, the story of course focuses on the COG trying to get rid of the Locusts once and for all, but Marcus as a character kind of takes a back seat. Dom is in the limelight this time as the story really focuses on his, and the struggles he’s gone through with trying to find his wife for the past 15 years. That’s right. 15 YEARS! Though it seems silly for a storyline premise, there is a hard hitting scene that actually hit me. When I first played this game when I was 14, I laughed and didn’t understand the scene, or the emotions behind anything. But this time around, I felt it. I got choked up, I felt bad, I wanted it to all be okay.
The dialogue in the game is more fleshed out, and there’s some good funny moments in it as well. Instead of just being about big burly meatheads trying to kill the big baddies, the story now has depth. The dialogue has emotion, the characters felt more fleshed out this time around. Everything felt better than before. I was engaged with the world more than I was before. The one downside to the dialogue is that if the characters are having a conversation, it’s possible to have it cut off if you advance too far, prompting other dialogue to start playing.
The gameplay has a few tweaks and changes from the last game. The gameplay is still your standard cover based shooter, where you sit behind cover, wait for the enemies to pop up from their cover, and blast away at them. Or if you’re like me, you just run and gun your way through them, and to hell with the cover! I still really enjoyed this. In the series, there’s a system called “active reload” where if you hit the reload button at a certain time, you reload faster. In the first game, hitting the active reload timer properly gave you more damage for the bullets that got reloaded. In this one, all it does is let you reload faster. You get no bonuses really.
One thing I absolutely loved though is that during my time playing solo, when I got downed, I was just immediately dead! This was such a welcome change, as the AI could pick me up and I could keep going throughout the level. This way I didn’t have to worry about being careful or anything. The game also has a lot of on rails shooter sections, which honestly were a welcome addition. I love on rail sections in shooters, as it keeps everything fresh and exciting!
The locales in the game are especially crazy. From the Locust tunnels, to collapsed cities, to inside of a giant worm! This was easily my most favourite area, as it was so different from the drab tunnels. Plus, who doesn’t want to kill a giant worm from the inside out! It was all a fun change from the boring gray that the first game had way too much of. There were even some “horror” elements implemented in some chapters.
Rating
Pros:
- Improved Gameplay
- Deeper Story
Cons:
- Active Reload Doesn’t Give Extra Damage
- Dialogue Cuts Off
Summary
This entry in the Gears series is so much better than its predecessor. It improved on much needed gameplay elements, the story is deeper, and they added some colour to the world! If you’re a fan of cover based shooters, I can’t recommend this series enough!
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Game & Developer Information
Developer Website: Epic Games
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Microsoft Game Studios
Publisher Socials: Twitter
Images – https://www.igdb.com/
NODE Gamers 
This is the game that introduced me to the Gears franchise and to this day it still remains my favourite. It had so many unique sequences like killing the Riftworm from the inside, is one of of the coolest moments, and it’s so cinematic too. When Dom found Maria and realized the state she was in, I burst into tears, that was so hard to watch then and still is today.
And you’re right, the parts where were Delta goes underground to Locust turf is far more exciting. I’ve loved GOW since my teen years and still have written proper reviews for them on my own blog!
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The first time I played Gears 2, I never felt the impact of the Dom and Maria scene honestly. But even riding the Brumak is badass!
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Sorry I meant to say I have not written reviews for the games yet! 😅 oh yes riding a Brumak was so much fun!
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So fun! Easily one of the most memorable parts
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