Bigger, with an extra helping of badass. An expansive storyline. Plenty of new ways to reorganize enemy internals, and a casual side that's potentially “girlfriend-friendly.” Plenty of promises were made regarding Epic Games' Gears of War 2, sequel to the over-the-shoulder shooter that first hit Xbox 360s nearly two years ago.
And Gears 2 – which I played at a recent Microsoft event – certainly delivers on those promises. Combat is intense, with monstrous hordes that remain determined to exterminate the human race. The cover mechanic that separates the Gears series from other shooters has been refined, allowing for a fluid run-and-gun experience, while bloody new execution moves and massive action sequences speak volumes about the game as a whole.
After all, it wouldn't be Gears of War if it weren't as laden with testosterone as it was blood and gore. This is the game that brought us the chainsaw-equipped assault rifle – capital-M uberMenschen built like rhinos, churning through wave after wave of hellish onslaughts with that grim, can-do demeanor recycled from so many Wild West movies or space-marine combat operas.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Gears welcomes players back into its cold, hyper-muscular bosom with the familiar level of energy-drink fueled action we got by the barrel in the original. Humanity still can't seem to catch a break, as the Locust hordes who were so totally destroyed last time around have returned – "stronger than ever." It's up to Delta Squad to stop their nefarious genocide, the only pack of heroic anti-hero archetypes with enough chutzpah to tackle wave after wave of insurmountable foes, while their fellow comrades in arms – feeble, heavily armed and armored redshirts– crumble all around them.
This time around, the dastardly Locusts have developed a rather nasty tactic of tunneling beneath human cities, causing these strongholds to sink into the earth and collapse upon themselves. With Humanity’s last remaining base as the focus of Locust assaults, we do the only sensible thing: stage an all-out attack on the Locusts' subterranean stronghold.
There's a satisfying (dare I say epic) level of action from the first few moments, that persists without fail throughout the campaign. Firefights are hectic, with a pacing that only grows in intensity as the game progresses. Once you've taken down your first gigantic Brumak, or slammed into enemy hordes with the new mortar gun, you'll begin to appreciate just how freely the game wafts through an entertaining amount of chaotic activity. Though the numerous on-rails segments can get a bit monotonous (particularly after the fifth botched attempted at the tricky, instant-death-if-failed objective), they provide a palpitating sense of scale, whether the battle takes place behind a machine-gun turret or on the back of an airborne Reaver.
And then there are the elements that are intended to propel the storyline, but instead tend to detract from the action: the aforementioned on-rails sequences. Frequent cutscenes. A love story. Elements all designed to gently squeeze the brakes on the frenetic pace, when all I really wanted were more squishy giblets to spatter about the screen.
Gears of War 2 hits store shelves on November 7th, exclusively on the Xbox 360. How well this latest installment in the struggle between hard-boiled war veterans and hordes of aliens / monsters / mutants fares will be wholly dependent on the level of action gamers crave – and Gears of War 2 does not disappoint. We'll have our full review closer to the game's release date, but coming before then will be impressions of the multiplayer modes.
Gears of War 2 [Epic Games]
Images Courtesy Epic Games
