Gears Of War 2 XBox 360 Game
Marcus Fenix is Back and He's Up to his Neck in Locust, Reviewed!
Nov 21, 2008
The original Gears Of War is one of the finest games released for the X Box 360. It has sold over five million copies worldwide and proven to be one of the most popular multiplayer games on X Box Live. Since then there have been action figures and comic books, but what fans were really waiting for was the inevitable sequel. After two years of expectation though the wait is over and Gears Of War 2 does not disappoint.
Marcus Fenix And The Locust Horde
It is six months since Delta Squad detonated the Lightmass bomb but things have not improved for the human population of the Planet Sera. The victory was short-lived as the Locust have returned in even greater numbers. To make matters worse, a mysterious plague known as 'Rust-Lung' has been spreading. To top it all off, where the Locust were once happy digging holes through the surface, they've now come up with a way to sink entire cities. The stakes have been raised and humanity stands on the edge of extinction.
Thank heavens then that Sergeant Marcus Fenix and his best friend Dominic Santiago are still around to save the world again. Along with the fresh faced Private Ben Carmine (brother of sniper-fodder Anthony Carmine) and a tattooed behemoth named Tai, they lead the battle against the Locust Horde, reuniting with some old friends along the way. Things take an especially grim turn however when it appears that Dom's wife Mariah may be a prisoner of the Locust...
You Can't Stop The Cole Train Baby!
Using a highly modified version of the Unreal 3 engine, the game relies on the same "duck and fire" mechanics of the original. It will be instantly recognisable to longtime fans but things are stepped up a notch in every department.
Thought skewering an enemy with the chainsaw bayonet was fun? Try using them as a human shield or battering them to mush with the butt of a sniper rifle. How about storming a Locust held building? This game has an entire army attacking a mountain town. And the APC with the UV Cannon? That's got nothing on a tank with monster truck wheels barrelling across a frozen lake while lobbing explosives at enemy monsters.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Mariah?
Visually meanwhile, Gears 2 is stunning. There is the odd graphical glitch every now and then but by and large it is as beautiful as it is nasty. The cramped interiors and desolated cities of the original have given way to heavily forested outdoor battlegrounds and one gob-smacking cave network. The design team have pushed the technology to the limit and while sometimes the cracks do show, it is still awe-inspiring how good it looks.
What really seals the deal with Gears 2 is the storyline. The plot is far more epic this time but it's also darker. Admittedly, it is a pity that the Rust Lung subplot is dropped so quickly, but the subplot of Dom's search for his wife is brilliantly done. Without giving too much away, there is a scene in the final third that is so heartbreaking it demonstrates precisely how far videogames have come. This is no toy for children and the game holds an 18 certificate for some genuinely horrific reasons.
Throw in an endlessly replayable multiplayer mode, the hilarious "Horde" Mode and it's not hard to imagine Gears Of War 2 being just as popular as the original, if not more so. This is the kind of game that reminds all who play it exactly why they never grew out of videogames. Roll on Gears Of War 3!
