Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is the sequel to the groundbreaking, original Gears of War. It comes with new modes, new features, and of course a continuation of the Locust killing campaign. It also comes back with a groundbreaking Multiplayer for players to test their skills against one another through Xbox LIVE.

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The campaign for the second Gears has been slightly upgraded and has a more followable route taken to it. You start from the Jacinto Hospital some time after the lightmass bombing. The Cog realize that the bomb didn't hit the Locust nearly quite as hard as they had planned, as they are coming back stronger than even sinking one city after another until Jacinto was the last one left.

This time around though, your taking the fight to their home turf to try and finish them were it hurts the most. Although this time it gets a bit harder as the enemy is coming in with new Locust baddies. Including the Grinder, Mauler, Bloodmount, Kantus, Ticker, as well as Scorge that takes up General RAAM’s old spot after his death in the first gears. On your way down through the Locust turf, all of these as well as the Locust oldies will be there to get in your way.



Alright, now, even though the story line is easier to follow in this one, the game still has it’s moments where it goes off from the Locust turf, to a mansion that randomly pops up during the story line, and then back to the Locust turf. The one good thing about that though, is that it fills in some unanswered questions, but it leaves you with more intriguing questions to fill in.

One thing the campaign mode really hasn’t fixed is the Cooperative vehicle chapters. The ability to have one person drive and another shoot in this game isn’t the best that it possibly could be. What one person sees isn’t always what the other person sees and it causes confusion amongst the two people. One will be running away from something that only they see, and the person that is the shooter gets backed up into a swarm of enemy Locust that they were shooting at but hadn’t fully killed, which ends up making them start over from the last checkpoint. The chapter in general is great if played by oneself but with the edition of another player it makes it quite a bit harder. And really the Co-Op part of a game is supposed to make it easier not harder, but that isn’t the case at this point in the game. But even behind these set backs from this part, E.P.I.C. Was still clearly able to get the point of what they wanted across and playable even through the difficult time presented with the Cooperative driving.

One more thing E.P.I.C. Really hasn’t gotten right is boss fights. Now boss fights in most games take time to pass and really make a person struggle to pass the part. Not so in Gears 2. The boss fights in this game can take up to a maximium of five minutes to complete, and are most of the time easier than going through with the rest of the campaign.

If you hated the whole "fingers to ear" moments from the first gears campaign, you may just be fed up with parts of the second's one. The process for having to sit there and listen to them ramble on and on can get aggravating to almost anyone. So until you finish the campaign for the first time all the way through, your stuck with your finger in your ear.

One cool edition to the campaign in general though is that when playing cooperatively, you have the choice of each player setting the difficulty on different setting. This lets players with less experience to be able to play at there difficulty level and have it where they want it in difficulty, while someone else is playing through on Insane and having around the same difficulty as the person with a bit less experience. Or as many people have done, they use it to have a person that has gone through it already to put on Casual while they are on Insane to make the play through easier. There is a lot of different ways to put it that can really change the difficulty of the game.

So, all in all, the new campaign is great. It keeps you entertained, it adds new things that mix up the game play, so that even though you’ve beaten the game, it keeps you coming back wanting more and more.

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Multiplayer is the part of the game where you can take your skills to duke it out against others, or if you don’t have Xbox LIVE, to play against the bots. The Multiplayer is split up into many different game types for players to enjoy on brand new maps. The gametypes include Warzone, Execution, Guardian, Annex, King of the Hill, Submission, and Wingman. Between all of the gametypes, there is usually something out there for everyone.

For those that had played the first gears online a lot, they might find that the speed and mechanics have been slowed down quite a bit. Those that had fluid motions online can’t quite do that as much as they used to do to that. So the new gameplay changes have caused quite some controversy over which gears really has the better online, but really each has it’s own ups. Both have stellar gameplay, and even though the new changes can get the best players of the first gears off, they should be able to adapt to the new game style fairly quickly.

For those that have Xbox LIVE, TU3 has come around for update of many things including a new ranking system. The ranking system is now based off of EXP, rather than the pile of mess it used to be where no one understood it. It gives different EXP for different playlist as E.P.I.C. Knows that some gametypes give you more of a chance to get kills than others. So to cancel that out you get a little less EXP in certain playlist than others. This ranking system features 100 levels of ranks indicated by numbers next to ones name.

Gametypes:

Warzone: Warzone is the basic Team Deathmatch, just Gears of War style. Most games have Team Deathmatch were the team that racks up the most kills over a time limit wins. Well Gears of War is almost the same besides the fact that a team wins by eliminating the whole other team. Now it isn’t spawn and die and that’s the end of the game. It’s you die and your out until the next round. The team that knocks the whole team out will win one round, first to five rounds won wins.

Execution: Execution is almost exactly the same as Warzone besides one small difference. You can’t down an enemy and shoot them until they completely die. You have to get right up next to them and execute them. Executing can occur in many ways. You can go from the good old fashioned curb stomp to different executions with almost all of the weapons having different executions.

Guardian: Guardian is like a game of VIP or kill the leader. Kill the enemy teams leader then wipe out the rest of their team to win the round. Not as easy as it sounds though because as long as the other teams leader is alive the rest of his team will continue to spawn to come after your leader. Your team as well as the opposing team can spawn from their original side as well as spawning at your original spawn side, so attacks can come from the front and from the behind.

Annex: Annex is a version of King of the Hill. The first hill will spawn and there will be a maximum of 60 seconds that you are able to drain from that particular hill. Once the 60 seconds have been taken out between the two teams, the hill will move to another location. Unlike King of the hill though, once you capture the hill you don’t have to stand in it. You can run around and kill other people, but if the other team steps in the hill the time you are getting from the hill will automatically stop and the other team will start to claim the hill. One more thing different than King of the Hill is that you can respawn even when you have the hill. The game will continue until one team has a total of 180 points, which is a minimum of three hills if the other team claims no points from a hill. The game is played in a best 2 out of 3 format.

King of the Hill: King of the Hill is similar to Annex in many ways, but also completely different. Instead of a moving hill, the hill remains stationary in one spot until the game is over. You also have to have one person stay in the hill once captured or points will not be distributed to your team. You can also not spawn once you die as long as your team controls the hill, so the hill capturing has to be strategic once two or three teamates die. The game is played until one team has 120 points and is played in a best 2 out of 3 format.



Submission: Submission is Gears of War’s version of Capture the Flag. The thing is though, the flag is actually a person(and AI person not a actual person controlling the guy) that runs around the map with a shotgun of which your team must down and take as a meatshield. Once the meatshield has been obtained the teams must take it to a designated spot on the map. If stopped and the enemy team gets the meatshield, the designated area for capturing the meatshield will move to the other side of the map. If your team stops the enemy before they reach half way, your team will have to take it to the farthest away point to turn in the meatshield for the win. Due to those conditions, Submission games are usually the ones that last the longest. The game is played in a best 2 out of 3 format.

Wingman: Wingman is basically a free for all, but you have a teammate to help you out. So essentially, there are five teams of two, all of which are trying to get to 15 points the fastest. Your team gets a point for every kill and extra points for being the last team left and one for winning the round. If two teams make it to fifteen the game will go into a tiebreaker until one team is in the lead by at least one point.



Private: Private made games are for friends that want to play with each other over XBL without the hassle of waiting to try and find a game in Public. During private games you can change the amount of kills/points/captures/etc needed to win a game so that it last longer or shorter than a regular game. You can also change the weapon spawns on the maps to make for a new and interesting gameplay. Bots may also be added into play to fill in the player spots that has no one in them. If someone were to join in your game though, a bot would disappear and the player would take it’s spot.

Offline: Now offline is the same as Private just with the fact that you cannot play with other people over XBL. Offline is basically the same thing as playing a local game which means it is local to the 360 in particular. But other than that it is very much the same.

Public: For those people that love to just play against other people via online matchmaking, Public matches are where it is at. You can go in with teams that range from 1-5, and have the ability to chose from a variety of different playlist(All of which are listed above except for player’s choice which has every gametype in it except for wingman. Two appear randomly and the ten gamers vote on which to choose.) This is what is also known as a ranked playlist as your ranking bar will go up or down depending on your stats from game to game and if you win or lose.

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Do you ever tell yourself, “Well why can’t I just kill things without the hassle of people being better than me over matchmaking and having to go through the campaign to kill AI Locust.” Well if you have than Horde may be for you. Horde is a new mode to the the Gears of War series and is very exciting mode to have. Horde is 50 waves of Locust killing action on one of the multiplayer maps. Each wave slowly brings in bigger and badder enemies to kill. The first 10 waves are the basic layout for the Horde gameplay. Once you have gone through the first 10, you will start over with easy enemies again, but this time they are a bit stronger. Their Accuracy, Damage, and Health will go up little by little every 10 rounds.

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This is a list of all the achievements for those people that love to aim for achievements to boost their Gamerscore. They go from the easy and simplistic to the hard and dedicated. Those willing to spend their time trying to get the 1000/1000 next to their name will need to wait a while trying to rack up 100,000 kills. E.P.I.C. did a a great job of making the achievements hard to work for, but at the same time letting you have fun while you do it.

Green as Grass (10): Train the rook (any difficulty)
It's a Trap! 10: Story progression in Act 1, Chapter 2
Escort Service (10): Story progression in Act 1, Chapter 4
Girl About Town (10): Story progression in Act 1, Chapter 6
That Sinking Feeling (10): Story progression in Act 2, Chapter 4
Freebaird! (10): Story progression in Act 2, Chapter 5
Heartbroken (10): Story progression in Act 2, Chapter 6
Longitude and Attitude (10): Story progression in Act 3, Chapter 3
Tanks for the Memories (10): Story progression in Act 3, Chapter 4
Water Sports (10): Story progression in Act 3, Chapter 6
There's a Time for Us (10): Story progression in Act 4, Chapter 2
Better Wrapped in Beacon (10): Story progression in Act 4, Chapter 3
Have Fun Storming the Castle (10): Story progression in Act 4, Chapter 6
And the Horse You Rode in On (10): Story progression in Act 5, Chapter 1
You Are the Support, Son (10): Story progression in Act 5, Chapter 2
Brumak Rodeo (10): Story progression in Act 5, Chapter 4
Does This Look Infected to You? (10): Story progression in Act 5, Chapter 5
Tourist of Duty (25): Complete all campaign acts on Casual Difficulty
Guerilla Tactician (50): Complete all campaign acts on Normal Difficulty
Artist of War (75): Complete all campaign acts on Hardcore Difficulty
Suicide Missionary (150): Complete all campaign acts on Insane Difficulty
Collector (5): Recover 5 collectibles (any difficulty)
Pack Rat (15): Recover 20 collectibles (any difficulty)
Completionist (30): Recover all 41 collectibles (any difficulty)
One-Night Stand (10): Complete 1 chapter in co-op on any difficulty (Marcus or Dom)
Open Relationship (30): Complete 10 chapters in co-op on any difficulty (Marcus or Dom)
Friends with Benefits (50): Complete all acts in co-op on any difficulty (Marcus or Dom)
Once More, With Feeling (10): Perform 30 perfect active reloads (any mode)
Takes a Licking (30): Melee 30 Tickers (any mode)
Organ Grinder (10): Kill 30 enemies with a cover mounted Mulcher (any mode)
Shock and Awe (10): Kill 30 enemies with the heavy Mortar (any mode)
Said the Spider to the Fly (10): Kill 10 enemies with a planted grenade (any mode)
Crowd Control (10): Melee 10 enemies down with the Boomshield equipped (any mode)
Smells Like Victory (10): Kill 30 enemies with the Scorcher Flamethrower (any mode)
Variety is the Spice of Death (30): Kill an enemy with every weapon in the game (any mode)
Seriously 2.0 (50): Kill 100,000 enemies (any mode)
Standing Here, Beside Myself (10): Win 3 matches of Wingman (public)
Beat the Meatflag (10): Capture 10 meatflags in Submission (public)
It's Good to be the King (10): Win 10 rounds of Guardian as the leader (public)
You Go Ahead, I'll Be Fine (10): Win three matches of King of the Hill (public)
Back to Basic (10): Successfully complete the 5 lessons of multiplayer Training Grounds
Party Like It's 1999 (30): Play 1999 rounds of multiplayer (any mode)
Around the World, Again (30): Win a multiplayer match on each map (any mode)
Dirty, Dirty Horde (20): Survive the first 10 waves of Horde (any difficulty, any map)
Hoard the Horde (30): Survive all 50 waves of Horde (any difficulty, any map)
Crossed Swords (10): Win 10 chainsaw duels (any mode)
A Parting Gift (20): Kill 10 enemies with a grenade while down but not out (any mode)
Pound of Flesh (10): Use a meatshield to save your life 10 times (any mode)
Photojournalist (10): Submit a spectator photo
Kick 'Em When They're Down (10): Perform all 11 unique executions on a downed enemy

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For those that don’t know DLC stands for DownLoadable Content. All DLC can be found on the Xbox Marketplace or redeemed via redemption code.

Flashback Map Pack: Once you have picked up your game, you should have a redemption card that comes with it so that you can download five of the maps from the first Gears of War. These maps would include; Gridlock, Canals, Mansion, Tyro Station, and Subway. All of these are back for a great multiplayer experience as well as fitted into the Horde gameplay. Most gears fans know these maps extremely well so I will not go into detail on each map like the ones below.

Combustible Map Pack: The combustible map pack is the newest map pack. It comes with three maps that include; Flood, Gold Rush, and Fuel Station. All of these are coming as something brand new to the gears series, with different gameplay mechanics and such to differentiate the usual gears experience for an exciting effect. Such things as rising of Immulsion to make the gameplay more close quartered for intense action. Or the ability to blow up trucks and gas pumps with a few shots from ones gun.

Flood:
Flood is the map that features rising immulsion. The map starts off already fast paced, and when the immulsion starts to rise the close quartering gives the game an exciting twist. The map is made for intense action and has the ability to become a favorite amongst gears players.

Gold Rush:
Gold Rush is the biggest map in the Combustible DLC. It features three stories of intense action. Even though the map has big size, it’s made well enough to keep action all across the map. The map has the main battle ground that has a long stretch of machinery to hide behind and long distances of fire. It is covered up from the top by a large balcony that has fire point over most of the first floor. The map also has a basement spawn point, where one team spawns and runs out of into the fight. There is few places for cover in the basement part, so if a fire fight occurs, it all depends on who can down the other first. So in all, the map is made for constant intense action with many places to gain ground and take control of the map.

Fuel Station:
Fuel Station is a unique map by the way it is made. It is based around a small Fuel Station with a working elevator and an outside staircase that leads to the roof. Around the map is placed trucks with exploding fuel tanks and gas pumps just ready to burst into flames. It leads to decisive gmaeplay with players watching where they stand and shoot to get the upper advantage. The roof of the Fuel Station has a overview of most of the map to gain control of territory from above. The roof also comes with the ironically placed Flamethrower. Flamethrower in a Fuel Station just works doesn’t it...

All of these have made a grand entrance into the game via the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points( Or the equivalent of about 10 US Dollars).



SnowBlind Map Pack:
Alright, after a month of playing the new maps, I'm here to give the low down.

Courtyard: The first of the new maps is Courtyard. This maps features a sort of temple structure near one of the sides that has the spawn point for a Mortar and a Sniper that swap during rounds. It provides the perfect view to be able to rein down on the helpless players below in the fairly open courtyard. There is also a small indention on two sides of the structure that go underneath that lead back to the grenades.

Grind yard: This map is fueled for action, as the map is semi small and the tension heats up quick. The main focus is the small tower which houses the Boom Shot/Grinder. That small tower can become an onslaught of action and peril. It lays balanced with deserted cars and strategically placed boxes for cover. This map lays high in action, but it may not become a fan favorite fast.

Under Hill: This map is without a doubt my favorite. You take one building with multiple entrances and connect it to a high overhanging hill and you've got yourself the map Under Hill. The cover on the map I think is very limited and makes players take risk to make long runs without cover. The balancing out of the dominant hill with Mortar is equaled out by the torque bow laying at the bottom for a pinpoint sight straight up the hill.

Fuel Depot Remake:Fuel depot makes a return to the Gears franchise with a icy twist. Now this map was probably the fan favorite from Gears 1, but even then I didn't like this map. And even though I like maps that have a snow battleground, it doesn't make me like this map any more. I'm not exactly sure why I hate this map so much, but I guess it has something to do with it not giving me a good gameplay feeling like most of the other maps do.

Overall the Snowblind map pack is great. If you plan on getting any of them, than I suggest this one being the one to get.

DLC Achievements: All three of the downloadable map packs have come with new achievements after the TU2 and TU3 updates. These achievements go from Horde to the Online multiplayer experience to swing you in for a wild ride of wits and skill.

Flashback and Combustible Map Pack Achievements:
Skeletons in your Closet (20) - Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Flashback Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty)
More Mystery, Less History (15)
Win a multiplayer match on each of the 5 Flashback Map Pack maps (any mode except Wingman)
Bound by a Shared Past (15) Win a Wingman match on each of the 5 Flashback Map Pack maps
Trial by, and on, Fire (20) Survive first 10 Horde waves on Combustible Map Pack maps as a team
The Roof! The Roof! The Roof… (15) Win a multiplayer match on each of the 3 Combustible Map Pack maps (any mode except Wingman)
Forged in the Fire (15) Win a Wingman match on each of the 3 Combustible Map Pack maps
Annex: Now With Execution Rules (75) Win an Annex match on each Flashback and Combustible Map Pack map (public matches only)

Snowblind Map Pack Achievements:
Rookie Gear (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only).
Seasoned Gear (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only).
Battle-Tested Gear (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only).
Battle-Hardened Gear (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
Veteran Gear (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
Never Eat Red Snow (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty).
Icy Dead People (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty).
Frigid Body Dynamics (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).
The Weather Outside Is Lethal (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

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The gameplay is quite simplistic with the hardcore side to add on. The ability to roll away from bullets, jump into cover and start a blind fire, and crush an enemies face off with a curb stomp make you want to play more to see it again. The ability for the game to make you want to come back and play more is one of the great things that gives it that edge in great gameplay.

4.6/5

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Graphics since the first Gears of War have been slightly improved. Of course the blood flying at the screen from a chainsaw attack is still as good as ever. From grenade explosions to bullets flying to heads being popped from a Sniper, the graphics are all there and are standing strong in fabulous quality.

4.4/5

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Something neat that E.P.I.C. Put into the audio is personal sound tracks for each person. During some points of a Horde or multiplayer game each character will have something else to say. This makes the game not quite as dull as if you were to listen to nothing or the same thing over and over again. Also the audio from the bullets being fired is spot on accurate to the time that you fire. And the pop of a headshot on a enemy is always a nice sound to listen to.

4.5/5

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Now the controls from this game flow well on the controller from a standpoint. But when playing pushing one button can make you end up hitting another button and nullify the effect of the first one. An example of the would be changing weapons with the D-Pad. You can get in such a hurry to change that you can hit multiple directions on the Pad. Other than the small things that can get bother some, the controls work well and are easy to get used to.

4.0/5

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Overall this is a great game. If you were a fan of the first or just now looking into the Gears of War series, you should be able to pick up the game and fit into the surrounding as well as enjoy the gameplay.

4.3/5