Gears of War 2

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Gears of War 2
Tweet Topic Started: Jan 15 2009, 02:27 PM (206 Views)
Squiggles	Jan 15 2009, 02:27 PM Post #1
You're a louse. Posts: 2,112 Group: Peach Member #1,802 Joined: July 2, 2006	Gears of War 2 is the second installment of the Gears of War series by Epic Games. You play as Marcus Fenix, leader of Delta Squad of the COG army (references to clockwork become apparent around here...) defending the planet of Sera from the Locust invaders. Dispite the initially simple sounding story line,this game takes characterisation to a new level, with all characters having their loyalties and backstories. As far as gameplay is concerned, Gears of War is a third person shooter, mainly centered around shooting from cover. This appealed to me from an early stage because I've never responded well to simply running in and shooting, because half the time, strategy is required, but the nature of the game never really accomodates control wise: crouching never quite being enough to cover yourself, the level design being uncooperative... With Gears of War, you really have to play the subtle game. Legging it into battle is clunky, and it's much easier to play it in stages: kill enemy, take their territory and take cover to kill the next few. It's gradual, but provided the enemies don't sneak up on you, you can't get hit in cover. Now, immersion plays a major role in this game, because the gameplay compliments it so much! The odds are fairly horrendous: the majority of your enemies have about as much health as you (averages), with the same weapons, and the ability to revive their teammates. The one thing you have that they don't is two brain-cells to rub together! The fact that you really do have to spend time hiding from your foes while they do the same really adds to the immersionof the game. For Gears of War 2, the overall plot in this particular game is fairly basic, dispite the almost inevitable complications that will arise in the later games. You, aliens, they don't like you, you don't like them. Now, there are always complications: people dying, and the like, but I wish they'd have a bit more than just a single great cutscene, you know? Something bad happened to one of my colleagues, and within a few minutes he was back to calling "dibs" on the ammo. Perhaps if he were a little moody a couple of chapters later the story would be that much better. The morale of the characters never goes down, and considering they all have their faults, I doubt they're all so manly that they can shrug these misfortunes off. So much of the game compliments all the other aspects, and as well as the very gameplay mechanic, the graphics the game sports makes it bloodier, grander and more immersive. Ah, the graphics. I'm known to just digress from whatever conversation I'm having on Co-op and just go "Christ, this is pretty..." Dispite the game's very gritty theme, it makes a sincere effort to make it as colourful as it can. Adding glowy mushrooms, sunsets, Locust castles etcetera. Now, the blood in this game is a little lacking. I know blood is never great but as it stands, it looks like a jam-sammich just exploded. The shade is off and the implied consistancy is wrong: a game that can make perfect sunsets and water should be able to make a fairly major part of the graphics Resident Evil realistic. All this said, headshots are the most satisfying I've ever seen in a game. Of course, a number of you may have heard of the worm level where they all come out covered in jam, sorry, blood. The Unreal Engine provides great lighting, shading and physics applying to what we see, and is one of the most technically advanced Xbox 360 games around. From location to location, there should be at least one moment that sticks out; that wows you. Zooming across a forest, seeing raging water move about with almost photorealism, the Locust city, the first Brumak. A level that doesn't provide one of these moments is a failed level, and there are very few. Honestly, I only have one of these levels. Sound in this game... honestly, as far as music is concerned, there are about 3 songs you'll see ingame, and a few others for cutscenes. Not too varied, then. But I'll tell you what is varied: the effects. Now, each gun has a very distinct noise, all very satisfying, especially when they hit. My favourite example is the Torque Bow, which makes a sound like a ball-bearing hitting a marble surface, and it's generally the most "Oh no." moment you'll hear, because about a second later, there's an explosion. Voice acting is generally very good, characters emoting appropriately and dramatically, dispite a little stereotyping in the more extreme characters, such as Cole and Carmine. Cole"Train" is loud, crude, full of stereotype, but the thing is, he's genuinely entertaining! This is less the place with Carmine, being a little... wimpy. This is weird, because when he cures you, he tells you to "stand up like a man" dispite hiding in a hut trying to reload his gun about a level earler. The online in Gears of War 2 is pretty enjoyable, but I'm not a huge fan of PvP combat because people have a much more agressive tendancy than the AI. If I'm hiding in cover, chances are I'm just going to get flushed out by a grenade or indeed, a person just forgoing the whole thing and finding a way to where I am. The PvP isn't a tactical game: it's Halo; and 3rd Person Shooters don't accomodate that. Now the Horde mode, which encourages players to overcome 50 waves of Locust with 4 other people. The immersion doesn't just stay, it evolves: the "digging in" scenario is that much cooler when there are real people on your team, facing those odds. The cover system in Gears of War 2 is a little clunky, mainly following a number of rules concerning it: 1. If a succession of cover objects are close to eachother, you can sprint to the next one immediately. Sounds good, but it makes getting out of the system a little harder, because moiving away often finds you in cover somewhere else. 2. Sprinting to the next object means you'll go into cover on contact. Good in theory except that the sprint system is very unresponsive, which is good and realistic, but if you miss your target, you might end up where you don't want to be. 3. You can go into cover by pressing A. Fine, but it's a little slow. Now, these things never make life or death, but I come across these issues a little more than I'd like, and it breaks the gameplay, and subsequently the immersion. The Campaign has 4 difficulty settings with very reasonable checkpoints, making for gameplay you can just pick up and play, but a few scenarios will find you lost, when your teammates don't have any good ideas of what to do. Usually, after your first playthrough, you'll get the idea, and you can have very action-packed fun that you'll be happy to play again and again. Sound 7 Voice acting is great, sound satisfying, but the music, while good, lacks variety. Graphics 10 I would. Story 9 Nothing revolutionary, but emotional, immersive and complimented by virtually every other quality of the game. Gameplay 9 Enjoyable, instant-gratification with a few niggles in the cover system, and in dire need of a minimap and navigator. Online 7 Not the main aspect, but enjoyable with a decent community. Edited by Squiggles, Jan 15 2009, 05:03 PM.



Shieldbou	Jan 18 2009, 04:25 PM Post #2
/ Posts: 5,120 Group: Former Staff Member #1,634 Joined: April 22, 2006	Wow, nice one, Squiggles. A very articulate review and it really puts the game into a perspective. Heysies, hosies.



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