P.Review - Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
System: Xbox 360 (Exclusive franchise)
Rated M for Mature
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
System: Xbox 360 (Exclusive franchise)
Rated M for Mature
Bigger, Better, and More Badass.
Unfortunately, I'd have to agree, on many levels. I did say unfortunately, didn't I? I'll explain as things progress. This is my first review of 2009. I thought I'd start it off with the 2nd most hyped title in the Xbox 360 lineup from last year. Gears of War is a franchise strictly created to push the power of the Xbox 360, and the egotistical might of Epic Games as a developer. While the Unreal engine is at work giving great visuals and stunning graphics in long doses, it's certainly not the engine that needs work. The game itself needs work.
Let's start on the positive here: Gears 2 has this awesome new mode called Horde mode. It's phenomenal, a true testiment to the way online gaming should be treated. You and four friends, that's 5 players, can get together online and defend a map from 50 waves of Locust enemies. Teamwork is demanded, and the difficulty increases as the waves rank up. Ammunition is somewhat limited, and a different array of guns come to you as do the Locust horde. Strategy, toughness, and comradery are the ways of this mode, and saving your friends from near death is definitely a help. Any map can be used, so it's definitely a thrill, and can help you learn the locales of multiplayer.
If you wanted to play the multiplayer, that is.
Everything that is awesome about Horde is scrapped in multiplayer due to an extreme amount of glitches and bugs. Attacking through walls, lag issues, matchmaking woes that have been patched, only to suffer more, the list goes on. A game "so awesome" that problems rise up everywhere in a hurry. There are many people who abuse those glitches too, making the experience not a laughing matter, it's more sad than anything.
The campaign levels in this iteration of Gears are also kind of sad. The first game was all about co-operation and tactical movement. This second game is all about railshooters (seriously?) and vehicle driving. The main problem with railshooter levels is if you don't know what to shoot, you'll become frustrated. I became frustrated rather early. Word to the wise: if you make a shooter, and you have a turret level, don't make the levels to chance. If I'm firing a turret, and it overheats when I need it most, I have to start the level over. Especially annoying considering I played most of those levels by myself. There's absolutely nothing wrong with working these levels into the story, it's just difficult to play unless you have friends there with you for the campaign there. The vehicle levels are plenty, with a couple of shockers in the story, but really, it feels like half the game relies on driving or shooting guns while being driven. I thought Gears was a tactical shooter? Odd.
The gunplay is as always top notch. You feel good hitting that active reload perfect enough times to get the achievement. There's satisifaction when shooting a foe in the head with a sniper rifle, or catching a larger enemy with a Torque Bow round. Blood splatters the screen when you chainsaw someone else in half, and the ass-kicking you're leaving on the battlefield is evident. The boss battles are alright, and keep you moving, but are forgettable. Finishing the game was a chore and a half for me, but I found comfort right away with the things I unlocked after completing campaign.
Gears of War 2 is a bloody mess, figuratively and literally. The story you know gets turned upside-down, around, and right back where you expected. It's just a shame that all of the problems with matchmaking and online play keep appearing, which is a sign of terrible quality assurance. With the recession around, skimping on QA for a high-profit franchise like Gears of War is only going to turn off the fans. As a result, this game only deserves the following score from me: RENT.
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