I went over to my friend's house and starting playing Gears of War 2 on Friday. We started playing and it made me wish I still had a working Xbox. Typically I'll choose sleep over video games We played from 10:00 pm on Friday, and didn't put the controller down until 5:00 am on Saturday. It was funny because I was sitting there playing, and my friend started noticing that I was dying quite often and then you looked over and saw that I fell asleep, while playing, and that's when decided to take a break, I guess you could say I was a wee bit tired. So we took a nap for a while and finished the game around 12:00 in the afternoon. I guess you could say we really like the game.


The first Gears of War came out in 2006, produced by Epic Game Studios, the same studios that made the Unreal Tournament series that's popular among PC gamers. Gears of War takes place on a fictional planet called Sera, and after one hundred years of civil war, mankind on Sera, because united after the emergence of a monstrosity called the Locust Horde. Fifteen years after the appearance of the Locust, humans are fighting a losing battle, so they start recruiting prisoners. The game follows the actions of delta squad led by Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner, as they fight to detonate a specialized bomb in an offensive to destroy the Locust in their underground tunnels.


Gears of War 2 follows delta squad six months after the end of the first game, the Locust reemerge and the human fortress cities are disappearing, and with Jacinto, the last human city, facing a similar fate, the human race decides to go on the offensive and attack the Locust underground.

New Features



In Gears of War 2, Epic Games carries over the same gameplay from Gears of War 1, the patented cover, duck, and shoot, and they added so much more. Some of the more interesting things that were added were the Boom Shield, a weapon that you can use for protection while moving or you can plant it into the ground, the ink grenade that releases a deadly gas, gorgon pistol, a semi-automatic pistol with a short clip, the scorcher flamethrower, mortars, and the mulcher machine gun. Don't worry the iconic Lancer Rifle is in the game, and yes, you can still chainsaw Locust enemies in half.

In terms of gamplay features, Epic Games added some new features. One of my favorites is human shields, when an enemy is “downed”, but not dead, you can grab them and pick them up as a human shield. Also new to the game are chainsaw duels, if both you and your opponent try to chainsaw each other, you enter a minigame mode, and pressing the “A' button is the only way to win. One of the more interesting aspects is that if you get “downed” you can crawl over to your teammates and they can revive you, but in Gears 2 the enemies can do that too.


There are new enemies now too, you have these little creatures like roaches that crawl along the ground waiting to get close to you, and when they do they blow up. Another new set of creatures are called Blood Mounts, foot soldiers ride these creatures into battle. There's a new creature called Kantus that can revive their fallen comrades. They are a “priest” of sorts of the Locust. In Gears of War 1, vehicles didn't play a very large part, but in the sequel you and your friend drive the Locust's flying steeds called Reavers, Centaur Tanks, four wheeled vehicles that have a large gun, and Brumaks bosses previously featured as bosses in the first game. Usually one of you drives and the other shoots.


The Disappointments

Remember the Hammer of Dawn? Its a laser pointer that marks a target, and a satellite in space shoots a laser at whatever you point. Unfortunately, there's only one level where you get to use this amazing weapon. Another thing that I missed were the nocturnal carnivorous bats called Kryll from the first game. You had to stay in the light to avoid them and the only way of killing them was a UV light. Also the oversized foot soldiers called Berserkers from the first game that couldn't be killed by conventional weapons are strangely absent from the second game.


Bottomline: Gears of War 2 is a stunning sequel, that pushes the abilities of the Xbox to the limit. In addition to innovative gameplay, Gears 2 has a deeper story and develops the protagonists and gives them more depth. If you've been looking for an excuse to buy a 360, well here's one: Gears of War 2.