Gears of war 2 had a lot to live up to, considering it is
the follow up to one of the biggest games released on the 360. When the
original GoW came out it made almost every other TPS before it seem outdated.
The cover system worked perfectly, the co-op was mad fun, and entire campaign
felt like a bad ass roller coaster. While the first two remain true for GoW 2,
it doesn't feel special anymore, and the later couldn't be more off.
The cover mechanic is still the best out there, but it honestly doesn’t feel
much improved over the original, and Co-op in games today is standard fare. I
think the "been there, done that" feeling I got from the campaign was
the reason my friend and I had to push ourselves to actually finish the game.
You will see a lot of cool stuff, such as the worm level, and it goes without
saying that the game looks beautiful, but it’s just not enough to keep the excitement
up. It doesn’t help that the story is embarrassing, the whole relationship
between Dom and his wife seems like a joke. The ending is also very
anti-climatic.
Then you have the multiplayer, which is good enough. While I was not a huge fan
of the original gears multiplayer, if you were you will find a lot to love in
GoW 2. It has enough new content to keep you satisfied for months. Hoard mode
(killing wave after wave of enemies) is a pretty cool idea, and most people
will probably get some enjoyment out of it, but it really isn't anything that
special.
If the way I wrote this review makes me sound like I hate GoW 2 then I am sorry
for giving off the wrong impression. It is still the sequel to a game that
kicked a lot of ass, and improves on some of the worse parts of the original
(like the driving parts) but it just feels too much like the original for it to
blow me away, or even want to come back to it. If you enjoyed the first don't
pass it up, but don't expect to feel the same about it either.
