|
Gears of War 2
|
|
|
|
|
Publisher Region Released Microsoft NA 11/07/2008 |
|
Your Account Options
You currently have no privileges related to this game profile because you are not signed into an HonestGamers account. Please log in, or click to register for a free user account.
|
More Reviews by Lewis Denby
|
|
 |
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PlayStation 3)
A dismally unimaginative co-op shooter, coupled with a half-finished idea for an intriguing competitive component. Play it in either mode and you’ll be bored or... |
 |
To the Moon (PC)
Its retro graphics look beautiful. The original soundtrack is utterly stunning. Its story is one of the most confident and grown-up that our medium has ever see... |
 |
Unreal (PC)
As a first-person shooter, it’s incredibly competent. Quake 2 might have had the tempo, and Half-Life the suspenseful pacing, but Unreal ha... |
 |
Quake (PC)
Quake still absolutely stands up today. Its visuals might be pixellated, the environments often rather monochrome, as became the running gag. Yet the des... |
 |
Quake II (PC)
Enemies dart and dodge, firing sprays of bullets in the final seconds of their lives, trying everything they can to bring you down, even if it means losing thei... |
|
Best Xbox 360 Games
|
|
|
Batman: Arkham City
Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 2 |
|
Mass Effect 3
Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 2 |
|
Mass Effect 2
Average Rating: 9.7; Reviews: 3 |
|
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Average Rating: 9.6; Reviews: 5 |
|
Earth Defense Force 2017
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
Trials Evolution
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
Super Meat Boy
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
Hitman: Blood Money
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
Saints Row: The Third
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
Red Dead Redemption
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
|
Looking for a good read?
Check out a selection from our database of more than 8000 reviews! mardraum has weighed in on Hitman: Blood Money for the Xbox 360 and figures it rates 9 out of 10. What do you think? Read the review, then be sure to leave feedback or chime in with one of your own! |
Systems > Xbox 360 > G > Gears of War 2 > Staff Review
Sign up for a free user account and you can leave feedback for this review or even submit a game review of your own!
Review by Lewis Denby
January 30, 2009
Somewhere beneath the ludicrously scaled armour and grim expressions, however, is a love story. It's Gears of War 2's attempt to tone down the over-compensatory masculinity and inject a spark of actual human sentiment into its workings, but, given the relentless gun-fodder and three-packs-a-day voiceovers that comprise the rest of the game, it's hard not to feel it's a little out of place. It's also clumsily executed, revolving around the search for a woman we've never met and have no emotional investment in, other than to be drawn into bitterness by best pal Dom's incessant moaning about her. It is his wife, to be fair. But I didn't know men this manly actually cared about their women. I thought they just slapped them about and told them to do the washing up.
Ultimately, then, this gets lost beneath the real point of Gears of War 2: killing baddies. Killing lots of baddies.
The gunplay is brutal. But it's also masterfully paced, broken up every so often by a spectacular set-piece or a superb on-rails vehicular section. Combat is as effortlessly brilliant as before, with the landmark cover-system playing a predictably huge role. Particularly on higher difficulty levels, failure to fully utilise the conveniently-positioned walls and boxes that litter Gears 2's battlegrounds results in bloody death, so a more strategic approach is often necessary. Nothing too strategic, mind. You wouldn't want to tax your brain too much, after all.
The mindless violence plays out in a series of crisply-rendered, albiet somewhat grey, environments, ranging from a hospital, to a cave, to a mountainous outdoor region, to a spooky laboratory complex and just about every other hackneyed action game locale you can think of. The variety is nice, but a little more inspiration and creativity would have gone a long way. It's shamelessly next-gen, but playing Gears of War 2 often feels like playing some sort of medley of early-naughties shoot-em-ups, only with the visual detail cranked up and the blistering combat perfected to a frankly ridiculous degree. Did I mention that you spend a lot of time shooting stuff, and that it's brilliant? Just thought I'd make sure.
The main problem I have with the Gears 2 solo campaign is that - cliché time - it's infinitely stylish yet utterly insubstantial. I'm not even particularly bothered that it's over in a measily six hours, but it would be nice if, during that time, there was something to actually engage with, beyond the obsessive-compulsive need to KILL EVERYTHING IN SIGHT in each big room or big courtyard or big cavern. Maybe I'm being overly critical. I wasn't expecting Planescape: Torment, after all, and it was certainly never intending to appeal to those who require an intricate story and rounded characters to explore. Still, if you want to create something of an immersive experience - and, let's face it, which next-gen game doesn't? - you need to allow for some form of identification with the protagonist. The characters of Gears 2 are either completely vacuous, or so unfeasibly burly and grimly dislikeable that it's almost impossible to connect. The best action games grab me and violently throw me into the very world I'm exploring. Throughout Gears of War 2, as much fun as I was having, I remained very firmly on the sofa.
Maybe multiplayer was always the focus. It's certainly highly enjoyable, with a nice range of game modes and total carnage at every turn. It is a bit overly trigger-happy, even compared to the main game, with the usual reliance on cover being somewhat undermined by the fact that human players are generally that bit smarter than their AI counterparts. As a result, it's often easier to simply charge at the opposition with the chainsaw gun, playing a bizarre game of chicken and laughing maniacally while blood sprays across the screen like jam splurting out of a donut. Horde mode is particularly excellent, though. A Left 4 Dead-style four-player survival session, Horde throws reams of enemy forces in your direction, the aim of the game being to simply hold out until the end. It obviously lacks the dynamic of Valve's ingenius multiplayer FPS, but it's still exciting, tense and spectacularly good fun.
That's a good summary of Gears of War 2, actually. There wasn't a single moment when I wasn't enjoying myself, and that definitely has to count for something. But beneath the flashy set-pieces and beautifully balanced combat, there's not a lot to separate it from the pack, and certainly nothing to really affect its audience on anything but a purely visceral level. Depending on your leanings, this may be the deal-breaker. But as a straight-up next-gen blastathon, it doesn't come more polished or perfected than this.
|
|
|
|
You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!
|
|
|
Info |
Help |
Privacy Policy |
Contact |
Advertise
|
© 1998-2012 HonestGamers None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Gears of War 2 is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Gears of War 2, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. |
