Lewis's Gears of War 2 review

Alright. I'm not too sure how I feel about this one... The intro is a bit confusing, and I don't really get a sense for the flow of things until you start talking about combat. Also, I found too many typos to list here so I'll HG mail them. The other thing is, this comes off quite critically of the game, and maybe, just from reading it, would warrant a similar score to what pickhut gave it. I don't feel like going into the score debate, but it illustrates the perception the review gives me. It seems the only reason you liked it mostly revolves around how fun it is to kill stuff, which you often interject between criticisms and in very brief statements, with the exception of that one or two paragraph(s) at the end. I'd also have appreciated more detail on the strategy and maybe a bit more depth into the combat besides "just killing things" and that cool example with the chainsaw gun.

Like, maybe explain how enemies fight... or how you have to approach them to defeat them (besides the cover system... which you describe well, though maybe an example where you explained exactly how it helps instead of just telling us would have been better). Also, maybe explanations on the types of weapons and how well they kill things, since this seems to be one of the major attracions to the game.

Anyway, what you do describe is pretty well-done for the most part. I think this could be helped by simple editing... though you put it up as a staff review which means actually editing it might be difficult.

Anyway, I think I liked the Resi one more, personally, but... that one has so much controversy and the whole "you didn't describe the game enough" thing still holds kind of true (and is really the only valid criticism in that whole mess, in my opinion). I'll leave the choice to you which game to use for the challange, or maybe our other team members (or anyone else) can give input as well.

Coupla typos I need to sort out. I'm trying my hand at a few shorter reviews at the moment, partially because word counts at Resolution are generally between 800 and 1500 words, and partly because people here used to say I wasn't concise enough.

I will let the rest of you decide which the competition entry should be.

My problem with this review is that Gears is all about the obsessive compulsive need to kill everything in sight. Looking for anything deeper than this is always going to be a lost cause because people aren't playing these games to identify with the protagonist. They're playing them because they want to shoot things. Gears is just one in a long, long line of games (going right back to Contra) that thrive on this premise. Immersion in shooters comes primarily from the thrill provided by the gameplay and the escapism of playing as MAD DOG (or whoever). It's an old school impulse in a world moving towards greater narrative involvement, but Gears has to be judged for what it is.

Also, six hours is the perfect length. Shooters tend to be repetitive by nature, so anything over nine hours is pushing it. Longevity comes through higher difficulties.

I absolutely agree with you. Hence the high score and repetition of, y'know, how good it is.

But, regardless of its intent and audience, it's completely vacuous. It's fantastically good fun, but nothing else.

They're not aliens, you tiny, hairy, hippy!

Think I'll finally get around to reviewing this one.

I'd like this game more if Dom wasn't STILL a fucking mental incompetent. the game would play better completely without him. all he does is pepper people I'm about to snipe with machinegun fire, get himself killed, and stand right the fuck next to me even if our enemies have grenades and torque bows. this game is fucking unplayable in single player unless you're on normal or hardcore or some bullshit.

plus the driving sections are horrible.

EmP: they're very, very much aliens, no matter what the game calls them.

Boo: Stop playing it in single player, twit.

Lew: They're bloody not! They're the other stereotypical shooter foe! The ones that aren't Muslims, anyway.