Review: Gears of War 2 - It's full of grit!

Mike Bantick
Sunday, 16 November 2008 10:10

Opinion and Analysis

Marcus Fenix and the other Cog's are back to battle the subterranean Locusts once more.  And like any Hollywood action film sequel, much of what is on offer in Gears of War 2 is familiar, is that a bad thing?

Remember the original blockbusting Xbox 360 exclusive ?  Well it is not hard, Gears of War has been sitting on top (or near the top) of the Xbox LIVE activity register since it's November 2006 release.

Gears of War 2
	Developer	Epic Games
	Publisher	Microsoft
	Rating	MA 15+
Xbox 360

Along with Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3, Xbox 360 owners have trouble sating their appetite for Gears of War action.

So it is not surprising that - even two years later – Epic games have not fiddled too much with the Gears formula.   

If you need a story line, this pretty much sums it up; six months after the lightmass bombing, the Locusts have returned stronger than ever.  The grubs and their larger brethren now have the ability to sink whole cities using their subterranean techniques.

Marcus, Dom and the rest of Delta Squad are tasked with taking out what ever horrors are thrown their way.  That pretty much sums it up, there are a couple of sub plots that are never quite fleshed out, but who cares? This is an action sequel, not Tolstoy (except maybe the “War” bit).

Like all good action sequels, Gears of War 2, is just Gears of War the original, but done bigger and, well, that's it, just bigger. 

Much of the action takes place either in open world environments, with acres of ski, mountains and forest to view.  And then there is a significant proportion of underground caverns and lakes to be explored.  There is also the usual and the unusual set locations to be traversed.  The usual being the ruins of cities and laboratories similar to the first game.  The unusual being a highlight of the game where Delta Squad must traverse a more organic route – chainsaw bayonets at the ready.