Gears of War 2 Review (Because I was told to do it)

I was considering not doing a review for Gears 2, but, who am I to not do whatever a lovely lass asks of me? (^_^) So, I've decided to do a written review for Gears of War 2, as opposed to a video review, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I've got enough vids planned that I still have not done. Secondly, I still don't have a way of capturing video for doing these reviews and I can not believe that people want to sit and watch me blather on about a game without seeing even a second of gameplay footage, so, I'll just do a written review and hope people are okay with reading it, haha. This is very long, and I've probably forgotten to mention something despite reading over it a couple times to double check. And away we go.


---Story
It's been six months since the Lightmass Bomb was set off underground and the Locust Horde have returned with a vengeance. Somehow they've found a way to sink entire cities and the last bastion for human civilization, Jacinto, is under threat. In the hopes of saving their city, the COG is striking back at the heart by sending soldiers directly underground to fight back against the Horde.

The writing still takes a back seat to the gameplay, much like with the first Gears of War, but it's clearly stronger this time around. Which I feel is attributable to the inclusion of Joshua Ortega in the writing process. While still weak in certain aspects, particularly with some lines of dialogue, it has one of the most emotional, heart-breaking scenes I've seen in a vidgame thus far. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but the people who've played the game know what I'm talking about.

But let's be honest with ourselves, the majority of people who play a Gears game don't come to it for the story and I don't think it's really envisioned by the people working on it as a story-driven game, so we'll move on.


---Controls & Gameplay
If you've played Gears 1, you've got the controls for Gears 2 down already. For the sake of the review, though, I'll run through the controls.

Right trigger fires your weapon
Left trigger allows you to aim your weapon.
Right button reloads.
Left button shows your Tac/Com to check position and status of your team and your current

objectives.
Left stick controls your movement.
Right stick controls the camera.
D-pad chooses your weapons.
Pressing A puts you into cover or makes you dive in the direction indicated by the left stick. Holding A makes you roadie run. Pressing A near a downed enemy will pick them up as a meatshield.
B melees, revs the chainsaw if held while the Lancer is equipped, or sticks grenades to walls or people if grenades are equipped. Pressing B near a downed enemy while a special execution weapon is equipped with perform a specific execution.
X is your general interaction button: grabbing ammo and guns, kicking open doors, pressing buttons, etc. Pressing X near a downed enemy with curb stomp them.
Y shows you points of interest, which are generally prompted on the bottom of the screen anyway. Pressing Y near a downed enemy will perform a three-punch beatdown, unless a special execution weapon is equipped.
Start brings up the options menu.
Back skips cutscenes and shows the Leaderboard during multiplayer matches.

First of all, let's get the minor changes out of the way first. The roadie run is a bit slower, the clip sizes are different, smoke grenades now stun nearby enemies when they detonate, and the cover mechanic is improved slightly. I still have the occasional issue where it won't let me into cover when someone else is already attached to it or it'll drag me across to cover I'm not even near when what I wanted to do was dodge aside, but these things don't happen as often. Other than that, it works much the same, which is to say, great.

But, there have been several new weapons added, including the Scorcher flamethrower and mortars, as well as an Ink grenade that expels a cloud of poison. Speaking of grenades, there's also a new way to deploy grenades as proximity mines. Simply meleeing a wall while you have the grenade equipped will accomplish this phenomenally useful feat.

And let's not forget the new executions. No longer is it the same old curb stomp with X if you want to really take out an enemy. Now there are 11 different executions with a variety of weapons. For instance, pressing Y while you have the Torque Bow equipped will have your character place the opponents neck against the Torque Bow blade then kick the back of his head while simultaneously pulling back on the Bow, effectively decapitating your enemy. It is delightfully violent.

Yet another new thing added to the gameplay are several new enemies, such as the Grinder, which is a huge Locust walking around with a Mulcher, and the Mauler, which is another huge Locust, but with a large shield that will deflect the majority of your shots and a morningstar with quite the reach. It's not all large Locust, though, there has been a much smaller, though no less deadly, enemy added to the roster. That's the Ticker, which is a living land mine that will race at you then explode.

And finally, there are several vehicles portions of the game where you get to drive a Centaur (which is a COG tank), a Reaver, and even a Brumak.


---Graphics
The graphics are improved, though to my unprofessional eye it doesn't appear to be by much. But, it is there... seriously, I'm not the guy to ever ask about graphics. >_> I know whether it looks good or does not look good, and that's as much as I know. There is an issue, though, where sometimes the textures take a few extra seconds to load, and you see a very smooth, glass-like world, but that's mostly amusing. XD

One thing of note as far as the graphics is the completely altered character model of Anya. Her hair color, facial shape, body shape, it's all different, which took some getting used to for me, even though you only see her once in the first Gears. And I wish someone could explain to me why they decided to make the change.


---Music & Sound
The sound work is really, really good. Every bone-snapping, blood-splattering, body-mutilating noise is done to perfection. One complaint, though. When you're walking through the remains of a mutilated enemy, it's unnecessarily noisy. Like, I may kick aside a chunk of meat and it'll sound like I jumped directly on top of a pile of raw meat, it's ridiculous and annoys the hell out of me to the point where I will actively try to avoid walking over it.

The voice-acting is superb, despite some dodgy writing for the dialogue in a few places. And with the story being what it is, it's nice to hear a better range of emotions from the characters, not just "GRRR, KILL 'EM ALL! I'M ANGRY! I SHOOT TESTOSTERONE DIRECTLY INTO MY TESTICLES THREE TIMES A DAY; BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER, BITCHES!"

I'm also pleased to hear the score play a better range, as well. The score was nice in Gears 1, don't get me wrong. It enhanced the experience, or at the very least did not detract from it. But in Gears 2 I feel it's more memorable, more powerful, and plays a larger part in conveying the emotions played in the voices of the actors. As an aside, if you purchase the Limited Edition, there are parts of the score you can listen to included on the Bonus DVD, it's quite a nice feature.


---Multiplayer & Replayability
Ohhh, the multiplayer for a Gears game. Some people may recall that I dislike the competitive multiplayer for Gears of War, so if you love it and you're gonna get upset 'cause I'm gonna bash it, skip on down, brother or sister. The weapons are ridiculous, I fucking hate the shotgun and often enough refer to it as "Gears of Shotgun" while I'm playing the competitive multiplayer. Also, the way in which the lobby was set up annoyed the piss out of me. I couldn't just invite a friend to play a match with me, we had to try to find each other. "Look for this game type on this map", and gods help you if your rankings were too different, you'd never find each other. Then there was the issue with people coming in and insisting on being on the hosts team because they believe there's some host advantage, which there isn't, so you'd generally not even be able to join your friend's team.

Thankfully, half of that has been changed. The shotgun is still ever-present and I hate it, not to mention the Hammer of Dawn, seriously? But, the lobby has been drastically altered, thankfully. You enter the multiplayer lobby, choose your playlist (which I'll get to in a minute), and then start searching for a team or invite a friend or four then start searching for a team. Either way, you'll find any random players you need to fill your team of five, then start searching for another team to play against. Squee! No waiting and hoping for enough people to join the room so the host can start it!

However, you can not search within a specific gametype to play. Instead, you choose a playlist, which has at least three gametypes to choose from. Two are chosen at random, and then the 10 people present vote on what gametype they'd like to play. If there's a tie vote, one of the remaining gametypes in the list is chosen instead. The only exception to this is Wingman, which as its own playlist. And the same goes for the maps, two are randomly chosen and then voted on, if there's a tie, one of the remaining maps is chosen at random.

To finish up with the competitive multiplayer, there are two new gametypes: Wingman and Submission, a.k.a., Meatflag.

Wingman is basically a clusterfuck. There are five teams of two all gunning for each other, and with the limited spawnpoints on the maps, there is always someone not far from you as soon as you spawn. And hiding will do you know good, you pansies! You don't win merely by surviving, it's the first team to 15 points, and it's one point per kill with a bonus point if your team survives the round. So, you can theoretically survive every round and still lose the match. Personally, I don't like this gametype at all, but it is exactly as it was described and intended to be, so well done, Epic Games.

Submission, on the other hand, I do enjoy. It's your basic capture the flag with a twist: the flag fights back with a shotgun. And talks shit constantly. XD The meatflag's always terribly amusing to listen to. And that's it. Down the meatflag, pick the meatflag up, get him to the capture point and remain in the ring with him a few seconds to capture him.

Moving on to the cooperative multiplayer, which I enjoy far more. The campaign can, of course, be played entirely in co-op and is much, much better when played with a friend, either locally or over Xbox Live.

The new addition to the cooperative multiplayer, however, is the Horde mode. It's you and up to four of your friends against 50 waves of the Locust. Waves 1-10 feature increasingly difficult Locust, and after every tenth level one of three stat multipliers for the Locust, Accuracy, Health, and damage, is increased and the waves restart with the weakest Locust again. It's an extremely addictive mode to play, and a lot of fun to play with your friends.

Whew, this is a hella long review. Okay, so, replayability. I'd say it's extremely high. Horde is just wicked fun, so I imagine people will be playing that again and again. And if Achievements are important to you, you're gonna need 100,000 kills over all the different modes of gameplay, including the campaign, to get Seriously 2.0. So, you'll have to play the game a lot to get that, haha, I got the game the morning it came out and I haven't even reached 5,000 yet.


---Negatives
There's not much negative about this game for me, and certainly nothing I haven't already mentioned, but, I'll reiterate. Though I like it better, the competitive multiplayer is still very frustrating and annoying and there are a few dodgy lines of dialogue, as far as the writing is concerned. It's still a very short game, but it is longer than the first game. Also, it's not really a negative, but certainly not a positive, but where in the hell did the Berserkers go? They're only passingly mentioned with one of the Collectibles and that is all. Strange. Oh, only other thing that's kind of a letdown is the end. It lacks the punch and sense of accomplishment that the fight with General Raam had in the first Gears. It kind o' just... ends.


---Positives
Everything else! I love that there's more of a real story present and the game's just fun as hell to play. And there's a whole slew of additions to the game that make it even better than the first, from weapons to gametypes to enemies. Plus, I'll never get tired of hearing Dom say "Runnin' away won't help! I'll just shoot you in your asses!"


---Final summation
Purchase this game. Unless you don't like games with a lot of blood and violence. If that's the case, you should definitely pass on this one. >_> Or buy it and turn off all the gore and foul language in the options!

Mini-Reviews 16

Superhero Movie-- Everyone knows that the Movie movies are getting old. They've been getting more and more boring with just a few really funny jokes sprinkled amongst bad jokes and unfunny randomness. This is much the same. A lot of stupid jokes, some hilarious ones, and a basic storyline to tie it all together. Certainly worth viewing once, to at least see the good jokes. And I like this one better than some of the others simply because of the superhero theme. But the formulas not getting any better, really.

If only I were more useful.

I wish I could take all the sorrow and frustration of the people I love away.

At the very least, help them bear the weight.

Mini-Reviews 15

So, it's Sunday afternoon. I'm supposed to post these on Fridays. Whoops. >_< I've got excuses, though! Who's interested in knowing what they are? Two things, I've been crazy-sick since Wednesday evening and Gears of War 2 came out on Friday, which I purchased that morning. And then had my share of issues with, but, that'll be for another blog another time.

Desert Heat-- It's a bit of an older film, released in 1999. And this movie is fantastic. It's just so ridiculous. The whole town is full of ludicrous characters, like the English-accentedPat Morita, and even Van Damme himself is utterly ridiculous. It's an entertaining and extremely amusing hour and a half, I assure you.

First and last time

So, I really don't think I can handle voting and Presidential campaigns.

I tried it this year, albeit I didn't follow closely. And I got very wrapped up in who I want to be President. Or, more appropriately, who I don't want to be President.

But now, if any of my friends disagree with me, anyone whom I care for a great deal, I get a sick, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. And, I'm not proud to say, I immediately start to think less of them. (-_-) Believe me, I know. I don't want to, but I can't help it, and I feel like a big fat jerk for it. When someone whom I love disagrees with something I'm so fervent about, it makes me go "How are we friends? How long can we possibly remain friends?" Even friends I've had for years and years!

So, I can't do this again, sorry democratic process, but you cause me too much distress. You make me physically ill and you make me question my relationships. I can't deal with it. Peace, I'm out!

It's been a couple weeks

There's a neeeew vid on YouTube. That is all.

Technically two, it seems

Hey, there's this great band called Function Creep, ya heard of 'em?

Well, Function Creep fuckin' rocks, so if you haven't heard it yet, go to the page and download the latest single, The Black Mercy. It even features yours truly on a track!

Seriously, go go give it a listen now. And then download all the other singles, they're amazing.

Mini-Reviews 14

The Incredible Hulk-- Good film, but could have been better, at least for me. Part of my love for the Hulk is the inner turmoil for both Bruce Banner and the Hulk, which is only really hinted at occasionally, or only once in the Hulk's case. I really liked teh way the opening is, though, showing a bit of backstory in a montage during the opening credits. Very cool.


The Strangers-- This film is very good at getting across the feeling of fright and suspense, in my opinion. Very creepy ambiance to the whole film. It's not gorey or anything. It's just... it's intense. It drags in a couple spots, but it's definitely worth seeing, especially since it's Halloween!

Mini-Reviews 13

Sorry to be posting it so late, but, I wanted to get the Saw V mini-review in since I went to see it today.



Bottoms Up-- Don't beat yourself up if you've never heard of this film. It's not that great. The beginning is, in fact, complete rubbish as far as I'm concerned. Bad cuts, some lackluster acting, strange plot points. There's some amusing dialogue, but, not much. It picks up as it goes along, though, if you're willing to sit through it, and by the end of the film it is mildly amusing, but it still felt like a waste of time once it was finished. There's funny bits, yes, but there's also a lot of unfunny extraneous stuff. Also, Paris Hilton can not act well. I know there are probably fans of her somewhere in the world, but, I've yet to see a decent performance, I'm sorry. Also, her hair looks like a bad wig in this film. Hell, maybe it is a badly done wig, I dunno.


Saw V-- Disappointing. I mean, I'm not terribly surprised. I wasn't expecting much of this movie. Basically, the movie is an hour and forty minutes of exposition and explanation with some gore and traps thrown just so that there's some of that in there. Don't get me wrong, the stuff presented is interesting, and ties the movies altogether even more, but, still not much of a movie there. Feels like a long in-between.

Yummy.

New song alert! Did a new track for Halloween with Artificial Angel called "Flesh". Right click and save as, y'all, and enjoy it. (^_^) And be sure to check out the music on his MySpace.

Artificial Angel - Flesh (Ft. Sixty X Celph)

If you really don't want to download it, I suppose you can give it a listen on the MySpace player instead.

Mini-Reviews 12

Whoops, it's technically Saturday now.



The Happening-- I love M. Night Shyamalan's films, the ones I've seen. Well shot, great stories, interesting characters. The problem is that he's always expected to have some great twist. That's always the complaint I hear most, "The ending sucked" or "It was a weak twist". And there's not really a twist at all. The idea, what's behind "the happening", is presented early on. The problem is that while the idea itself is terrifying, it's ridiculous watching people run away from wind in a field of grass. This probably would have worked better as a novel, something not so visual. But, I enjoyed it. Mark Wahlberg's good stuff, though to be honest I wouldn't consider this anywhere near his best work. Anyway, I think I spotted Brian O'Halloran drivin' the red jeep, am I wrong?


Hard Candy-- Great movie, I've really grown to love Ellen Page since watching Juno, she's an awesome actress. It's an interesting little thriller sort o' mystery film about a 14-year-old girl who flips the script on someone she believes to be a pedophile with some interesting twists along the way. Really good.


Iron Man-- ... seriously, what do you want to hear from me? It's a good film, see it! Most of the changes made from the original material are understandable, although there were some that made no sense to me, but, somehow the movie's good enough that I forgave them. If you're like me and were waiting for it to release and be available for rent, well, see it!

Mmmm, Hard Candy

Yaaay, the DVD mein chickadee sent me has arrived! Now I can watch Hard Candy! And of course I'll let you all know how it is come Friday. (^_^)

Yaay!

Hey, new vids are cool, right?

Yaay, I'm back on the YouTube scene!

Bad news and good news!

The bad news is I didn't watch any new movies again this week, so, no mini-reviews again this week, because I suck. More bad news, I still don't have my new mic.

Good news! Spliced together the wires of my old mic, so, there'll be new vids! Some of the stuff to look forward to: Pros and cons of video game consoles, a movie review for Hatchet, a response to Shep's Top Comic Book Movies vid from awhile back.

More good news, sometime over the next week we'll be shooting a new vid for Tebo Productions, finally. And this one may actually get finished since we mainly have to rely on only each other! (^_^) And I don't foresee either myself or Tebo bailing out on a new Tebo Productions vid, haha.

Whee

I passed my GED exams.

Mini-Reviews 11

I don't have a good excuse for not posting this until Sunday afternoon. I was out all Friday afternoon and a good part of the night, but, I could have posted it in the morning. Yesterday and today? Just forgot. >_<


The Forbidden Kingdom-- Let's be honest, anytime Jackie Chan breaks out the Drunken Boxing it's awesome. And I've been wanting a Jet Li/Jackie Chan film for as long as I've been watching the two stars. Add to this that I love the legend of the Monkey King and it may be that I had high expectations and hopes for this film. The action sequences are cool. The plot isn't terrific, but, it's serviceable for what it is. The characters are amusing, albeit a little childish. Most of the movie seems to be geared more towards kids, ten- or eleven-year-olds, rather than adults, actually. I'm not sure if that's how it was meant to be seen, but, viewed as such, I think it's pretty good. Fun little kung-fu movie for preteens, though I've never been particularly fond of wire-fu.


August-- I went into this knowing nothing except that it starred Josh Hartnett and was about a man's dot-com spiraling down. I think it's a terribly interesting look at the life of this fictional character at the moment, and it's well-acted with a wonderful cast of people. But... it's kind of boring. And it doesn't really have a resolution it kind o' just ends. Worth seeing once, I suppose, if you can find it cheap.


First Blood-- There's a reason it's a classic, people. Plus, I hate dickhead cops, so, the fact that that's whom Rambo is fuckin' with is great for me. I always thought it was a war movie, though, so it was a surprise when I learned otherwise. And the end is really good, excellent performance from Stallone, I loved it.

D'uh

So, I bought some new DVD's today. >_> Yeah, I know. I suck at saving money. XD Anyway, I was bombin' around Wal-Mart a bit and decided I'd see what was in the five dollar bin since it's been awhile since I bought a movie. And I found a few. (^_^)

I came across a legitimate copy of Stand By Me, which is nice because I have a burned copy a friend of mine gave me and I really, really wanted the real thing. And now I have it, squee! I also grabbed Uncle Buck and Meet Joe Black because they're great movies. And, finally, I picked up a copy of the Ultimate Edition of First Blood because I've been wanting to see this movie for a long time, even more so after seeing the recent Rambo. And now, I can! There's a nice complete collection I want that... I can't honestly remember who at the moment, but, someone out there has the one I want to get. Was it Shep? Gods, I wish I could remember right now. Anyway, I didn't mind shillin' five bucks to see the first one even though I hope to get that collection.

And that's enough rambling for now, I'm sore from volleyball, and I'm gonna go watch some more movies.

*ahem* ... >_>

Yeah, I didn't watch any new movies again this week. I didn't really watch anything, actually. Been playing F.E.A.R. Files, borrowin' it from my mate Tebo. There were two DVD's rented today, though, so I'll have something for next Friday!

Oh, as an aside, I'll know whether I passed the GED exams in 4-6 weeks, so, sometime around the 18th or 25th of October at the latest. Just in case anyone wanted to know.

As another aside, I may do a review on the Kerli album Love Is Dead, which I bought recently. Anyone interested?

Sorry

Didn't watch any new movies this week. I did watch Predator again, though, hadn't seen that in awhile... so, go watch that!

In case anyone's curious, had my first five hour session of GED tests. Another five hours tomorrow morning. And then I'll either have my GED or proof I'm a failure. Either way, I'll never have to do it again!

Mini-Reviews 10

Dan In Real Life-- Great movie. Funny, heart-breaking, and very touching. Fairly predictable, yes, but very well done anyway. It's exceptionally realistic, which I think is its greatest strength.


21-- Quick aside... near the end of the movie, doesn't Kevin Spacey look remarkably like Robert Downey, Jr.? Anyway, the beginning and end are pretty good, but the middle lulled for me. I just started to lose interest once they were in Vegas and Ben's character is starting to change. Luckily, the end picked it back up. I pretty much predicted the end of the film, but, I dunno if that was just me or because the film's predictable. It's hard for me to tell by this point. Anyway, to shorten this... eh, I guess it's wll enough, but, it wouldn't top a list of recommendations I'd make. Kind of unimpressive.