Gears of War 2: whats all the talk about?

[burytheweak]

I would like to take a moment to talk about how a lot people are praising a game that falls short of a dynamic sequel.

All over the web reviews are being given that are completely biased and one-sided. Even Gametrailers.com gave a review before the game was released that wreaked of an Epic Games influence. As if Epic Games paid Gametrailers.com to give a biased review a few days before the game was even released. But my question is why all the biased reviews and talk about Gears of War 2? In my opinion Gears of War 2 is the same as Gears of War 1. Here is why:

1. Epic Games tried to lean away from just skirmish after skirmish by having little objective scenes where you are driving a Brumak, or flying a Reaper, etc. These little objectives in my opinion are completely linear and static. You will die constantly and without difference in every single instance until you figure out the one little objective needed to win. For example, if you don't shoot the Grand Reaper in the face before he bites you, you're going to die. These objectives in my opinion are a weak and static attempt to mix up the gears of war skirmish grind in that they are not dynamic and after you find the one little niche you can win every time. Most of the time in these instances you just get destroyed over and over until you find the one, one little thing needed to win, this in my opinion is not fun or dynamic.

2. I am the only one that feels that Gears of War 2 gives the same clostrophobic feeling that Gears of War 1 gives? I mean fight after fight just seems like your crawling from one cover to the next. I feel like am I damn hog looking down at the ground the whole game instead of looking up like a human. And what about the multiplayer maps in this aspect? Every single Multiplayer map is as cluttered and clostrophobic as the next. Same as Gears of War 1. Where are the open maps that make you feel like you can breathe.

3. All of the battles in Gears of War 2 are pretty much the same as Gears of War 1. You walk into a room, guys show up, you kill them in cover, more show up, throw some grenades, stay in cover, rinse and repeat. There are no dynamic improvements to the battle system at all.

4. The weapons in Gears of War 2 are the EXACT same as Gears of War 1. With the exception of the grinder and the artillery every weapon is exactly the same. Oh hey we got 2 new grenades, both of which suck ass. Why would you ever want a poison grenade or a shock grenade over one that just kills the shit outta people. Lancer, Long shot, sniper, pistols, shotgun, all are the exact same.

5. Don't even get me started on Multiplayer, what a piece of shit. Horde is just the same situation over and over and over again. That's fun, really dynamic.

6. And finally I come to the Gears of War 2 plot. Well first off they improved a bit from Gears of War 1 since Gears of War 1 has ABSOLUTELY NO PLOT AT ALL. "Hey we got this general guy, and uh the Queen is somewhere, the end."
Gears of War 2 is such a damned cock-tease that it makes the plot just suck. The plot never just mans up and comes out with plot, it just leads up to stuff you think is gonna happen, then moves on. For example, the game is like: "ok there is some crazy stuff going on down here with patients that are children. And oh man the tests we are doing are really crazy cause the subjects are turning aggressive and eating people OMG-----OK wtf we got to go to this mountain cause this is where everyone went. Whats happening up there?-----OMG the queen might be up here omg whats up with the queen lets go kill her-----OMG its the Queen kill her, oh wait nevermind, forget her lets just go to Jacinto."
Every time the game is about to tell you actual concrete plot it just moves on the next thing. WTF is this? A crappy plot.
The ending is lawl at most.

In conclusion Gears of War 2 is the same crap as Gears of War 1 for these reasons, except you have linear and static little objectives scene with a tank or a brumak or w/e the game decides to put you on. So why is everyone praising this pile of shit?
In my opinion just rent the game, play it for 1 week, then go back to playing Halo 3 cause that's the only game out there right now that is actually dynamic, playable for more than 1 week unlike Gears of War, and has an overall fun multiplayer experience.

What do you think?

[Kyo]

Couldnt you take your moment and put it in the gears thread instead of making a new one.

[elison]

tl;dr version:

I don't like Gears of War 2.

[Elcura]

I agree with you completely, but that doesn't make Gears 2 bad, since Gears 1 is still a good game. The things I find annoying is all the cut scenes and talking sections, along with the gimmicky vehicle sections and set pieces. All I wanted was some good old fashioned killing shit with some big ass guns and truly there wasn't enough game play till close to the end of the game, everything else was pretty short lived in terms of actual game play. The story is better of course, and some of the things in the game are pretty fucked up

Spoiler: show

Like Tai and Carmine's death, the part with Maria etc

so that made it cool. I just wish the sections of story didn't slam themselves in the game play every 5 minutes and actually let me get some killing done.

[Arachna]

I would think a fair amount of people would agree that Gears 2 wasn't as good as initially made out to be, I don't see it being a possible GOTY contender.

[Xavier]

My experience with it so far (haven't had much time to really dig into it), is that its just Gears of War Part II, rather than Gears of War 2.

I haven't really noticed any gameplay changes from 1 to 2, so it really just feels like a continuation of the same game. Doesn't really bother me though, I liked Gears of War and thought its plot was actually okay, so I'm fine playing more of the same. Part of what gave the original Gears of War so much hype was, in my opinion, the graphics, since it was the first game that really looked next-gen to me.

[Raikku]

stupid opinion

What more can you really expect from a sequel? Duck and cover, running from enemies, blowing off heads, chainsawing, curbs stomping, nading, the list goes on and on and any of these tactics you can use in most of the games combat that's not Campaign related. This game is awesome because its just like Gears of War 1, but with a few extras to make it even funner.

Stop being such a fucking faggot fanboy.

[Zeb]

What more can you really expect from a sequel? Duck and cover, running from enemies, blowing off heads, chainsawing, curbs stomping, nading, the list goes on and on and any of these tactics you can use in most of the games combat that's not Campaign related. This game is awesome because its just like Gears of War 1, but with a few extras to make it even funner.

Stop being such a fucking faggot fanboy.

Oh the ironing.

I bought this game, never having played the 1st one, because of all the hype. I haven't tried it on multiplayer yet, but for single player mode, this game sucks. The targeting doesn't feel as crisp as I wished. Plus several bugs kind of ruined the moment a few times. The game wouldn't let me through an opened doorway once, and in the razor hail part of the game it wouldn't let me board one of the train cars. I had to kill myself and reload from the last check point. Honestly wish I had gotten Resistance 2 or waited for CoD: WaW.

[gandorf]

Game was all hype. Worse 60$ I spent in a long time. I'm happy I sold it fast and got a better game.

[Boyiee]

So I bought this game this week, Mario, game is so linear it fucking sucks. I don't understand all the hype about it. I run over here, hit this question mark, get a mushroom, kill this thing, and jump over holes. Where is the dynamics?

All games are repetitive, and bashing gears because it is, is kinda dumb. Yeah, it's not much like a sequel, but remember that they can't make it set itself apart from other games like the first one did. When Gears1 came out, it was different from everything, it was expected that this game would just be tweaked a little and barely different. Gears1 was a money maker, it's business to make this one pretty much exactly the same just so it sells.

I liked gears 1, and this is fun to me, although it's not the best game out there right now it's still pretty fun. I like the idea of being totally fucked in a 2 on 1 multiplayer and having to really work to win.

3. All of the battles in Gears of War 2 are pretty much the same as Gears of War 1. You walk into a room, guys show up, you kill them in cover, more show up, throw some grenades, stay in cover, rinse and repeat. There are no dynamic improvements to the battle system at all.

seriously this is like every game there is lol. Some of your points are true, and it's been covered that this is more of an expansion or extension of that game then it is a sequel. But other points can go for pretty much any game out there... and seriously, going back to halo3? lol. CoD is out dude. Get.

[Exoduso]

For all I care, GoW2 could've been identical to GoW1 with a new story and new maps and I would've still loved it. (and it actually doesn't fall short of that description, so.. )
Most if not all sequels resemble their predecessors, and last I checked no one has forced you into purchasing the game.

That being said, people tend to overhype games in recent years... (MGS4, GoW1/2, Halo3, etc.) so it doesn't surprise me at all.
It didn't warrant opening a new thread though.

[Bweigelt]

Am I missing something here? Isn't pretty much every shooter sequel just the same shit over again with a few little added things. For god sakes you suggested Halo 3 when it's basically Halo 2 with barely better graphics. I'm not exactly sure what people expected, but so far I'm loving Gears 2 better than Gears 1. So far the only level that is even remotely close to any of the ones from Gears 1 was the opening.

What I really don't get however is how some of the same people that bitch about Gears 2, praise CoD: WoW when it's basically a step backward in every way from CoD4.

[gandorf]

Am I missing something here? Isn't pretty much every shooter sequel just the same shit over again with a few little added things. For god sakes you suggested Halo 3 when it's basically Halo 2 with barely better graphics. I'm not exactly sure what people expected, but so far I'm loving Gears 2 better than Gears 1. So far the only level that is even remotely close to any of the ones from Gears 1 was the opening.

What I really don't get however is how some of the same people that bitch about Gears 2, praise CoD: WoW when it's basically a step backward in every way from CoD4.

How is it a step backwards from Cod4?

[Fiye]

GoW1 was good thanks to the ducking system that was implemented.

GoW2 didn't really add to that concept, besides throwing in vehicle sections and a few heavy weapons. An enjoyable campaign, but nothing worth more than a rental. Maybe a buy when its gone platinum.

Also, this is the plot spot on.

BTW: Cole is awesome in my opinion.

Edit: And yes the aiming was wonky until I got used to it.

[Bweigelt]

How is it a step backwards from Cod4?

CoD4 had an awesomely presented story with really sweet cutscenes, CoD:WOW went back to the COD2(perhaps 3 as well I never played it) way of telling the story and it's just another generic WW2 story. And CoD4 made a big leap into the modern generation and did it very well. Then we go back to WW2 guns that just feel clumsy by comparison. Yes I know there supposed to, but it's dumb to go back and make yet another WW2 CoD game when they had so much success with the modern formula.

[Fiye]

CoD4 had an awesomely presented story with really sweet cutscenes, CoD:WOW went back to the COD2(perhaps 3 as well I never played it) way of telling the story and it's just another generic WW2 story. And CoD4 made a big leap into the modern generation and did it very well. Then we go back to WW2 guns that just feel clumsy by comparison. Yes I know there supposed to, but it's dumb to go back and make yet another WW2 CoD game when they had so much success with the modern formula.

You do realise they had the same amount of success with the WW2 era as they did with the Modern era?

Do me a favor, go out and obtain a copy of CoD1 and all expansions. I don't care if it involves legal or illegal means. Just get it and play it.

I hate this bashing of CoD5 for being in WW2. As long as its done well I dun care.

Beyond that, why praise any game? Its just the same thing with a few extra sparkles and shit.

[Octavious]

Off Topic; am I the only one who doesn't buy FPS's like COD4 for their story usually? >_>;

On Topic; I think Gears of War is successful because of it's Co-Op and entertaining gameplay more than the actual multiplayer. Most FPS games come packaged with 'ok' stories that don't really matter if all you want is an online FPS (COD4). Gears 2 is actually quite fun sans the Cave part on the Centaur. I thought it wasn't possible to drive something worse than the warthog from HALO but I was wrong. That lake part right before the cave is nuts, lol, but I had fun none-the-less.

I've said this before to my friends, but if Gears 1 didn't have so many plot holes there wouldn't be a Gears 2. Gears 2 is what God of War 2 was, more of the same with an expanded story. Now, that doesn't mean it's bad it just means it's nothing incredibly new. When you begin to pile in all FPS's as the same game things get pretty fucked up. Gears never had good multiplayer IMO, it had a good story and fun Co-Op. Gears 2 multiplayer is the same fail, aside from the horde mode and (yet again) awesome Co-Op.

Oh, and...

Spoiler: show

Anyone else laugh when Carmine said "If you wore masks you could breath through the dust," and Marcus responded, "But I wouldn't see snipers either." lol >_>;

[Exoduso]

I doubt people buy FPS's for their stories, but it is definitely a plus when the story is as good as CoD4's was.

[Elcura]

I've never known anyone to buy an FPS for the story, but it certainly is nice to have. Like most games the multiplayer gives lasting attraction while single gets you into the game.

[gandorf]

CoD WaW had a pretty decent story. At first I thought CoD Waw would be shit because I hated WW2 games but after more info was released on it and I tried it I fell in love with it.

They did everything correct and proved all the people who said it would suck wrong.

GoW2 final boss was a let down. Felt like they just rushed through it and was like here kill this guy and wait till Gow3. I gotta admit cole was pretty cool when he shows up and horde was a nice addition but Cod Waw has a horde type mode also. Thing that ruined Gow2 online for me the most was how hard it was to kill people even when you were shooting them in the face. The host was pretty much invincible. You could use an entire shotgun clip and machine gun clip then he would just turn around and chainsaw your ass.

On a good note in 2009 another Cod comes out and the rumor is it will be in the near future.