Better than the first in almost every way, except for 2 flaws.
1-slow match finding system when playing alone online.
For some reason, trying to find a mulitplayer match online by yourself takes a long time-sometimes 10 or more minutes. Who has time for that? If you have a team of 5 with you, it takes as little as 2 seconds. Not sure why this is, but hope Epic fixes this problem
2-you can not take 2 people on 1 xbox online.
In Gears 1, you could take a friend with you on non ranked matches online and play together from the same xbox. I never did it, but had the chance to in Gears 2. Low and behold, I found they removed this feature. The friend I was with said it was probably a move made purposefully, spurred on by Microsoft. For whatever reason, it was removed and missed. I also could not play with a friend because he was playing with his nephew during a holiday. that sucked too. Maybe it wasn't a popular feature. Who knows. But I don't see why the first gears had it, while the second didn't. The game is supposed to be bigger, badder, and more bad@$$. Quoting George Costanza "It's the first one!"
The single player is very good. Epic did not stray from the formula. Duck and cover works better than ever. The new hammerburst is a great weapon. The shotgun is not as powerful-thank goodness and the flamethrower is fantastic! The best part of the new game is the ability to plant your grenades. It adds so much to multiplayer.
When functioning, multiplayer is absolutely amazing and much better than the first gears. I find the new maps all a blast. The terrain is more varied, the weapons change every other match, the sniper isn't a cheap weapon anymore-no more down with 1 shot of the sniper. The large weapons like the gatling gun and mortar are brilliant. The shield is fun to run around with, but not as much fun as the meat shield, where you can pick up a downed enemy and use him as a shield. Very good move when you are the only one left against 2 or more opponents.
Overall a fantastic game single or multiplayer (if you don't mind waiting for a match). I'd recommend partying up as soon as you could with other people online.