Another great instalment in a great series.

User Rating: 9.5 | Gears of War 2 X360
By El_lexacus | Review Date:
Gears of War was a great game that made brilliant use of cover in an almost unparalleled manner. Gears of War 2 carries on this amazing tradition, and makes great use of not only cover, but also all the fun of co-op which made the first one great. Not only does Gears 2 carry on this great name, but it also bulks up the storyline and gives you plenty of back-story into the other characters. The characters are developed and each one has their own little quirks. For example, if you payed attention during the first Gears you will know that the Cole Train used to play thrashball (what is believed to be a form of American Football). Due to this in Gears 2, a lot of Cole's sayings relate to thrashball. There are also lots of tiny little things that help make the game enjoyable. For example, if you are far away from a team mate on the campaign you hear them talk through a radio. There are also lots of tweaks to the gameplay that have really helped the game in my opinion. For example, you cannot roadie run as fast, but you can do it for longer. Also, you cannot now run straight up to someone in a straight line with no cover and then shotgun someone in the face due to the stopping power bullets now have. Smoke grenades are now useful as well, not only to cause havoc with the smoke, but also have a concussive effect, which can be hilarious if used to knock someone off a ledge.
The new enemies are also a great load of fun. There are bloodmounts, which are massive beats ridden by some plucky locust. These enemies are a great nuisance, as their riders will shoot you from far away and the mount will maul you up close. The Kantus are a new addition, being the priests of the Locust. If you don't take them out quickly they will respawn any downed locust, meaning that you will just be fighting the same people over and over again. Not only can they do that, but they will also throw ink grenades which will temporarily block off an area with poisonous cloud. There are also several new types of Boomers, all of which are just as deadly as the original. The old Boomer is still there, but he is accompanied by the Butcher, a melee Boomer with a large knife, the Grinder, a Boomer that carries round a Mulcher (a new heavy machine gun that he can wield accurately without using a wall to prop it up, but you have less chance of hitting a wall), there is also my least favourite of new Boomer, the Mauler. The Mauler runs around with a boomshield, and an explosively tipped flail, making it one of the most deadly and annoying.
Despite all of these fun new features there are some drawbacks. The matchmaking takes an age, and even then you don't necessarily get partnered up against a fair team. The vehicle section of the game is quite unwieldy and difficult to control, although the rest of the game makes up for this though in my opinion. All in all Gears of War 2 is a great sequel and a brilliant game.

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