Gears of War 2 is the second installment in the Gears of War series after Gears of War 1. It was released in 2009 for Xbox 360. Gears of war 2 is a third person action game and follows the story of Gears of war 1. It's 6 months after the Lightmass operation and the locust are back, stronger than ever. Marcus Fenix and all the gears are now deploying operation Hollow Storm. The human race faces extinction and the only option left is attacking.
Story
6 months after the lightmass bombing that only destroyed the locust on higher surfaces, they are back and now are sinking cities. Jacinto, the last stronghold for humans is under threat. COG decides to start operation Hollow Storm. Sending Gears deep into ground to kill the Locust that survived the ligtmass bombs. Delta squad now has a new member, Benjamin Carmine. Marcus and Dom are back. Humans use mountains to go under the ground when they face the new Locust leader, Skorge. When Delta Squads reaches the hollow, they find out that the locust are using a giant worm to sink the cities around Jacinto so that Jacinto would sink too. Then they are ambushed by the Locust and saved by Cole. (the black dude from last game) They also find Baird locked inside a cage and find out that locust are taking humans deeper into the ground and torturing them. They find another squad member, Tai, which has been tortured and suffers from wounds. He attempts suicide when Marcuse gives him a gun to fight. The team the sees a city sink by the worm. They are extacted from the area but their chopper is eaten by the worm. Delta Squad goes inside the worm where Carmine is killed by creatures inside the worm. Delta cut the veins that lead to the heart and kill the worm. When they come out, they receive new orders. They have to go to an abandoned COG outpost where they find humans being experimented inside cages. They also find a backdoor to the hollow that is located in Kadar mountains. They find normal people at the entrance of the mountain and they tell the team that the locust stronghold, Nexus, is ahead of them. Dom and Baird escort the people to safety outside while Marcus and Dom go farther ahead. They find more prisoners inside cages and Dom finds his wife, Maria, inside one of the cages. but the Locust imprisonment has left her severely disfigured and traumatized, unable to communicate. Dom chooses to euthanize her. They then charge to the Locust stronghold and signal COG warriors to join them for the attack. They find out that the locust are having a civil war between regular locust and lambent, the locsut exposed to imulsion. This civil war has started before the Emergence day. The lambent have reached the main stronghold now and this explains why the locust have tried to get to the surface and killed the humans. Because they were being attacked by the lambent. They find some messages from Adam Fenix, Marcuse's dad. These messages suggest a way to end the war other than killing the Locust Queen: sink Jacinto in order to let sea water flood the Hollow and wipe out the Locust. They learn from the Locust Queen herself that she is pursuing the same plan not only to wipe out the humans, but to also destroy the Lambent. After a face to face meeting with the queen, and a face off against Skorge, the queen escapes on a Reaver. Marcus realizes that humans must sink Jacinto first, before the Locust mobilize and escape to the surface. Delta squad escapes underground using reavers. When they reach Jacinto, they find the city being evacuated and the Locust attacking the city. The COG is planning to use a lightmass bomb to sink the city. Marcus and Dom go to a hole which they want to plant the bomb in. On their way, they kill the driver of a brumak and use the brumak to clear the way faster. But when the helicopter arrives to plant the bombs, the brumak reacts to Imulsion and destroys the helicopter containing the bomb. With all hopes lost, Marcus suggests that by killing the Brumak, the explostion would be exactly like the lightmass bomb. They destor it using the Hammer of Dawn. The brumak explodes as the helicopters are flying away. The explostion destroys the last structure of Jacinto, causing the hollow to flood with water.
At the end of the credits, you hear the voice of Adam fenix calling for help.
The story is amazing. It reveals a lot of stuff you've been wondering about in the series. Gears of war 1 didn't show you anything but this time, it's good. You see a lot of emotional scenes in the game, like when Dom has to kill his wife. But still, it falls flat in some parts. The last act is not as good as the last 4 acts. The story jusy quickly wraps up and ends. But still, I really enjoyed the story.
9.5/10
Gameplay
The gameplay is like the last game. You view your character from a third-person view. You can kill enemies using long range combat or melee. But mostly long range. You have a variety of guns. The melee is using a chainsaw, hiting enemies with the back of your gun or tagging grenades to them. The guns include:
Hammerburst 2: Semi automatic gun used by locust.
Hammer of Dawn: Satelite weapon that focuses ligh on the target and burns it.
Shotgun: A shotgun that is strong and brutal.
Sniper Rifle: One shot sniper with zoom.
Torque Bow: A crossbow with explosive darts.
Pistol: Just a simple pistol.
Gorgon Pistol: A semi automatic pistol with 3 bullets fire.
There are other guns but I don't know their names.
The game uses cover system and is a really important thing in the game. Covering is used to progress in the game. You can fire while in cover by leaning out of cover or just blind shooting. You can jump over covers or run from a cover really fast. Running in the game is running while crouching and leaning down. That makes it hard for enemies to shoot you. You can also evade from grenades or explosives.
The life system is like the last game. The screen starts getting red as you get hit. The middle of the street starts to get really red if your really hurt and the red symbol appears if you are almost near death. When you are really heart you fall down and your friends can revive you. If they don't after a certain amount of time, you die. The same thing is true about other players. Enemies also lie on the ground before dieing. In this situation you can either kill them by shooting them, kill them by stepping your foot on their face or you can grab them and use them as shields. You are only able to use your pistol while having a locust grabbed.
Multiplayer is really fun. There are several modes that you can play. The new mode is Horde mode which waves of locust attack you and you have to kill them alone or with 3 friends. The waves get harder as you progress. There are several new modes added such as Guardian, Wingmen, Submission, or King of the Hill. There are also modes from the last game like Warzone (team deathmatch) and Execution. 10 maps come with the game. There are also map packs released that include new maps. The multiplayer has a photo mode which you can take pictures of the game while you are dead. Still the multiplayer has some bugs and technical difficulties. And it's not as fun as Gears of war 1. The multiplayer in gears of war 1 was the only part I liked.
Now, I want to talk about enemy difficulty and boss fights. There is another difficulty added, normal. The game is not as punishing as gears 1. But it's not easy either. The difficulty is just perfect. But the boss fights. There aren't a lot of them. The worm isn't really a fight because you are not fighting it you are just cutting the veins. The best boss fight was the huge fish. That one was still short. There is the "Skorge" fight which is pretty cool. You fight it on the ground first and then for no reason, it just escapes on a Reaver. The reaver part is cool too. You get to shoot him using the machine guns and missiles on the reaver that is really fun. You don't get to fight the queen and that sucks. The final boss, the exploding brumak is just bad. You just shoot it with the hammer of dawn while nothing else is happening. And then boom! It explodes and that's it. No final boss. Except the bosses, the campaign is pretty fun. You get to use the car, ride a brumak and a reaver.
Overall the gameplay is fun. It has some problems, some bugs and some bad bosses, but it keeps you enjoyed for around 5-10 hours of campaign and as much as you want for the multi player.
9/10
Graphics
The graphics are great in this game. The first thing that hit me when I played the game was the amazing light design and the colours. The game is not all gray and dark like the last one but this time you see more hot colors like red and stuff. The bullets have better graphics and that's one of the things I really liked.
The maps and locations are designed greatly and have amazing details. Same as the people. Their armors and their body are designed greatly. The frame rate is great and doesn't lag a lot except in multiplayer.
9.7/10
Overall
The game is amazingly fun and enjoyable. You get bored in some of the parts and there is no actions in those parts but the story really sucks you in. The graphivs are great and really make you fell alive. The variet of missions in single player is great and when you are done, the multiplayer really keeps you busy and enjoyed. There are some annoying stuff but that doesn't really take away from the exciting awesome game.
9.5/10
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