Gears of War 2
Preview
Rev up those chainsaws again...
by aHong
previewed on X360
A Bloodier Mess (cntd.)
Being a sequel, Gears 2 looks to bring a whole lot more to the table in terms of weaponry. The Scorcher is basically your flamethrower and will shoot out flames to char your enemies to crisp. If you manage to pull off a perfect active reload with this weapon, the Scorcher’s range will extend, giving your enemies even less room to breathe. Another weapon addition is actually a pistol called the Gorgon Burst Pistol. The Gorgon fires rounds in three-round spurts and you can increase the efficiency further with the shield that some Boomer classes will be carrying. Carrying the pistol in one hand and the shield in the other provides portable cover on the battlefield and the shield can even be planted into the ground for stationary cover against bigger threats. I will also note that there are poison grenades mixed into the fray, which, when thrown, will start to spew out green poison gas that will force the enemy to reposition, or die from oxygen loss.
Executions in Gears were also a staple of the franchise and featured some intense gore effects with guts and brains being chopped or downright curb-stomped. While the only flashy execution in Gears 1 was with the X button, every face button can now be used for that flashy bit of death you want to deal out. An enemy will have to be downed first, but then the decision of how you want the poor fellow to be killed is all up to you. The A button will use the downed enemy as a shield as their bodies will start to chip away with every bullet shot at you. The X button is still the awesome curb-stomp from the first game but one new thing is that you’ll flip the enemy onto their back and deliver a boot right into their face. The B button is your weapon-specific execution meaning that the animations of death will differ with what weapon you currently have active. Finally, the Y button is what controls all the fancy finishers that differ with the type of characters use this execution and are very satisfying, at the expense of taking longer.
All About Multiplayer
The multiplayer portion of Gears 1 was what got gamers hooked for a long time and Gears 2 promises to suck up even more of your time. First and foremost, Epic Games is bringing 12 maps on the disc, and they recently announced that 5 reworked maps from the original will be provided via download code when gamers buy their copy of Gears 2. When seeing the new maps in the game, it looks like Epic has tried to expand the whole range of the maps in conjunction with the addition of five vs. five multiplayer, where it was just four vs. four last year. With 10 players on the battlefield in multiplayer now, you are going to have to watch your back.
New game modes to go along with the maps bring more fun into the whole mix as well. While the classic Warzone will be back for some five vs. five goodness, Assassination has actually gone through a change. Now called Guardian, this game mode is where the leader of each team’s survival is what governs whether the rest of the team will be able to re-spawn or not, meaning that if the leader is killed, the team mates on that leader’s team are on their last life for the round. Wingman is another game mode that brings the co-op aspect of the single player campaign into multiplayer. Basically, there are five teams of two in this mode and it is all about that two man squad trying to stay on top for each round.
The most unique multiplayer mode anyone's seen so far is probably Submission. Here, the main gist of the game is two teams in Capture the Flag... the only difference being that the flag is an AI controlled Stranded character. The goals of the players are to first down the Stranded, who will put up a good fight against any players, and then take him as a human shield to carry back to your base. With Gorgon pistol is one hand and a struggling Stranded in another, the Stranded will be your only protection on your way back to your base to win the round.
To wrap things up with multiplayer, there is no way one can leave out the Horde mode, another brand new addition. The Horde mode is all about team effort with you and four of your friends getting together online and facing group after group of Locust hordes, with each advancement featuring more enemies and newer threats. The amount of waves that your team can handle is your score and with the maximum amount of waves going to 50. Your efforts at going through Horde mode will not only be a blast to play, but is going to take up most of your time.
Getting Ready for the Cold...
Overall, Gears of War 2 is set to be a must-have for any Xbox 360 owner this November. The terror and intensity of the Locust horde is what gamers can look forward to right when the cold of winter starts. The whole package is looking to be awesome.
