MARCUS Fenix is back for a more dramatically depressing adventure sporting his familiar Barry Bonds physique and chainsaw-tipped weaponry in Gears of War 2. You assume the role of Fenix, a hulking behemoth soldier set six months after the original title where a rampaging horde of subterranean baddies are sinking entire cities in their fight against humanity. The story takes off from a familiar point of most sci-fi shooters, save humanity's last hope, using a very similar recipe of hiding then shooting used in the original Gears of War. The title's premise is not entirely groundbreaking but the entire package is what sets Gears of War 2 out of the pack. The overall gameplay hasn't really changed, relying on hiding behind walls and making them your best friend in a firefight while waiting for the right moment to strike. Gears of War 2 takes it original formula and adds some spice to it. For most other titles this would be a heavy drawback, relying on refining rather than on innovation. Since the original title was so strong the addition of new weapons, enemies and environments give it an experience both familiar but still managing to retain an interesting quality. The refinement I'm referring to deals directly with the improved cover system, a better balance of weapons, a vastly expanded and lengthy storyline. The use of a coop playability is back allowing a friend to join and leave at any time in your mission to rid the world of the Locust. However when your friend leaves the second character returns to the control of the AI and leaves you wondering sometimes what in the world its trying to do (getting stuck behind objects and sometimes hiding during an entire firefight or for that matter firing at nothing, Yeah that brick wall deserved that beating.) The previous title however visually stunning it was lacked a major part of what makes a good game great, and that is a compelling story. The original Gears of War made its impact with dramatic and expansive cinematic presentation and surreally detailed environments. This next production fills that void both successfully and excessively with so many plot points being introduced; several are left unresolved, perhaps leaving room for spin-off series (think Halo 3 Recon). The multiplayer component adds more longevity past the 10-15 hour single player campaign with four new modes which give the title more bite to its bark. One example is the Submission mode which is essentially a capture the flag mode but with a slight twist, the flag doesn't want to be captured and is armed. Several attempts at capturing the flag resulted in it getting more kills than the players. Multiplayer modes can now accommodate up to 10 players as opposed to the original 8 and with the use of bots, their sophisticated AI makes them useful as opposed to throwaway players like in most titles. Gears of War 2 isn't really just mindless fun as it may appear, it does involve its share of strategy and with the coop capability players can actively work as a team to get past the objectives. It is like its precursor intense and has enough replay-ability to keep it on the shelves up close to Halo 3 for some time, or at least until Gears of War 3 comes out.
