f13.net

f13.net General Forums => But is it Fun? => Topic started by: Velorath on August 18, 2009, 12:57:12 AM



Title: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Velorath on August 18, 2009, 12:57:12 AM
Having just come off of playing Uncharted, a game which I felt had a beautiful setting and good story but mediocre shooting, I now find myself playing a game with those strengths and weakness reversed.  The gunplay, while not much different than Gears 1, I'm finding to be head and shoulders above that of Uncharted.  In fact, the aiming and cover in this game might be a little too good (or perhaps it's just that the enemy AI hasn't been too great so far).  Halfway through Act 2 (on Normal difficulty), and I haven't died once.  The only times I've ever even come close were because I was being completely careless.  One good thing I'll say about Uncharted, the bad guys made an effort to flush you out of cover.  Here, not so much.

The other big issue I have with Gears 2 so far is that the levels drag on way too long.  Act 2 starts you off in an underground cave, which you'll get tired of looking at a couple chapters in.  Even the section in Act 1 where you're riding around on that big assault vehicle gets tiresome halfway through, especially since a lot of the time I didn't feel like I was having a huge outcome on the battle.  I don't know if they thought that dying would lessen the impact these big set pieces would have on players, but when I missed enemies here and there, or failed to shoot down some of the mortars falling from the sky, it didn't seem to have too big of a negative impact on me.

While on the subject of the Assault Derrick section, it illustrates that the main difference between Gears 2 and it's predecessor is scale, or rather the illusion of scale.  Whereas in Gears 1 Delta Squad is often operating alone, Gears 2 places you in a large offensive against the Locust.  While you've still generally got a small handful of characters actually involved in your battles, there will often be other soldiers in the background involved in their own fights.  As I said though, there's typically only an illusion of a larger scale since most of it doesn't really have an effect on the game.  For instance at some points when you're on the derrick, you'll see hordes of Locust on the ground that you can shoot.  It doesn't really matter how many of them you kill though, they're just kinda there.  The same goes for another scene in the caves in Act 2, where you see a squad of drones running along in a lower area and Marcus comments that it makes for good sniping practice.  That's true enough I suppose, but shooting them doesn't seem to effect anything.

So far a decent game, although it feels like Epic phoned this one in.  The price has come down at most retailers (I certainly wouldn't recommend this game at full price).  I can't speak to the multiplayer stuff, as I generally have little to no interest in playing this online.  So far I'd say:

Rent it.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Margalis on August 18, 2009, 01:08:28 AM
Saving throw vs. hype succeeds!


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Mosesandstick on August 18, 2009, 03:37:06 AM
Nice review. You hit the spot with the length, I preferred the length of the levels in the first game. Though that might be because I borrowed the game and finished it in a weekend. Maybe there should be another recommendation instead of 'rent it'. 'Borrow it' from a friend silly enough to buy the game  :awesome_for_real:.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 18, 2009, 06:08:21 AM
Huh.  As a general rule, I hate console shooters.  But this game....one of my favorite games ever.  I'm rather surprised to see a somewhat negative review of it.  Not necessarily disagreeing with all of your points - I just think this game is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Ironically, though, I did "Borrow It".  There's no doubt that I'll buy the 3rd at full price, however.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Mosesandstick on August 18, 2009, 06:26:02 AM
I was being a big tongue-in-cheek, I actually own GOW2 (thanks to my brother's money).

I don't see why you'd pay full price for this game though short of doing it solely to reward EPIC or for multiplayer.

I think I would've been more inclined to pay full for the original GOW, it was something 'new', and despite it sounding stupid I'd prefer paying for a short well-paced campaign than a long one. GOW2 feels like GOW with a few bits tacked on and greatly, greatly, lengthened. Brumak was stupid fun for the first 5 minutes though!


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Cyrrex on August 18, 2009, 06:34:15 AM
Again, I have to say "huh".  I thought GoW2 was superior in nearly every way.  You have no idea how odd it is for me to be defending a console shooter, so I'll just stop.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Mosesandstick on August 18, 2009, 06:47:29 AM
Does that mean I automatically get the last word? We're not really disagreeing that much. I really enjoyed both games, but GOW 2 sure as hell should be a better game, its a sequel (and it is)! I just think GOW was more worth it in terms of money.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Velorath on August 18, 2009, 12:41:55 PM
Huh.  As a general rule, I hate console shooters.  But this game....one of my favorite games ever.  I'm rather surprised to see a somewhat negative review of it.  Not necessarily disagreeing with all of your points - I just think this game is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Ironically, though, I did "Borrow It".  There's no doubt that I'll buy the 3rd at full price, however.

Keep in mind that I'm only near the end of the second Act.  There's still plenty of time for the game to impress me.  For now though, I'm liking the levels in Gears 1 better (the Nightfall act I especially loved), and the gameplay is pretty much the same.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Gunzwei on August 18, 2009, 08:37:08 PM
Nice review. I just finished up GoW2 this week.

I thought the game was allright but could have used some more scripted events to make the fire fights a bit more interesting. There are a few good moments of this but a bit too much of the move foward, cover, aim, shoot, and repeat gameplay. The Locust, in my opinion, started to feel less threatening and more like cannon fodder by the end of the game. The stream of ride this, and drive that parts of the game just enforced the fodder feel. The bosses as well also felt way too easy and I was actually surprised when I saw the ending that what I just rolled through was the last boss. Overall just felt it lacked some of the tension the first game had.

Good rental but not sure if I'd buy it unless you really like the MP.

edit: fixed typo ;D


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: schild on August 18, 2009, 08:47:21 PM
Nice review. I just finished up CoW2 this week.

Yea, I'd been planning on picking up Cod of War myself.

Edit: Ok, that was too easy. I know it was a typo, but I couldn't stop myself from saying Cod of War.

As for GoW, neither one piqued my interest. I'm sure there's something awesome there, but goddamn I could not find it. And I had preordered and bought the collectors edition of the first one. I was absolutely stoked til I played it for like 3 minutes and then, MEHHHHHHHHHHH.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: ffc on August 18, 2009, 09:19:14 PM
I bought my Xbox for GoW2, Fable 2 and something else I can't remember.  All were disappointments. 

Every level of GoW2 felt like marching down a very narrow bridge barely able to look left or right let alone shift slightly in a direction other than straight forward.  I can still hear that sound signaling the end of a fight after mopping up some bad guys, followed by silence, only to move forward a couple of steps to do it again. 

I didn't last very long.  :cry:


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Velorath on August 23, 2009, 08:32:43 PM
Finished it up just now.  Can't say that my opinion on it has changed much.



Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: UnSub on September 06, 2009, 07:18:28 PM
I thought that GoW2 was a lot more focused as an experience than GoW, but I thought Dom needed to whine about his wife a lot more. "Where's my wife? I want to go looking for my wife! Goddamit, this is my wife we are talking about! Has anyone heard anything about my wife?"

Best bit of finding her was that he shut up about it.


Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: Azazel on September 06, 2009, 09:15:32 PM
I really need to go back and pick up my play through the first one sometime.

Sometime.



Title: Re: Gears of War 2 - Epic Games - Xbox 360
Post by: LK on September 25, 2009, 04:36:12 PM
I haven't cracked the case on Gears 2 yet, but I enjoyed the hell out of 1 before the "advanced" strategies of raping you with game mechanics became the norm in online multiplayer.