Gears of War 2 Review

The original Gears of War had an amazing story.  We were immediately drawn to the character of Marcus Fenix, but his past was shrouded in mystery.  We were thrust into this ficticious post-apocalyptic war against the Locust horde with only glimpses of the past.  Gamers definately came to care about the main characters (which is an amazing accomplishment for any writer) and we want to know more.

Believe me, you get a lot of satisfying answers about the characters, world, and the past.  There is a lot of character development, and some open chapters are closed.  We also get to see how the Locust Horde is able to sink cities, and even get to go deeper into their world.

Sound

The sound designers were not content with many of the “canned” sounds present in many video games (I still hear the classic Doom “pistol” sound even in modern games).  Most of the sounds were designed from the ground up.  The sound designers even went so far as to throw real meat against the wall, stir macaroni & cheese, and squish fresh produce to create very realistic sounds of ripping and popping flesh.

The musical score was composed at Skywalker Ranch with a live orchestra, and was recorded in much the same way a film score is produced.  There was a large screen of the movie or gameplay, and the orchestra synchs itself to the video.  The orchestral music is definately Hollywood quality, and literally gave me goosebumps at times.

Graphics

The graphics on the original Gears was some of the best on the Xbox 360.  I thought that graphics could not get any better, because the framerates on Gears 1 became choppy, especially during cutscenes.  Apparently Epic has been making huge improvements to the engine, because the graphics are better, and the framerates are much smoother.

The complexity of the characters, environments, and monsters are extremely detailed.  There are even tons of enemies on the screen at one time.  Epic modified the engine to allow for hundreds of Locust at once, which gives the game a more “war-like” feel.  Each soldier is handled independently, so if you take out a soldier from a distance you can actually see them go down.

Shooting walls or cover actually removes chips and chunks from it, which changes its shape, or even exposes a little more of your enemy.  The previous Gears only “painted” damage onto walls.

It is a major accomplishment that Epic has made the game engine even more complex, but has not only managed to maintain high framerates, but in some instances improve them.