Games for Lunch: Gears of War 2
In a nutshell: Big gear keep on turning ... proud war keep on burning.
11/7/2008 7:23 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Release Date: Nov. 7, 2008
System: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site
0:00 Confession time: I bought the original
Gears of War and played it exactly once before putting it back in its case and never touching it again. I know ... I'm a horrible person.
0:01 Logos fade into a
Gears of War 2 title screen with red gears and skulls and burning and blackness. Par for the course for this type of game.
0:02 The training grounds seem to be about multiplayer matches, so I'm off to muddle my way through the solo campaign.
0:03 The difficulties are Casual, Normal, Hardcore and the locked Insane. Casual is if "you've never played a shooter before" which doesn't quite apply. Normal means "you enjoy playing the occasional shooter" which isn't totally accurate, but is closest.
0:04 "It began, as always, with the desire for power, the need to conquer, the hunger to consume." Humanity fighting an endless battle against itself, then uniting against alien attackers -- but their retaliation causing their own downfall. "To survive is to endure and prosper, and we have most definitely survived." Apparently the narrator is an alien. "In a way, I pity them, but humanity, as always, brought this war upon itself."
0:06 A solider gets wheeled off on a stretcher. "TIP OF THE SPEAR: WELCME TO DELTA" is the first chapter. "It never ends." says the gruff, meaty Sgt. Fenix. "The Gears are moving deeper every day." That's what she said. Really ... though I don't know who she is. "At least we've got reinforcements," says Dom. "Yeah, but for how much longer?" answers Fenix. What dull dialogue...
0:08 We've got a trainee, private Ben Carmine, who is very formal in addressing Sgt. Fenix. "Drop the sir shit, kid. We're not that polite out here. Oh yeah, welcome to Delta." Heh.
0:09 "I don't need you getting religious out there." Apparently this means he doesn't want Carmine getting "holy" ... like holey ... like full of holes. Wow. That was awful. Also: "The golden rule of the Gears is: Take cover or die." Good to know!
0:11 After some target practice on some bottles, Dom says, "Better reload. Could be some more killer bottles up ahead." Heh. I still really like the shaky camera as you run for cover.
0:12 Carmine sees a "monkey-dog thing." in the window. The Y button lets me focus on it as Dom shoots. I like the floating robot that investigates the corpse.
0:13 Liking the environments so far ... wrecked cars and decay amid beautiful buildings. It really looks like a fallen city. The camera blurs nicely as it moves, too.
0:14 The rookie throws an errant grenade and blows himself up. I can heal him with a tap of the X button. Wow. I'm Jesus!
0:16 The parking garage is as empty as the chatter between Marcus and the rookie. I'm really liking the Y-button look ... it points me in the right direction and makes it hard to get lost.
0:17 I get a 10G Achievement for "Green as Grass." Now on to "TIP OF THE SPEAR: DESPERATION." Are developers allergic to lowercase letters or something? Anyway, we're in an abandoned hospital lobby wracked by explosions. A new guy, Tai, tells us about a Locust raid.
