The developers of Gears of War weren’t content to simply shovel out a sequel that was basically the last game with new levels, even though they still would have made a ton of money doing so. Improvement was made on the original in just about every area. They addressed every complaint from the first game and almost doubled the length. Because of this, it is probably the best action game available on the system today.

For the few of you that haven’t played the original, Gears of War 2 is a fairly straightforward shooter. The cover system works very well and must be mastered in order to be victorious. Much like Call of Duty, you don’t have a health bar. You simply have to hide and rest for a second if you take too much damage. The guns all have a good feel and every battle is intense and rewarding. On the other hand, the grenades still feel too weak. Unless your enemy is standing right on it (which doesn’t happen often, since they are smart enough to run away), they won’t get more than a scratch. Some may think the gore is a bit over the top, but it is part of the feel of the game. Sniper shots to limbs leave a stump spurting blood into the air. The main machine gun weapon has a chainsaw attached that can be used to cut an enemy in half which sprays blood everywhere, including onto the television screen. The action is basic, but never gets old.

The last game was great, but it had it’s share of issues. A clear effort was made to improve where ever they could. The original was about six hours long, while this one took me around ten. The chainsaw is much more reliable this time around. In the last game, there were times when it just wouldn’t work when I pressed the button, but that never happened here. When an ally goes down in battle, they now crawl to you so you can rescue them, instead of just lying in one spot and waiting. There is much more variety to the levels this time and you will never get tired of looking around at the environment. More weapons were added, which is nice because I used the same gun almost the entire time in the original. The vehicle driving segment is a vast improvement over the last one and there is a second ‘vehicle’ driving part near the end that is even better. If I explained why I put quotes around that, I would ruin the scene. Lets just say that it is one of the best moments in the game.

If there was one thing that should have been improved and wasn’t, it would be your teammates’ AI. They are all complete morons. There almost always is at least one person with you, but you would be better off alone. They constantly run into your line of fire (then yell at you for shooting them). Rarely will they ever get a kill. On several different occasions, I was shot down and crawled to my nearest teammate’s feet, only to have them stand on my body and let me die instead of helping me up like they are supposed to. Any time they weren’t running into my line of fire, they could be found hiding in the back of the room behind some cover and not shooting at the enemy. Not exactly the kind of behavior you would expect from battle hardened marines. This problem can be eliminated by playing co-op with a friend (unless you friend is a moron too), but if you are playing alone, be ready for some pathetic behavior from your allies.

Some other minor complaints would be the lack of boss fights and the lowered health of the enemies. You don’t even have your first traditional boss battle until five hours into the game. The final boss battle consists of nothing more than holding down the trigger and keeping the crosshair on the enemy. After some awesome bosses in the last game, I was quite disappointed to find only one memorable battle in this one. All enemies’ health has also been lowered in comparison to the last game. They are mostly the same enemies, but they take far less hits to kill than in the original. I recall being terrified every time I heard a Boomer approaching in the first game. This time around, all you have to do is empty a half of a clip into the general vicinity of their head and they will go down every time.

The game is hit and miss on replay value. There are many more hidden items to find and they are much harder to spot than in the last game. Each item also provides insight into the war in some way and every one adds a little more to the story. The vast majority of the game is based around scripted events. These are cool at first, but they loose their impact on the next playthrough. There are four difficulties (one of which has to be unlocked) that really help keep you coming back, though.

The story is told quite well, but isn’t original in any way. Basically, if you combine The Matrix and Resident Evil, you will get the exact plot of Gears of War 2. This wasn’t entirely unexpected, since the last game so blatantly ripped off Pitch Black in it’s middle section and the rest of it had almost no storyline. This game also jumps right into the plot a little too quickly. I would recommend at least renting the original game first if you haven’t played it, just to get caught up on what is going on. All of the characters are very likable and the game has more progression than the last one. There are a few emotional scenes, which connects you with each person more and is a key component that was missing from the last game. Gears of War doesn’t fall into the trap that many game and movie trilogies do, where the second title is just filler until the finale. In this one, there is a clear beginning and a strong closing. The story could end here and it isn’t until after the credits that a short audio clip plays that sets up the final game.

The graphics are still the best on the system. Everything looks photo realistic and there is plenty of dust and debris that really brings the world alive. There are practically no clipping problems and zero glitches that I found. The level of polish on this series is nearly unheard of among other titles that are out these days. The only down side would be the colors used in the levels. Everything is either some shade of gray or brown. On several occasions, I couldn’t find the door to the next room at first because it looked just like everything else. Although this was annoying, it actually meant the levels look more real because of it. For example, in a room that was burned by a fire, the door is going to look just like the wall at first in real life, so it should in the game also.

Other than the moronic AI, all of the problems I mentioned were minor. If it weren’t for the idiotic allies, this game would easily have made my ‘best games of all time’ list. Even so, it is still an awesome shooter that shouldn’t be missed, especially if you want something to play co-op with friends.