I was never a big fan of Gears of War for the Xbox360. I thought the single player was somewhat lackluster and the on-line multiplayer was too frantic. I’m not sure why, then, I picked up Gears of War 2 (the limited edition, no less) on day one. I guess after watching most of the promo videos, the developers convinced me the changes being made would be enough to make me want to play it. Thankfully, they weren’t just spewing garbage and they’ve really delivered on their promises.

I really like the single player element this time around. Everything from the environments to the battle sequences feels like they’ve had a makeover and it makes the entire experience so much more enjoyable. In multiplayer, the maps are bigger and it feels like there is more strategy involved instead of the rush and shotgun, rush and shotgun, rush and shotgun “tactic” of the first game. Even the graphics and the sound have been touched up enough so it looks very new and fresh.

Overall, I’m glad I made the purchase. The matchmaking process in multiplayer is currently in a pretty crummy state (it can take upwards of 5 minutes to connect to most matches), but I’m confident Microsoft and Epic will have the bugs ironed out soon. If you are still on the fence about this one, let this serve as one more vote in favor of picking it up.

- Joshua

Filed under gears war xbox 360