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Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.

User Reviews about Gears of War 2

"Gears 2" begins after the events of the first one. This time the original and groundbreaking story revolves around the humans of Sera making a last stand for the last city in a last attempt at beating the last of the locust in the last blah, blah blah. Basically you play the coolest name in video game history; Marcus Phoenix and try to defeat the Locust whiles reaffirming every cliche seen in Michael Bay movies and most post apocalyptic action movies in the past 2 decades.

The story aspect of "Gears 2" is the weakest element of the game. The game makers attempted to add more emotion to the game and it failed miserably on every level. It's hard to give darn about a guy whose neck is about 20 inches thick. There is a forgettable story that has something to do with sinking Jacinto, and whiles on that mission we get "deeper" with Dom's character as he looks for his wife. I don't play a game called "Gears of War" for emotional depth and to look for someone's wife, I play it to shoot aliens. The decision by the game makers to interject the utterly pointless and largely uninteresting element of Dom's wife is one thing that kills any potential the story had. Dom has to make a decision about his wife and it's meant to be emotional but just comes off as comical and idiotic. I hear it plays a part in Part 3 but in Part 2 it just does not work at all. But that's just my opinion.

The first "Gears" had an amazing level in which you had to avoid a creature called "The Berserker" by being quiet and quick witted. The cleverness and sheer fun of that level is not matched in any level in the 2nd Gears game which was a bit of a disappointment for me. Not to say the levels in "Gears 2" are bad, it's just you're doing the same thing over and over again, and the stuff meant to give you a break like piloting the strange creatures that Cole hilariously refers to as "Horsey" is more irritating than enjoyable. There's another irritating level in which you have to find a way out of part of the giant worm's body. Problem is that the level is filled with smoke and hard to see anything at all, so you pretty much rely on luck more than anything else to escape the irritating level. Once again not a badly designed game, just about 20% of is irritating as all hell.

The online aspect of the game is the best part of the game, granted you're not playing with immature children that have an affinity for a certain three letter homophobic slur and another word that rhymes with "Stitch". It's a blast to get on X-Box live and go at it with fellow sexually frustrated geeks for hours. Are we better off going outside and having a social life? Yes, but I'm personally allergic to the sun and fresh air.

Warzone is probably tied with "Madden" "Virtual Tennis 3" as the most fun thing I do online. "Modern Warfare 2 " and "GTA IV are great online, but when it comes to sheer fun you can't beat "Warzone" on "Gears 2". "Horde" is great too, and I like to get online with my favorite people and just go as far as we can into Horde. It's not as fun as "Warzone" but requires the same level of strategy as "Warzone" and know how of the different weapons in the game. "King of the Hill" and the other stuff is ok, but for my money it's "Warzone" and "Horde" that takes the cake. For all the lameness with the storyline on the campaign mode, the online mode is just out and out fun and a blast. Easily the best thing about the game.

"Gears 1" at the time it came out had some pretty impressive graphics, thanks to "Modern Warfare 2" and "Red Dead Redemption" our eyes are now accustomed to better looking games making the first "Gears 1" look merely ok. The 2nd "Gears" does have much better graphics, although it is filled from top to bottom with glitches. The oddest one for me is the game rendering as you start the level. It's only about 10 seconds but I find it odd and looks rather creepy. Online has moments where you see weapons and body parts floating in thin air and people walking through solid objects. It's not a deal breaker in any way but just a bit odd at times.

Zimmer clone number 45.SJA code named Steve Jablonsky got the job due in large part to his entertaining and highly addictive score to the first "Transformers" film. The game makers wanted that MV/RC sound and they got it in spades. The Horns playing the heroic anthems are here, the never ending 16th note string ostinatos, the synths to add some spice, and the occasional choir to give it a forced sense of "epicness" is all here and accounted for. There is not going to be any piece of music in the game here that one has not heard a million times before and done much better either by Jablonsky or another robot from the RC factory. Is the music in the game unoriginal and very predictable? Yes, but does it work in the game? A definite yes. The games are designed the game to be like a Michael Bay movie, and what better than some generic RC music to complete that feeling. A much better fit for the game than the music from the first game.

One interesting thing about the music is whenever you die in the "Campaign" mode you're sent back to the menu in which you hear a piano and some soft strings playing the main theme from the game. When this same thing is arranged for a huge orchestra it sounds generic and like every other RC anthem ever composed, but when arranged for one piano and a small string section it sounds original and engaging. I find that endlessly fascinating. Let that be a tip for the young composers out there, doesn't matter how amazing your melody is, if your orchestration is boring and predictable your music will end up sounding boring and generic as well.

The sound design is great just like with the first game. The surrounds are hyper active and a great help when playing the game online. I can literally hear people walking up or reloading their gun in my left or right rear speaker and turn around and shoot them. It's amazing. The cinematic kills and the chainsaw revs gets a nice boost from the woofers, there is an overall crunchiness to the sound effect which makes it sound very nasty in a good way, and my personal favorite sound effect is the squish sound you hear when you use the sniper to take someone's head off. Nasty, but a hilarious and addictive sound effect.

John DiMaggio and the rest of the superb voice cast from the first returns and seem to have a lot more fun this time around. The lines are still over the top, the colorful language is a wee bit more colorful, and it's fun to try and identify how many people DiMaggio plays in the game. I think he also does the voice of the douche with the idiotic goatee that gives the big speech after the first level in the game. And it was great that who ever voiced the queen was brought back, love that holier than thou voice complimented by the pseudo British accent. Hopefully she returns for the 3rd game, and I hear Ice-T voices some character in the 3rd one? Interesting.

Cliffy B and his team tried their best to make the game better than the first and in terms of fun they succeeded, but just wish they had just focused more on the fun aspects of the game in the campaign mode rather than force feeding us some eye rolling story line that no one really cares about. Not as engaging as the first in my opinion, but a lot more fun, especially when played on line.

Recommended, just don't look for a great story or clever level designs. -- Denizens

Gears of War is up on the very top of my all time favorite video games list. One of the best FPS I've ever played. #2 didn't disappoint either! The graphics rocked, the story continues to be amazing, the game play is super fun. LOVE THIS GAME! -- Loved #1, and love #2.

Campaign was full of action and was long enough to enjoy, definitely worth its money on its own. Multiplayer in addition was like icing on top of the cake. If you like action games with big guns and violence, gears of war 2 is for you -- Worth Getting

My roommate took this game and I never saw it again. I was getting tired of him never bringing it back so I just had to buy a new one, it's one of those games you can't go too long without playing. Can't wait for Gears 3 to come out. -- Great Game

My bf was a GOW fanatic, but totally lost interest in the game all together when he got GOW 2. -- ok