Finished Gears2 single player last night

[JDub02]

What an amazing game! Well, at least from a single player perspective. I haven't jumped into multiplayer yet.

But from a single player perspective, I don't know how it can get much better. The story and cutscenese were incredible and the gameplay actually felt like I was advancing the story, not just killing enough bad guys to get to the next cut scene. The script and voice acting was great ... the highlight being Cole's loudspeaker broadcast to the Locust Queen. IMO, they took Gears1 and added a little more speed and killing.

Looking forward to Gears3. The Queen's speech before the credits and the radio transmission after the credits really set it up.

 

[Kabob]

It was a fun game but I think at times it went way over the top.

Easiest illustration: Brumak

Gears 1: So tough you run from the only one you see
Gears 2: You kill them by the truckload

Kinda loses it's cool factor.

 

[JDub02]

I liked the over the top aspect, though. Especially the "ride" at the end. You're right that there wasn't anything that was a "OMG WTF run away because thing thing will kill me" type of bad guy, but overall, I thought the game was more satisfying in the end.

 

[Kabob]

I will say this, the story is much more fluid and ties together alot better than in the first game.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: kabob983
It was a fun game but I think at times it went way over the top.

Easiest illustration: Brumak

Gears 1: So tough you run from the only one you see
Gears 2: You kill them by the truckload

Kinda loses it's cool factor.

I'm not sure I'd agree. Of course you run when there's only four of you and you're on foot. But when you're amongst an army of gears with turret guns and air support, or in a tank, I think it makes sense that you should be able to take some of them down.

If you think they nerfed the Brumak, though, look at the Corpser. In the first game you can't even kill it with your weapons, you have to push it into magma. In the second game, you take out four of them with a tank without even blinking. But again, being on foot vs. being in a tank.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I didn't particularly care for the Halo elements they borrowed. The Tank level in the snow, the way you carry the organ grinder, stuff like that. I could have done without the entire worm level too, variety in game play, simply for the its own sake, isn't always a good thing.

Over all, I liked it though, and like that the story is getting fleshed out now. I will have to pick up a used copy of the pendulum wars.

Speculation: So, we found the Sires in that mountain, then tampered with their DNA? That is what the locust are? Human-Sire hybrids? She said we brought the war on ourselves, perhaps making the whole thing a metaphor of going from- fighting over oil, I mean emulsion, to having a war resulting from genetic manipulation and cloning i.e. "mankind playing god".

And I take it the Queen is one of the scientist from the team that went into the mountain, which is why she knows Marcus' dad? Is her attire with the little tentacles waving part of her? or is it another living being, maybe the best disguised bodyguard yet?

I should add: I was stoked they got rid of the berserkers and kryll, neither of which thrilled me in the first game. The homage to pitch black was fine though...once.

 

[Queasy]

I liked the Berserkers. The Kryll were annoying as hell though.

Gears 2 single-player was a big improvement. My favorite part was walking into the caves and the view of the underground lake. That just looked gorgeous.

 

[warcrow]

I just happen to finish up the single player portion of the game yesterday as well. I don't mean to hi-jack your thread but hope you wont mind if I dump my thoughts here.

It's an interesting ordeal for me. I can completely appreciate what GoW1 did both technically and gameplay-wise with it's stunning visual fidelity and raw run-and-gun gameplay. Hell GoW1 and GoW2 are easily some of the best looking games this generation. The sound (music and FX) was well crafted and seeminly pop where they should. The MP was well supported and fun. It never grabbed me and I never ever went back to it after compelting the game (including the MP)--but it was never memorable. Again I get that millions of people love this game but it just forgettable in the end.

Fast forward to GoW2. After completing it I can say that every single aspect of the game has been improved--even the graphics are more impressive. Hell the graphical fidelity is jaw-dropping at times. I had moments where I just had to stop killing crap just to appreciate what was being rendered before me. On top of that I am impressed at how smooth and consistent the framerate runs. One particular area in the game includes a very heavy hail storm consisting of a thich sheet of razor sharp ice blades raining down while dozens of Locuts pop in and out taking pot shots at you, and it's through a fairly complex environment. Never a studder or hickup in framerate. It's technical mind blowing at times. It's solid all around but the problem is the second I put it down the controller I completely forget about the game and my experience with it. I can't quite put my finger on it just yet but I think it's because the complete and total experience....stale. That is to say nothing is very memorable. To be clear I want to make sure that I'm not trying to say it is innovative or it is not innovative--I dont even want to get into that because it's not really my point. I'm just saying, overall it's a forgettable expereince.

I want to add that I'm not intentionally trying to piss anyone off with this post but just voice my (lame) opinion. But hey I know there are many GoW lovers out there so feel free to start throwing out the racial slurs and begin questioning my sexual orientation. 🙂

 

[JDub02]

what sucked me into the game was the story. when i stopped playing for the evening, i kept thinking about what was going to happen next. i'm already thinking about running back through the SP again on hard difficulty (beat it on medium)

 

[Schfifty Five]

*SPOILERS*




































The part where Dom finally found his wife was kinda moving/touching/sad. He was so intent on being with her again that it clouded his sense of reality. When Fenix finally spoke, that's when the truth hit Dom and it was kinda a shocker honestly. Very moving part of the story though.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I didn't particularly care for the Halo elements they borrowed. The Tank level in the snow, the way you carry the organ grinder, stuff like that. I could have done without the entire worm level too, variety in game play, simply for the its own sake, isn't always a good thing.

Over all, I liked it though, and like that the story is getting fleshed out now. I will have to pick up a used copy of the pendulum wars.

Speculation: So, we found the Sires in that mountain, then tampered with their DNA? That is what the locust are? Human-Sire hybrids? She said we brought the war on ourselves, perhaps making the whole thing a metaphor of going from- fighting over oil, I mean emulsion, to having a war resulting from genetic manipulation and cloning i.e. "mankind playing god".

And I take it the Queen is one of the scientist from the team that went into the mountain, which is why she knows Marcus' dad? Is her attire with the little tentacles waving part of her? or is it another living being, maybe the best disguised bodyguard yet?

I should add: I was stoked they got rid of the berserkers and kryll, neither of which thrilled me in the first game. The homage to pitch black was fine though...once.

Did you happen to find the research note in that facility? Talks about a 15 year old girl named Ruth that was one of the "unique" subjects.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff


Did you happen to find the research note in that facility? Talks about a 15 year old girl named Ruth that was one of the "unique" subjects.

Thanks Sneaky! I suck at finding stuff like that, I never even found all the COG tags from the 1st. I just don't spend the necessary time searching the map.

 

[Kev]

About 75% of the game was great but the shooting on rails sequences made me not want to play through it again. I played through Gears 1 three times; it is extremely rare for me to even play a game 2 times.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five
*SPOILERS*




































The part where Dom finally found his wife was kinda moving/touching/sad. He was so intent on being with her again that it clouded his sense of reality. When Fenix finally spoke, that's when the truth hit Dom and it was kinda a shocker honestly. Very moving part of the story though.

Really? I guess it was ok but I didnt feel any connection with the characters there at all.

 

[warcrow]

I just rememebred another thought--enough with the turret and flying segments. I know Epic is trying to shake things up and throw in some variety but I'm not a fan with those choices. It's just no where near as enjoyable as the other segments of the game where you run-and-gun.

I did enjoy the Brumak level though. 🙂

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: warcrow
I just rememebred another thought--enough with the turret and flying segments. I know Epic is trying to shake things up and throw in some variety but I'm not a fan with those choices. It's just no where near as enjoyable as the other segments of the game where you run-and-gun.

I did enjoy the Brumak level though. 🙂

There were only a couple parts I genuinely disliked:

1. No head-to-head boss showdown like General RAAM. The main boss battle was nothing more than a series of quicktime events (chainsaw duels) which I don't care for, especially in this game. Then his death is extremely anticlimactic following the drawn out "horsey" chase. Battling his giant "horsey" at the end was not too bad, though.

2. The tank level. Fuck this level. It's not fun; just an exercise in frustration (especially on higher difficulties) and poor controls. Although, a few times during co-op my partner somehow wound up running around the map outside of the tank, which was pretty funny.

 

[DefRef]

Even though it was a predictable event, the scene referenced in the spoiler above was effective for me, too. Very rarely do game plot points ever grab me. The last ones I can recall was the confrontation at the end of Tomb Raider Legend where I actually thought Lara was going to pull the trigger and, of course, the stunning event halfway thru COD4. That just floored me, even more than the big scene in Bioshock.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: warcrow
I just rememebred another thought--enough with the turret and flying segments. I know Epic is trying to shake things up and throw in some variety but I'm not a fan with those choices. It's just no where near as enjoyable as the other segments of the game where you run-and-gun.

I did enjoy the Brumak level though. 🙂

Maybe if they did them better they'd be more enjoyable. They do seem stuck in there for variety w/out thought of how fun they really were.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: warcrow
I just rememebred another thought--enough with the turret and flying segments. I know Epic is trying to shake things up and throw in some variety but I'm not a fan with those choices. It's just no where near as enjoyable as the other segments of the game where you run-and-gun.

I did enjoy the Brumak level though. 🙂

Maybe if they did them better they'd be more enjoyable. They do seem stuck in there for variety w/out thought of how fun they really were.

I liked the tank level. I had fun blowing stuff up. The "horsey" ride wasn't too bad, but it was probably my least favorite level of the game since I had no control over movement.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: JDub02


I liked the tank level. I had fun blowing stuff up. The "horsey" ride wasn't too bad, but it was probably my least favorite level of the game since I had no control over movement.

You can move the reaver around at the same time you move the targeting reticle to make it harder for skorge to nail you. It is the other analogue stick that controls it.

EDIT: The Skorge fight in the palace isn't all quicktime stuff. You have to avoid gorgon pistol fire, tickers, the stalactites, and the columns he chainsaws too. The fight with him outside is horseyshat though. 😛 Using the turret mounts on the reavers targeting the dishes on harder difficulty was a F.U. moment too. On CO-OP it was fairly easy though.

 

[JDub02]

I realize that the left stick "moves" the reaver, but all it really does is dodge. Not like the tank or the brumak where you could go where you want.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: JDub02
I realize that the left stick "moves" the reaver, but all it really does is dodge. Not like the tank or the brumak where you could go where you want.

OK I see what you are saying now. But to be somewhat argumentative, you can't go anywhere you want with those either, not even close. 😉

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: JDub02
I realize that the left stick "moves" the reaver, but all it really does is dodge. Not like the tank or the brumak where you could go where you want.

OK I see what you are saying now. But to be somewhat argumentative, you can't go anywhere you want with those either, not even close. 😉

OK, I concede that it's not a sandbox. 😛