Gears of War 2
Encyclopedia
Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter
video game developed by Epic Games
with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski
, and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360
. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series
. The game was officially released in North America
, Europe
and Australia
on November 7, 2008 and was released in Japan
on July 30, 2009. The game expands technically on the previous game
by using a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3
engine. The development team also brought in comic book writer Joshua Ortega
to help write the plot for the game.
In Gears of War 2, the COG continues its fight against the Locust horde, who are attempting to sink all of the cities on the planet Sera. Sergeant
Marcus Fenix leads Delta Squad into the depths of the planet to try to stop the Locust during the assault upon Locust territory. The player controls Fenix in the main mission campaign, with the ability to play cooperatively with a second player controlling Fenix's best friend and fellow Squad member Dominic "Dom" Santiago. The game includes several existing and new multiplayer modes including five-on-five battles between human and Locust forces, and a "Horde" mode that challenges up to five players against waves of Locust forces with ever-increasing strength. New weapons and gameplay mechanics such as "chainsaw duels" and the ability to use downed foes as "meatshield
s" were added to the game.
On its release weekend, Gears of War 2 sold over two million copies, and within two months of release, had sold four million copies. It was the seventh best selling video game of 2009 and received several accolades. The game received similar praise as its predecessor, with the new gameplay and multiplayer modes seen as outstanding additions.
mounted with a chainsaw bayonet, can be used to instantly kill foes. The game introduces the ability to engage in chainsaw duels should the player attempt to chainsaw an opponent also using the Lancer; the player is presented with a controller button to press rapidly to try to win the duel. Gears of War 2 rebalances the power of the existing weapons while introducing five new ones: a flamethrower
, a chain gun
, a mortar
cannon, a "Gorgon" Pistol, and the Ink Grenade. The chain gun and the mortar are heavy weapons, forcing the player to move at walking speed while carrying it in both hands. The Gorgon Pistol is an SMG-like handgun that fires four eight-shot bursts per magazine. The Ink Grenade doesn't damage with its detonation, but instead temporarily poisons the area it was thrown, making it very useful for driving enemies out of cover. Grenades can be planted on walls or floors as proximity traps that go off when an enemy nears, and have the ability to kill foes when they go off.
The player's health is represented by a red "Crimson Omen" that fades onto the screen the more damage the player takes; staying out of the line of fire allows the player to recover their health. Depending on the game mode, if the player takes too much damage, they enter a downed state where they can crawl around the map to get out of battle and seek help. During this time, a fellow teammate can revive him, an enemy may brutally execute the downed player, or the player may bleed out if too much time has passed. The player can also grab a downed character and use them as a meatshield
, allowing the body to absorb damage but forcing the player to use a one-handed pistol. Explosive weapons will simply destroy the character they strike. Like its predecessor, Gears of War 2 features an optional mature content filter, which, when active, makes blood appear as sparks and removes harsh language from the dialogue. Furthermore, progress towards most of the Xbox achievements for the game can be earned in either campaign or multiplayer modes.
to give both players a fair challenge. The co-op campaign can be played in a drop in/drop out manner, with the second player able to join the first player's game in progress. As well as collecting some COG tags as in the first game, players can search other story-based items such as personal letters and medical records, with discovered items being added to a war journal.
The campaign features a deeper story with new characters, new weapons, and new enemies according to John DiMaggio
, the voice actor for Marcus Fenix. New vehicles have been added to the game, such as the Centaur Tank, which lead designer Cliff Bleszinski
describes as a "tank with monster truck wheels." Players will also ride a Brumak and Reavers in the game. Cut-scenes use the better facial rendering technology of Epic's Unreal engine, and engage in more dramatic angles for the conversation, as well as using a video screen on Jack (the all-purpose robot used by Delta squad) to talk with their commanders face-to-face.
A new "deleted scene" for campaign mode was unveiled with the addition of the Dark Corners Map pack added near the end of 2009.
, but allows players to continue fighting after the leader has been killed, but losing the ability to respawn. Wingman splits all ten players into five teams of two, where both members of a team play as the same character. Submission, formerly known as Meat Flag, is a version of capture the flag
in which players attempt to "down" an enemy controlled by the game's AI
and move its body to their team's base or objective to earn points. The 10 maps shipped with the game originally are Avalanche, Blood Drive, Day One, Hail, Jacinto, Pavilion, River, Ruins, Security and Stasis A Halo-like
matchmaking system has been utilized for the online multiplayer Players can now engage in multiplayer scenarios with any combination of human players and artificial intelligence
controlled by the game, with the ability to set the AI's intelligence level. Horde is a new co-op mode for five players, fighting off waves of attacking Locust together, with each wave becoming more difficult. Horde Mode does not feature bot support as in competitive multiplayer, and can be played alone.
Players can pan around a map as the camera focuses on areas of intense fighting, and the Ghost Cam allows a player to roam freely around a map. The ability to take photographs is also featured, which enables the player to take a photo, which can be uploaded to the official Gears of War website and is rated on the quality of action in the shot.
Exploring the sink hole, Delta Squad is ambushed by Locust and rescued by Augustus Cole. As they search for Damon Baird the squad discovers that the Locust have begun taking prisoners and taking them deeper into the hollow, with unknown intentions, after a quick search they find and free Baird. Boarding the Locust prison barges, Delta Squad finds another imprisoned squad member, Tai Kaliso, who has suffered wounds inflicted by Locust torture. Though Marcus tries to arm Tai for a fight, Tai instead commits suicide, the physical and emotional trauma having been too much for him to bear. As the squad tries to be extracted by a King Raven Gunship, they are swallowed by the Riftworm. Inside, the squad quickly plans to escape, but a plan by Marcus sets the squad to destroy the worm's heart to kill it. Inside, Carmine is mauled and eaten alive by monstrous parasites, having been separated from the rest of Delta. After destroying the worm's heart, the squad is irritated to discover that the worm is kept alive by not just one heart but three—they nonetheless locate and destroy the remaining two, effectively killing the worm.
Delta squad narrowly escapes being drowned in the creature's blood by cutting their way out to the surface only to be given orders by Hoffman to investigate a nearby abandoned COG outpost where they encounter experimented creatures of unknown origin and learn of a back door entrance to the Hollow in the nearby Kadar Mountains. The team fights its way to the caverns in a Centaur tank and discovers that some Stranded have taken shelter near the entrance. Marcus orders Cole and Baird to evacuate the Stranded while he and Dom search further. They find more prisoner cages and Dom convinces Marcus that Maria must be inside one of them. They manage to find her, but the Locust imprisonment has left her severely disfigured and traumatized, unable to communicate. Faced with the nigh-vegetative state Maria is in, Dom reluctantly chooses to euthanize
her. Marcus and Dominic then charge into the Locust stronghold, where they use Jack (the squad's utility robot) to signal for COG forces from the surface, who quickly join them, including Cole and Baird.
Inside, Delta squad discovers the Locust are locked in a civil war between the normal Locust and the "Lambent," who have been exposed to imulsion. The Lambent seek to overthrow the Locust Queen, explaining the Locust's desperation to get to the surface to escape the overwhelming Lambent. Inside the Locust palace they discover the Locust have messages from Adam Fenix, Marcus' father. These messages suggest a way to end the war other than killing the Locust Queen: sink Jacinto in order to let sea water flood the Hollow and wipe out the Locust. They learn from the Locust Queen herself that she is pursuing the same plan not only to wipe out the humans, but to also destroy the Lambent. After a face to face meeting with the queen, and a face off against Skorge, the queen escapes on a Reaver. Marcus realizes that humans must sink Jacinto first, before the Locust mobilize and escape to the surface.
Delta squad escapes the Hollow on a pair of Reavers, defeating Skorge and his Hydra, and then return to Jacinto where a mass evacuation is underway. The COG have decided they can sink Jacinto using a Lightmass bomb and Delta squad is ordered to clear debris in the main sink hole, allowing a helicopter to safely transport the bomb into the caverns. Marcus orders Cole and Baird to assist with the bomb, while he and Dom manage to kill a Brumak driver, hijack the Brumak, and use it to arrive at the Hollow in order to fulfil their objective.
Whilst the helicopters arrive, the Brumak — exposed to high levels of Imulsion — begins to mutate. As it changes, it attacks the helicopter transporting the bomb, which falls into the Imulsion. With the Lightmass bomb lost, Marcus comes up with a plan that includes killing the lambent Brumak (as lambent explode upon death) as a replacement for the bomb. He uses the Hammer of Dawn to kill the Brumak, which explodes, taking out the last supporting structures of Jacinto, flooding the Hollow with water. As the COG forces and civilians evacuate, a voiceover
of the Locust Queen talks about unintended legacies. After the credits, a last voice over of Adam Fenix is heard, a radio transmission of a call for help, and a cry of desperation, revealing he is still alive.
as to incorporate more personal drama within the sci-fi setting. Steve Jablonsky
provided the music for the game. Epic Games also considered making the game easier after complaints about Gears of War
. Senior producer Rod Fergusson admitted that — for the first game — "We overshot on[the Casual] difficulty and a game that was a little harder than we intended."
A teaser image posted to the Gears of War 2 website on July 8, 2008 suggested that the game was to be released on November 9, 2008, but it was confirmed during the Microsoft E3 2008 press conference that the game would be released on November 7, 2008. On July 14, 2008, the teaser image was removed and the official website relaunched and updated for Gears of War 2.
Gears of War 2 was a focal point during Microsoft's E3 2008 presentation on July 15, 2008, which included a "hands-on" demo. A second trailer, entitled "Rendezvous," was made available on July 14, 2008 as a part of E3. The Joseph Kosinski
-directed trailer, which features the Trans Am
track "Diabolical Cracker" from the album Red Line
, takes its title and spoken words from Alan Seeger
's World War I
poem I Have a Rendezvous with Death. The game's release date was also set, with a worldwide release to occur on November 7, 2008. Microsoft and Epic Games announced on October 10, 2008 that Gears of War 2 had gone gold. It was stated by Cliff Bleszinski that, unlike Gears of War
, the previous installment, Gears of War 2 will not feature a PC port.
, customers who preordered the Limited Edition also received a bonus Remote Control Centaur Tank replica, just like the new vehicle introduced in the game, free of charge.
A publishing error resulted in the Canadian version coming with French collector's material instead of English, even though it was meant for an English audience.
in San Francisco, California
, as a showcase for the functionality of the Unreal Engine 3
, Gears of War creators Epic Games
showed various improvements to the engine with specific reference to the sequel itself. The video showed several demonstrations of the improvements, the initial being improvements to the in-game lighting
through Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
, in which dynamic shadows could be generated through the use of a pixel shading technique to render more realistically lit and shaded objects and actors, illustrated through comparison between character and environment models in the original game engine to that of Unreal Engine 3. Also showcased was the ability of the engine to render hordes of actors within the engine, as demonstrated with a large crowd of locust flocking through the "Gridlock" multiplayer map from the original game. Alongside this technology was improvements to "Matinee," an artistic tool used for the rendering and editing 3-dimensional scenes within the game.
Other physics-related features included improvements to the rendering of water in which specular light and physical interactions with were displayed more realistically, improvements to soft body
entities demonstrated with a "Meat Cube" and a floating ball possessing properties similar to that of liquid helium
. The largest of these physics engine related changes was the introduction of destructible environments due to the implementation of real-time
structural analysis
tools to generate the damage of the materials and subsequently their deformed shapes based upon resultant forces placed upon them. This was demonstrated with the use of explosive arrows fired from the "Torque Bow" of the original game causing damage to wooden planks, and also revealing rebar
present after destroying areas of a stone
structure.
. The first footage of gameplay from the campaign, highlighting new features of the game, was released online and to the Marketplace on May 9, 2008. After the Microsoft E3 press conference, the "Rendezvous" trailer and the press conference demonstration was available for download as well as a new free set of gamer pictures and a dashboard theme. Upon release, every new copy of Gears of War 2 features a code to download the "Flashback Map Pack," which includes five enhanced multiplayer maps from the original game. Customers who attended the GameStop
Midnight Madness game release event received a code to unlock a gold-plated Hammerburst rifle for use in multiplayer and a code for an exclusive Xbox 360 Dashboard theme optimized for the New Xbox Experience.
The first downloadable content released after Gears of War 2 was the "Combustible Map Pack," which consists of three new multiplayer maps. This add-on was announced and released on December 15, 2008. The second title update was released on January 21, 2009, featuring several adjustments to gameplay and adding additional Achievements, the patch attempts to correct many of the "glitches" that players have discovered since the game's release.
A third update was applied to Gears of War 2 on March 24, 2009. The update added an experience-based ranking system in which the player is given a numerical value based on their amount of experience points, which are gained by shooting or killing enemies in public multiplayer. The update also addressed several issues with matchmaking, including adding bots in place of players who have quit or lost connection to the game. In addition, four new multiplayer maps in the "Snowblind Map Pack" were released the next week.
In early July 2009, Epic Games applied a fourth update to Gears of War 2, which added the ability to gain experience from the multiplayer Horde Mode, as well as applying several more gameplay fixes. On July 28, 2009, the "Dark Corners" add-on was released. This add-on consisted of seven new multiplayer maps, and an additional campaign chapter that was originally deleted from the game. The deleted scene takes place after Maria's death, where the user can choose to either sneak into the stronghold as Theron Guards or charge in as in the original game, though the level is different than the one that appeared in the final game and features a cameo from a Stranded character from the original Gears.
(vice president of Epic Games
) was showcasing a tech demo of Gears of War 2 in stereoscopic 3D running on an Xbox 360 thanks to the TriOviz for Games Technology."This technology’s great because it works on normal HD TVs, as well as the very high end 3DTVs,” Rein commented to Computer and Video Games
. "We're not planning to re-release this in 3D - unless Microsoft want us to - but I'm sure it's technology may be keen to put in the games developed by our partners."
In October 2010 TriOviz for Games Technology has been officially integrated in Unreal Engine 3
, allowing to easily convert in stereoscopic 3D, numerous past and upcoming games developed with this engine.
, and a 93/100 from the aggregate review website Metacritic
.
While the game has been praised for the addition of a deeper plot than the original Gears of War
and being highly polished, reviewers noted that the multiplayer experience did not resemble the previous game especially in its quick pace and enjoyability. IGN
noted that while the first four acts of the game were satisfying, in the final act "the last boss is a complete joke and the ending feels just a tad too abrupt," and that there were some bugs and lag in the online multiplayer. Overall, IGN stated that "[Gears of War 2] has its flaws when it comes to the technical side of multiplayer and the last act of the campaign and the voice acting might turn some off. Still, none of that comes close to holding back Gears of War 2 from its destiny: being one of the best games available on the Xbox 360." Also, even though the new plot was praised, critics such as Official Xbox Magazine
scrutinized the game's middle acts saying that most of the plot "falls flat."
Both IGN and Eurogamer
, among others, positively mentioned the new "Horde Mode" feature, with Eurogamer saying that "Horde is a weighty slab of fun that can turn almost any of them into a time-sink, and the leaderboards are likely to be as compelling a reason to stick with Gears of War 2 as the leveling system has been for Call of Duty 4." X-Play
praised the game for its "polished cover system" and cooperative campaign mode. X-Play also praised the new weapons and characters and its "brilliant" multiplayer experience. Game Informer
called the single-player campaign "satisfying" and called the co-op campaign amazing and goes on to call online multiplayer "an outstanding contrast to vanilla deathmatch or capture-the-flag scenarios."
gave it the awards Overall Best Shooting Game and Overall Best Graphics Technology of E3 2008. Game Critics Awards
gave the game Best Action Game of E3 2008. Gears of War 2 also won Best Shooter and Best Xbox 360 Game at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards. The game also received the Best Xbox 360 Game award at the Golden Joystick Awards
in 2009.
, with over 1 million people logging on to play the game. The game went on to sell over three million copies worldwide within the first month of its release, and pushed past four million in sales within the first two months. It was the sixth best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 745,000 copies. It was also the tenth top-selling game in the United States in 2008, with over 1.3 million copies sold. As of May 7, 2009, Gears of War 2 had sold over 5 million units worldwide, bringing the franchise total to 11 million units sold.
, Cliff Bleszinski
announced Gears of War 3
and debuted a trailer, titled "Ashes to Ashes." The game is set 18 months after the events of Gears of War 2. It was originally going to be released on April 8 2011, but was delayed and was finally released on September 20 2011..
.
Third-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
video game developed by Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff Bleszinski
Clifford Michael "Cliff" Bleszinski is the design director for the game development company Epic Games in Cary, North Carolina. He is most famous for his continuing hand in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise...
, and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series
Gears of War (series)
Gears of War is a science fiction video game franchise created and owned by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios. The three games that currently make up the series take place on the fictional planet Sera and focus on a war between humans and creatures known as Locust...
. The game was officially released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on November 7, 2008 and was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on July 30, 2009. The game expands technically on the previous game
Gears of War
Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
by using a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3 is a computer game engine developed by Epic Games. It is the third generation of Unreal Engine, designed for DirectX 9/10/11 personal computers , the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Vita, the Wii U, Android and OpenGL-based operating systems such as iOS and Mac OS X...
engine. The development team also brought in comic book writer Joshua Ortega
Joshua Ortega
Joshua Ortega is an author and journalist best known for his novel , as well as his comic book and graphic novel work on entertainment properties such as Star Wars, Spider-Man, Batman, Star Trek, The Escapist, and The Necromancer.-Journalism and poetry:Joshua Ortega began his writing career at the...
to help write the plot for the game.
In Gears of War 2, the COG continues its fight against the Locust horde, who are attempting to sink all of the cities on the planet Sera. Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Marcus Fenix leads Delta Squad into the depths of the planet to try to stop the Locust during the assault upon Locust territory. The player controls Fenix in the main mission campaign, with the ability to play cooperatively with a second player controlling Fenix's best friend and fellow Squad member Dominic "Dom" Santiago. The game includes several existing and new multiplayer modes including five-on-five battles between human and Locust forces, and a "Horde" mode that challenges up to five players against waves of Locust forces with ever-increasing strength. New weapons and gameplay mechanics such as "chainsaw duels" and the ability to use downed foes as "meatshield
Human shield
Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...
s" were added to the game.
On its release weekend, Gears of War 2 sold over two million copies, and within two months of release, had sold four million copies. It was the seventh best selling video game of 2009 and received several accolades. The game received similar praise as its predecessor, with the new gameplay and multiplayer modes seen as outstanding additions.
Gameplay
Gears of War 2 is a third person shooter with an emphasis on the tactical use of cover, and retains much of the same gameplay from the first game. The player, playing as either Marcus or Dominic in the campaign mode, or as any of the human or Locust characters in multiplayer mode, can only carry a pistol, one type of grenade, and two other weapons at any time, though they may swap these for weapons found in strategic locations or left by downed foes. Each weapon can be used for normal fire as well as for melee attacks; the game's signature Lancer, an assault rifleAssault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
mounted with a chainsaw bayonet, can be used to instantly kill foes. The game introduces the ability to engage in chainsaw duels should the player attempt to chainsaw an opponent also using the Lancer; the player is presented with a controller button to press rapidly to try to win the duel. Gears of War 2 rebalances the power of the existing weapons while introducing five new ones: a flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
, a chain gun
Chain gun
A chain gun is a type of machine gun or autocannon that uses an external source of power, rather than diverting energy from the cartridge, to cycle the weapon, and does so via a continuous loop of chain similar to that used on a motorcycle or bicycle. "Chain gun" is a registered trademark of...
, a mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
cannon, a "Gorgon" Pistol, and the Ink Grenade. The chain gun and the mortar are heavy weapons, forcing the player to move at walking speed while carrying it in both hands. The Gorgon Pistol is an SMG-like handgun that fires four eight-shot bursts per magazine. The Ink Grenade doesn't damage with its detonation, but instead temporarily poisons the area it was thrown, making it very useful for driving enemies out of cover. Grenades can be planted on walls or floors as proximity traps that go off when an enemy nears, and have the ability to kill foes when they go off.
The player's health is represented by a red "Crimson Omen" that fades onto the screen the more damage the player takes; staying out of the line of fire allows the player to recover their health. Depending on the game mode, if the player takes too much damage, they enter a downed state where they can crawl around the map to get out of battle and seek help. During this time, a fellow teammate can revive him, an enemy may brutally execute the downed player, or the player may bleed out if too much time has passed. The player can also grab a downed character and use them as a meatshield
Human shield
Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...
, allowing the body to absorb damage but forcing the player to use a one-handed pistol. Explosive weapons will simply destroy the character they strike. Like its predecessor, Gears of War 2 features an optional mature content filter, which, when active, makes blood appear as sparks and removes harsh language from the dialogue. Furthermore, progress towards most of the Xbox achievements for the game can be earned in either campaign or multiplayer modes.
Campaign mode
The campaign mode in Gears of War 2 allows for a single player or two players playing cooperatively as Marcus or Dom. A new "Normal" difficulty was added between the game's "Casual" and "Hardcore" difficulties. There is also an 'Insane' difficulty that is unlocked after the player completes the game at least once. Players in co-op mode can select different difficulties, and a "communal combat system" will adjust the game's artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
to give both players a fair challenge. The co-op campaign can be played in a drop in/drop out manner, with the second player able to join the first player's game in progress. As well as collecting some COG tags as in the first game, players can search other story-based items such as personal letters and medical records, with discovered items being added to a war journal.
The campaign features a deeper story with new characters, new weapons, and new enemies according to John DiMaggio
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...
, the voice actor for Marcus Fenix. New vehicles have been added to the game, such as the Centaur Tank, which lead designer Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff Bleszinski
Clifford Michael "Cliff" Bleszinski is the design director for the game development company Epic Games in Cary, North Carolina. He is most famous for his continuing hand in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise...
describes as a "tank with monster truck wheels." Players will also ride a Brumak and Reavers in the game. Cut-scenes use the better facial rendering technology of Epic's Unreal engine, and engage in more dramatic angles for the conversation, as well as using a video screen on Jack (the all-purpose robot used by Delta squad) to talk with their commanders face-to-face.
A new "deleted scene" for campaign mode was unveiled with the addition of the Dark Corners Map pack added near the end of 2009.
Multiplayer
Gears of War 2 features an upgraded multiplayer mode that allows up to ten users to simultaneously play in teams of five-on-five. Gears of War 2 includes most of the multiplayer modes, including Execution, Warzone, Annex and King of the Hill, and adds in three new modes. Guardian is a modified version of Assassination from the original Gears of WarGears of War
Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
, but allows players to continue fighting after the leader has been killed, but losing the ability to respawn. Wingman splits all ten players into five teams of two, where both members of a team play as the same character. Submission, formerly known as Meat Flag, is a version of capture the flag
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
in which players attempt to "down" an enemy controlled by the game's AI
Ai
AI, A.I., Ai, or ai may refer to:- Computers :* Artificial intelligence, a branch of computer science* Ad impression, in online advertising* .ai, the ISO Internet 2-letter country code for Anguilla...
and move its body to their team's base or objective to earn points. The 10 maps shipped with the game originally are Avalanche, Blood Drive, Day One, Hail, Jacinto, Pavilion, River, Ruins, Security and Stasis A Halo-like
Halo 3
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...
matchmaking system has been utilized for the online multiplayer Players can now engage in multiplayer scenarios with any combination of human players and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
controlled by the game, with the ability to set the AI's intelligence level. Horde is a new co-op mode for five players, fighting off waves of attacking Locust together, with each wave becoming more difficult. Horde Mode does not feature bot support as in competitive multiplayer, and can be played alone.
Players can pan around a map as the camera focuses on areas of intense fighting, and the Ghost Cam allows a player to roam freely around a map. The ability to take photographs is also featured, which enables the player to take a photo, which can be uploaded to the official Gears of War website and is rated on the quality of action in the shot.
Setting
Gears of War 2 takes place six months after the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb at the end of the first game. Though most of the underground army of the Locust Horde was destroyed, the explosion also caused much of the liquid Imulsion underground to vaporize, causing a fatal disease called Rustlung to spread among the diminished human population. After months of peace, the cities of Tollen and Montevado suddenly and mysteriously disappear underground, leading the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) to suspect the resurgence of the Locust. Soon after, the once impenetrable Jacinto, one of the last remaining safe havens for humans, begins to show signs that the same fate awaits it. To stop the fall of Jacinto, the COG responds with a large-scale counter-offensive against the Locust. Senior Producer Rod Fergusson says "In order to save Jacinto, [the COG] have no choice but to take the war to the Locust."Characters
Returning characters includes the main protagonists of the series Marcus Fenix and Dominic (Dom) Santiago and others from the first game, including Marcus and Dom's fellow Delta Squad COG soldiers, Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole and Damon Baird. Also returning in supporting roles are radio dispatcher Anya Stroud and senior officer Colonel Hoffman. Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski confirmed that the character Carmine would be returning, but did not reveal how or in what capacity as Carmine was killed in the original Gears of War. It was later revealed that the original Anthony Carmine would not be present in the Gears of War 2 campaign, but rather his brother, Benjamin, would make an appearance. The game also introduces several new characters. They include Chairman Prescott, the noble, yet near-dictatorial military leader of COG; Tai Kaliso, "a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor bound fighters;" and Dizzy Wallin, a former Stranded who joined the COG to keep his family safe. Dom's wife Maria also makes an appearance, and Dom's search for her plays an important part in the story.Plot
Taking place six months after Lightmass bombing at the end of the first game, the Locust Horde has survived and has renewed their war on Humanity, and through unknown means begun to sink entire Human cities. Even Jacinto, humanity's last stronghold is at risk. With the COG army continuing to lose large numbers to Locust raids, the COG start the Operation: Hollow Storm, a counter-attack against the Locust by sending gears in Grindlifts deep below the surface to kill the remaining Locust that survived the Lightmass Offensive. Sending a large assault force through the mountains to the settlement of Landown, the COG take heavy losses from Locust opposition but make it to their destination. As they prepare to use the lifts to enter the Hollow they are driven back by a counter attack led by the Locust armies' new leader Skorge. Undeterred, the human forces continue their plan. After their descent, Delta squad, consisting of Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago and Benjamin Carmine, continues to search the Hollow and discovers that the Locust are using a giant Riftworm to sink the human occupied cities. as they watch it sink Ilima City, they also realize that the Locust plan to have it eat away at the rock structures at the outskirts of Jacinto in hopes of sinking it into the ground.Exploring the sink hole, Delta Squad is ambushed by Locust and rescued by Augustus Cole. As they search for Damon Baird the squad discovers that the Locust have begun taking prisoners and taking them deeper into the hollow, with unknown intentions, after a quick search they find and free Baird. Boarding the Locust prison barges, Delta Squad finds another imprisoned squad member, Tai Kaliso, who has suffered wounds inflicted by Locust torture. Though Marcus tries to arm Tai for a fight, Tai instead commits suicide, the physical and emotional trauma having been too much for him to bear. As the squad tries to be extracted by a King Raven Gunship, they are swallowed by the Riftworm. Inside, the squad quickly plans to escape, but a plan by Marcus sets the squad to destroy the worm's heart to kill it. Inside, Carmine is mauled and eaten alive by monstrous parasites, having been separated from the rest of Delta. After destroying the worm's heart, the squad is irritated to discover that the worm is kept alive by not just one heart but three—they nonetheless locate and destroy the remaining two, effectively killing the worm.
Delta squad narrowly escapes being drowned in the creature's blood by cutting their way out to the surface only to be given orders by Hoffman to investigate a nearby abandoned COG outpost where they encounter experimented creatures of unknown origin and learn of a back door entrance to the Hollow in the nearby Kadar Mountains. The team fights its way to the caverns in a Centaur tank and discovers that some Stranded have taken shelter near the entrance. Marcus orders Cole and Baird to evacuate the Stranded while he and Dom search further. They find more prisoner cages and Dom convinces Marcus that Maria must be inside one of them. They manage to find her, but the Locust imprisonment has left her severely disfigured and traumatized, unable to communicate. Faced with the nigh-vegetative state Maria is in, Dom reluctantly chooses to euthanize
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
her. Marcus and Dominic then charge into the Locust stronghold, where they use Jack (the squad's utility robot) to signal for COG forces from the surface, who quickly join them, including Cole and Baird.
Inside, Delta squad discovers the Locust are locked in a civil war between the normal Locust and the "Lambent," who have been exposed to imulsion. The Lambent seek to overthrow the Locust Queen, explaining the Locust's desperation to get to the surface to escape the overwhelming Lambent. Inside the Locust palace they discover the Locust have messages from Adam Fenix, Marcus' father. These messages suggest a way to end the war other than killing the Locust Queen: sink Jacinto in order to let sea water flood the Hollow and wipe out the Locust. They learn from the Locust Queen herself that she is pursuing the same plan not only to wipe out the humans, but to also destroy the Lambent. After a face to face meeting with the queen, and a face off against Skorge, the queen escapes on a Reaver. Marcus realizes that humans must sink Jacinto first, before the Locust mobilize and escape to the surface.
Delta squad escapes the Hollow on a pair of Reavers, defeating Skorge and his Hydra, and then return to Jacinto where a mass evacuation is underway. The COG have decided they can sink Jacinto using a Lightmass bomb and Delta squad is ordered to clear debris in the main sink hole, allowing a helicopter to safely transport the bomb into the caverns. Marcus orders Cole and Baird to assist with the bomb, while he and Dom manage to kill a Brumak driver, hijack the Brumak, and use it to arrive at the Hollow in order to fulfil their objective.
Whilst the helicopters arrive, the Brumak — exposed to high levels of Imulsion — begins to mutate. As it changes, it attacks the helicopter transporting the bomb, which falls into the Imulsion. With the Lightmass bomb lost, Marcus comes up with a plan that includes killing the lambent Brumak (as lambent explode upon death) as a replacement for the bomb. He uses the Hammer of Dawn to kill the Brumak, which explodes, taking out the last supporting structures of Jacinto, flooding the Hollow with water. As the COG forces and civilians evacuate, a voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
of the Locust Queen talks about unintended legacies. After the credits, a last voice over of Adam Fenix is heard, a radio transmission of a call for help, and a cry of desperation, revealing he is still alive.
Development
Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has done several interviews to highlight improvements to the game. Heavy netcode optimization has been done to negate the host advantage problem in the first title and hundreds of tweaks have gone into improving the cover system and movement. To provide a deeper story, the team brought aboard novelist Joshua OrtegaJoshua Ortega
Joshua Ortega is an author and journalist best known for his novel , as well as his comic book and graphic novel work on entertainment properties such as Star Wars, Spider-Man, Batman, Star Trek, The Escapist, and The Necromancer.-Journalism and poetry:Joshua Ortega began his writing career at the...
as to incorporate more personal drama within the sci-fi setting. Steve Jablonsky
Steve Jablonsky
Steven Jablonsky is an American music composer for film, television and video games. He has been the music director for all the Michael Bay movies produced and directed since The Island...
provided the music for the game. Epic Games also considered making the game easier after complaints about Gears of War
Gears of War
Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
. Senior producer Rod Fergusson admitted that — for the first game — "We overshot on
A teaser image posted to the Gears of War 2 website on July 8, 2008 suggested that the game was to be released on November 9, 2008, but it was confirmed during the Microsoft E3 2008 press conference that the game would be released on November 7, 2008. On July 14, 2008, the teaser image was removed and the official website relaunched and updated for Gears of War 2.
Gears of War 2 was a focal point during Microsoft's E3 2008 presentation on July 15, 2008, which included a "hands-on" demo. A second trailer, entitled "Rendezvous," was made available on July 14, 2008 as a part of E3. The Joseph Kosinski
Joseph Kosinski
Joseph Kosinski is an American television commercial and feature film director best known for his computer graphics and computer generated imagery work. He made his big-screen directorial debut with the Disney Digital 3-D science fiction film Tron: Legacy, the sequel to the 1982 film Tron...
-directed trailer, which features the Trans Am
Trans Am (band)
Trans Am is a three-piece band which originated in Bethesda, Maryland that was one of the originators of "post-rock" in the mid 90s. Their work centers on a cerebrally robotic, usually instrumental, semi-danceable, minimalistic format, with influences including Krautrock, heavy metal, hardcore...
track "Diabolical Cracker" from the album Red Line
Red Line (album)
Red Line is the fifth full-length album by Trans Am, released in 2000.The track "Let's Take The Fresh Step Together" uses a timestretched sample of the default Windows 98 startup sound....
, takes its title and spoken words from Alan Seeger
Alan Seeger
Alan Seeger was an American poet who fought and died in World War I serving in the French Foreign Legion. A statue to his memory and to...
's World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
poem I Have a Rendezvous with Death. The game's release date was also set, with a worldwide release to occur on November 7, 2008. Microsoft and Epic Games announced on October 10, 2008 that Gears of War 2 had gone gold. It was stated by Cliff Bleszinski that, unlike Gears of War
Gears of War
Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
, the previous installment, Gears of War 2 will not feature a PC port.
Limited Edition
A Limited Edition of the game was confirmed on February 20, 2008. On July 14, 2008, more information about the Limited Edition's contents was revealed. The edition features alternative cover art, a SteelBook case with a bonus content DVD, a book entitled Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2, which includes concept art and story-related information, a keepsake photo of Dominic and Maria, and an exclusive Xbox Live code to unlock a gold-plated Lancer for online play. As a bonus item promoted by electronics store Best BuyBest Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, customers who preordered the Limited Edition also received a bonus Remote Control Centaur Tank replica, just like the new vehicle introduced in the game, free of charge.
A publishing error resulted in the Canadian version coming with French collector's material instead of English, even though it was meant for an English audience.
Graphics
At the 2008 Game Developers ConferenceGame Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, as a showcase for the functionality of the Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3 is a computer game engine developed by Epic Games. It is the third generation of Unreal Engine, designed for DirectX 9/10/11 personal computers , the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Vita, the Wii U, Android and OpenGL-based operating systems such as iOS and Mac OS X...
, Gears of War creators Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
showed various improvements to the engine with specific reference to the sequel itself. The video showed several demonstrations of the improvements, the initial being improvements to the in-game lighting
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
through Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion is a rendering technique for efficiently approximating the well-known computer graphics ambient occlusion effect in real time...
, in which dynamic shadows could be generated through the use of a pixel shading technique to render more realistically lit and shaded objects and actors, illustrated through comparison between character and environment models in the original game engine to that of Unreal Engine 3. Also showcased was the ability of the engine to render hordes of actors within the engine, as demonstrated with a large crowd of locust flocking through the "Gridlock" multiplayer map from the original game. Alongside this technology was improvements to "Matinee," an artistic tool used for the rendering and editing 3-dimensional scenes within the game.
Other physics-related features included improvements to the rendering of water in which specular light and physical interactions with were displayed more realistically, improvements to soft body
Soft body dynamics
Soft body dynamics is a field of computer graphics that focuses on visually realistic physical simulations of the motion and properties of deformable objects . The applications are mostly in video games and film. Unlike in simulation of rigid bodies, the shape of soft bodies can change, meaning...
entities demonstrated with a "Meat Cube" and a floating ball possessing properties similar to that of liquid helium
Liquid helium
Helium exists in liquid form only at extremely low temperatures. The boiling point and critical point depend on the isotope of the helium; see the table below for values. The density of liquid helium-4 at its boiling point and 1 atmosphere is approximately 0.125 g/mL Helium-4 was first liquefied...
. The largest of these physics engine related changes was the introduction of destructible environments due to the implementation of real-time
Real-time computing
In computer science, real-time computing , or reactive computing, is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"— e.g. operational deadlines from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within strict time constraints...
structural analysis
Structural analysis
Structural analysis is the determination of the effects of loads on physical structures and their components. Structures subject to this type of analysis include all that must withstand loads, such as buildings, bridges, vehicles, machinery, furniture, attire, soil strata, prostheses and...
tools to generate the damage of the materials and subsequently their deformed shapes based upon resultant forces placed upon them. This was demonstrated with the use of explosive arrows fired from the "Torque Bow" of the original game causing damage to wooden planks, and also revealing rebar
Rebar
A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...
present after destroying areas of a stone
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
structure.
Downloadable content and updates
On February 20, 2008, coinciding with the game's official announcement at the Game Developers Conference, a free set of gamer pictures and a dashboard theme, as well as a teaser trailer titled "Duel," were made available via the Xbox Live MarketplaceXbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
. The first footage of gameplay from the campaign, highlighting new features of the game, was released online and to the Marketplace on May 9, 2008. After the Microsoft E3 press conference, the "Rendezvous" trailer and the press conference demonstration was available for download as well as a new free set of gamer pictures and a dashboard theme. Upon release, every new copy of Gears of War 2 features a code to download the "Flashback Map Pack," which includes five enhanced multiplayer maps from the original game. Customers who attended the GameStop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...
Midnight Madness game release event received a code to unlock a gold-plated Hammerburst rifle for use in multiplayer and a code for an exclusive Xbox 360 Dashboard theme optimized for the New Xbox Experience.
The first downloadable content released after Gears of War 2 was the "Combustible Map Pack," which consists of three new multiplayer maps. This add-on was announced and released on December 15, 2008. The second title update was released on January 21, 2009, featuring several adjustments to gameplay and adding additional Achievements, the patch attempts to correct many of the "glitches" that players have discovered since the game's release.
A third update was applied to Gears of War 2 on March 24, 2009. The update added an experience-based ranking system in which the player is given a numerical value based on their amount of experience points, which are gained by shooting or killing enemies in public multiplayer. The update also addressed several issues with matchmaking, including adding bots in place of players who have quit or lost connection to the game. In addition, four new multiplayer maps in the "Snowblind Map Pack" were released the next week.
In early July 2009, Epic Games applied a fourth update to Gears of War 2, which added the ability to gain experience from the multiplayer Horde Mode, as well as applying several more gameplay fixes. On July 28, 2009, the "Dark Corners" add-on was released. This add-on consisted of seven new multiplayer maps, and an additional campaign chapter that was originally deleted from the game. The deleted scene takes place after Maria's death, where the user can choose to either sneak into the stronghold as Theron Guards or charge in as in the original game, though the level is different than the one that appeared in the final game and features a cameo from a Stranded character from the original Gears.
All Fronts Collection
On May 6, 2009, Microsoft and Epic Games issued a joint press release announcing the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, to be released on July 28, 2009. The All Fronts Collection was to be sold as a retail package, and would have included all add-ons released for Gears of War 2, a poster, and a strategy guide for the game. In response to complaints that the All Fronts Collection had identical pricing to the Dark Corners add-on, but significantly more content, as well as the All Fronts Collection retail package not being made available in certain regions, Epic Games adjusted the release plan; the All Fronts Collection was released digitally via Xbox Live and the Dark Corners add-on was reduced in price.Stereoscopic 3D
In June 2010 during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 Mark ReinMark Rein
Mark Rein may refer to:*Mark Rein , Menshevik journalist*Mark Rein Software executive-See also:*Mark Rein·Hagen Game designer...
(vice president of Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
) was showcasing a tech demo of Gears of War 2 in stereoscopic 3D running on an Xbox 360 thanks to the TriOviz for Games Technology."This technology’s great because it works on normal HD TVs, as well as the very high end 3DTVs,” Rein commented to Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
. "We're not planning to re-release this in 3D - unless Microsoft want us to - but I'm sure it's technology may be keen to put in the games developed by our partners."
In October 2010 TriOviz for Games Technology has been officially integrated in Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3 is a computer game engine developed by Epic Games. It is the third generation of Unreal Engine, designed for DirectX 9/10/11 personal computers , the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Vita, the Wii U, Android and OpenGL-based operating systems such as iOS and Mac OS X...
, allowing to easily convert in stereoscopic 3D, numerous past and upcoming games developed with this engine.
Reception
Reviews
Gears of War 2 received wide critical acclaim. It currently holds a 93.32% aggregate review score at Game RankingsGame Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, and a 93/100 from the aggregate review website Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
While the game has been praised for the addition of a deeper plot than the original Gears of War
Gears of War
Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
and being highly polished, reviewers noted that the multiplayer experience did not resemble the previous game especially in its quick pace and enjoyability. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
noted that while the first four acts of the game were satisfying, in the final act "the last boss is a complete joke and the ending feels just a tad too abrupt," and that there were some bugs and lag in the online multiplayer. Overall, IGN stated that "[Gears of War 2] has its flaws when it comes to the technical side of multiplayer and the last act of the campaign and the voice acting might turn some off. Still, none of that comes close to holding back Gears of War 2 from its destiny: being one of the best games available on the Xbox 360." Also, even though the new plot was praised, critics such as Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
scrutinized the game's middle acts saying that most of the plot "falls flat."
Both IGN and Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
, among others, positively mentioned the new "Horde Mode" feature, with Eurogamer saying that "Horde is a weighty slab of fun that can turn almost any of them into a time-sink, and the leaderboards are likely to be as compelling a reason to stick with Gears of War 2 as the leveling system has been for Call of Duty 4." X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
praised the game for its "polished cover system" and cooperative campaign mode. X-Play also praised the new weapons and characters and its "brilliant" multiplayer experience. Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
called the single-player campaign "satisfying" and called the co-op campaign amazing and goes on to call online multiplayer "an outstanding contrast to vanilla deathmatch or capture-the-flag scenarios."
Awards
Gears of War 2 won several awards following its presentation at E3 2008. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave it the awards Overall Best Shooting Game and Overall Best Graphics Technology of E3 2008. Game Critics Awards
Game Critics Awards
The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The nominees and winners of the awards are chosen by individual judges representing 35 major North...
gave the game Best Action Game of E3 2008. Gears of War 2 also won Best Shooter and Best Xbox 360 Game at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards. The game also received the Best Xbox 360 Game award at the Golden Joystick Awards
Golden Joystick Awards
The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards are the world's oldest gaming award ceremony, awarding the best computer and video games of the year, as voted for by the general public...
in 2009.
Sales
Gears of War 2 has achieved significant success after its release. In its opening weekend, the game sold over two million units, and set a new record for the number of simultaneous players on Xbox LiveXbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
, with over 1 million people logging on to play the game. The game went on to sell over three million copies worldwide within the first month of its release, and pushed past four million in sales within the first two months. It was the sixth best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 745,000 copies. It was also the tenth top-selling game in the United States in 2008, with over 1.3 million copies sold. As of May 7, 2009, Gears of War 2 had sold over 5 million units worldwide, bringing the franchise total to 11 million units sold.
Sequel
On April 13, 2010 on Jimmy Fallon's talk showLate Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
, Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff Bleszinski
Clifford Michael "Cliff" Bleszinski is the design director for the game development company Epic Games in Cary, North Carolina. He is most famous for his continuing hand in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise...
announced Gears of War 3
Gears of War 3
Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Originally due for release in April 2011, the game was delayed and eventually released on September 20, 2011....
and debuted a trailer, titled "Ashes to Ashes." The game is set 18 months after the events of Gears of War 2. It was originally going to be released on April 8 2011, but was delayed and was finally released on September 20 2011..
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Gears of War 2 was released on November 25, 2008, under the record label Sumthing Else Music Works. The music was composed by Steve JablonskySteve Jablonsky
Steven Jablonsky is an American music composer for film, television and video games. He has been the music director for all the Michael Bay movies produced and directed since The Island...
.