Gears of War 2

Xbox 360
Gore-geous
Welcome to 2009 people, please bear with us while we play catch up on the insane onslaught of Christmas titles – while January is traditionally a barren period for game releases I for one still have plenty to review. First up is the gorgeously violent Gears of War 2, which may just help beat the new year blues with an abundance of scarlet soaked chainsaw bayonets.
The first game defined the 360 so Gears 2 has a lot to live up to, and while it takes the approach of ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’, it delivers far more on every level.
With the Light Mass Bomb not doing nearly as much damage as hoped, the war with the Locust is still underway and the Gears have to mount a last offensive to prevent their capital city from being mysteriously sunken into the ground.
Incredibly, the visuals are even better this time round, with the ‘destroyed beauty’ reaping the benefits of a wider colour palette (it’s not all greys and browns this time), massive set pieces and a variety of environments that take in underground caves, ruined cities, mountain vistas and moist worm guts.
The same robust cover based gameplay is back, and plays just like you remember, with a few tweaks, new weapons and the ability to use fallen enemies as ‘meat shields’ (a particularly great way to rub someone’s nose in it during multiplayer games).
Alongside a campaign that’s far more cinematic, varied and involving than the previous game, Epic have spruced up the multiplayer, introducing (initially shaky) matchmaking to proceedings and plenty of new game types and maps (including a few old fan favourites).
There’s also Horde mode, which at first sounds like a slapped on feature, proves to be one of the most compelling multiplayer games around. Allowing up to five friends to team up, Horde mode sticks you into any of the multiplayer maps and tasks you with surviving wave after wave of Locust for as long as you can. Like Left 4 Dead, it’s an exercise in team work and communication, combined with the never ending, score chasing, arcade thrill of Space Invaders. Genius.
9/10