I wrote this as a sample writing for an application to the site <a title=”Suite101.com” href=”http:\/\/www.suite101.com”>www.suite101.com<\/a>.\u00a0 As such, it is not indicative of my typical writing style.\u00a0 They had a strict 600 word limit, and absolutely denied the use of first person.\u00a0 Oddly, they clearly state that they do not want opinion pieces, yet their Video and Online Games section is filled with reviews.<\/p>\n
This review is, however, handy, and it should be a nice introduction for author and audience alike to how I intend reviews to work here.\u00a0 Each post will have a Good and Bad bullet list, along with an recommendation on who should buy and who should rent the game.\u00a0 Hopefully, this will satisfy in lieu of a numerical score, which I am loathe to hand out.\u00a0 So here we go:<\/p>\n
Pros:
\nFantastic set pieces in the campaign
\nGreat overall package* and worthy (for most) of $60
\nHorde mode<\/p>\n
Cons:
\nStory is not quite as self-contained and satisfying as the original
\nThe short game is still a nightmare when any sort of lag is involved.
\nThe gameplay has evolved a bit, but anyone who did not like Gears 1 is going to dislike Gears 2 as well.<\/p>\n
Recommendation:<\/p>\n
Buy:\u00a0 Fans of the first one, stop-and-pop shooters, and most fans of shooters in general.
\nRent:\u00a0 Honestly, any 360 gamer who is not drastically opposed to violent games, shooters, or overly-macho-but-slightly-angsty sci-fi soldiers should give this one a spin in the drive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anyone who played 2006\u2019s Gears of War will have no trouble picking up the sequel, but do not think that Gears of War 2 is a mere incremental release with new weapons and maps.\u00a0 The story plays like a list of I-wish-I-could-have\u2019s from the first game, the new weapons add plenty of spice to the solid combat, and the new multiplayer modes will keep you at the controller for hours.\u00a0 Even with some lingering flaws left over from its predecessor, Gears 2 is one of the best experiences $60 can buy this year.<\/p>\n
The campaign\u2019s story digs a bit deeper into the war between the COGs of Sera and the mysterious Locust.\u00a0 Gears 2 is the second step of an ongoing saga, so the story does not wrap up quite as cleanly as the last one, but it does contain enough twists that gamers will be eying the inevitable third entry hungrily, without making them feel cheated as Halo 2\u2019s ending may have.\u00a0 The campaign also plays host to some fantastic set-pieces and will surely light up the forums.<\/p>\n
Whereas Gears 1 relegated huge beasts like Corpsers and Reavers to pseudo-boss battles, and only hinted at the mighty Brumak (not seen until the game was ported to the PC), Gears 2 throws these enemies at you regularly, and often more than one at a time.\u00a0 Gone (for the better) are the Kryll and (for the worse) Berserkers, but the Horde themselves pick up the slack with much more diversity.\u00a0 Enemies the size of Boomers, for example, now come in different varieties, including Grinders, who wield huge Mulcher cannons, hand cranks like old-school gatling guns.<\/p>\n
The new weapons and gameplay mechanics, like meatshields and Lancer duels add some variety to the multiplayer game, but gamers looking to stick to what they know will find that gameplay is largely unchanged.\u00a0 This does mean that issues that cropped in Gears 1 are still mostly present as well.\u00a0 Host advantage has been reduced, but lag can still be frustrating, and the short game will still have newcomers scratching their heads and calling the Lancer chainsaw cheap.<\/p>\n
While Gears 2 does introduce an interesting new mode where two sides fight to drag a Stranded character to their capture point (and the Stranded character is none too pleased with this), but the jewel of the new features is undoubtedly the Horde mode.\u00a0 Here, gamers play cooperatively in groups up to five trying to survive progressively harder waves of Locust.\u00a0 This mode is a blast to play, especially with coordinated teams, and you can expect to see elite players wearing their Hoard the Horde achievement (given for beating all 50 waves of Horde mode) like a badge of honor.<\/p>\n
Gears 2 is not perfect.\u00a0 Those who were turned off by the cover-centric gameplay will voice many of the same complaints here.\u00a0 The do-it-all A button still feels a bit sticky, and despite the addition of some moving (and movable) cover, the game still encourages a turtle-style gameplay, rarely forcing players to rush or take chances.\u00a0 That said, most gamers are going to find something they like here, and will keep liking it for a very long time.\u00a0 Gears 2, like its predecessor, is one of those games you put on top of the 360 while you try something else, just to put it back in once that distraction is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wrote this as a sample writing for an application to the site <a title=”Suite101.com” href=”http:\/\/www.suite101.com”>www.suite101.com<\/a>.\u00a0 As such, it is not indicative of my typical writing style.\u00a0 They had a strict 600 word limit, and absolutely denied the use of first person.\u00a0 Oddly, they clearly state that they do not want opinion pieces, yet their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29,"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scopsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}