Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter that pushes Delta Squad underground, from the Operation Hollow Storm opening to the Locust capital of Nexus. The full campaign was completed with credits, plus the restored Road to Ruin deleted scene.
The scale and spectacle are the headline, with the giant riftworm swallowing the squad and the palace invasion showing what the sequel could do. The set pieces stand out, from the siege of Landown to the worm’s interior with its three hearts and the hijacked Brumak finale.
Several sections turn enemies against themselves, with the reaver chase and the Brumak hijack being the strongest examples. The active reload remains satisfying, and the hammerburst fires as fast as the trigger is pulled.
The down-but-not-out system gets a quality-of-life fix, since being downed solo no longer means instant game over. The visuals have aged impressively, with the backwards-compatibility touch-up making a seventeen-year-old game look remarkable.
The new enemy variety keeps combat fresh, from the exploding tickers to the sires, the Kantus summoners and the maulers. Cole’s one-liners and the rig crew’s humour give the dark campaign a welcome lift.
The sprint camera shake is aggressively obnoxious, and the centaur controls feel nothing like a Warthog. The water sections frustrate, with a crash forcing a console reset and a high-pitched ringing glitch during the boat sequence.
Overall, the scale, the set pieces and the active-reload combat make Gears of War 2 very, very good. The camera shake, the centaur handling and the boat sections are the caveats.