varingblaarGears of War 2
Spoiler warning: If you haven't played Gears of War 2, I suggest you do so before going any further. If this spoils it for you, it's not my fault.You have been warned.
Part two of playing through the Gears of War series in co-op.
Back to Old School
From here on out, there's no remake. So we're playing the XBox 360 release on the XBox Series S, which means FPS boost. It also means split-screen co-op. That 32:9 "super-ultrawide" aspect ratio takes a little to get used to. Luckily the Gears of War games are generally more left-and-right rather than up-and-down. Roadie running can get tricky, because you can't see very far ahead, especially inside the riftworm where teeth need to be dodged. But we'll get to that...
In terms of graphical fedility, I think 2008 is about where we reached the point of games looking "pretty good" to the point that it doesn't really need an HD remake like Gears 1 needed (twice, apparently). Gears 2 actually looks better than Gears 1: Reloaded...
A Desire for Power
We open with a cutscene explaining the consequences of the first game, more specifically the fact that the bomb didn't stop them. Also, it's the same person speaking from the first game's intro and outro. At this point we don't know who this is.
Right at the beginning of the game we're introduced to Benjamin Carmine, green as grass. During training (the tutorial) he asks about his brother Anthony and says he died a hero. Everyone just agrees and moves on. We saw it happen and it wasn't glamorous, but if Ben believes he's fighting like his brother and that drives him to be better, then let him have it. This is probably the first hint that this game will be playing on our emotions a more. Ben actually sticks around for quite a bit. He attempts to stand ground so the rest of the squad can escape, but they drag him onto the evac chopper. It doesn't make a big difference because the chopper gets hit and Ben falls out. We encounter him a little later inside the Riftworm, half eaten by stomach acid or something. He delivers his last words before succumbing to his wounds.
Tai seems a Aborigine or Pacific Islander. In the lore of the game it's South Islands. He has a very philosophical view on the whole situation that feels almost zen compared to the "must go shoot" mentality of everyone else. A very likeable character. Which makes his end feel even more heart wrenching.
Now the main characters' story progression. This game goes much more into their back stories. Dom's search for Maria is a driving force, sometimes even dragging Marcus away from the primary objective. After so many years it felt like a lost cause. And then they actually find her... This scene. The scene where they find Maria and see what has become of her... It's the one scene that stuck with me for decades.
During the course of the story we find out about Marcus's father, Adam Fenix, who seems to have done research on the Locust species? Finally discover why Marcus was in prison all those years: When his family estate was being attacked, he abandoned his duties to save his father. I mean it didn't work, but he tried...
Now we find recordings of his father's voice, deep in Locust territories, telling what we need to do to defeat them. If we had this information years ago, the war could've been much shorter. So we send the information up the chain of command and they agree, which conveniently lines up with what we were sort of doing anyway.
And then we meet "The Queen" and realise it was her voice narrating the cinematics. And she looks surprisingly human for someone controlling the Locust Horde... But now we can put a face to the voice.
Also did I mention there's a civil war going on? In the first game the Lambent were just special versions of normal Locust. Now they're a second faction. Still mostly a slight alteration to the normal Locust enemies, but it makes it interesting to see the Locust fighting "their own" in a way.
For the sake of the story it makes sense. It means we can effectively "win" and there can be another game with a new threat.
What's New With Gameplay?
Well, we're still shooting things then pressing a button for most of the game. The weapons are mostly the same but it feels like they've been "balanced" a bit. The Lancer doesn't hold as much ammo anymore. The Locust weapons have a few new tricks. The Hammerburst doesn't even burst anymore. But it packs a nice punch. Seeing that there's less ammo lying around now, and all the weapons seem to be carrying less ammo now, it's best to get used to shooting with what you can find.
Getting knocked down is different now. You can crawl around a little bit to get to a safer spot, so the other player doesn't have to risk their neck as much. But time is limited. The NPC characters also revive players now. When splitting up each player has a buddy, so there's someone to revive you and the game can keep flowing with less restarts when a player goes down.
Problem is, the Locust have also figured out how to revive, and they do so often. The Kantus specifically allows them to revive at a distance, which is unsettling to see and to hear.
There's more enemy variety though. Theron guards are more common now. Boomers and Grinders too. So I spend a lot of time with Boomshots and Rippers. The latter part of the game involves a lot of Scorchers. We had to completely rethink how we approach a fight if we knew there's someone with a Scorcher involved.
The biggest enemy was probably Skorge, the Queen's favourite Kantus. He chainsaws a helicopter at the beginning of the game, then the Queen leaves him to kill you. The fight is intense but not difficult. We beat it second try. The chase scene straight after was more difficult. Oh that reminds me!
You get to ride stuff! At the beginning of the game is the Rig, though you're not driving so it's more of a moving platform than actual riding. Then about an hour is spent driving a tank pretending to be a jeep (looked it up, Centaur) which is actually fun. For a bit of it you're in the darkness, one person steering and the other pointing the light. A lot of arguing about where to shine the light, and some proper jump scares.
During the Skorge chase sequence you're flying a Reaver. It's on rails but you have to dodge incoming missiles.
Finally you ride and control an actual Brumak! Stampeding through things VVab
The Floor, It Moves
There's destructible terrain now. It's pretty cool to see bits fly off when shooting at thigns (or getting shot at) but in at least one mission you actually need to blow out the pillars holding up an entire section of town.
Levels also progress or change, buildings collapsing (hiding a loading screen) but it feels very dynamic. Train cars, elevators and gunboats. Cover also moves. Some change when a lever is (excruciatingly slowly) pulled, others when you stand on the platform in front of them. Sometimes there's a bulletproof worm following a fruit that acts as moving cover. That was quite smart.
Oh, the inside of the Riftworm was... ambitiuos. Considering the technology at the time, they did a pretty good job making it feel biological. Can't fault them for trying.
Locust Architecture
This I found very interesting. We spend a lot of time in the Locust Nexus, and the deeper we go, the more Gothic it becomes. Long concentric curves coming to points. Maybe some H.R. Giger influence making it feel more natural and imperfect. It stands out compared to the above ground Brutalist, European style of the COGs.
Last Few Things
The achievements are all sort of tongue-in-cheek. It offers a bit of comic relief, considering the dark tone and heavy atmosphere of the game itself.
While writing this, the end credits were playing on the TV behind me and I heard a voice. It's Adam Fenix. He's alive. And apparently we misunderstood the assignment...
