Apparently, it's release date was not late November. Amazon says I should have it tomorrow...

Seanchai

Official release date is the 7th - so very likely.

Man, still haven't finished the first one yet...

the only thing i find good about that game is the fact my lil bro who's normally beyond good on shooters just cant seem to get the hang of the game and whines alot about the fact lol

other than that i fail to see what everyone find so awesome about the game.

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;263673the only thing i find good about that game is the fact my lil bro who's normally beyond good on shooters just cant seem to get the hang of the game and whines alot about the fact lol

other than that i fail to see what everyone find so awesome about the game.

The multiplayer for gears1 was atrocious. Host advantage and morons abound. Ruined it completely. I'm more interested in Endwar than putting myself through more online misery with another Epic failure (UT3 was equally crap online).

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;263673other than that i fail to see what everyone find so awesome about the game.

I, too, didn't get what the fuss was about with Gears 1. I think it was the whole multiplayer aspect. I certainly found it to be purdy and fun, but it didn't live up to the hype for me.

Gears 2 also appears to be purdy and fun. I only played a wee bit of it. The limited edition is nifty - it comes in a metal case.

Seanchai

blood and guts shooters never really fail on XBL do they.

Gears of War was great fun when it came out, and still is to this day.  The coop gameplay was phenomenal.  Where in most games coopertive play often comes at the suffering of visual effects, story and game length, here comes a game that maintains it's full story mode with excellent coop gameplay.

Almost all of my favorite games contain coop gameplay, it's pretty much a requirement for topping my list of all-time favorite games.  Hell I still play my old NES copy of River City Ransom regularly when I have a friend to join me.

I can't wait to pick up my copy of Gears 2.

Well a vast improvement over the first game. Except for the dreadful matchmaking system.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;265190Except for the dreadful matchmaking system.

Does it keep setting you up with ladies who smoke? I hate that.

Seanchai

*Spoiler Warning* - Hopefully kept to a minimum.

Just finished the story mode this morning at around 6 am and it was amazing.  The game felt just the right length and had a brilliant attention to pacing.  The final encounter while not so much a traditional boss fight and more like an interactive cut scene was pretty damn awe inspiring.  The fight against Skorge was tons better than the final battle with Raam in the first game, and epic too.  It felt more like it's own chapter rather than a prolonged boss encounter.

The weapons were nicely balanced with the default pistol being the only one I found lacking.  The heavy weapons (mortar and mulcher) felt incredibly bad ass when put into action.  I always loved hearing the Boomers yell "Grind!" because it made me rush for cover as bullets peppered the air around me, and picking up that gun (The Mulcher) after the fight was a great reward for taking one down.

During the game as Dom played out his dramatic search for his missing wife, we found ourselves joking about his tantrums and the sight of such a massive jawed brute so desperate.  It's not that it's poorly done, it just wasn't expected, the first game wasn't very emotional in terms of story telling.  However when the time came for him to face his wife's fate, we were pleasantly surprised at how well they used the visuals to really illustrate Dom's emotions.  That was easily one of the saddest moments in video games for me.

Overall the emotional developement that was missing from the first game is present ten fold in this one.  The mystery of Fenix's dad, Dom's search for his wife, the antics of Cole train, and the unfortunate sage of the Carmine brothers.  All of these elements were handled well IMO.  Hell even whiny old Baird had his shining moments and while we were still wishing his frosty haired head would pop, by the end of the game I'm actually hoping he'll return in the next installement.

Best of all, the cliffhanger ending is done with class.  It doesn't just fade to black at some awkward moment.  As you escape the final conflict, you are reminded of all that humanity has lost, and given a sense of darker days to come.  The ending isn't just some cheap attempt to say "buy our next game" but rather a tangible calm before the storm.  It all doesn't end on a down note though, just before the credits roll the characters are given one last moment of hope.  So the game manages to cleverly end on a high note, even though the world it's created is still in a state of horrible chaos.

Stay for the credits and there's a simple sound byte that adds to my eagerness for the 3rd game.

All in all, I'm way beyond happy with the final product.  I haven't even purchased it yet but I will be tomorrow and after this much fun, they'll be getting my pre-order when it comes time for the 3rd installment to near release.

Quote from: Seanchai;265696Does it keep setting you up with ladies who smoke? I hate that.

Seanchai

Actually it sets up nothing and just sits there endlessly...matchmaking. You'll be lucky to get a game to start/find opponents/people who have the patience to wait twenty minutes plus.

And then you can only play ranked matches publicly - there is no option to find non-ranked games except privately. So if you have no gears buddies all you can do is play with the hardcore morons on ranked.

And once you've joined your ranked game you get a silly voting system that doesn't work because it seems to randomly choose only two options for both map and gametype. (then you find the vast majority of peeps don't want to experiment with the more diverse modes, which is a real shame - though you can play offline with bots)

And once that single match eventually starts and finishes, that's it...everyone is booted out and you have to start the whole thing again to find another game. There is no persistent lobby.

The game is fucking fantastic and a screaming improvement over 1, but when it came to the online presentation they dropped the ball so far it gathered critical mass and blew up the world.