Product Description

Huge Environments, Bigger Gameplay
For those who loved Gears of War, Gears of War 2 builds upon it in every way, but with several major enhancements. There are more weapons, bigger vehicles, and more action. The enemies are more dangerous, and the total experiences is more immersive than ever. And with a revolutionary tactical combat system, the game will require not just fast reaction times and shooting skill, it will also challenge you to devise a strategy that will work against the enemies who exhibit smart AI.

Jaw-Dropping, Realistic Graphics
Just as Gears of War did the first time around, Gears of War 2 ups the ante for graphical prowess. Combined with the sweeping vistas and evocative locales of Sera, where the story takes place, Gears of War 2 offers jaw-dropping graphics that are made possible through advances in Unreal Engine 3. New visual effects include ambient occlusion, dynamic shadows, improved character lighting, the ability to render hundreds of on-screen characters simultaneously, improved water physics, additional blood and bullet decals, advanced destructible environments, new weather effects, and the introduction of fluid objects.

Immersive, Gripping Story
Taking place six months after the end of the first game, Gears of War 2 returns the cast of characters of the original, including Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, as well as several newcomers.

Novelist and comic book writer Joshua Ortega, who assisted with the writing, has created a story that is big on character development and personality. With a new in-game conversational camera system and multiple story arcs, the story is presented in a gripping cinematic style where characters gain an emotional depth that matches their realistic graphical representation.

More Characters, Upgraded Vehicles, Badder Weapons
Those who were impressed by the original Gears of War will b

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #367 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2008-11-07
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: .31 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
The Locust Horde is back and only you and your squad of elite soldiers stand between them and the death of every human being on the planet Sera. In Gears of War 2, entire cities are being destroyed in single attacks, and you must take the fight to the Locusts by battling them in their own underground lairs.

You can play the whole of story mode with a friend

The Boomer enemies are back in many different varieties

The game’s ethos of “destroyed beauty” is still in full effect

Shoot the Ticker enemies before they explode in your face

The bestselling third-person shooter is back: bigger, better, and gorier than ever before. But you can't just blast your way through it--this game requires far more tactics and cunning than your usual mindless shooter. A refined cover system means you can use the enemy as “meat shields” as well as hide behind the fully destructible scenery.

The graphics are looking better than ever, and the game is purposefully more bloody and violent than before. The story and characterisation has also been improved, making this an action game sequel with brains as well as brawn.

Key Features

• Brothers in arms: Have a friend join or leave your single player game whenever you want, and even battle together on different difficultly levels.
• Evolving enemies: You finally get a chance to take down the giant Brumak enemies, as well as even larger monsters and new creatures, such as the explosive Ticker.
• Practise makes perfect: Practice the multiplayer mode on your own with computer controlled “bots”--then use the new matchmaking system to find a real opponent of the same skill level.
• Chainsaw massacre: If you loved the chainsaw bayonet in the original game, you now can duel computer or human opponents with gaming’s messiest weapon attachment.
• Hordes of options: Try the new five-player Horde mode, where you all face off against an unending wave of enemies, or any of the seven other multiplayer modes.

About the Developer: Epic Games
Based in North Carolina, Epic is well known for games such as Unreal Tournament and Gears of War. They also make the Unreal Engine graphics technology, which is used by many other companies in many different games.

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Customer Reviews

Great follow up to the original
What can I say. The original was hands down my favourite game for the 360, the 2nd installment builds on this and makes the follow up my new favourite 360 game.

The campaign is double the size of GOW1, taking me over 10 hours to complete on single player. The campaign takes you through numerous environments from fending off locust in the heart of Jacinto, to taking the battle to their undergound lair on the back of a brumack! The array of weapons has greatly increased with additional arsenal. The mulcher is my personal favourite, ripping any enemies apart that you pont it at.

The creators have added some brand new enemies as well. You finally get to fight a brumack that was so missed out of GOW1. There are a number of different variations of the boomer now, ones with flamers, shields, mulchers etc.

I seem to remember the original's story line wasn't quite fluid - through most of it I didn't understand exactly why I was trying to get to where I was told, but the gameplay just absorbed me. ~This time the storyline is very flowing and kept me captivated.

Horded is another great new addition - play with 3 friends on a ,ultiplayer map fighting off 50 waves of increasingly hard locust. One word of warning though, if you seriously want to finish this mode, set asside an afternoon at least - I got to level 20 which took me 2 hours!

To conclude, this is an amazing step up from the original and I would not hesitate to recommend at all. Can't wait for number 3!

My son is obsessed!
This was a Christmas present for my son. He is completely obsessed and it is, without doubt, his favourite XBox game!

Best single player game for the 360
Without doubt the finest single player game I have played for the 360. It has a great immersive storyline with numerous intertwined subplots and regular breathtaking cutscenes that had me hooked. There is more variety in gameplay compared to GOW 1 with alot more vehicle scenes and challenges which are a welcome break from just duck and cover shooting. The game is also reasonably challenging and requires some patience on higher difficulties. There have been a number of new innovations building on the first game including more vehicle action and the introduction of mortars and shields and a constant flow of objectives other than just shooting everything in sight and some interesting new bosses which are all highly challenging and different. I have been playing for 10-12 hours on the second highest difficulty and still haven't finished the game and the single player is alot longer and more varied than its rival Halo 3 which to be honest was much shorter as I completed it in under 8 hours on the higher difficulty.

The enemy AI is very impressive and all enemies are capable of dishing out serious damage and killing you and there is a superb variety unparalleled in any other game which really make the game stand out from the rest. From grunts with shotguns, boomers with rocket launchers, flying reavers, Kantus that automatically revive dead teamates, tickers that carry explosives on their back, snipers, soldiers with flamethrowers, soldiers that ride on the back of strange two legged creatures, soldiers with exploding arrows and grenades. All of the enemies require different strategies to beat and quick thinking and reflexes are required when you have a horde of different types of enemies coming at you from all sides and it is much more varied and challenging because of the range of enemies.

Overall I think they have taken the first game which was very good and rather than just sit on a tried and tested formula they have added new innovations and ideas to improve gameplay as well as having a more complex and emotional storyline to make the finest single player game currently available for the 360.