Gaming Thursday: Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is the perfect big, dumb action game. Dumb is not an insult in anyway, I'm just saying that it isn't trying to be a high concepty artsy game.

I played through the first Gears of War last year and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but after playing the sequel, I don't think I could ever go back to the first game. The controls, graphics, locations, and overall feel of the second game is just so much better that I just don't think it would be worth it to try to readjust to the (at times) clunkiness of the first game.

The best and worst part of Gears 2 is the story. It's the best because the dialogue and situations are all too often laugh out loud hilarous. This makes it the worst, because I don't think it is intentional. The first game had some silly dialogue, but it is taken to a new level here. For some reason, I'm supposed to care that Dom all of a sudden remembers a wife that had never been mentioned throughout the 15 hours of the first game... and not only that, it's supposed to provide some serious tension and "darkness" further into the game.

But because of the surrounding dialogue, I just couldn't take any of that seriously. Although, none of this detracted from the game. If you just take the plot at face value and laugh at nearly everything being said (whether you are supposed to or not), Gears 2 winds up being an amazing game to play through.

I wouldn't recommend playing single player, though. As with all games that give the option, co-op truly makes Gears 2 shine as a game.