With the enormous success of Gears of War, a sequel was always inevitable, and this is where it normally gets tricky for an IP.
Should the developers approach the new game from the same angle, appealing to fans who have invested hundreds of hours in the original game, or should they redesign the franchise to appeal to a newer generation? Is it a case of fixing a multitude of balance problems that the community has identified, or should you cut your losses and start from scratch?
Happily, with Gears of War, there's no need for massive changes as Epic got it pretty much right the first time. Our hands-on session with the good people from Xbox New Zealand consisted of a complete play though of the first campaign, and what the developers have managed to include this time around simply builds on what was already a solid foundation.
To recap on the story: you continue as Marcus Fenix, the reluctant war hero and leader of Delta Squad, six months after the events of Gears of War. The last cities on Sera are sinking, swallowed by a new Locust threat from below. A massive counterattack is humanity’s last hope for survival, and the first campaign consists of the lead-up to this battle.
Gears of War 2 really is a case of "more is better". There's much more interaction with your environment, from your Lancer's ability to saw through wooden barriers, to the Locust actually using such inventive combat techniques as firing grappling hooks towards your moving vehicles. We had the chance to use the new mortar weapon, which can be used strategically to either rain down intense damage on enemy combatants, or conveniently blast a path through the terrain to your objective. It took a bit of getting used to, so those expecting a weapon capable of altering the course of the game won't find it in the first campaign.
We found ourselves initially fighting through a derelict hospital before heading through a canyon on a hectic mission resembling a shooting gallery, whilst under constant aerial bombardment from the Locust. A new side-story has been set up in which team-mate Dom is desperately searching for his wife, and many of the cut-scenes deal with his anguish in the lead-up to full-scale war with the Locust. In one scene reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 we had to tread carefully though a dark tunnel whilst under constant attack from Tickers, the blast radius of their suicide attack causing significant problems with our progress, however we eventually emerged triumphant into the light.
The ultimate goal of the first campaign is to take the battle to the Locust in their underground hives. To travel there, we were strapped into a grind lift and fired underground, just in time to escape a pretty nasty character wielding a weapon capable of cutting one of our support vehicles in half.
Little was revealed about this enigmatic character, other than that he appears later on in the story, and is clearly going to be a challenge to defeat.
There are a bunch of other minor improvements and additions, such as the ability to now shoot Brumak, and finish foes off with a bit more style, but other than that it's more of the same crazy action that worked so well the first time around.
Gears of War 2 should be on every Xbox 360 owners wish-list; anyone who has played the first game will fit seamlessly into combat and will love the vast new world and storyline. We were unable to check out the multiplayer this time around, but we'll be bringing you more coverage as soon as review copies become available.
Oh, and we also managed to score a limited edition (one of a thousand) "COG" tokens, which are actually fairly solidly constructed metal gears designed to promote the game. The idea is to hide them in random locations, allowing finders to use the exclusive code imprinted on them to redeem bonus content from the official site. Or, alternatively, it could be attached to a chain and used as some fairly serious video game bling, not that we considered that option for a second, of course.
Gears of War 2 will be released to a salivating public on November 7th - exclusively for the Xbox 360, of course. We'll bring you more information as it comes to light, so stay tuned!
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We have a heap of trailers over at GP Downloads for Gears of War 2 - knock yourself out!
