Developed by Epic Games for the Xbox 360

Published by Microsoft Game Studios

Rated "M" for Mature and includes blood and gore, intense violence, and strong language.

Related: Read about the about the Gears of Wars 2 stunt performed on me by Microsoft Canada in leading up to this week's launch

Gears of War 2 is a repeat performance. A grand one, offering innovations in weapons, vehicles, combat, and multiplayer gameplay, but little change in story, character growth, or plot. The journey is the same. The war continues on as if nothing has happened, the Locust continue to push humanity to extinction, and Marcus Fenix and his partner Dom once again lead their Delta squad through the demolished cities of Sera and into the underground complexes of the Locust Hive. They fight wave after wave of alien soldiers in burned-out cathedrals and abandoned mansions while their military command devise missions for them to set up beacons and deliver lightmass bombs. Again and again, Marcus promises his mates that the mission in front of them will be the one to end the war for good and of course it never is. I keep waiting for a hint of irony to reach his voice as he repeats that sentiment, but he remains ever the true believer.

There is nothing wrong with repeating the formula of a hit game, especially one as successful and engaging as Gears of War, it just limits it as a video game experience rather than an artistic one. With chainsaw battles and curb stomping cheers, you could argue that there’s no place for art or emotional depth, that it’s just not that kind of franchise, but thanks to the game’s beautifully sad production design and the ad campaign featuring Gary Jules’ cover of “Mad World”, that door was opened, the opportunity was there to make a game of gore and thought and its disappointing to see that potential ignored.

Not to say that there are no twists amongst the sixteen hour solo campaign. Two new “Gears” characters are introduced for brief appearances; Dizzy is a hollering Texan who drives one of the COG’s massive dreadnaughts and Tai is a native warrior with Maori tattoos and a reputation for always surviving. With so many soldiers represented by their nationality or race, it almost feels like G. I. Joe.

In the first game Marcus carried uncertainties about his father and here in the sequel it’s his partner Dom who suffers, this time over the whereabouts of his wife, Maria. It’s a short sub-plot, lasting only a few mentions and one flashback before it is resolved. We’re shown briefly that Dom carries a folded-up photo of his wife around with him and I would have liked to have spent a little more on that part of his life before they ended the story attached to it. It seemed rushed and quickly shoe-horned into the game.

One twist I saw coming since playing the original is the idea that the Locust are such a large society that there might be a different faction amongst their numbers and here in the sequel we’re given a deeper glimpse into the Hive’s Queen, the inner politics of her world, and some of the behind-the-scenes conflicts. Again, it’s only slight, hesitant glimpses. Just as you’re introduced to something new, the game quickly leaves it for the same old grind.

There is one chapter early in the game where the visual style takes a strange turn, moving from the gritty, decomposing urban memories that the original game is known for into a toilet-stained, fecal environment of bowel-churning filth that will make you hold your breath even though there’s nothing to smell. Entire walls, streets, and buildings are covered in a rusty-brown fecal smear-stain that makes it look as if Marcus and Dom are walking into the worst toilet in Scotland from the movie Trainspotting. I half expected Conker the squirrel to walk into the game and announce “It smells kinda pooey in here” before helping Delta Squad take on an Opra-singing poopy monster. It was followed by another chapter that takes place in a section entirely made up of gastrointestinal and biological processes that was far easier to stomach. Dealing with alien tissue, acids, and rivers of blood is expected and entertaining, fighting in a town that looks like it has been used to catch the diarrheic spray of the gods is not.

The real changes, and the elements where the game shines and earns your time, are technical. The difficulty level is more advanced, allowing those who play on “casual” or “normal” a better experience. Fights are now scripted to be more loose, you no longer have to figure out a specific order of targets to take out in the first minute in order to survive, Dom and the other members of Delta Squad now have the ability to revive you in the solo campaign mode and you can to crawl to them when you’re down for assistance, helping you avoid repeating and loading chapter sections over and over. And, should you get stuck on a particular section or caught up in a glitch, in my case a turret level where you must shoot down a succession of Reavers, the game will notice your repeated failures and automatically dial down the difficulty to help you move on and avoid further frustration. Are there glitches? Yes, a few, I had to restart my game during the training level, for example, when one of the soldiers became caught in an endless loop between a dumpster and a wall. The Boss Battles are simple by comparison to the first game, which I found disappointing even though it will be a benefit to others.

New weapons include the mortar, which reigns down a blossom of missiles from far away and proves an excellent dose of eye candy, a flame thrower which can ignite creatures with such red hot embers that it’s always a surprise when they don’t die right away, and a selection of pistols and semi-automatic weapons that offer greater stopping power for different rates of fire. A new poison grenade lets off a purple cloud that continues to cause damage again and again, and you can now stick a grenade onto an enemy’s back the same as you could in multiplayer before.

In addition to new flourishes to the curb stomp maneuver, you can now use shields with a pistol, either picking up one of the massive shields now carried by some of the Boomers or by picking up an unconscious soldier and holding him, back against your chest. This proves to be very important for the Horde mode, a new combat situation where your squad finds themselves surrounded on all sides, often without any barriers for cover, and must survive the onslaught as best as you can.

There are many little nuances and bits of polish, too many to list, but one of my favorites is the way achievements are now handled. The game has its own menu system devoted to them, listing progress bars for the ones that require a certain number of uses of a particular weapon or combat move, so you know how close you are to getting it.

One of my favorite new additions to the game is the use of Locust mounts. In addition to driving COG vehicles, there are levels where you jump on board one of the enemy’s own beasts, both for high-speed chases and large-scale attacks. I won’t give away what creatures you’ll ride, and this game includes a larger menagerie of beasts than the first, but it makes the last two hours of the game a blast to play.

Most of these elements also come into play in the online multiplayer which can now include computer-controlled bots as well as human players. The same game modes have been carried over from the original, detailing rules where you must either eliminate the other team, protect a leader, hold a labeled area, or instead of the usual flag capture a Stranded using the Shield maneuver. The only new addition is the Horde mode which includes all the ambush areas from the Solo campaign and challenges you and four other players (humans only, no bots) to take on endless waves on incoming attacks, including Wretches, Boomers, and other nasties, surviving on just one life per wave. This is now my favorite multiplayer mode and a significant change to online shooter gameplay. I hope other game franchises pick it up for their own multiplayer battles.

While I can’t say that the war-torn world of Sera has taken on any deeper meaning or that I now better identify with the plight of Marcus and his mates, Gears of War 2 is certainly a technical triumph offering intense, engaging gameplay over all else and perhaps that was the best choice for developers Epic Games to make with a sequel. For their third game in the franchise, I hope they find a different journey for us to take. Unlike Marcus, I can’t repeat the same mission, over and over, believing it will make a difference to the story being told.