Gears of War 2

[huxley]

Looks pretty good, frame rate and camera pan seem very fast. Dev kit?

Yea just looked at some of the old promo clips for the first game and they look faster than the released game.
Looks good all the same.

[SUMIRE]

Sweet, looking forward to it.

[NekoFever]

I was very impressed with the trailer. It didn't look as dull and murky as Gears, there was a ton of stuff happening on screen, and it ran smoothly. I'll be shocked if the final game runs quite that smoothly, but I suppose with optimisation (they've had a couple of years to tweak things, after all) it's not out of the question.

Even for all its flaws, I had a brilliant time with Gears. Therefore I'm looking forward to this. Give me Gears with more stuff and a rebalanced multiplayer and I'll be happy.

[EvilBoris]

Give me Gears with more stuff and a rebalanced multiplayer and I'll be happy.

Ranked Parties pls.

[CMcK]

I thought Killzone 2 on the PS3 looked good the other day until I saw the GOW2 footage. Looks awesome. The play areas look so much more open and the lighting looks a lot better as well. Maybe not Halo 3 standard of lighting but then what is?

[Matt]

I'd prefer the Achievements to be available in Unranked, like most of them were on Gears PC. I HATE ranked Live matches. I've not been in to competitive gaming since being addicted to Quake3, and then add the average random Live player with an IQ seemingly so low it's surprising they've mastered the art of plugging the headphone in in the first place, and it's enough to put me off Ranked for ever.

There was always a lot of potential in this game, multiplayer was great but ruined by some ridiculous design choices and the fact, dare I say it, Live isn't really a good online gaming platform if you're at all worried about latency.

Leading up to launch should be good, we'll get to see a lot more combat and see how it varies.

As for speculation that this may not be an actual 360 running this footage, I imagine it is. The resolution and lack of AA is exactly the same as Gears 1. Epic have had a habit recently of showing footage with models far more detailed than the retail version (UT3 being the prime example). There's a lot riding on this for MS, it's, as far as I can tell, their biggest release for the remainder of this year, and the title they'll be putting all their weight behind to try and slow Sony. Yes they have Fable 2 and NG2, but neither of them are what I'd call System Sellers - they're more "gamer's games", and by this point every game will have (or have had) a 360. Gears 2 is the behemoth for the American market to attract more people to the console.

I'm expecting a Gears theme console, better than the Halo 3 one, and a price drop around the time this is released.

[ezee ryder]

Maybe I am just nit picking but after watching the trailer a couple of times I noticed a glaring AI flaw when Marcus is clashing chainsaw's with one of the locust. Another locust jumps in but Dom and the other soldier just stand there doing nothing, pretty poor for a big title like this and not something you would want shown in a first gameplay video. Hopefully they tweak things like this before release because it is brilliant having these big scale battles but they are much more immersive if the enemies and your team mates have a few brain cells. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for this like everyone else but really hope the AI is improved over what is shown in this video.

[teddymeow]

Just looks a bit meh to be honest. I'll probably end up buying it somehow but seems the same old stuff. I noticed myself alot in the last year or so being less and less easily impressed by games. It's early doors yet though..

Gotta side with you on this one, fella. More of the same. I'm sure it will play as well as the first one but I'm going to stay away and not get caught in the hype like I did with Halo 3, and a couple of other titles, only to be left feeling let down by the whole experience.

Maybe I'm just getting old and cynical

[randombs]

I'd have thought they wouldn't bother with artificially dolling up the graphics for the promos, given it's a sequel and so they would've had more time to optimise it anyway without needing to resort to such things.

Mind you, I doubt people need an excuse, eh?

I hope action sequences like that are as smooth as the video makes them out to be, as it's pretty likely what they've shown is gonna be the tip of the iceberg as far as the visuals are concerned

[TheForce]

just saw the gameplay vid ..... OMG !! that ****ing brilliant !! totally mind blowing stuff. Hope it's not just total action, but I liked the creepy parts of the 1st game a lot as well, if it's wel balanced it's gonna be amazing.

This is going the be co-op heaven again !!

[MattyD]

I hope they make the achievements available in player matches too but I doubt they will given the Epic 'thing' for the hardcore online crowd. I can't stand ranked matches at the best of times but the Gears ranked community seems so much worse than the other games I've played ranked. It's all smack-talk and people whinging about how stole who's downs and who's using chainsaw teleporting etc etc.

[Matt]

Maybe I am just nit picking but after watching the trailer a couple of times I noticed a glaring AI flaw when Marcus is clashing chainsaw's with one of the locust. Another locust jumps in but Dom and the other soldier just stand there doing nothing, pretty poor for a big title like this and not something you would want shown in a first gameplay video. Hopefully they tweak things like this before release because it is brilliant having these big scale battles but they are much more immersive if the enemies and your team mates have a few brain cells. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for this like everyone else but really hope the AI is improved over what is shown in this video.

I'd bet money that's how it is in game. Else you'll be clashing chainsaws and an enemy will shoot you in the back. It's the same compromise the made in Gears 1 with the inviciible execution moves. I'd hoped these were a thing of the past, but it's not looking too promising.

[TheForce]

I lost interest in the achievements for some time allready, I just play it to have some fun and that is most of the time playing it online with some friends or with friends in a party against total strangers...

[ezee ryder]

I'd bet money that's how it is in game. Else you'll be clashing chainsaws and an enemy will shoot you in the back. It's the same compromise the made in Gears 1 with the inviciible execution moves. I'd hoped these were a thing of the past, but it's not looking too promising.

I see what you mean about getting shot in the back, that can be overlooked but your fellow soldiers just standing there doing nothing while another locust jumps over?! That is a bit crap if I am very honest especially for a big title like this. Its like they are waiting in a queue at the supermarket or something. The funny thing is that the locust also just stands there waiting after he jumps over

[Matt]

Yeah like you, I lost interest in Achievements long ago. However, given how often I played Gears online in Player matches, I'd have lacked to have racked up the 10k kills one, just to see when I go it. I love stats, hopefully this will have proper stat tracking.

Just watched the video again. This is SO heavily scripted it's not a good a way to tell if the game will be any different.

And the bit where you see about 30 Locusts beneath you and Marcus shoots at them. Watch it again. Your crosshair doesn't turn red. And the crosshair turns red whenever you're over an enemy. So looks like they're just background Locusts and nothing more