Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Features:
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Limited edition version of the award-winning sequel picks up six months after the events of the blockbuster original
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Innovative third-person tactical action gameplay; Xbox LIVE delivers online multiplayer (up to 10 simultaneous players) and cooperative action
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Unreal Engine 3 delivers jaw-dropping graphics; new effects include ambient occlusion, dynamic shadows, advanced destructible environments, and more
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Winner of several awards at E3 2008, including Overall Best Shooting Game, Overall Best Graphics Technology, and Best Action Game
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Limited edition includes special case, 48-page book, gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle for online play, and more.
Average Customer Review:
( 74 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Come Get SOMENov 21, 2008
By Jason I'm reviewing the collectors version (limited edition), so my review is based more on this, than the actual game.
I bought Gears of War Limited edition when it first came out (1), it was nice, came in a tin, and was really something special. With other collectors editions that have come out since, The original gears still fares pretty well in comparison.
Gears 2 (as with everything related to this game) is bigger, and better.
This has some of the coolest packaging I have seen thus far.
When you pick up this game, you will first be impressed by the sheer weight, this sucker is heavy. When you remove the slipcase your greeted to a box holding the items, when you take them out, you get the artbook (which comes with a picture --the picture you see in the game of doms wife--) and the game case.
Now, I have to say, I wasn't impressed with this artbook. I do some 3d work, and love Epic games more than anything. But this artbook is very weak. It was a big letdown for me. There is a book you can buy which features the art from 1, so beautifully, I treasure it and display it proudly on my desk. D'ARTISTE CHARACTER MODELING 2 If your a fan, and also enjoy making games, I highly recommend it. It is high priced, and not currently for sale here, but the printing and everything is very high quality.
The picture that is included is very low quality too. I guess it looks the same as it does in the game, but why bother?
On to the good stuff.
After you look at the artbook you see a nice shiny case housing your gears of war 2 dvds. This case is very similar to the halo 2 collectors edition case, and I love it. Even if this game (LE) had nothing else going for it, the case alone is worth the extra price for me. Rarely does a case give off such a cool and impressive vibe, as this one case does!
You also have a bonus disc inside, which has some interesting features on it (similar to the bonus disc from Gears 1)
You also get a golden lancer (not a big deal, its only a golden lancer).
All in all, considering the price is 10 dollars more than the standard. I highly recommend it.
This is a wonderful game. How the graphics can be improved so greatly is beyond me. Gears 1 is still a beautiful game, a game I love replaying. Gears 2 is much much better. Some of the gameplay is harder, the level designs are "epic", and the graphics and lighting, wow, the graphics and lighting, they take your breathe away.
I played the campaign all the way through twice now. And I can honestly say, its the best behind the back third person shooter of the year.
The online multiplayer is addictive, and very strategy based. You cant just run out and start blasting, if you do, you will die. COD this is not. This is more akin to counterstrike, because when you die, you are dead. You do not come back until the next round. The game also encourages you to stick with your teammates so that you can revive each other and stick around longer.
The AI is not cheap, your teammates are sometimes ignored in favor of the badguys going after you, but it is no where near as bad as Resistance 2 for the ps3. All in all this is a good game, and the Limited Edition only enhances that.
By far, the coolest mode for this game is horde mode. On this mode, you and some buddies can go crazy taking on "hordes" of baddies on a level by level basis. If you have played some fighting games before, its like a survival mode. You keep going as long as you can, you have to stick together, and play this very strategically. The multiplayer in this game will not get old. It is so good, and encourages you to replay the game countless times.
I must warn you. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME USED. If you buy gears used, you will not get access to the flashback maps, which are 5 maps redone using the new engine. You get these free when you buy the game new (and the codes are not used). So be careful and take notice.
This game is easily worth the price of admission, and if you look at the current price of gears 1, used or new, you will see that the price did not get much below 30 dollars on the used marketplace (standard version), the collectors edition still holds its value today. It is worth your investment to get it new, there is no need to hold off on buying it.
I encourage parents to NOT buy this game used, as your loved ones will be unable to experience the game to its fullest potential. And again, the Limited edition IS a worthwhile upgrade.
Also, if you have not yet, I recommend playing Gears 1 again, the achievements you unlock on 1, relate to what characters you can unlock on gears 2 for online play. Specifically, you want to beat the game on hardcore mode, so you can get RAAM on multiplayer. If not, at least play normal, and you can unlock everybody but RAAM.
6 of 8 found the following review helpful:
A big improvement from Gears Of War 1.Nov 08, 2008
By WhtDaddy I got this about a week ago(through a friend who works at an electronics store) and I don't know where to begin on how great of a game this is. Gameplay is flawless as of now, I'm hoping the hackers don't get out and destroy the gameplay with hacks and glitches like what happened with Gears Of War 1. (If you're unfamiliar Gears 1's biggest problem was there was a lot of glitches and host advantage was horrible). The game modes in this are a lot of fun, Horde was a really good idea and is very fun with a couple other people. I must admit Campaign is MUCH more fun when playing on co-op than it is on single player. The achievement list doesn't seem nearly as tough as gears 1, but there is a wide variety of achievements that will take some time to get.
Online is great, no lag as of yet, no glitches as of yet, and nobody hacking as of yet. The unlockables are also really nice, the more game progress you make the more multiplayer characters you unlock and if you defeated Gen. Raam in Gears 1 you will have him unlocked on Gears 2.
I was very impressed by the amount of effort put in to make Halo 3, but I think this actually has more features, smoother gameplay, better graphics, and the plot is more fun. Not to mention Halo is very hard to play online unless you are experienced, gears isn't like that. My friend came over and played online with no problem even though he never played it before. This is one of the only games I rank above Halo. I wasn't a big Halo fan, but I thought the amount of effort put in to creat Halo was amazing and the same goes for Gears 2.
As for Cons, you cannot play as a guest in an online ranked match, only private matches. Meaning if you have a firend over, that person must have a memory card, with his profile on it and an Xbox Live Gold account attached to it. But you can play private matches with guests and friends. Another con is there is no Unranked online mode, which doesn't effect me much...I just wish they had it and allowed guest play like on Gears 1. The graphics are great and are improved from Gears 1 but there still isn't a ton of color in the game.
This is definitely a must have game for anyone who ownes a 360. I definitely suggest picking up a copy if you're debating.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Great ServiceOct 27, 2011
By Solid Latino Very happy with the product I received. It was stated as like new but it looked almost brand new. Came very fast as well. Would definitely order from this peron again.
An amazing sequel to one of my favorite series of all timeMar 28, 2012
By Richard Baker
"Gaming Guru"
The Good: The best graphics and audio in any game out so far, a better deeper story, new enemies and weapons are amazing, new Horde, Wingman, and Meatflag modes are super addictive, it's not Halo
The Bad: Seen this all before, campaign is still too short
I have been hyped about GoW2 ever since I finished the first game and with info slowly leaking out of Epic's mouth and I just couldn't help myself from getting all giddy and mushy inside. Ok enough, seriously, Gears 2 is just amazing on so many levels with tons of new multiplayer modes, weapons, enemies, environments etc. The game is just a whole new beast and old Gears fans will NOT be disappointed. First let's start off with the campaign, so you remember Gears one being huge and sprawling with wide vistas and beautiful architecture? Ok well that was nothing compared to Gears 2. You really do have WIDE OPEN vistas that stretch as far as the eye can see and they are absolutely breathtaking especially on a HDTV. The graphics are still what we've grown to love, but with better lighting, higher resolutions, more objects on-screen and everything is just crunchier, and more big, beautiful, and hectic and ever before.
Speaking of crunching the game's audio has been notched up and everything sounds more gruesome and brutal than ever before. Headshots pop and sound and feel more satisfying than before, curb stomping an enemy looks more painful (and sounds it!), sawing Locust in half with the Lancer feels more powerful and just looks, feels, and sounds nastier. The whole game is like this and it feels like a true sequel instead of just Gear of War 1.5. All of your core elements are here like the great cover system, the Roadie Run (TM!!), the voice actors, characters, Locust, and story are all set in place but you are a bigger part of the whole thing and you feel more like a participant that a spectator. The story is more involved in which the Light Mass bombing failed and the Locust are coming back with their full force and Delta Squad is sent in to rip out the heart...three of them! Anyways, Dom is trying to find his wife along the way, and a few new characters are introduced, but aren't fully developed since they well...don't make many appearances like Dizzy, Tai, Chairman Prescott, and a certain dad who will go unnamed...the story goes even further with 41 collectibles you can find that you can read and help evolve the back story some more. Gone are the COG tags people now you gotta find papers and more of them too.
Getting back to the campaign's weapons there are about double the amount with a whole new weapon class: Heavy Weapons. You still have the Lancer, Boltok pistol, Shotgun, Longshot, Boomshot, Snub you know all those...but now you have better, crunchier, and kick BUUUTT weapons like the Hammerburst (gone is that dinky little Locust assault rifle), Gorgon Pistol (a semi-auto three round burst Locust pistol), the Mulcher (a heavy weapons KICK @$$ mini-gun that you CRANK!), a Mortar (yes like a WWII mortar only better without all those Krauts), the Scorcher (a flamethrower that you can blindfire!), Ink Grenades (go figure), and a whole bunch others. These weapons feel powerful, sound powerful, and they are all useful and so useful in fact it'll be hard to choose which gun you want to use half the time! Now this time around you also get to use more "vehicles" like the Centaur which is a monster truck tank...a Reaver, a Brumak, you know just cool "vehicles" like that. Yes they all feel powerful and are just amazing to "drive".
The campaign all together is just more riveting and more cinematic thanks to the HUGE open vistas, massive hordes of enemies, and the campaign is just perfectly built. The only problem is that it's about the same length as the original and there's room for a sequel. I just really can't express how great it is to feel up front in Gears and really driving things home with all of the awesome weapons, graphics, and audio. Of course I have to mention the new awesome Locust like the Tickers (little ticking and crawling "bombs"), the Kantus (these guys summon Tickers, and can resurrect downed Locust), Brumaks (only seen in GoW1 for the PC, and at the end of the fight at Fenix's mansion), cooler looking Reavers, a whole "Boomer Class" like Butcher Boomers, Maulers (which have spiked shields you can carry!), Grinders (which carry Mulchers and yell "GRIND!"), Flamer Boomers etc. The whole old crew of enemies is here with great new ones and they are all fun to kill and the game is perfectly balanced.
Speaking of balanced let's move on to multiplayer. Ah yes good `ol Gears multiplayer is back with a ton of new modes along with the old ones. First off you all remember Annex, Execution, Warzone etc. Now here are the REAL fun modes that makes me really get into Gears multiplayer. Horde. Just one word: Horde. You and four people pitted against 50 waves of increasingly more difficult enemy AI. Yes this is addictive, super fun, and you need a couple of hours on your hands if you and your team mates are really good. Getting through all 50 waves can take a good couple of hours, but boy isn't it fun. Just imagine one guy sawing a Drone in half while the guy next to him is popping off headshots at Wretches and Boomers. You are at the enemy spawn point sticking grenades on walls and that last quiet guy is just hiding in the middle somewhere scorching Locust. Ah, is joyous and wonderful at best and you are sure to come back until you clear all 50 waves (I could only get to 36).
Now there is Wingman which is 5 teams of 2 against each other and you can only kill with executions (more on those later), or one shot kills like a grenade or something. This is extremely adrenaline inducing since all you can rely on is your buddy and if he dies it's just you. Meatflag is very interesting since it utilizes GoW2's new "meat shield" system where you can press A near a downed enemy (even in single player!) and use them as a "human shield" as most of you would know. Other executions include the classic curb stomp, but if you press Y you can do "long executions" with other weapons like a golf club swing with the Longshot, or just use your fists and beat the guy up, but back to the multiplayer mode. In Meatflag it's like capture the flag, but you have to bring the Locust back to your base so he's a moving, shooting, ugly flag. This is super fun and an original twist on Capture the Flag. There are a few other modes, but these three are the 3 "blue light" modes that really stand out and are super addictive. If you haven't noticed the player count has gone up by 2 so now there are 10 people playing instead of 8. This makes things more hectic and fun as you can tell. Thankfully the online mode plays perfectly with no server issues and there are a ton of new maps to play that are very well laid out and you'll grow to love.
Before I close this out I have to mention the new achievement system. For once a game updates you on your achievements in-game while you're playing without you having to pause and go into the guide. Let's say you're aiming for the new Seriously 2.0 achievement *cough* it's oh nothing only 100,000 kills *cough* so you every 100 kills you get a widget will pop out at the side and update you on this. Try the new Said the Spider to the Fly (kill 10 enemies will grenade wall tags) and every 5 kills you'll get updated. This is very helpful and is just a reminder why you should keep playing this wonderful game. I love this new achievement system and more developers (multi-platform or otherwise!) need to take note of this. This takes full advantage of the system so please learn! Now this game isn't perfect.
There are a few flaws such as we've seen the core of all of this before (GoW1 I gave a perfect 10), there are still a few bugs yet they were tweaked like the cover system. Turn the left stick a certain way and a little sketch will show up on-screen telling you what Marcus will do. While this is fine and all it's just not perfect. There are times when you'll want Marcus to roll a certain way, but he'll snap against a wall. Yes, they let you change the buttons for this, but it's still annoying. Multiplayer can be a biatch for people who aren't very good at this. Gears veterans will smear you on the floor within seconds and will make a lot of new comers hate multiplayer. There are mainly glitches that are only noticeable on Insane difficulty like collision issues that let enemies shoot through walls that will kill you in one hit etc. These are super minor, but we STILL have seen all of this before two years ago and I just can't wait for Gears of War 3.
Good sequel to a great gameDec 10, 2009
By Scraggletag It's a great game but comparing it to the first one (Gears of War) - the first game was more interesting in terms of story and overall gameplay.
based on 74 reviews
( 74 customer reviews )
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