Gears 2 only or go back through 1.

[d21lewis]

I restarted Gears 1 last night, and it's still pretty mindblowing! Youn can skip it, but I can see buying both and not being let down. The online community is still pretty big. Even so, Gears 2 will recap Gears 1's story in about 30 seconds. You shouldn't be lost. There is no wrong answer.