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greenmedic88 on 12 November 2008
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What it seems like Epic was trying to do with Gears, was take it into the "epic saga" realm that worked commercially for the Halo franchise. Considering that it is taking the place of the Halo franchise this year as MSG Studios halo game, it's fairly easy to understand why.

The whole idea to differentiate Gears 2 from the original was to step everything up a notch. It seemed to me like that was their primary mission statement rather than to create an entirely new experience. And if the latter was the goal, then I'd have to say they missed the mark. But, no point in messing with a working formula.

Visually, while improved over the original, the difference isn't nearly as radical as the pre-hype made it out to be. Much improved lighting and less blobbish texturing that still doesn't hold up under close scrutiny (even on the character models).

I found the whole "humanistic" element of the Gears 2 plot to be contrived and misplaced. So it inevitably showed in the voice acting. Yes, it's a fact that most military personal have spouses or at least SOs left behind during combat deployments, but no, it's not something that keeps them from focusing on anything other than the mission at hand. For a story about a group of 'roided up killing machines, I found the whole "softer side of Dom" sub-plot to be offputting.

Gears was born as a straight action franchise with a simple, kill the alien invaders under overwhelming odds plot. No need to try and make it anything more complex than that. It's pretty hard to explore the soldier's dilemna/angst over killing a whole lot of people when those "people" are giant, hulking monsters hell bent on wiping out humanity.

No point in making any film comparisons either. It is what it is. And I've seen more than my share of bad movies that rival the worst and thinnest of video game plots to say that the comparison is pretty pointless. I've practically turned watching really bad movies into a hobby. The kind that are so bad, it makes one wonder how they were ever even green-stamped in the first place.

Personally, I blame MST3K.