First of all this isn't a thread about the gameplay or online. Rather it is about the storyline, dialogue and voice acting.

Cliff and friends drew comparisons between GoW2's narrative and that of the Dark Knight, even saying that "they are working with those people" (TDK) to bring certain depth and relevancy to GoW2's narrative. Now frankly that's not saying much considering the fact that TDK is no Shakespeare either but GoW2 narrative is absolutely clumsy. We have cheesy, melodramatic moments mixed with testosterone fueled one liners, a pseudo-deep narration that tries too hard to be something that it isnt. The voice acting is so godawful that just that fact in itself would warrant a straight to dvd release if this were a movie.

I'll admit that gow2's storyline is lightyears ahead of the original but in 2008 that's just not enough. How can a big budget HD game in this day and age afford voice acting that would be the laughing stock of hollywood cinema and very clumsily handled dialogue? The gameplay is solid and very polished but the rather serious flaws in narration make me question how this game could recieve anything more than a 8.2-8.5 from reviewer.

Nice. This should be fun if it gets enough atention.

It's been a while since you have had an epic thread like this. This will be a wonderful sight to behold.

What's the standard? For quality storytelling/voice-acting in an action game? Just wondering?

I don't hold games to the same standards of story telling/development that I would a movie, so I wasn't all that disappointed. *Small Spoiler alert* Only scene I thought was muffed by the voice acting was very early on when Dom finds out that they missed Maria again. That came across as, well forced. Otherwise, I was pretty happy with the story and even felt that a couple of parts were honestly, pretty good. The Facility reveals (via Niles) and 'A Time for us' specifically.

 look at his avatar and youll know

Personally, I liked the fact that Gears 1 had virtually no story to speak of. I was disappointed to hear that they were trying to step up Gears 2 in that regard.

There's nothing wrong with going for the mindless action genre. Not everything needs to be an attempt to recreate a Dickens' novel; that applies doubly to the videogame industry that is so notoriously bad at creating engaging plot lines.

I'm going to avoid arguing with DTG over this one. It's easier because I haven't played the game yet.

We'll see how long this lasts. :D

Agree with the bolded part.

Ever heard of suspension  of disbelief? That works triple for videgame plots.

Why not? And why shouldn't we expect the same quality voice acting from a game as from a movie? The budgets are similar, but dev's seem lazy to pony up an extra few dollars for quality VA.

I love how this guy seems to weave The Dark Knight into all of his epic threads. That takes skill!