Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)

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The visuals are constantly jaw dropping

Two of the new weapons, the Mulcher and Mortar, will probably be like Marmite to a lot of Gears fans, seeing as they're incredibly powerful, but leave Marcus quite exposed. The Mulcher is planted on top of cover and unleashes a torrent of bullets that rip straight through the Locust, whereas the Mortar is placed in the open and fires a deadly wave of devastating attacks onto a wide area of the battlefield. The Mortar isn't the easiest weapon to use, requiring some careful thought to set the required distance, but its effects are worth the effort, especially when faced with enemies like Reavers and Brumaks.

Epic has certainly tried to make the story in Gears 2 more emotional and engaging, and it is, but it's still more Armageddon than The Matrix in terms of depth. Marcus and the accompanying COGs from the first game are more rounded this time and at least one of the unresolved story threads from the original is tied up here - which, for Gears, is quite a moving and well directed moment. There are surprises aplenty and more loose ends to tie up, but that's what the third game is for, right? You do thankfully get a conclusion of sorts, giving some form of closure to the conflict on Sera, but we wouldn't say it's over.

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When Gears of War 2 was announced there was a feeling that Epic would struggle to better the already impressive visuals seen in the first game - in fact, some even claimed that the original was about the best the Xbox 360 was capable of. Well, they were wrong, in a big way. Gears 2 is without doubt the most impressive-looking console game we've ever seen. Every scene is packed with detail, the environments look like they've been lovingly crafted (no blocky indentikit objects here) and the general art design is incredible. There are standard enemies in Gears 2 that would be climactic bosses in your average shooter and more detail in each area than you're able to take in - we spent a lot of time wandering about in awe, making sure we took it all in before moving on to a new section.

It's a real assault on the senses from the word go, with a pitch perfect musical score to accompany the visceral on-screen action. The chainsaw might not be new, but it's still one of the best melee weapons of all time - so much so that you'll probably get carried away and go on a chainsaw massacre without a care for your survival, although we reckon one section in the game was designed for exactly this purpose. You just want to carve things up and listen to the sweet sound of Locust dying. It really is hard to knock the production values here. Epic has even included plenty of replay value by dotting war journals around each area, giving you background info on the conflict. You even get updates on how you're progressing towards Achievements. We're struggling to think of what else we'd want to see.

5v5 multiplayer and five-player co-op Horde will keep you playing for months

Multiplayer came as quite a nice surprise in the original Gears, and Epic has really improved all areas for the sequel. The Player count has risen to five per team over four in the original, there are new game modes (the five teams of two Wingman mode and human capture the flag Submission mode being particular favourites), a five-player co-op mode called Horde, bot support and a brand new party system that makes playing with friends even easier. We know Gears of War multiplayer isn't as universally appealing as something like Halo 3 or CoD4 (although a multiplayer training mode should help novices get to grips with the basics), but for fans of the original this is a big improvement.

By far the best multiplayer mode is Horde, a five-player co-op mode in which you need to survive against wave after wave of Locust nasties on the multiplayer maps. It's intense stuff and requires you to work well as a team if you're going to reach the higher levels. Thankfully the game saves your progress too, so there's no need to start from level one each time you play with your friends. If two-player campaign co-op was the original game's key feature, Horde is Gears 2's surprise selling point - chances are you'll be playing for months to come.

Some people will no doubt criticise Gears of War 2 for what it's not. It's not as emotionally deep as other games on the market, it's not a 30 hour + epic and it's not art in video game form, but is arguably the greatest action game ever created. In a year full of incredible games, Gears of War 2 sits triumphantly at the very top.

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