Top 10: Things that will make Gears of War 2 great

When the sequel to Gears of War hits it’s likely to be huge. When you think about massive franchises you think of Halo, GTA, Gran Turismo, Call of Duty and little else. But Gears has quickly become a contender to join this elite group. We put our minds together here at VideoGamer.com to come up with the Top 10: Things that will make Gears of War 2 great, in the hope that these will make the sequel even better than the original and give Microsoft and Epic another monster hit.

10. Better vehicle sections

We can’t be the only ones who didn’t think much of the vehicle sections in Gears of War. Shooting Krull out of the sky with a light isn’t out idea of fun, and we expect much better in the sequel. We want to look at the vehicles in Gears 2 like we look at the APC in Aliens – one of the coolest vehicles in movie history. Gears of War didn’t feature areas open enough to use a vehicle in anything other than specially designed levels, and that’s fine, but Epic better make those levels seat of your pants stuff in the sequel. A thrilling level on-board an attack helicopter wouldn’t be bad either.

9. More variety in environments please

We love how Gears of War looks, but the game is a little dreary and grey. We’d love to see some more vibrant colours and perhaps some locations that haven’t been destroyed until we get there. Imagine how surreal a fight would be if you’re pinned down behind some trees on the edge of a beautiful meadow. The locust could be pummelling heavy fire at you, churning up the ground, until the whole place is decimated. Speaking of destruction, it’d be nice if Epic could include more destructible objects. If we’re camped behind a concrete block we want to feel like we’re still in danger if too much is chipped away by enemy fire.

8. PS3 beating visuals

To expect the sequel to one of the best looking games ever to look considerably better is perhaps asking for too much, but we still want Gears 2 to be offer a significant visual leap over the 2006 game. After all, Gears of War arrived on the Xbox 360 when the console was only a year old. With Gears of War 2 Epic Games will have a more matured Unreal Engine 3 to work with and should be more adept with the Xbox 360 hardware. Gears of War 2 should look amazing. We want more enemies on screen, larger environments and none of that texture loading many UE3 games seem to suffer from.

7. New instant kill attacks

Gears of War’s instant kill chainsaw attack is without doubt one of the game’s most recognisable features, but in the sequel we want more variety. We want instant kills for each weapon and different attack animations for each enemy. And the curb stomp to finish off enemies needs some variety too. How about using the butt of a gun to put a fallen enemy’s lights out or a down and dirty head smash onto the ground? We know these won’t go down well with the censors, but Gears was never a family game to begin with. It’d be good to use these new moves in multiplayer too.

6. Better boss battles – no more teasing

As great as Gears of War is, the boss battles weren’t as good as they could have been. The Berserker fight was pretty good (but facing it again wasn’t so great) and the Corpser looked impressive, but Epic teased us far too much. We didn’t get to fight the Brumak for one, and we know the PC game included this fight but that isn’t good enough. The sequel needs to deliver on its promises and conclude with something far more satisfying than the train fight with Raam. We don’t mind being teased with giant monsters, but let us fight them at some point or there’ll be hell to pay. A few that put up more of a challenge wouldn’t be bad either.

5. Extra functionality

Bungie included pretty much everything in Halo 3, including the kitchen sink, and we want Epic to do the same. Stats trackable via a website would be a good start, but that’s not all. Saveable replays with full camera control would be great and we can’t help but think that Halo 3 Forge mode would work brilliantly for Gears. Being able to place cover where you want would effectively give you a simple map making tool and this could do wonders for the online community. If Epic can think of anything Bungie hasn’t already delivered that would be great too.

4. More varied multiplayer

Gears of War enjoyed considerable success online, but the possible improvements are plentiful. How about a class system, effectively removing the rush for weapons and instead allowing teams to focus on tactical positioning? Snipers, heavies, medics, rangers – they could all be included. And we’ve grown quite fond of the perks system Call of Duty 4 uses – Epic could rip that off and we wouldn’t mind. Four Vs Four is fine, but how about Four Vs Four Vs Four Vs Four? This kind of multi-team game would surely throw up some unique gameplay scenarios and shake up the Gears multiplayer gameplay. And is a Halo-style party system too much to ask for? And we know that Gears multiplayer is made for team-play, but a plain Deathmatch mode would be an excellent addition.

3. Tweak the gameplay – don’t ruin it

The key to Gears of War’s success is its control scheme and brilliant cover system. While other games have used similar systems it just felt right in Gears, so we don’t want Epic to fiddle with this too much. Something the developer could look at is improving the AI. We don’t want to be fighting Locust soldiers with IQs high enough to be members of Mensa, but some more flanking and better tactics wouldn’t go amiss. If we’re being picky, enemies could eat tarmac a little quicker. We know those guys are tough, but with the amount of blood they spill you’d expect them to die a little quicker.

2. A better story

Plot holes, jumping from level to level, things left completely unexplained- these are just a few of the problems with Gears of War’s story. In the sequel we want a more cohesive storyline that keeps us filled in about what’s going on, gives us more info on Marcus’ father, tells us about the female leader of the Locust and more. Perhaps more important is the sequel’s length. Six hours just isn’t long enough for what should be one of the most hyped games ever released, so we’re hoping Gears 2 offers at least 10 hours of solid gameplay, even on the easiest difficulty setting. Although we’d be happy with a straightforward sequel, a prequel explaining some of the backstory wouldn’t be a bad alternative.

1. Four-player co-op

Two players working together through the first game was immense fun and went some way to making Gears the blockbuster game it became. But for the sequel two players just isn’t enough. We want to be able to get four players online together, taking out Locust with a combined force not seen since the A-Team. With four players the tactical options will increase and you’ll be able to work with military precision as you assault Locust strongholds. Exclusive extra missions for co-op would be great too, but we’d settle for four players throughout the main story.

What do you think will make Gears of War 2 great? Let us know in the comments section below.