Gears of War 2: War is Bad

When I last wrote about Gears of War, I promised more screenshots and video clips. This was a lie. Please understand that I lie only to protect myself, and I really meant to take at least one screenshot but I forgot. But go and read that post before this one, it's a good one.

But let's be honest, you're not here for screenshots and clips, are you? While that seems counterintuitive to say on a video game blog, the burden of having to edit my own screenshots and clips gets in the way of me actually writing words. I just don't have that sort of patience, and you need demand my words.

So, my video game reviews won't have as many screenshots and videos as before. The upside to this is that I get to spend more energy writing better stuff for you to enjoy. See? Everybody wins when I lie.

Now that's over, I'm here to tell you that 2008's Gears of War 2 is the much like the first game with a fey key improvements. I'll say the graphics still have a look to 'em that hasn't aged well, even with the XSX's visual boosts in play, but I bet it looked better than its predecessor at the time despite it's gnarly colors of spoiled hummus.

http://basementrejects.com/screenshot/gears-of-war-2-gallery/

That "style" is somewhat understandable as we finally are shown the war's big n' dirty parts. You and your squad of literally slack-jawed, jacked army dudes participate in battles with other B-movie army dudes on bigger levels with explosions and gunfire. You'll enjoy some small group shenanigans here and there, but this game strikes a better balance of covert ops and actual war than the first. It's nice. It's immersive. 

I can't overstate how much better the levels are in Gears 2, 'cause it includes fighting your way from the inside out of a big o' worm to then ride motorcycle Locust monsters through the sky. There's also a creepy base run by a psycho AI that conducted human child experiments where you get to use a flamethrower. It's wild stuff, ya'll, and really fun in that unique Gears of War sorta way.

I also like that you actually learn things about the world and events this time around, like how the COG, the fascist government, has been lying to you and your army bros, and two of those same bros suffer actual consequences, because, duh, it's a war. You also get to see your enemies' home and you learn they're a society with wants and needs, not mindless monsters. Though it wasn't obvious then, these splashes of nuance are a preview for what's coming in following titles.

This game still overwhelmingly suggests fighting the Locust Horde is the moral/good/correct/very cool choice, though. It's so strange that while you're "tactically" sinking the last human city, Jacinto, to drown the subterranean horde creatures, your player character stills shouts an eager "NOICE!" when finding more ammo. So much for immersion. 

Much like Gears 1, it all makes sense when considering the time period. I mean, up 'til 2013, the War on Terror's branding was still in full swing and incredibly easy to market to kids. Mmhmmm, I remember the military ads from that time directly targeting kids and gaming, which is something that's come back around very recently.

Shoot, even games themselves were leaning on the war to sell, with poorly aged taglines like Call of Duty's morally gross, "There's a soldier in all of us." Think about the kind of kids that'll be drawn to that sort of messaging. I bet they're the same kinds that are also drawn to super bulky, muscled out manly-men war dudes wielding chainsaw guns for freedom-justice. It makes me wonder what sort of affect, if at all, this glorification of war had on us growing up.

Anyway, our country beat the completely necessary, fiscally responsible War on Terror that only had positive affects on our country forever and ever, and Gears of War 2 is a great gam that sold a bazillion copies so it deserves zero criticism because old things are always and automatically sacred. The end. 

Well there you go, thanks for reading.  For more musings, check me out on Facebook. If you like food, I also have a weird YouTube channel. Please share this post if you enjoyed the read as any and all support is appreciated, costs you nothing, but it helps me immensely. This is LZ Schneider saying, remember, it's not cool to do a war.