Well last night I put my last hour or so into the campaign mode of Gears 2 and finished. I will not throw out any information for the story line, but I will say it was better than the first as a whole. Great campaign, but I was wondering last week how good the Versus would be for it.

Well.. I was completly amazed at how well thought out they made these maps. I have played only a few game types in versus and the include: Execution, Warzone, and (can't remember what the name of it is, but it's an assasination type game where you have to kill the leader, but while the leader is still alive, the other players on the team can respawn)

Execution is actually still my favorite but it's very rare that people will vote for this game type. That's right.. the game types and game maps HAVE! to be voted for. So it's possible you will never play a map or never play a game type because of the opposing team. So how does the Pre-Game lobby look?

Well you have the "What's up" (left bumper) which basically goes to your friend's list and dispays what they are playing. You have the ability to invite them all to your game (which is approximately 4 other people). So I strongly advise this unless you want to go into a game with any of the following: 1) People that don't own headsets or don't turn them on 2) People that automatically declare themselves as hot shots and go off on their own and occasionaly kill 1-2 and maybe kill all the team... only if they are lucky. 3) People that have no clue how the game works and only uses Lancer chainsaw.

So please do yourself a favor, get some real life buds together and make a team.. So going back to the pre-game lobby.. well you have rankings in Gears 2. Each game depending on what "game type", you get points for fulfilling the objectives or just killing the other team. So for execution, if you down someone then go over and decaptitate them with your Torq bow.. well you get the optimum amount of points. (maybe 300) It's sort of like Halo where you have different game types.. (king of the hill, 1v1v1, team slayer.. blah blah to easy of a game)

So how do the new maps look, well with each new map comes new hazards. For instance if you play Hail - well every 3 minutes or so a Hail storm will start and if you are not underneath cover you will die, and get negative points. Hince it makes the game type more objective. Also there is another map (can't think of the name.. it might be avalanche) well every few seconds an avalanche occurs which blankets the map with snow and if you are in a certain area of the map you will die and get negative points. Security is another map with lazers, step on the lazers and you die... I would go on and on about the new maps but I'm writing this in class and I would rather you play the game and experience it yourself.

Gameplay - Well haha, it's very strategic. You have new grenades, and with any grenade you can stick it to the wall and it will turn into a proximity grenade (whatever grenade type it be [inkers, frags, or flash/smoke grenades]. The only thing I will say.. the game can be very very very dependent on gun pick ups. If your team does not cover each gun pick up, well then it's very possible your team will die within the first two minutes. The lancer still being your best friend long range and your shotgun still being your best friend being close range unless you choose to lancer. If you lancer (chainsaw) you have a chance of the other player doing the same thing.. in which is called crossing swords. When this is done you have to click the "B" button as fast as possible in order to win the clash of the lancers. From my stand point, I throw my controller in my hand and grab the controller with my left hand and break the ever living hell out of that b button. (i wonder if anyone has throught of a turbo button yet). You need to look for mortars which mean "long range KABOOOM" - basically you can kill the whole other team with one shot if they choose to ignore you. Torq and longshot are the same, nothing new, except the executions. The smoke/flash grenades are priceless. They actually made them TOO useful. If you use it on an enemy they get knocked down (stunned, not a real knock down) for like 5 seconds and you can go over and finish them how you wish.

This game is definitely a game of the year "type of game". When I'm away from it, it's like I start to Nic (nicotine from cigs) it's very unhealthy, but to be honest I only play like 2 hours a day.. when I can. So since I'm still in class I'll go back and add more to this and as well edit this. Thanks for reading.. peace.