Gears 2 as Good as it Sounds?

With the release of Gears of War 2 on Xbox 360 today I wondered whether or not it would be as great as I hope it is. So of course I go to my number one game website IGN. The review of Gears of War 2 was right there. Reading through it I saw that there were a number of small things the writer said were wrong with the game. Things like texture loads and minor bugs topped his list, things that can and will be fixed by updates to be released soon. Good things about the game include increased action, intense visuals, revamped sound effects and music, better use of classic controls, and lasting appeal with the new multiplayer modes. The Unreal Engine 3 that Gears of War runs on was optimized to allow for up to and over one hundred enemies on screen at one time. Can you say large scale battles? The engine also allowed for better graphics and physics. Meat now reacts like meat would when it is shot. Walls and other cover crumble when shot. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. The new music is claimed to approach Hollywood quality to add some extra emotion into your play and the sounds of bullets hitting metal and flesh are supposed to be nauseatingly impressive. The controls of Gears 1 were improved to allow for better use of the ‘A’ button to still allow for fast gameplay but not get stuck in cover when you want to sprint. The rather poor squad controls were removed from Gears 1 to make you stop worrying about babysitting your AI squadmates. Finally, the new multiplayer modes are supposed to be hours of fun. The ‘Meat Flag’ or Submission mode is something many gamers have never imagined before. The new maps are supposed to be fantastic also. Also there is the Horde mode where you are pitted against fifty waves of up to thirty enemies that get more powerful as you progress.

As I have not received my copy of Gears 2 yet, I cannot personally confirm if any of these are true but I definitely trust IGN to put out accurate information about games. IGN rated Gears of War 2 at a 9.5 out of 10 so I would say it will be a great game.