Gearheads of War

DISCLAIMER: Minor spoiler concerning HORDE mode at bottom, skip the end if you do NOT wish to see it!  It concerns a new enemy-type in the Horde mode.

Controls:

• Let's address the controls first.  The controls are very different in terms of maneuverability, but there was little to no unintentional wall 'sticking'.  In addition, there was less acrobatics apparent than in Gears 1.  Epic slowed some features while speeding up others.  

• The Options menu has some very nice changes.  All of you snipers out there will like this too.  There's a different sensitivity level for your regular guy, and when you aim using the left trigger (not just zoom in with sniper scope).  It is plenty fast.  The downside is that there's no adjustable bar, only the low/medium/high spectrum.

• Equally importantly is the fact that you can change controls similar to Halo 3.  I got onto one Xbox, and the left trigger was the roll/cover button.  Who knows what different controller layouts there will be?  

Movement/Visual Perspectives:

• Stopping power is significant.  When someone is running directly towards you, they slow down so much that they basically stop in their tracks.  The less they are facing you, the less impact the stopping power will have (I think this is what I observed and sort of tested).

• When you roadie run, the camera no longer reverts back to the middle when you move it (i.e. in Gears 1, when you roadie run, if you looked up while roadie running and then let go of the stick, it moves back to the middle.  In Gears 2, the camera stays where you left it, so you can be looking at the sky/floor while running without touching the right stick).

• When you pick up a weapon, you can face a different direction and you should roll accordingly (i.e. Gears 1, you pick up a Longshot and you want to roll right as soon as you can, so you hold the right stick and mash A).  If you do that in Gears 2, you will end up looking right, and roll to the right of that, meaning you will end up going backwards).

• You can cancel cover jumps and swat turns in mid animation.  Be wary of that when you're cover jumping, as people generally mess up on this the very first time they do it.

• I also remember that there were additional visual options for the HUD (many in fact) but I can't remember them.  There wasn't any shotgun blood splatter that I could remember when you get shot at close range.

• Epic added a 'blurry/focus' feature.  Think Halo 3's sniper.  When you are aiming at a target, whatever is in your crosshairs is focused, while stuff in the foreground and background is blurry. (i.e. There's a box, then further back is a Locust.  If you focus on the Locust, the box (assuming it's far enough) is blurry).

• Melee might have been nerfed (on top of the unable-to-roll-during-animation).  On Horde mode (Normal difficulty), the Locust takes more than two Hammerburst melees (I think), and it takes three of their melees to down you.  So there's a possibility that three melees is the new melee-norm.  Oh and Hammer of Dawn’s melee is still weak.  I almost got killed by a Wretch.  LOL.

• I personally find the game moves at a much slower pace, but that's also due to the possibility of: a) still new at it; b) the TV resolution was so high that I felt like it was slowing the game down (the speed didn't match what I saw on the Youtube videos)

Weapons:

• The Hammerburst was a disappointment for me.  It was inaccurate at long ranges even when stationary, and not powerful enough compared to the new and improved Lancer. Worst of all, there was recoil when you held the trigger to fire at its 'standard' rate.  You have to fire slower than the 'standard rate of fire' for reduced recoil (ideal for long range support).  However at close range, it was very powerful due to the ability to fan the trigger and all the shots still hit the enemy due to him being close and exposed.  For example, assume that two guys are in the open.  One with Lancer and the other with the Hammerburst.  If they start shooting that the same time, the Hammerburst will down the Lancer wielder MUCH faster.

• The Lancer now has a slight upwards recoil.  

• The chainsaw is a total beast now.  You can chainsaw even if you have damage, and even while you are taking damage if they don't shoot you in the right spot.
• i.e. #1: I saw two guys duking it out behind a square piece of cover.  One guy charged with his saw revved while the other shot him tons of time (the guy with the saw went from full health to deep red/almost dead) yet he didn't drop the saw and got the saw kill.  Due to the nature of the cover, the shooter (who was using a lancer as well) was aiming below the waist, leaving me to believe that that to make a guy drop the lancer you have to shoot his torso or maybe even the Lancer itself (and possibly the head).
• i.e. #2: I was getting meleed by Locust in Horde mode.  There is a slight pause in between each melee.  You can chainsaw him BETWEEN melees!  Just remember though, instead of holding B to get it back up, you have to press B all over again at the right time.

• When you perform a frontal chainsaw, I don’t think that you go right into the chainsaw duel.  I've sawed many a Locust from the front and there was no saw duel taking place.

• When you fire the Lancer for an extended period of time, the Lancer's muzzle glows red hot.  Damn cool effect.  The same goes for Hammerburst, but instead of only the muzzle glowing; the part with holes glow as well (the holes are there for ventilation).

• Two-piecing (melee then shoot) with the shotgun is still prevalent in the game.

• Gnasher shotgun is still plenty useable.  It's remains very powerfuls, but it has a slower rate of fire.

• The Snub Pistol has no special 'Y' button execution.  It's the same 1-2-3 shoot and melee act.

• The Boltok’s active reload is interesting.  Even if you shoot one shot, you can fire super fast (think twice as fast) with the rest of the clip even if that only one shot was active.

• The Gorgon Burst Pistol has an insanely long reload and wait time between each burst shot.

• You get headshots with any gun on Horde mode (it gives you the crosshairs icon when you kill the guy), but only a selection of weapons will pop the head (Snub Pistol/Boltok Pistol/Longshot/Torque Bow).  In regular multiplayer, they will just get downed.  So, you will get the down rather than the headshot.

• When you are meleeing someone, you cannot roll until the melee animation is complete.  So if you miss the melee, you will likely get stunned and die.  This prevents melee spamming in this game.

• Longshot: The active reload seems to make it easier for headshots (i.e. bigger bullet size), but when you have an active and you are aiming from cover, and the active goes away, your guy automatically goes back and takes cover.  There was no sound in that booth, so I wasn't sure if he was holding his breath.

• I didn't get a chance to experiment between the damage of an active and non-active sniper.

• Hammer of Dawn: It does not have three-cell packs, but rather an energy meter.  You hold the trigger down, and the initial big blast comes, and that's when the cell battery starts going down.  When you drag it, it moves MUCH slower than in gears 1, but the beam itself is of a much cooler design.  Between the initial 'big blast' and then the 'laser dragging stage', there is no difference of the rate at which the cell battery is draining (so if you don't go all out on each beam from beginning to end, you can get a good 6 big blasts in).

• As for the power of the 'laser dragging beam' part, I was unable to verify the damage because I did it on locust computers (the big blast stunned them and the dragging finished em).  It took a while though, so I don't believe it's too powerful despite the much cooler look.  I suppose it's because the initial blast will now stun everyone (stunned the locusts I was shooting at).

• The Mortar aiming system is very cool.  It has an interactive crosshair system that remembers the distance of your last shot, so you can make adjustments accordingly.  What I didn't check was that if you’re looking up or down, it also affects the arc.  The Mortar is AWESOME on Horde mode (A well placed shot nets you five guys and up).

• The Scorcher is very nice and powerful.

• If you try and melee the Ticker AFTER its back muscles are flexed (i.e. Fire coming out of their bomb packs), they will blow up.  So don't melee it at that stage!.

• The Butcher Boomer is slow and easy to kill.  Three close ranged shotgun blasts on Normal difficulty does the trick, and you can EASILY outrun them.

• The Boomshot arcs MUCH more than it used to.  When it's being shot at you, it's much more visible (like a sparkling star of death).

• I did get the Torque Bow headshot, but I unfortunately rolled away so I didn't get a clear look at where the arrow goes.  What happens is that you get the headshot and the guy's head pops off, THEN the arrow blows.  I THINK that the arrow just goes through him, possibly hitting someone behind him.

• In Warzone/Execution, AI-bots DIE EASILY versus sniper headshots (took out 4 computers and one live opponent, all with well placed headshots )

• When you have the Boomshield, you cannot roll.  However, you can still run and melee.

• Tagging a downed guy with a Smoke Grenade will not do anything to him.

• Tagging an Ink Grenade to a guy is not effective at all versus Boomers-types.  It will do an initial blast of poison gas, but the gas does not follow the guy (i.e. the opposite of what happens when you smoke tag a guy in gears1).  However, I never tagged a regular-sized character, but I would assume the blast would knock him down and he would suffocate while down.

• The grenade's throw range is greatly reduced which was most likely altered to prevent Smoke Grenade spamming.

Maps & Final Impressions:

• The only maps that were available to play were: Day One, Pavilion, and River.  On Day One, there's a Boomshield indoors, and a Gorgon Burst Pistol at the opposite corner.  On Pavilion, you have the Mulcher.  If you head downstairs there is a Mortar, and upstairs there's a Boomshield.  On River, there's a Boltok Pistol that spawns between the two COG vehicles outside the Longshot/Torque Bow hut.

What I did NOT do was:
• Test chainsaw duels.
• Bring a video camera.
• Play a 5 vs. 5 multiplayer match.

• I think this was the final buld.  As we played, we would unlock achievements and the game was very polished.

• Destructible cover is pretty sweet.  I had a Mulcher in hand and a Locust was blocked by the edge of a pillar.  I just shot right through it and grinded that Locust up.

• You're able to pick the starting round of Horde mode from the first to sixth wave.  Maybe it's because we got that far, and so you can always select your previous highest wave reached.

• On the Day One map, one of the high ground sides has the Longshot/Torque Bow spawn, while the other has a Mortar/Hammer of Dawn spawn.  Very nasty place for both of those superb weapons (I took out four bots and one human player with that sniper advantage point in a single round).
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MINOR SPOILER BELOW (concerning new enemy in Horde mode)

• In Horde mode, there's a new enemy that was previously dubbed 'Skourge-lings' called Sira.  It's basically a man-sized Locust with tentacles sticking out of them who rush you (they are chainsawable).  I didn't get to see what happens when they reached you because they never caught me.