From the review on Metacritic’s site: Gears of War 2 builds upon the gameplay of the first title in every way. First, the scope of the action is bigger: new characters, more weapons, nastier enemies, bigger vehicles, and grander locales offer more action, more emotion, and more thrills. Next, every major aspect of the game has been refined to create heightened, more immersive experiences. Finally, the overall tone of Gears of War 2 is more badass: replete with new weapon-specific executions, chainsaw duels, and shocking boss fights. Gears of War 2 raises the graphics bar for next-generation games through its breathtaking visual effects, which are made possible through advances in Unreal Engine 3. New visual effects include ambient occlusion, dynamic shadows, improved character lighting, the ability to render hundreds of on-screen characters simultaneously, improved water physics, additional blood and bullet decals, advanced destructible environments, new weather effects, and the introduction of fluid objects. When combined with the sweeping vistas and evocative locales in the world of Sera where the Gears of War 2 story unfolds, these additions help make this the most gorgeous game available this generation. Gears of War 2 continues to push deep, immersive storytelling in video games to greater heights. Humanity's epic battle for survival is felt on both the personal and epic levels as you explore multiple story arcs that introduce new characters and flesh out the histories of familiar ones. A new in-game conversational camera system also helps bring the compelling story to life in a cinematic fashion. 100 Giant Bomb The differences and enhancements in Gears of War 2 feel very calculated and intelligent. It's clear that no one set out to break things that worked before, and the most dramatic steps were taken in an effort to widen the game's appeal to players who might not be good enough to play it, otherwise. But it takes on this task without dumbing itself down and alienating the people who already liked the first game...All you really need to know is that Gears of War 2 is a terrific, kick-ass shooter with enough stuff in it to keep you busy for a pretty long time. 100 X360 Magazine UK A masterclass in design. Brutal, epic, beautiful and harrowing in equal measure, Gears Of War 2 announces Epic’s reign as the king of the action videogame. Absolutely essential. 100 GameSpy While it's certainly open to debate, we're going to go out on a limb and call Gears of War 2 the most visually impressive game of all-time. 100 VideoGamer It's not as emotionally deep as other games on the market, it's not a 30 hour + epic and it's not art in video game form, but is arguably the greatest action game ever created. In a year full of incredible games, Gears of War 2 sits triumphantly at the very top. 100 1UP As great as the campaign is, the game will see its longest legs from multiplayer. And from the multitude of competitive match types to the addictive and strategic co-op Horde mode, what felt like a hugely entertaining afterthought in the original Gears now easily stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the campaign. 100 GamePro Granted, Gears 2 isn't the smartest shooter on the market, but for now, it is probably the must-own title of this holiday season for Xbox 360 gamers. 98 Team Xbox All of the multiplayer, both co-op and competitive, completely makes up for any that was lacking in the first game. For those that thought that Gears just wasn’t suited to multiplayer gameplay, that it was too tactical and slow and was better suited to a single player experience, prepare to eat your words. It’s fantastic, and rounds out the complete package that is Gears of War 2...Gears of War 2 is about as close as you can get to the perfect gaming package. 97 Game Over Online Gears of War 2 delivers on every one of its promises, combining a rich and intimate story, brutal, visceral combat, incredible graphics, outstanding audio design, a strong soundtrack, and a robust multiplayer suite. 97 3DJuegos Gears of War 2 is the kind of game that third person shooters should try to imitate. We are not talking about the chosen theme or its tactical arcade scope, but instead we want to point out how well the console resources have been used in order to get an impeccable gameplay. A must have. The total shooter. 95 Gameplayer Gears 2 is a lesson in masterful pacing; whether it’s lulling you into a false sense of security, dropping you into an inescapable situation, or blowing your hair back with a ‘speeder bike’ vehicle section. It’s a ripping good yarn that is continually one-upping itself by belting you upside the head with yet another over the top action sequence that eclipses the last awesome thing you just did. 95 GameTrailers The game consistently manages to put impressive, holy crap-worthy stuff on-screen. Your ears get their fair share of candy, too. Voice work is almost always right on and the music is epic, foreboding, and dangerous. 95 IGN It has non-stop action, fresh gameplay, varied environments, an engrossing storyline, multiplayer that will have people busy for years to come, and some of the nastiest and coolest kills I’ve seen in a videogame. 
METACRITIC HAS SPOKEN
GEARS OF WAR 2 CALLED AND IT WANTS YOUR LIFE!
This is without a doubt, one of the games that I have been waiting eagerly for. Trust me, the people that game here in Sac are sick of me talking about it in the same way that I am sick of hearing about the impending WoW expansion.
The bottom line here is that we are all gamers and this is my WoW. The reviews are in and they are confirming what I suspected about the game... a must have and a non-stop thrill ride from start to finish.
For those you not familiar with original Gears of War the story is pretty basic. The world is at the mercy of ground-dwelling Locust warriors, and you have to stop them. So they come out of the ground, and you kill them, which gets you closer to your objective which is to go below the surface and detonate a bomb where they live to wipe them out once and for all. If you want more details then head over here for more: Gears of War 1 review
As you can guess, since we are talking about Gears of War 2, not everything went according to plan from the first game. While I am not going to list any spoilers ( Partially because I don’t have the game yet and partially because I don’t want to spoil anything for myself as well), the basic story in the sequel is best put in the diction used by IGN: The events of the first ended with Marcus and Dom delivering the Lightmass Bomb into The Hollow after killing General Raam. Sadly the bomb had about the same effect as sticking a bull in the ass with an ice pick. The Locust only doubled their efforts and have been sinking cities on Sera ever since. Now only one remains: the city of Jacinto whose foundation is thick enough to keep the Locust at bay. But not for long. The Locust are poised to crush Jacinto just as they have every other city. Soon humanity's struggle will be over, all hope extinguished.
But not yet.
A rich story in single player, full co-op both offline and on and a truly addictive multiplayer mode make this game a must buy for me. If you are on the fence, rent it and try it out!
Before I close, I have to describe one of the multiplayer modes that will actually have me playing this game on live... Horde. What is Horde you ask? At it’s heart, it is a cross between the old arcade classic Smash TV and Geometry Wars which translates into you and 4 of your buddies ( That’s 5 people co-op for those of you slow with math) fight together against wave after wave of locast horde. Yup, that’s it.. simple but amazingly addictive from what I have read so far. You and your buddies work together to defeat each wave and each wave gets harder and harder. There are 50 waves total and there are the same difficulty setting that are in the normal campaign: casual, hardcore and insane. For what it’s worth, the designers of the game haven’t been able to get out of the 30’s on insane... consider yourself warned.
Help me decide my next car
Hello all. I have narrowed down my next car choice to one of two types of Volkswagens. Please take the poll and let me know what your opinion is. I plan to buy sometime in the future so vote away.
I am just curious to see what you all think.
Fallout 3 First Impressions
From the very beginning of the game, which is incidentally your beginning as well since you are being born, Fallout 3 is a clever well written game.
I’m not going to spoil anything for you on this, but the story starts with you as a child and jumps from time period to time period, allowing you to do some things at each stage. Specifically you get to create what you look like in the game at your birth, determine your skills in the next two instances and also learn basic game mechanics.
All of these things are integrated in the story quite well and make sense in the context of the world created. None of the things so far seem contrived or out of place which makes for a very believable reality.
While I have only played the game for about 40 min, I am almost at the point where I have to escape the vault and I will leave out the why and how you do this. Sufficed to say, it will all make sense when you play the game.
I am looking forward to playing through this game as long as possible since I have Gears of War 2 sitting out there on the horizon... mocking me.
Wire in, Spider dead
During the installation of the last speaker wire through the attic, I ran into one of nature’s little bags of venom. Fortunately, I saw her before she saw me and I was able to get some spray and take her out. Of course, Black Widows take a long time to die, so I had to wait and make sure she was dead.
Once she was a door nail, I finally was able to put the wire through and crawl out of the attic and finish the job. The speakers sound great and my walls don’t have stupid wires hanging on the outside of them. All in all a successful job with great results.
