Gears of War 2

[Dawinner127]

One of the best games I have ever played. I feel like the online maps are to big for the amount of people you have in a game. I normally have a 4 v 4 game or 3 v 3 game rather than a 5 v 5 game. The matchmaking is takes WAAAAY to long for me so I rarely do it.
I personally think that the online play in the first Gears of War was MUCH better than the one that we are currently playing on Gears of War 2.
I really like Horde as well. It becomes extremely fun when you play with your friends online, but when you play with people that you have no idea who they are, it kind of stinks.
The campaign is great, I love the new characters in the game and I really just like the levels. It's much more challenging as well.

[Free Bagel]

I personally think that the online play in the first Gears of War was MUCH better than the one that we are currently playing on Gears of War 2.

Ditto. I played Gears of War 1 religiously. Like, at least 10 hours a week every week since its release all the way up to the release of Gears 2. I put thousands upon thousands of hours into that game, and we had a group of about 60 of us that played like that.

Horde and the campaign are great in Gears 2, but the actual multiplayer is a far cry from Gears 1, and most everyone I play with regularly agrees. They changed up the gameplay style completely, and really reached out to the casual Gears 1 fan while alienating the hardcore Gearsheads. I loved Gears 1 because it played so differently than any other shooter out there, with its focus on up close, in your face combat and put the focus as much on protecting your own life via positioning and dodging as aiming. Gears 1 was a very unique shooter. Gears 2 moves away from this, and is closer to every other shooter already out there, it really lost its Gears charm.

The improved netcode is nice, and some of the new gametypes are awesome, but the core gameplay just can't measure up. Not even close.