There are some games that you look forward to playing that just don't always deliver.  Your expectations are so large that even though the game is very good it just doesn't deliver that unforgettable joy.  Thankfully Gears of War 2 is not that game.  Gears over delivers in terms of story, scale of battle and new environments.  There are parts of Gears that are absolutely amazing to play which you will definitely want to do more than once.

After playing the first Gears game all I wanted to do was find out more about the story.  I enjoyed the game play and was impressed by the beauty of the game but felt the story left too much unanswered.  In Gears 2 you get more story and will learn more about the motivation of the Locust.  This time around you get to see a lot more of the of the world and you learn a little more about the people.  Gears 2 places several collectibles items around the game levels that let you learn more about the people, the Locust and puts some doubt in your mind about what the Locust actually are.

The game play in gears 2 is a lot of the same from the first game.  You will be fighting with Dom for almost the entire game and only leave Dom when Delta squad splits up.  This time around the game is much longer than the first and adds a lot more vehicle combat.  This time around you get to ride some of the Locust vehicles as well which is ends in a really awesome moment where you ride a Brumack through the middle of the Locust's Hallow.  

By far this is the best game I've played this year.  It is full of enjoyable game play and challenging situations.  There is some emotional aspects to the story this time that concludes one of the story lines.  I played the game on Hard Core difficult and found it to be fairly manageable.  There was really only one place that I got stuck which was towards the end of Act 1.  Really the game is very easy and there are enough difficulties that anyone can pickup Gears 2 and play.