Just got back from playing Gears 2 on the PAX showroom floor. How was it? Well, it¡¯s more Gears, which isn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. There was an Ten player team deathmatch LAN going on at the booth so I decided to pick up a pad as a Locust.

Gears-lovers, this new title is the same Gears you love but with new weapons, items, and moves that will make the game seem deeper. Gears-haters, keeping hating I guess, because it¡¯s more Marcus Fenix & Co. than you can handle. Although I wasn¡¯t a huge Gears 1 fan I¡¯m actually looking forward to getting in a game with my buddies this Fall.

The graphics were much smoother than the original Gears. I would have paid more attention to them if I wasn¡¯t looking at the chainsaw duels happening right in front of me. When you and your opponent Lancer melee each other simultaneously it results in a game of who-can-tap-the-B-button-faster. The slower guy ends up looking like the leftover beef concoction in my fridge that my roommates back in Rochester are probably looking at right now and saying ¡°What the f*ck is this sh*t?¡± It¡¯s a nice little addition to Gears that I really enjoyed. I was on a decent kill streak until some dude went Charizard on my dumb, unsuspecting ass with the flamethrower.

What was the first thing I did? Team-killed my closest ally by mistake. Sorry! You kinda looked like Carmine! Geez! Although that was a dick move on my part it did give me a look at the new through-the-back (¡±anal rage¡± I like to call it) chainsaw kill, which was disgustingly awesome. After getting a dirty look from the guy two screens over that I probably just killed I ran for some cover. One of the things I disliked about the first Gears was how the cover system revolved around the A button and the A button only. Well, it looks like they didn¡¯t change a damn thing. I can¡¯t wait to unintentionally run for cover when I actually wanted to roll dodge away from the shotgun-wielding teenager that¡¯s about to tell me I ¡°f*ckin¡¯ suck at this game¡± on Xbox Live. Oh well.