The first Gears of War was somewhat of a surprise hit. Helped by its cutting-edge graphics, smart advertising campaign, and somewhat innovative cover system it went on to sell 5 million copies. It was the Xbox 360’s first true “killer app”. It was one of the reasons I purchased my system a year ago, though I have never quite got around to playing the game.

Gears of War 2 is released to much higher expectations and more robust competition. Fable 2, Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War, and more that were all released recently. Despite all this, Gears 2 sold a reported 2 million copies its release weekend and garnered nearly universal high review scores. Still, is it worth your time in this crowded holiday season? The short answer is yes.

The story continues to follow the fight on planet Sera between humans and the alien race the Locust. You take control of Marcus Fenix, a soldier in the human COG army and the leader of Delta squad. Marcus and the Delta squad are charged with entering the Locust nest and killing the Locust Queen. Along the way Marcus helps his friend and squad mate Dom Santiago search for his captured wife. The story in any shooter is cursory, but this one nicely frames the epic battles you partake in.

This is the best looking game I have ever played on the 360. The cutscenes are gorgeous and big in scope. The character models are both cartoony and realistic at the same time. This allows the character to be expressive without looking too creepy. The backgrounds are crisp and clear, and have a slightly more varied color palette than the typical shooter. Never during the single player campaign did I see any digital artifacting, blurred edges, or drawing pop-in. An added benefit is that the game loads fast and the pre-loading between checkpoints is seamless.

The first game was known for its “stop-and-pop” cover system. That may have been novel two years ago; now it seems every game has some cover mechanic. Still, the system in Gears 2 feels great. Running from cover to cover is much easier in this game than in many others.

The game’s controls work flawlessly, I never felt frustrated by them. The button-mapping is intuitive and easy to pick up whether you have played other shooters or not. Some may be put off by the amount of hits it takes to down an enemy or the game’s slower pace compared to other space marine games. I personally find the more deliberate game play much more enjoyable than some of the current “twitch” shooters, but that is purely personal preference.