If you already have Gears of War 2 (like you should), be sure to check out our Dark Corners DLC review.

The single player part of the DLC, called “Road to Ruin”, is a part of the single player campaign for the retail version of that game that was eventually cut out. Luckily, you’ll get a chance to play it now. It’s basically a part of a standalone single player content that sees Marcus and Dom navigate through Locust territory. However, they can chose from going the usual way: run and gun, destroying all enemies in the process, clearing room after room. Or they can chose the second option: stealth. This is the first time you can actually use stealth and sneak in the game, however, one can easily see what this portion of the retail game was cut out: there’s nothing much to the stealth action. Basically, you grab a pair of Locust suits and walk through the entire part — some 15 minutes of walking — and that’s it. There’s no challenge, as the Locust will simply ignore you the whole way. You don’t have to hide, don’t have to pull any tricks of any kind. Just walk. Which is kinda boring, even in the rather interesting Gears universe. The alternative route, the one most will prefer, is the action filled good-ol-Gears-of-War-combat. Which works as you expect it. It’s clear that the single player part wasn’t meant as a selling point of the game, which brings us to the real stuff, the multiplayer maps…

The seven new maps include War Machine, a remake of the Gears 1 map; Allfathers Garden, a heavy-weapons battle at a COG landmark; Highway, a fight deep in the Locust Hollow; Memorial, a battle at the Tomb of the Unknowns; Nowhere, a firefight in an old motel; Way Station, an unpredictable battlefield with parallel paths; and Sanctuary, a reimagined favorite from Gears for PC. The last map is particularly interested, especially if you played Gears 1 for the PC. The other maps are up to standard when it comes to the game; they’re all polished, balanced and can tolerate hours and hours of play without getting boring. Essentially, the maps will satisfy any Gears addict and will offer hours of new gameplay.

Technically, there isn’t much to say; it’s good ‘ol Gears of War 2; with stunning graphics, environments and combat. The DLC pretty much continues all of that. In all, if you’re thinking of getting the new DLC solely for the single player part, you’ll be disappointed. The single player part is just something Epic threw in as an extra, the multiplayer maps are the real reason to get this pack.

Gears of War 2: Dark Corners is priced at 1200 MS points, or $15. However, you can get a better deal if you buy the recently released “All Fronts” DLC, which includes Dark Corners and all the previous content released for Gears of War 2. It’s a great deal if you haven’t checked out any Gears 2 DLC yet.

The Good:
7 great multiplayer maps
Up to the Gears of War standard
Includes single player content

The Bad:
Single player could be better
A bit too expensive ($15) for what it is.

Overall score: 7/10

Seven new multiplayer maps will be added with the expansion, along with a new single-player campaign chapter known as “Road to Ruin”.

Both single player and multiplayer content is showcased in these beautiful screens. Dark Corner is scheduled to launch in the Xbox Live marketplace on July 28th for 1200 MS Points.

Just in time for its Double XP weekend Gears of War 2 has been discounted from it’s normal $59.99 retail price to a much more palatable $39.99. Best of all, if you order on Amazon, that price (further discounted to $36.99) includes shipping.

There’s no telling if retailers will decide to hike the price back up so if you’re planning on purchasing Gears of War 2 at this discounted price, do it fast.

Read (EBGames)
Read (Amazon)

Epic has recently announced that they will be holding a Gears of War 2 Double XP weekend to celebrate July 4th. The actual event will take place on July 3rd and run through July 6th.

Not only will players recieve double XP for any ranked game they play this weekend but the winning team will be giving an extra 500 XP.

This is sure to appeal to some but I’m not too sure if it’s how I would like to spend my July 4th. I mean common, fireworks, beer, barbeque, what more could you ask for?

Gears of War 2 is one of the Xbox 360’s biggest moneymakers so the onslaught of map packs and the like are no surprise. In fact, hype surrounding the game was so big that it recently managed to surpass a 5 million copies sold milestone.

In leui of this announcement, Epic has announced that they will be releasing a retail only content pack entitled All Fronts which includes all Gears 2 map packs released thus far. However, All Fronts will also include the all new Dark Corners map pack complete with 7 multiplayer maps and the deleted campaign chapter Road to Ruin.

All Front is set to hit retailers on July 28th. If you have a fear of leaving your house or just purchased all of the map packs already, you can buy just Dark Corners off of Xbox Live for 1600 Microsoft Points.

You can hit the read link for a description of the 7 multiplayer maps, courtesy of Joystiq, included in Dark Corners.

Allfathers Garden: Honor the sacred grounds of the Coalition founders in this explosive map, where powerful weapons catalyze fast and furious action at this COG landmark.

Memorial: Set near the Eternal Flame, which pays tribute to the fallen soldiers on the battlefield, a hard-fought battle ensues at the Tomb of Unknowns. Putting their flank formation and evasive skills to the test, players will fight to control the Boomshot.

Sanctuary: Once a peaceful ground for reflection and remembrance, all that remains of the Sanctuary is the chill of death. Feast your eyes on the arsenal of weapons available as you make your way through the tight paths and blind corners of the Locust-damaged temple corridors.

War Machine: In the abandoned train station that once served as a hub for travel, players will need to master the Longshot, Mulcher and Boomshot weapons to advance the fight while evading fire from the platforms above.

Highway: Take the fight deep into the Locust Hollow in the complex passages of this underground highway system brimming with enemy vermin. Stick together, separate the enemy and have an exit strategy ready or it’ll be a one-way trip.

Way Station: Sitting in limbo between death and “processing” are Locust way stations filled with fallen COG soldiers. Tread lightly and practice patience as it’s better to sacrifice firepower for stealth while navigating this minefield of hidden grenades.

Nowhere: Set in the middle of what was once a destination for weary desert travellers, the land is now barren and devoid of life. Pick off your enemies with the Longshot sniper rifle and make your way to the stairwell with a well-fortified team during this intense firefight. 

It was recently reported on Major Nelson’s blog that Microsoft has found and delt with a new batch of cheaters. Their offense? Using an exploit within Gears of War 2 to artificially boost their Gamerscores. Their sentence? A Gamerscore of 0.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has had to step in to thwart cheaters in their attempt at a high Gamerscore. If you’ve been with us since March of last year, you’ll recognize a similar case.

Major Nelson also assures us that if you use ethical methods of obtaining your achievements, as in no cheating or glitching, you have nothing to worry about; your Gamerscore will not get reset accidentally.

In the fairly distant future of 2161, turns out Al Gore was right and a lot sooner than anyone expected—global warming has taken hold and flooded out a lot of the planet, including major chunks of the Midwest for some reason and the coasts.  In order to prevent the total destruction of the coastal states, new technologies emerge that can reshape the landscape with the press of a button, forming valleys where there were cliffs and cliffs where there were valleys, allowing threatened areas to easily build bulwarks of land against the oncoming floodwaters.

The United States has been split in two at about the Mississippi River, with the United States operating out of Washington D.C. and the new offshoot, the Republic of Pacifica, functioning out of its new capitol of San Francisco, which probably should’ve been flooded right along with most of California if the Pacific goes up as much as expected.  Anyway, Pacifica’s embraced genetic modification as a way of life—those crazy Californians!—and they’re now at odds with what’s left of the United States, who thinks that genetic modification on a grand scale is so immoral that they’ve declared it illegal, choosing instead to focus on the technological prowess of man.  And thus, the two republics find themselves at war in the future.

When I said that it was going to try and differentiate itself using some pretty weak methods, I meant it.  First, it’s not a hundred percent accurate to call Fracture a first person shooter, because you are not merely behind the gun—you are behind the entire CHARACTER.  As far as I’m concerned this is a toe-MAY-toe / toe-MAH-toe sort of difference, but that’s just me, and really does little overall to separate this from the slew of first person shooters already out on the market.

Second, there’s been a lot of fuss about the “entrencher” gun, quite possibly the single unique feature about this game.  With it, you can raise and lower portions of ground, probably based on the same technology that I described in the plot synopsis above.  It’s nice to be able to make cover wherever you go, but would I play an entire game because it exists?  No, not a chance.  It’s a nifty feature, a sweet addition to the list of bells and whistles, but frankly, I wouldn’t ever play this game again.

Why?  Because it’s almost EXACTLY the same game as Too Human and Gears of War and Gears of War 2 and all those other games that we’ve been playing over and over and over again with virtually no distinguishing features except those in character and story and bells and whistles.

And while I’m at it, whose brain-damaged idea was it to name the game’s lead character “Jet Brody”?  I mean, come on—did you have a CONTEST and bring in some fourth graders, get them loaded on Pixy Stix and Red Bull and tell them to come up with the coolest action hero name EVER?  Did you pass on “Max Power” just because The Simpsons already did it?   Even Matt Hazard made a little more sense and that was a DELIBERATE parody.  Please stop insulting my intelligence by coming up with this crap.  Seriously.

Basically, there’s no real reason to play this game unless you’re absolutely desperate to start reshaping landscapes in video games to suit your own desires because you’ve already played this game about a dozen times over.  Fracture is yet another in a long string of miserable retreads that aren’t even worth a rental unless you can’t get enough first person shooter action.

[Update] Translation of the poster indicates that this is another (multiplayer) map-pack for Gears 2, and not a singleplayer add-on. We’ll have to wait and see what Epic says.

Similarly, Halo 3′s Mythic Map pack has been scheduled for a April 9 release. Also costing 800 points, the pack will contain three maps previously released with the Halo Wars Limited Edition.

The “Snowblind map pack”, due out March 31, will offer four winter-themed multiplayer maps: Grind Yard, Under Hill, Courtyard and a remake of Fuel Depot from the original. While no pricing was given, the last pack sold for 800 points ($10).

Meanwhile, the patch will bring a new experience-based ranking system and a variety of fixes on March 24. Hit the jump for full patch notes.

Improvements

• Adds 100 levels of player experience that you can gain based on your score in Public matches. The game still uses Trueskill for matchmaking to find the most competitive matches, but the skill rank is now hidden. The new level of experience appears next to your gamertag, with levels 1 through 99 displayed as numbers and level 100 displayed as an icon. The game normalizes experience based on match type so that players earn an equivalent amount of experience across all modes.
• Adds an experience penalty for players quitting before a match is complete.
• Adds bots automatically to a Public Match if players quit and cause unbalanced teams. This ability has always existed in Private Matches if the bot count is set higher than zero.
• Optimizes playlists to only have two modes per playlist. Ties are decided by random selection.
• Adds map cycling to Private Matches. The first match map is chosen by vote or by host, and when that match is completed, the game transitions automatically to the next match, with the next map selected in alphabetical order.
• Adds the ability for teams to talk to each other between rounds in a Private Match.
• Adds the ability to save Public and Private Horde high scores after each complete wave, in case the host loses connection.
• Makes minor changes to general bandwidth usage.
• Adds region preference to matchmaking.
• Improves standby detection.
• Adds nine new achievements worth 250 points. Progress toward them starts after Title Update 3 is applied. Six of the new achievements require the Snowblind Map Pack, a set of four new maps to be released soon. The nine new achievements:
  • "Rookie Gear" (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only).
  • "Seasoned Gear" (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only).
  • "Battle-Tested Gear" (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only).
  • "Battle-Hardened Gear" (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
  • "Veteran Gear" (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
  • "Never Eat Red Snow" (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Icy Dead People" (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Frigid Body Dynamics" (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).
  • "The Weather Outside Is Lethal" (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

Exploit Fixes

Title Update 3 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

• A player could swap from a pistol to a two-handed weapon during a cover slide and then mantle greater distances.
• Players could kill themselves in Wingman to avoid giving their opponents more points. Now, suicides and team killing will reduce team score.
• A player holding a meatshield could melee through some walls.
• A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a shield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol.
• A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a meatshield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol.
• A player could prevent planted shields from being picked up by other players.
• Players could launch themselves into the air with a smoke grenade while mantling.

General Fixes

Title Update 3 fixes these other issues as well:

• An issue that caused chainsaw interruption when a player is shot to be less reliable in some body positions than in others.
• An issue where a third player could join a Public Wingman party lobby and remove another player from the game.
• An issue in Submission games where occasionally the meatflag would immediately run back to the spawn point after being dropped.
• An issue where players that were knocked down but not out (DBNO) while planting the Boomshield would appear to be standing.
• An elevation-based issue where the detection for a headshot might not align properly with certain character model heads.
• An issue that could cause Wingman teammates to have different character models.
• Additional miscellaneous bug fixes.

Balancing

Title Update 3 makes these balancing changes:

• Reduces stun duration of smoke grenades. Currently, characters always start to get up after 2 seconds.
• Gives melee the same delay after roadie running that shooting received in Title Update 2.
• Removes spawn protection from the Horde in Horde mode.
• Increased the forward angle that triggers chainsaw duels so that players with Lancers equipped won’t be sawn from the side without a duel.
• Reduces the delay before a player can climb up after entering low cover.
• Makes minor changes to weapon spawns on the Subway map to provide greater balance.

This time around, it’s time to take the fight to the Locust, who were NOT in fact destroyed by the Lightmass Bomb (just a good chunk of them).  Actually, the Lightmass Bomb did about as much damage to humanity as it did to the Locust, causing a fatal respiratory disease called rustlung after people breathed in vaporized liquid Imulsion.  And better yet, the remaining Locust have figured out that emergence holes aren’t just for moving troops any more, and figured out a way to make holes the size of cities, pretty much sealing humanity’s fate.  The last human stronghold, Jacinto, is under siege by the Locust hordes, and thus, humanity’s got to go blast up some Locust in order to keep the ground under their feet intact.  Meanwhile, Dom’s still looking for his wife Maria, and the Locusts have a whole host of new and horrible devices to rain death and misery on humanity.

You see that?  That’s a PLOT.  In fact, if the inevitable movie version–last I heard slated for 2010–is anywhere near as deep and as rich as that plot description I just put up was, then the movie’s going to be a downright WONDER.  There’s plenty of character development, good voice acting, and everything that’d make a good movie out of this game.

The only problem, however, is that it’s really not much of a game.  Seriously–you spend most of Gears of War 2 roadie running from one patch of cover to the next while occasionally blasting at Locust.  This is then broken up by some of that sweet, sweet plot.  How this thing won Best Xbox 360 Game at the Spike Video Game Awards AND at the Diehard GameFAN Awards when there were perfectly good copies of Fallout 3 hanging around is utterly, utterly beyond me.

Oh, sure…the gameplay is a whole different horse on multiplayer mode, with plenty of interesting modes to play including the new Horde Mode, in which you take on steadily expanding waves of Locust in a battle so big that “epic” sounds weak beside it. And of course there’s all the standards like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, modes that are downright SOP (standing operating procedure, in case you don’t habla) for first person shooters these days.

There’s even plenty of downloadable content, with fresh maps and dashboard themes and for some reason a gold-plated Hammerburst rifle for use in multiplayer modes (and Oblivion took flack for horse armor?  Where’s the justice?).  A glitch-busting patch has also been released.

While I love the plot of Gears of War 2, I can’t help but feel let down by my involvement in it.  I mean, sure…my steady succession of run, duck, shoot, repeat is saving humanity from bloodthirsty monsters, but man, is it ever DULL.  I’m half tempted just to let the Locust have Sera and tell whoever’s left on the planet to just pack up for Earth already and nuke the site from orbit.

It’s the only way to be sure.

If you still haven’t purchased Gears of War 2, where have you been living, under a rock? No seriously though, if you haven’t now’s a perfect opportunity thanks to Amazon’s latest promotion; if you purchase Gears of War 2 from them you will recieve 3 months of Xbox Live for free.

And, everyone who’s anyone knows the best feature of the Xbox 360 is it’s robust online community options, but you better act fast! This offer is only valid until January 17th!

Read (Amazon)

While this really only applies to those who bought Gears of War 2 preowned, I’m sure theres at least one honest gamer out their who managed to lose their Flashback Map Pack card that came bundled with the game.

Anyways, included in the Gears of War 2 Flashback Map Pack are 5 retextured and remastered Gears of War multiplayer levels that had already been available to those who purchased the game new.

Currently going for 400 Micrsoft Points (or $5) the Flashback Map Pack is available now, for those who don’t already have it, via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Read (Joystiq)

Epic’s Mark Rein popped into the official forums and revealed that the new patch should be ready for release this month, and that many of the mentioned bugs will be fixed, including harsher penalties for those who quit early (you know who you are!).

The patch should also fix bugs, add an achievement progress numbers to the War Journal and better spawn protection against planted grenades.

Has anyone else noticed that matchmaking for Gears of War 2 still takes painstakingly long, even after the recently released patch?

It seem’s we aren’t alone as after several complaints, Epic has issued yet another fix. But this time it’s not client side, they have announced they have tweaked their own servers to allow for faster matches let’s just hope it works this time.

Senior Producer for Gears of War 2, Rod Fergusson, also went on to say that the slow times can’t completely be blamed on Epic. Sometimes there will be a low population in any given playlist, so you’re going to have to wait a bit longer for that. 

Read (TGR)

“Microsoft confirmed to me this afternoon that Gears of War 2 sell-through surpassed 3 million units as of last week,” said Epic Games VP Mark Rein.

The game was released on November 7 and sold over two million units in its opening weekend. It can be noted that the first game has sold 5 million copies. Gears of War 2 is supposedly exclusive to Xbox 360.

Following up on its promise, Epic Games has released an update for Gears of War 2, aimed at helping the current matchmaking issues players are facing.

The patch will be automatically downloaded when players sign on to Xbox Live, with the installation of the patch required to play online.

“In order to get the update out as quickly as possible, we focused just on immediate infrastructure issues and have left any potential gameplay issues for a future update,” wrote senior producer Rod Fergusson on the game’s official forum.

His post carries further details on the changes made.