Ouch that suuuuccks. You know, I wonder how many even know you can restart from the same level. What's the procedure? I had heard it mentioned once after losing with some guys but I had already hit the button to back out.

Got a game update today. Matchmaking seems to work much better for me know. Anyone else still having trouble?

It's just an option on one of the menu screens of the party leader.

Same happened to me, I was sure we were going to reach 50.

You have to stay close but not too close !

Just finished the single player tonight. My thoughts... with spoilers ahead...

I played on Normal, and it's definitely easier then Casual from the first game. Guys just seemed to go down easier. This wasn't really a bad thing, because it let the game keep moving forward and I thought that was great for the story since it felt like the story in this game moved along better then the first. Still, I would agree with a few of you others that said it wasn't quite as intense as some of the moments in the first game. I don't think anything came closer to the "wow" factor from the Berserker at the start of the last game.

Still, this game felt a lot more cinematic to me. The way the plot moved along and the variety in levels was great, as well as mixing it up again by riding various vehicles, not to mention a reaver and the Brumak. I thought the Brumak rodeo at the end was fantastic and a lot of fun. I would agree that the last "boss" was weak as hell and might be the easiest final boss i've ever seen. I'm not sure what they were thinking with that, although it sure as hell looked fantastic. Maybe i just didn't notice before, but everything looked a lot clearer and sharper to me, and really show cased the graphics.

The graphics might have only been improved slightly from the first game, but they still blew me away. The Gears games have been the only ones to truly wow me this generation, and I thought seeing more destructible environments added a lot to the depth of the game and made i feel more engrossing watching concrete fly, and buildings collapse around you.

I think I enjoyed this more then the first game. 5 star game for me!

On a side note, I also ran into a shitty bug at the end with the crane, where Dom wouldn't hop on it. I kept reloading and it wouldn't work and I had no idea what I was doing wrong moving the crane around until finally I searched online about it and I guess others have had the same problem. I ended up turning on a 2nd controller to manually walk Dom over there. Bleh.

Yeah I notice that Dom and others get stuck quite a bit in GOW2. I've seen it happen where I use the LB to see where the Gears are and they're way behind me. So I go back to get them to follow and they don't so I keep moving ahead. Then I get to a checkpoint alone and suddenly Dom and whatever other Gears who got stuck with him suddenly appear.

Finally finished the game last night. It felt a lot easier than the first one (played on normal) but a lot longer. I think I might be alone on this, but I enjoyed the first one more. The pacing and story on this one seemed a little off and the final boss battle was weak. I still loved the game though and can’t wait for the next one. I think in a couple weeks I’ll start another game on Hardcore and see if another play through changes my mind.

Also, did anyone else have a problem finding the COGS in this one. I think I found like three of em. I wasn’t going out of my way looking for them, but in the first one they seemed pretty easy to find.

3? You know it's not just COG tags this time around right? There are all sorts of things to find that count like medical records in the hospital, to newspaper clippings, to carvings on a wall. You probably found more than that but didn't realize it. I wish the walls were marked with the COG logo because searching for them really kills the pacing of the game.

Sounds like you had a very similar experience to me, which I posted above.

Yeah there's more than COG tags this time around and some are less obvious than others. Anyway, I'm playing GOW2 again and I'm using this list to help me find Journals I've missed on my 1st run through.


Gears of War 2 Journals

Thanks for that link, that will help me find the rest when I play through again on Hardcore.

Finished on hardcore last night. Will prob give insane a shot sometime next year. Last boss was simple at this level as well. Hardest part for me in this game was the turrets and killing reavers.

I finished Horde mode over the weekend in a group of 5 on Normal. It was entertaining, but like I said before I still get bored after 30-45 minutes of just camping and end up going Rambo for kicks even though I end up dying.

Saw this and thought it was too funny not to post:

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/videos/353...ns_of_War.html

That was pretty good.

I know it's too late now but this may help others.

Not sure if this was covered before, but how does Co-op work when you select different difficulties for each player? Like I can select Insane but my friend who hasn't completed the game can put in Hardcore. Do I just get hurt quicker/more? Is that the only difference?

i thought it's the difficulty selected of the person hosting the game.

I read in xboxachievements.org that you can get the insane achievement playing coop with someone playing on easy. He cleans all the place and you just cover and/or hide away. Talk about achievements whore...

I beat Horde mode tonight, casual difficulty. I played a few levels with help but, for the most part I beat it by myself. I had no help for the last 25 levels. I did the whole thing on the Day One map. I tried the other maps but found Day One to be the easiest.

Now I'd like to go through he story mode again on insane coop. Maybe this weekend.

any tips beside using that map? I need to finish 37 to 40 to get the achievement.

If anyone is needing or wanting to do coop for achievements let me know.

Also if wanting to team up on Horde I'll go as well. I've made it to (42) but lately either there's a bunch of quitters or they're losing connections big time (mine is not the best either). I'll finish with all five players about 1 in 5 matches. They start dropping around wave four and it usally ends up with three of us after wave 15. The other issue...more playing with no mic.

I need to finish horde too. I need to complete 37 to 40 or something like that. I have you in my FL, so if I see you online I'll send you a message. Feel free to do the same if you see me connected.

For the upper levels my group had the most luck with the Mansion. Stay at the top of the stairs and it's fairly easy to pick off the bulk of enemies from above. The biggest enemies come through the lone door opposite the stairs so it's easy to lob grenades, use rockets, snipe and the bow on them.

However we did it on Normal. Not sure how it would play on the other difficulties.

I'm up for co-op on Horde too if anyone needs some players. I've only made it to 34 or 35 but I won't quit on you.