Jared Newman, Aaron Cooley-Themm, and Lawrence Sonntag had the chance to sit down and discuss the hottest release of the pre-holiday season, Gears of War 2, in TGR’s first Textcast. What did they think? Read on to find out.

[Aaron]: Thanks for joining our first ever The Game Reviews Textcast. We have Jared Newman, Lawrence Sonntag, and me, Aaron Cooley-Themm, and we are here to talk about Gears of War 2, one week later. After playing through, what do you guys think?

[Jared]: Well, I approached Gears of War 2 with some skepticism. This is going to sound obvious, but these blockbuster sequels always promise us the world, and almost always come up short. That is, if you don’t like more of the same. Gears of War 2 suffered from a bit of that, but they really tried to keep things interesting with some great set pieces and special sequences. So ultimately, I think they pulled it off.

[Lawrence]: I’ve been extremely satisfied with it. Gears 2 is everything Gears 1 was but better - which is what a sequel should be in my eyes. I think people have a tendency to work themselves up with expectations for big titles. Some people are disappointed in Gears 2, but I have a hard time trying to imagine just what they were expecting.

[Jared]: Now, I do disagree with that, Lawrence. I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think my expectations were high. Sequels inherently suffer from being sequels. And I don’t think Gears of War 2 floored me the way the first one did.

[Aaron]: I would have to say that mine were a little high and I did get let down a bit, but I would agree.

[Lawrence]: Ahh, I think you’ve hit on it exactly. People play a new game and feel a certain way. Then they play a sequel and are shocked that it’s not as "new" as the first one.

[Jared]: Is that problematic, do you think?

[Lawrence]: Absolutely, but I think the problem there is with the gamers, not the developers, unless the developers should be called to always make new games forever, which is a bit unrealistic I think.

[Aaron]: I think we as gamers need to go in with a level head. Sometimes we expect the world and don’t get it, and it’s a let down. On the other hand, if developers don’t do enough new stuff then we are left feeling we just played the same game twice.

[Jared]: Lawrence, your statement that "Gears 2 is everything Gears 1 was but better" -- We need to delve into that.

[Lawrence]: Yeah that is a bit of a loaded statement isn’t it?

[Jared]: Well, first of all, why do you think its better?

[Lawrence]: Hmm broad question. I’ll throw out a few details. The campaign goes through so many original areas and has lots of cool battles, the story offers more little hints for people looking for them, the difficulty was tuned much better, the additions to multiplayer all work well and increase the variety of play... I can keep going but there’s enough to work on there.

[Aaron]: I thought the story left too much out there. What about you guys?

[Jared]: I agree, Aaron. Same symptoms as last time, where the characters seem to act on these tiny scraps of intelligence, so insignificant that halfway through the mission you stop and wonder what the hell your goal is.

[Lawrence]: Well ... I think most of the plot in Gears is subtle. Intentionally so, though. The characters don’t restate everything they know about everything because, well, that’s lame. "Go attack this fort" "You mean the fort where this and this happened?" The plot is there. You just have to think about it and connect the details behind the scenes.