By Tara Dragert [AbsoluteSnapper]

I’m going on a date. It’s going to be perfect. We’re going to be made for each other. At least, that is what I’ll make myself believe while I rehearse the date in my mind for the next six months. Gears of War 2 (GoW2) will be released this November. It will show up at my door with a red-tinted chainsaw that the most beautiful of roses will envy. We’ll spend the night together; probably the entire weekend. I’ll ignore my friends for weeks. I might even miss a day or two of work. But until then, I’ll wait. And each time I envision my date it will get better, sweeter, and more bad-ass.

Since September of last year, two major sequels hit the Xbox 360 – Halo 3 in September and Grand Theft Auto IV in April. In the months leading up to these releases I observed communities rampantly speculate, romanticize over every leaked video and detail, and embody and embrace fanyboyism like nobody’s business. And even though I’ve never been a huge Halo player or GTA fan I still found myself getting caught up in the buzz. I finagled my way into the early beta for Halo and found my way to both midnight releases. How did this happen?

From New IP to Sequel

Gamers are understandably skeptical when it comes to new intellectual property. It doesn’t matter how big the marketing machine is pumping a future title – gamers will believe it (and buy it) when they see it. And our skepticism is understandable. Remember Two Worlds? You know, “The next Oblivion.” I’ll say no more.

But once a new intellectual property reaches success, future expectations for sequels take on an entirely different dynamic. The curse of the movie sequel isn’t present in gaming. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Intense, large followers of gamers start to rally a sequel months, even years, prior to release. The marketing machines and developer faces that promote these sequels carefully tap into the anticipation with strategic leaks, video releases, gameplay tidbits, and cross-product marketing. And the old adage “less is more” never applied better. Give a gamer just a 30-second peek into the Gears of War 2 campaign, and they will give you a full analytical write-up digesting every detail, every pixel. And pretty soon, you find yourself showing up at a midnight release buying an over-priced limited edition game complete with helmet, action figure, storage case, and other paraphernalia.

The expansive courting of game and gamer prior to a sequel’s release is not without consequence. When gamers are finally able to consummate the relationship and they lay that shiny disk in their tray, we hear of disappointment. Halo players viciously critiqued the balance of every map and weapon. “The battle rifle is not the same!” “The Brute Hammer is for noobs!” They lamented the change in story direction, and even the evolved personalities of some favorite characters.

In April we heard complaints of GTA’s reduced difficulty in comparison to prior installments. The graphical prowess that all the magazines were raving about fell short. One of my fellow gamers commented “Jaggies and octagons? WTF?” And some gamers were disappointed in their inability to connect with our Eastern mystery, Niko Bellic.

As a relative outsider to these two franchises, I observed the frenzy and was intrigued, if not entertained. But now that information is leaking about my favorite game, I started to wonder, will I, too, be disappointed? I’ve already found myself feeling defensive over the GoW2 naysayers. Is it possible to be excited while pragmatic? I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m sure going to try. And I’ll do that by revisiting what I love about Gears of War and what I’m hoping for this November:

Close Combat Multiplayer – There are few other games that embrace close combat in the way Gears does. I want to maintain that same feel wherein shotgun duels could be anyone’s win and fights to the death reward the run n’ gunners and risk-takers. The possibility of getting locked into battle with 2-3 locusts and coming out on top is stressful, yet satisfying.

Every Match Counts – There’s no zombie-like spawn-respawn-spawn-respawn action in Gears. The juxtaposition between close combat that promotes risky gameplay and the dead room that doesn’t invite you back until the round is over is a formula I can’t do without. It promotes several styles of cooperative gameplay and emphasizes strategy. I’ll take more gameplay modes, but don’t take away my bread and butter.

Host Shottie – I love host shotgun. I love it even more when everyone has host shotgun. Playing Gears on a LAN is a totally different experience than playing on Xbox Live—I almost didn’t want to go back. Please Epic! I beg of you to get rid of the lag. You’re a big boy with a big name, live up to it.

Lobby System – I’ll go out on a limb on this one. If there is not a suitable lobby system in Gears 2 – I WILL be disappointed. I’ll still buy it and play the hell out of it, but this is non-negotiable. I need to be able to change weapons, maps, gameplay, and rules without letting my friends drop-off.

Meathead Commentary – There were some people that were turned off by the testosterone-heavy meathead appeal to the Gears of War dialogue. But taken in jest, it’s entertaining. It’s fun to mimic. And it’s an important part of the Gears experience. I’m definitely looking forward for new catch phrases and smack-talk.

Achievement Whore Alert! – There is no good reason to limit achievement to ranked matches. I have probably what amounts to thousands of grenade tag and chainsaw kills, yet I’m not adorned with their accompanying achievements. Shame.

Co-op – I play single player campaigns once. Never more. My husband and I will play cooperative games two, three, four, maybe even five times. We’ll even play a mediocre cooperative game over and over again because it’s fun to play together. I am counting on Gears to offer us a deeper, more engaging story that we can enjoy together many times over.

Maps and Weapons Galore – I want all my weapon favorites and I want more. I hear I’m getting a Torque-Bow with blades and poison grenades. My trigger finger can’t wait. And I want maps that will entertain me for years. And while Epic is at it, why not give me all the old maps too? Pretty please? (This should be standard for all sequels in my opinion).

There’s much more that I would love to see in Gears of War 2, but I’m striving to be realistic. I’m fending off the disappointment of a romanticist’s unmet expectations. But I’m not limiting my expectations to a $60 map pack. More than anything, I want Gears to stay Gears. It’s a solid enough game that differentiates enough from other shooters to hold up to the competition with its own portfolio of features to please its fanboys and girls. It’s impossible to know the outcome of my hopeful date; which will likely take place on an unapologetically cold evening. But there is one thing of which I’m sure; this is one date where I will quickly kiss and tell. Now if you could excuse me, I need to go gossip with my friends in the ladies room.