Written by: Mark

 

 

 

As with the first Gears of War game it would be inevitable that there would be countless downloadable add ons for "Gears of War 2". In this review we take a look at the latest of these, entitled 'All Fronts Collection' to see if it warrants the 1600ms point cost.

 

 

Prior to the release of the All Fronts Collection Gears of War 2 has seen other downloadable content, namely Flashback, Combustible and Snowblind plus the recently released Dark Corners collection.

 

For those whom may have waited, now seem to have been spoilt with All Fronts Collection which includes all of the previous downloadable add-ons (plus the deleted chapter found in Dark Corners) combined into one download.

 

When taking this into consideration it seems that it is going to represent very good value, particularly when you consider how much the previous collections would have cost if downloaded upon their individual releases.

 

 

For the true Gears of War fans undoubtedly one of the biggest selling points is the inclusion of the deleted scene entitled Road to Ruin and the fact that this chapter includes a stealth mode which is completely new to the franchise.

 

 

'Road to Ruin' sees Marcus taking an alternate path through the locust lair which is presented in a nice fantasy setting which would not look out of place in a movie such as Lord of the rings. The main difference is that this chapter has two different styles of play. Firstly you have the chance to tackle this in a stealth orientated manner which allows the player to don a suit of Theron armour and sneak past the locust enemies, keeping calm and enough distance so as not to be noticed.

 

To assist you through the chapter is a computer controlled accomplice with whom you have to work co-operatively with and ensure that the correct paths are taken. More often than not this involves climbing ladders and co-operatively pulling levers or working switches and to be honest this soon gets repetitive.

 

All is not bad however as the player can also tackle the chapter in true Gears of War style, which is action packed and all guns blazing. Whilst this does make this deleted scene far more enjoyable I still get the feeling that it does not really fit in with the GOW style and as I result I can see why it was not included in the final game.