#6 - The final battles

Throughout the game, Skorge the Rastafarian Locust is hyped up as the ultimate badass and your eventual duel with him as the ultimate showdown. He can fly through the air! He defeated Tai and (possibly) Dizzy! He wields a double edged weapon, just like Darth Maul!

What an anticlimactic letdown, then, when you beat Skorge with nothing more than a combination of button mashing, debris dodging and metal cutting. Seriously, that’s it? And please don’t get us started on the lambent Brumak...

#7 - Riding the Reaver

Oh, is this the final Skorge showdown? Another timed sequence in which the smallest error will equal instant death? Rail shooting in only two directions as you dodge a couple of inches to the left and right? Ending oh-so-dramatically as Skorge falls with a cartoon thud to the ground below? Can’t we just fight the Leviathan again instead?

#8 - Marcus and Anya, sittin’ in a chopper

We like Marcus. We like Anya. We want them to be happy. We’re not sure, however, that we want them to be happy together.

The romance seems abrupt, forced and too convenient. Dom and Maria are done, so now Marcus needs a girlfriend? Anya is the sole woman in the Gears universe, so she’s required to make googly eyes at the protagonist? Every female voice that gives you mission objectives in a game must also become your vaguely assumed love interest (see Halo, Metal Gear Solid, etc)?

If these two are going to be an item from now on, build some believable chemistry. Maybe show them actually spending time together. Otherwise, let’s keep it professional.

#9 - The ending

The finale of Gears of War 2 is definitely more satisfying than that in Gears of War. Also, we understand this particular sequel was only a stepping stone to future sequels. Until the franchise stops making money, we’ll never get any real closure on the storyline.

Still, though... couldn’t we have gotten a little? Just a little closure? Or, if you’re setting us up for Gears of War 3, just a bit more of a cliffhanger than Adam Fenix’s crackling voice after the credits? Or, if you’re just showing off all the beautiful CG destruction, maybe more than a minute of it? Please? We did spend $60 and almost a dozen hours on this thing, after all...

#10 - Cole Train silenced

When Gears of War 2 was marketed as “bigger, better and more badass,” we automatically assumed all of those adjectives would apply to Cole Train’s ending credits rap. We expected more verses, more instruments and possibly a collaboration with Rihanna. We were wrong.

Nov 21, 2008

Gears of War 2: Biggest surprises
The 16 things that blew us away

Gears of War 2: War Journal walkthrough
Our complete video guide to all 41 hidden collectibles

Gears of War 2: Multiplayer map strategy
Downloadable weapon locations give you the ultimate strategic advantage

Gears of War 2: The review
A sequel that does what it sets out to do flawlessly