Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter built around tactical use of cover. Players fight through a campaign as a soldier of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, carrying a limited loadout of weapons and…

90 7 November 2008

Shooter Action Science fiction

Gears of War 2 is a shooter developed by Epic Games, released 7 November 2008 on Xbox 360. The main story takes about 8 hrs to finish.

Verified 18 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Gears of War 2 is

Gears of War 2 is a shooter game developed by Epic Games and released in 2008. It was published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is available on Xbox 360 only. It runs on Unreal Engine 3.

The premise, in the publisher's words

Set on the planet Sera some months after the previous game, the war between humanity and the underground Locust Horde reignites when Locust forces begin sinking entire cities. With the last major human stronghold under threat, the Coalition of Ordered Governments launches a large offensive to take the fight into the depths of the planet. Sergeant Marcus Fenix leads Delta Squad underground to strike at the Locust directly, while his comrade Dom Santiago continues a personal search for his missing wife.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action and science fiction. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Co-operative, Multiplayer, Single player and Split screen.

Where it sits in the Gears of War series

Gears of War 2 is the third of 12 entries we hold in the Gears of War series. It arrived a year after Gears of War. The next entry was Gears of War 3 in 2011. Its critic score of 90 is 7 points above the series average of 83. The highest-rated entry is Gears of War 3 at 97.

See all 12 Gears of War games in release order →

How it was received

Gears of War 2 holds a critic score of 90 out of 100. That places it above 94% of the 3,306 rated shooter games in our database, which average 70. Games released in 2008 averaged 65, so it scored 25 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 87, across 457 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 8 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 22 hrs, roughly 2.8 times the length of the critical path.

What it launched against

Gears of War 2 launched on 7 November 2008, within three weeks of Fallout 3, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Left 4 Dead and LittleBigPlanet. It reviewed better than 2 of the 4.

Released around the same time: Fallout 3, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Left 4 Dead, LittleBigPlanet.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Gears of War 2 yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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