Gears of War 2 is already being reviewed by media outlets and they think it’s a great game. With about 20 reviews in the books, GoW2 out scores its predacesor.

According to MetaCritic.com, GoW2 has a 95 out of 100 rating. Notable scores are 100/100 from 1UP, Gamespy, and GamePro. Team XBOX gives a 98/100; IGN 95/100.

Probably due to social engineering, GoW2 has a pethetic 3.3 out of 10 score from 3455 votes from readers of MetaCritic.com. GoW2 is out on the street if you are in the right lanes. However, I’m having a hardtime believing that nearly 3500 gamers have played the game and gone to MetaCritic just to voice their opinion on the game.

For your reference, the original Gears of War, Halo 3, and Call of Duty 4 all had average scores of 94/100 and graded by the major media outlets. With more GoW 2 reviews due out later, it is likely that its current 95/100 rating won’t last and will drop a point or two. As if it matters. GoW 2 will definitely be one of the best games of the year and one the best first person shooters to date on the XBOX 360.

(The original Gears of War title had an average review of 8.0 out of 10 from 877 users on MetaCritic.com. If Epic can’t handle the XBOX Live traffic and if there are technical glitches in the game (perhaps due to a rushed production to meet the holiday drop date), then you can expect users to score this game much lower than 8.0 out of 10.)

Below are direct links to highlighted reviews:

1UP – 100/100
GamePro – 100/100
GameSpy – 100/100
TeamXBOX – 98/100
IGN – 95/100
CVG – 93/100
EuroGamer – 90/100
GameDaily – 90/100

Early reports say that there are texture loading problems with GoW2. GoW2 pushes the envelope when it comes to graphics and you can bet that Epic has used some of the industry’s highest resolution texture maps. However, TeamXBOX says that installing GoW2 to your harddrive (something we’ll all be able to do in a few weeks) fixing the texture loading problems.

There are mixed reviews on the voice acting.

Gameplay and graphics are getting the highest marks.

Matchmaking has changed. From IGN: “The matchmaking for Gears of War 2 is totally different from what was available in Gears 1 and works very well. Players are matched according to their rank and, once matched, must then vote on the gametype and then the map. There are two choices for each and your options depend on which playlist you select initially. The playlist selections are a little odd. I had hoped for an option to just play the new modes, while there are mixes that are close, none provides exactly that.”

Horde mode seems awesome. From IGN: “Horde mode is an unbelievably simple and addictive mode that lets you compete not only against swarms of different enemies but also against your friends. Each map has its own leaderboard and you’ll probably need to get through all 50 waves without your entire team dying to even come close to being at the top. My only complaint with Horde mode is that the mix of enemies is the same for every ten waves. Meaning that Wave 11 contains the same enemies as Wave 21 and 31, they’re just tougher later on. Oh, and where are the Reavers and Brumaks?”

GLHF.