Tucked inside the All Fronts Collection Gears of War 2 DLC  is a “deleted scene” from the game’s campaign called “Road to Ruin.” If you haven’t already played the single-player, avert your eyes: The Road to Ruin scene starts with Dominic and Marcus discovering that Maria (Dominic’s wife) has been killed – and Marcus asks Dominic if he wants to go guns blazing or use some stealth to infiltrate the Horde HQ.

After you make your decision, you’ll be sent off on a linear path either way. Choosing stealth will send you into the same locales if you go in Rambo-style. However, the two options do provide some different gameplay elements, each with their own merits and demerits. Sneaking through provides you with an interesting glimpse into playing the same game in a different fashion – much like if you were to play Metal Gear Solid 4 like Halo 3. The stealth elements aren’t necessarily deep, challenging, or all that involved, but as an exercise in a new gameplay experience, it definitely succeeds. The only real issue with the stealth section is that it’s probably about 20-30 minutes long, provided you don’t have too much trouble with it. You traverse perhaps four or five different rooms, fight in a couple pitched battles, and then it’s over.

The guns blazing option is more of what you’re used to with Gears of War, and is definitely much longer due to you fighting off the Locust Horde head on. For the most part, you’re going to be doing many of the same things Gears of War is known for – moving from cover to cover, getting into a better shooting angle and taking enemies down. Hell, they even throw a boss battle into the guns blazing section for good measure. However, especially in the first half of the chapter, it doesn’t necessarily have that Gears pacing that I’ve come to adore. For the first three or so rooms that you’re in, you’ll have to defeat the entire room before you come to a checkpoint, and these are pretty sizeable 15-20 minute battles. So, if you get attacked by a Bloodmount and die—tough, it’s back to the beginning of the room. Once you get past these first couple of rooms, however, the game regains its form and is an absolute blast from there on out.

There are some nagging technical issues with Road to Ruin which are understandable, but still frustrating. The first of which is that you have to complete the DLC in one setting. Sure, it’s not all that hard to do, considering its brevity, but if something unexpected happens to your online connection while you’re playing online co-op (which yes, Road to Ruin supports), you’re going to have to start over. You can continue offline to complete the DLC, but you’ll miss out on the co-op achievement if you do so. Additionally, there is no support for finding random online co-op partners to play with, though, this isn’t a big problem — co-op games are meant to be played with people you know and are comfortable communicating with.

Road to Ruin is definitely a fun and interesting entry into the Gears of War franchise. However, considering its length, it’s hard to recommend getting Dark Corners or All Fronts Collection with the sole purpose of playing Road to Ruin. Yet, if you’re in the market for new Gears of War 2 multiplayer maps (which you’ll get with Dark Corners or All Fronts Collection), Road to Ruin should be the necessary kick to push you over the edge.

Verdict: 7/10