I've been playing Gears 2 since it came out, it's an amazing game and has every reason to be the only game I should play. Ever since it was released it's had the same problem Gears 1 suffered from. That is:

BULLET LAG AND HOST ADVANTAGE!

Gears was meant to be a tactical game where both teams would have to think about the move they were making. The thing is, when there's lag and a host over it all, there's no winning because no matter what you do, everyone is seeing it differently.

What is Bullet Lag?
Bullet Lag is pretty self explanatory. You shoot your shotgun and usually, in any other game, the bullets would hit the ground instantly. Gears of War doesn't feature this important aspect. If you are NOT HOST, your bullets will hit the ground anywhere from 0.5 seconds to even 10 seconds after being shot! How is the game supposed to progress when your bullets only register ingame 10 seconds after being shot!? Now, it's not bad when there's a lag of 0.5 seconds and less, but still, every other game out there today has 0.0 sec bullet lag, so why can't gears? Here's why: HOST ADVANTAGE!

What is Host Advantage?
Host Advantage is the advantage a player is given when chosen as host. This process is done randomly by the computers at EPIC games. Being host means that you're the host of the game and other players are connected to your network. This is where lag is generated. By being host, you are receiving NO LAG whatsoever. This means that your shotgun bullets will NOT LAG after you shoot, making you able to kill enemies in the amount of time that is obvious. Say you are Off Host (Player who is connected to host) and the host is located in RUSSIA, that means that you will receive a lot of bullet lag, while the host receives none!

How does this affect the game?
This effects the game in a very big way! Say you're off host and you've connected to a host in the United States and your bullet lag is approx. 0.35 seconds. Not bad but look at it this way. If you shoot an opponent at the same time as he shoots you, the host, who has no bullet lag, will kill you because technically he shot you 0.35 seconds earlier. This is how it affects the game. Say you Melee a player who has better connection then you, and he Melee's you at the same time, you will be damaged first, because that player has less lag. The whole game reaches an imbalance of course, ruining the experience of the game in a whole.

Every game I've played in the past week has had atleast a 1.5 seconds bullet lag. It's extremely hard to play the game with a lag as bad as this. Imagine shooting your gun and only having the bullets come out 1.5 seconds later, while the host's bullets come out instantly. The whole thought is menacing.

Hopefully the Title Update brings some good hit detection which would allow players to be rid of this putrid bullet lag, letting each shot count for what it is.

That is all..