Yeah, the first game has both things you mentioned.

I love Gears 2, because they took what was already a great game in Gears 1 and just made it bigger, more epic and more bad-ass. I've already played through it twice and loved it even more the second time. Except for the end boss, that was kind of a joke.

It still cracks me up to hear Bender's voice in Marcus'. When he cries out in pain it just sounds exactly like him and adds a humorous edge to it.