Gears of War 2 - New faces, new places, new vehicles...

...but this time he's brought some new pals along for the ride. Gears of War 2, the hotly anticipated sequel to the original million seller, takes the fight directly to the Locust. Sure enough, Fenix is heading underground...

The way your character takes cover is much improved over the original, ensuring that sneaky Locust scum can't pop off a shot at you and hit you when you're hiding behind a wall or peeping round a corner. Weapons are tweaked though all the oldies but goldies are there of course. There's a new dual-wield chainsaw gun ensuring that Marcus and the other characters in the game can get up close and personal, and spill some alien blood. Underground levels aren't tight twisty dark dank little corridors but vast subterranean spaces, breathtaking in scale and scope and much improved over the originalA new enemy, the Kantus, can use focussed sonic attacks on the player, causing damage and loss of energy. These focus chant attacks are probably the newest most lethal weapon in the Locust arsenal. If you're looking for something bigger to pick a fight with, Cliff Bleszinski promises monsters that will "make the Brumak from the original game look like a baby panda bear."With vast improvements to the original spec Unreal 3 engine used for the sequel, the gushing Cliffy B also added that far more enemies would be on-screen at once, making you really work for your achievements and those end of level encounters with big nasty bosses. Along with Fenix, Baird and "The Cole Train" will be reappearing in the sequel, along with new characters like Tai Kaliso, a spiritual warrior chick, Chairman Prescott (no he doesn't own two jags), the previously unseen head of the human government, and Dizzy, a human vehicle specialist with rather too fond an attachment to his truck - one of many new vehicles in the game. Multiplayer has also been universally expanded and improved over the original. Can't wait. Tune in towards the latter half of the year for the game's release, and keep 'em peeled here - we'll bring you more details, screenies and movies when we've got 'em.