Epic and MS started off their Gears of War 2 E3 presentation on slightly disheartening note. The first thing we've learned is that Gears of War 2 won't be featuring a four-player co-op mode (unlike Bungie's Halo 3, which includes a 4-player co-op campaign). Instead, Epic's shooter is going to offer a two-player co-op mode, accenting the relationship between the characters Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago (a.k.a. Dom).

It's barbecue time!

You don't want to get in the way of that.

Things picked up as soon as we saw which modes are in store. In short they've more than compensated for the lack of 4-player co-op. The Horde mode, for instance, puts five players into an exciting battle situation, where they are required to deal with incoming Locust, wave after wave. The only drawback here is that bot support is not included in the Horde mode - a feature that's otherwise a welcomed innovation in GoW 2. On the other hand, as the match progressed we saw that the enemy did its best to overwhelm us. Most of the fun now lies in the inclusion of brand new foes, such as the strengthened Boomers and Tickers. Now, the oversized Boomers are particularly nasty. There are three types of Boomers, each deadly and resilient. The Butcher frantically brandishes his meat cleaver and is accompanied by the Mauler, who uses a huge shield and wields a lethal explosive flail. You might want to avoid the bad-ass Scorchers and their flamethrowers, since they can "cook things up" very quickly. To get rid of them swiftly, players can shoot out their gas tanks. As for the Tickers, well, as the name suggests, Tickers keep ticking and will rush at you kamikaze-style, until they blow up.

We were also happy to witness the some of the new maps, some of which feature environmental hazard, such as the Avalanche. On this map, the match will take place in cool-looking snow-covered surroundings. Every once in a while you'll hear a horn sounding off, to indicate the impending avalanche. Any players who get caught in the wall of snow are killed instantly. From this point on part of the map gets completely covered in snow, while visibility decreases drastically, so you're gonna have to endure the foggy ambiance for about 30 secs (which is how long it takes for the fog to disperse. The increased level on environmental interactivity seems to make the matches far more enjoyable than before. New weapons also make a fine contribution to the proceedings. Truly awesome stuff - such as the Mortar and Mulcher. The Mortar, as you'd expect, deals a great deal of damage and can help keep foes at bay from long distances. The Mulcher is also something we've enjoyed. This is a heavy weapon, greatly resembling a mini-gun. Not much on accuracy, but it can tear through enemies more effectively than any other weapon in your arsenal. There's a way to help you improve accuracy. You can place it on cover, thus acquiring a sort of machine gun nest.

We didn't expect any radical visual improvements, since the original Gears of War pretty much pushed the Xbox 360 hardware to its limits. We were, however, surprised with how incredible the game looks. The enhanced version of the Unreal Engine 3 now enables a greater number of enemies on screen and watching the Locust charge against your team can really send shivers down your spine.

During the E3 demo, Epic has put emphasis on the multiplayer, although they did reveal that players will also be able to experience an engaging storyline that's being prepared for the single-player campaign (certainly something that was missing in the previous game). The new maps are delicious, as are the new-fangled destructive weapons.

Gears of War 2 is an X360-only game, scheduled to appear on November 7, 2008.