There has been a ton of news on Gears of War 2 out of E3 and the EGM cover story.  I've been meaning to post something about all the news but so much has come out I figured I just do one wrap up story.  In the next Gears game a lot has changed and a lot has improved from the previous version.  This time around multiplayer is getting a lot more emphasis with new game modes and match types.

From a pure game play stand point the biggest change I've seen is the addition of the human shield.  Now you can approach a downed enemy and pick them up to use as a human shield.  When you approach a downed enemy you will have four options, use them as a human shield or three distinct execution options with one being the elaborate execution based on the weapon you are carrying.  A nice change made for the downed player is they have the ability to craw away.  This will put more of an emphasis on finishing someone.

There are a few new items you can pick up in the game as well.  There is now a shield you can take cover behind and it seems you can also plant the shield into the ground.  There will be a flamethrower in the game as well.  This weapon looks really cool in the E3 demo which you can view on Xbox live Marketplace.  There is a new SMG style handgun that will be useful when taking cover behind the shield or a body.  The new smoke grenade now has some power and will down an enemy.  There is also a new poison grenade that will produce a cloud of poisonous gas.  

We don't know much about the campaign but it seems to take place six months after the first game.  It is also implied in an interview that you may be able to ride some of the Locust vehicles.  There is also talk of a possible tank you get to drive around as well.  It seems you will still have 2 player co-op and most of the story will be told from Dom and Marcus' view.  There are two new characters in the game so I would not be surprised if we saw one or two of the main characters from the first game die.  More on the campaign will probably leak out later.

The multiplayer is where the big changes are coming.  The biggest news is that there will be bots in multiplayer now so those 2v1 or 4v3 matches will get evened out by bots.  It's unclear if bots will take the place of people that quit in online matches.  The new player limit in multiplayer will now be 5v5.  The new game mode I'm most looking forward has to be Horde, where you take on waves of Locust until every member of your team is dead.  There is now a capture the flag mode as well where the flag is some sleeping old man.  You need to pick him up and carry him back to your base.  If he wakes up I guess he goes nuts and kills everyone near him.

So that's all the news I've heard on Gears of War 2 from the E3 coverage and the EGM magazine article.  I'm looking forward to playing what will no doubt be the best game available this fall.  One can only hope that we see a multiplayer demo/beta available some time this fall.