3. The Features

Gears of War 2 also sees the addition of new multiplayer features, including a photo mode and a new method to party up with friends.

The "What's Up" feature allows players to simply hit the left bumper button and immediately and easily group up to play Gears 2 multiplayer. No more inviting friends one by one via the cumbersome sidebar. And as a party, you'll be able to keep your group of friends together across multiple matches, never having to reform after a match fizzles out. The game can automatically match your party to a similarly skilled team, ensuring you don't get immediately crushed.

A ghost camera and photo mode have also been added in order to amuse the dead. While getting ranked on your photography a la Dead Rising is mildly amusing, the freedom to zip around the map and watch the action from any angle was sorely lacking from the original Gears, and is very appreciated here.

Here's what Microsoft has to say about it all:

New things to do when dead in a MP match: When a player dies in Training Grounds, Horde or competitive multiplayer matches, there are brand new features to be found even then:

• The new battle cameras now move smoothly from one camera to another and auto focus on the nearest action. It allows players to learn the map while watching.
• The new "ghost camera" allows the spectator the ability to fly around the map and watch whatever action they want.
• You can still use the player cameras to follow a teammate to watch their play.
• Lastly players can now take screenshots using any of those cameras and save them locally where they will get a score based upon the quality of their screenshot (how much action is on the screen, etc.) and in the War Journal they can upload their photos to the web site GearsofWar.com.

Training Grounds: Speaking of Training Grounds, Gears 2 offers a training mode for players that are new to the multiplayer experience, providing an opportunity to compete against AI bots before competing with other players.

Party system: Gears 2 contains an all-new party system that allows players to fully customize their Multiplayer experience. The Party system allows players to team up with their friends in full or partial teams and stay grouped together from match to match in multiplayer and Horde modes. This is one of the most demanded features for Gears 2.

What's Up: We've added the What's Up feature, an innovative LIVE integration feature that allows friends to easily contact their friends and pull together a party in Gears of War 2 without needing to access the Xbox Guide. With one button press you can see all of your friends who are playing Gears of War 2 and with another you can invite them all to join you in a party.

Xbox LIVE: Gears of War 2 benefits from the robust technology and features offered by Xbox LIVE, such as TrueSkill matchmaking for competitive multiplayer matches. Gears of War 2 is one of the few games where the party system lets you match your team against a similar skilled team, as well we display your online rank next to your name so you can see your skill progress. And to make it clearer about which type of match to play and when, we've moved away from the terms Ranked Match and Player Match and now call them Public and Private matches.

Other LIVE features in Gears of War 2 include extensive Leaderboard support for both private and ranked matches, and the ability to upload photos taken during multiplayer matches to GearsOfWar.com.

Achievements can be earned in both single-player and multiplayer games, and in ranked matches and private matches alike. This change will help players reach their Achievements faster. Players will also be able to view their Achievement progress from within the game. Additionally, player stats will be tracked for both ranked and private matches.

4. The Unlockables

Why play a mode unless you have something to unlock? Devoted Gears multiplayer fans will have some incentive to complete the single-player campaign in order to unlock the following:

• Dizzy Wallin: Unlock the Dizzy multiplayer character by completing Act 1 on any difficulty
• Kantus: Unlock the Locust monk multiplayer character by completing Act 2 on any difficulty
• Tai Kaliso: Unlock the Tai multiplayer character by completing Act 3 on any difficulty
• Flame Grenadier: Unlock the Flamer multiplayer character by completing Act 4 on any difficulty
• Skorge: Unlock the leader of the Kantus monks by completing Act 5 on any difficulty

Also, for those players who did their homework by completing Gears of War, a few unlocks will already be available to you, including:

• Complete Act 1 in Gears of War: Unlock Anthony Carmine multiplayer skin in Gears of War 2
• Find 10 COG tags in Gears of War: Unlock Minh Young Kim multiplayer skin in Gears of War 2
• Defeat RAAM in Gears of War: Unlock RAAM multiplayer skin in Gears of War 2

An Xbox 360 exclusive, Gears of War 2 arrives on November 7.