Aaaah, Gears of War. One of the best selling games on the 360 as well as one of the most technically advanced, and also one of the most popular online games even today, nearly 18 months after launch. So it’s pretty inevitable that there would be a sequel, but so far, game makers Epic have been pretty quiet about what it will consist of.

Not so much now though, as an upcoming issue of Game Informer has a massive article crammed with new information about the game (12 pages!), including details on new characters, an actual storyline, and loads of interesting new in-game technology.

Story-wise, Gears of War 2 will be based 6 months after Gears ended, and at first will not feature Cole and Baird from the original game, although apparently they’ll be involved at some point. Dom’s still here though, and a big part of the game should involve rescuing his wife, who saw her kids slaughtered by the Locust. Main characters featured in this game will be:

Tai Kaliso: While Cole and Baird are still a big part of the story, they won’t be attached to Delta Squad as the new game opens. The reunion with those popular characters will have some lead up first, and until then, you’ll be meeting some new personalities. The most memorable of these new additions may be Tai, a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor-bound fighters. This familiar archetype should add a fun and perhaps mystical dynamic to the squad.

Chairman Prescott: Lots of gamers found themselves wondering if Marcus’ domineering superior officer was the head of the human government. It turns out that Hoffman is only second in command. Above him stands the Chairman, an almost dictatorial military leader who nonetheless has made the hard choices necessary to keep humanity alive through decades of warfare. As Gears 2 opens, this leader of the COG forces will deliver a speech to the troops before sending them reeling into the suicidal mission ahead.

Dizzy: In the seemingly unending struggle with the Locust Horde, the military forces of the COG have taken massive casualties. Somewhere along the way, Operation Lifeboat was enacted to bring in some fresh blood. Under this new act, the Coalition government will rescue a Stranded family and bring them into the relative story of a COG-protected zone. In return, the able-bodied men of that family join up and contribute their skills to the war effort. Such is the case with hardened soldier Dizzy, a new character who drives the massive Derrick on which Delta Squad ascends into the mountains. With a trademark drawl and an insistence on calling his truck “Betty”, he’s a colorful new addition to the cast.

Maria Santiago: When Emergence Day struck, Dom’s wife Maria became a victim as surely as if she had died in that first attack. On that day, her children were killed. Unable to deal with the shock and loss, Maria lost herself in the ruins of civilization. For Dominic, who joined the COG to protect his family, no priority is higher than to retrieve his lost love – his very personal quest to find her is a major part of the story that unfolds in Gears 2.

There are some big improvements to the Unreal 3 engine, including new lighting and water effects, as well as technology to generate huge hoardes of locusts, all with their own behaviour.

Core gameplay will remain the same as GOW, with the active reload and the cover system surviving intact, and there will be new weapons including poison grenades and a new locust pistol. Two player co-op has a drop-in system this time around, and each player has their own difficulty setting. Whether this means that the players will be split up a lot more remains to be seen, but I’d say that they probably will.

There’s also lots of stuff to collect now for the squirrels and achievement whores among us, with a system to examine COG tags to see who owned them and to fill in on the backstory. It seems like they’re really going for story this time around – lets hope it doesn’t completely ruin the experience.

Anyway, there’s plenty more info on the original NeoGAF forum post here, so I suggest you pick through that to find any other juicy nuggets of info that you could possibly need!

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