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2. What we now know - Gears of War 2 will be as gory as ever and include some cool, new combat surprises.

About half way through the teaser trailer Marcus lifts his chainsaw high above his head and charges towards a Locust. He then clashes chainsaws in a savage duel, black sparks firing until eventually Marcus smacks the Locust with the butt of his rifle, exposing his back. He then flips the iconic weapon upside down so the chainsaw is facing towards the sky and drives it into the Locust's back, driving it upwards until it splits the unfortunate grub in two. Nice.

What can we expect from this? Chainsaw duelling! Gears' instant chainsaw kills were never the most precise of sciences. Being able to fend off your opponents with the chainsaw, offline and online, should add much needed variety to bloody melee encounters. What else can we expect? Chainsaw charge! While you can rev your chainsaw while moving in the first game, you've never been able to roadie run with it held high above your head, ready to bring the pain down on your unsuspecting victims in spine-shattering fashion. And the crowning touch? Multiple instant kills! In Gears of War no matter how you approached an enemy the chainsaw instant kill animation was the same. The trailer shows Marcus flipping his death bringer and mixing things up. We can't wait to try it for ourselves.

And that's not all. We've cast our inquisitive eye over the Unreal Engine 3 tech demo that was previewed just before Gears of War 2's confirmation at GDC. It's described as "what Gears of War would look like if it launched today" and shows the game running on the latest version of the much-licensed Unreal Engine 3. The video shows hundreds of Locust running down a war-torn street. It shows Marcus blowing up destructible environments like concrete columns, walls and floors with a Torque Bow. It shows improved graphics with technical things like Ambient Occlusion (more realistic shadows) and soft body physics. And it shows Marcus mucking about in amazing-looking water, creating realistic ripples and splashes with his rifle fire.

What does the Unreal tech demo tell us? It tells us to expect battles on a much bigger scale with loads more enemies on screen at once. Gears only ever pitted you against five or six Locust at once. We love the idea of fighting back a Locust swarm over a hundred strong with our back against a wall. It tells us to forget about the invincible cover from the original Gears of War - blowing away a concrete block with a Torque Blow to flush out a camping Locust sounds like explosion-filled music to our ears. And finally it tells us that it's possible to make a game even better looking than the first Gears - something we were starting to doubt was possible on the Xbox 360. How will Gears of War 2 compare to the best the PS3 has to offer in nine months? Only time will tell.

1. What we still don't know - Will Gears of War 2 have four-player co-op?

When we knocked our heads together and brought you our Top 10: Things that will make Gears of War 2 great feature, number one on our wish list was four-player co-op. For all the excitement the game's announcement and teaser trailer has brought, we still have no idea whether or not Epic will include this essential change. While we're already excited to the point of exploding like a Locust with a grenade stuck up its bum, we reckon we're going to be mighty disappointed if Epic doesn't confirm what all Gears fans are praying for soon. More info is sure to hit the internet over the coming months (the game is out in only nine months after all), so expect answers soon. For now though, we've got an aching feeling to carve up some Locust.

Over to you. How's Gears 2 shaping up? Let us know in the comments section below.

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