Gears of War 2 picks up six months after the events of "Gears of War," and thrusts players back into a deep and harrowing story of humankind’s epic battle for survival against a nightmarish force of underground creatures known as the Locust Horde.

Players continue as Marcus Fenix, a reluctant war hero and leader of Delta Squad, six months after the events of “Gears of War.” The last cities on Sera are sinking, swallowed by a new Locust threat from below. A massive counterattack is humanity’s last hope for survival.

Gears of War 2 blends a best-in-class third-person shooter with unsurpassed high-definition visuals, all layered on top of an engaging story of survival, loss and retribution.

The Snowblind Map Pack, a winter-themed batch of four new Gears of War 2 maps bound to crank up the heat on your multiplayer and Horde matches.

The four maps are:

1. Grind Yard, a massive industrial complex with low bunkers and high sniping positions.
2. Under Hill, which takes players through snowbound tunnels and beyond.
3. Courtyard, a wide-open battle royale.
4. The popular Gears 1 map Fuel Depot, back with a blast of winter courtesy of Mother Nature, aka Epic Games.

Gears of War 2 Title Update 3:

Improvements

• Adds 100 levels of player experience that you can gain based on your score in Public matches. The game still uses Trueskill for matchmaking to find the most competitive matches, but the skill rank is now hidden. The new level of experience appears next to your gamertag, with levels 1 through 99 displayed as numbers and level 100 displayed as an icon. The game normalizes experience based on match type so that players earn an equivalent amount of experience across all modes.
• Adds an experience penalty for players quitting before a match is complete.
• Adds bots automatically to a Public Match if players quit and cause unbalanced teams. This ability has always existed in Private Matches if the bot count is set higher than zero.
• Optimizes playlists to only have two modes per playlist. Ties are decided by random selection.
• Adds map cycling to Private Matches. The first match map is chosen by vote or by host, and when that match is completed, the game transitions automatically to the next match, with the next map selected in alphabetical order.
• Adds the ability for teams to talk to each other between rounds in a Private Match.
• Adds the ability to save Public and Private Horde high scores after each complete wave, in case the host loses connection.
• Makes minor changes to general bandwidth usage.
• Adds region preference to matchmaking.
• Improves standby detection.
• Adds nine new achievements worth 250 points. Progress toward them starts after Title Update 3 is applied. Six of the new achievements require the Snowblind Map Pack, a set of four new maps to be released soon. The nine new achievements:
  • "Rookie Gear" (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only).
  • "Seasoned Gear" (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only).
  • "Battle-Tested Gear" (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only).
  • "Battle-Hardened Gear" (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
  • "Veteran Gear" (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
  • "Never Eat Red Snow" (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Icy Dead People" (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Frigid Body Dynamics" (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).
  • "The Weather Outside Is Lethal" (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

Exploit Fixes

• A player could swap from a pistol to a two-handed weapon during a cover slide and then mantle greater distances.
• Players could kill themselves in Wingman to avoid giving their opponents more points. Now, suicides and team killing will reduce team score.
• A player holding a meatshield could melee through some walls.
• A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a shield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol.
• A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a meatshield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol.
• A player could prevent planted shields from being picked up by other players.
• Players could launch themselves into the air with a smoke grenade while mantling.

General Fixes

• An issue that caused chainsaw interruption when a player is shot to be less reliable in some body positions than in others.
• An issue where a third player could join a Public Wingman party lobby and remove another player from the game.
• An issue in Submission games where occasionally the meatflag would immediately run back to the spawn point after being dropped.
• An issue where players that were knocked down but not out (DBNO) while planting the Boomshield would appear to be standing.
• An elevation-based issue where the detection for a headshot might not align properly with certain character model heads.
• An issue that could cause Wingman teammates to have different character models.
• Additional miscellaneous bug fixes.

Balancing

• Reduces stun duration of smoke grenades. Currently, characters always start to get up after 2 seconds.
• Gives melee the same delay after roadie running that shooting received in Title Update 2.
• Removes spawn protection from the Horde in Horde mode.
• Increased the forward angle that triggers chainsaw duels so that players with Lancers equipped won't be sawn from the side without a duel.
• Reduces the delay before a player can climb up after entering low cover.
• Makes minor changes to weapon spawns on the Subway map to provide greater balance.

Features:

• Gears of War 2 takes the award-winning gameplay of the original and improves upon it in every way. The genre-defining cover system is further refined, making the “stop and pop” gameplay more intuitive. Dynamic cover is given new meaning as downed opponents can be picked up and used as shields. The intimate violence of the battlefield is heightened when combatants engage in chainsaw duels. Destructible environments and vicious new finishing moves add to the over-the-top experience.
• Gears of War 2 continues to raise the graphics bar through its breathtaking visual effects, made possible through advances in Unreal Engine 3.
• Gears of War 2 takes deep and immersive storytelling in video games to greater heights. Players connect with humanity’s battle for survival on a personal level as they move through a story that introduces new characters and sheds light on the histories of familiar ones.
• Team up with a friend to fight through the harrowing story of Delta Squad in the enhanced campaign mode, now featuring drop-in/drop-out gameplay, as well as individual player difficulty options. Or recruit four friends to battle in the new game mode “Horde,” where you’ll fight together to fend off a seemingly endless onslaught of Locust forces to attain the highest score.
• Gears of War 2” features eight distinct multiplayer modes,2 including the new Wingman, Guardian and Submission modes, where up to 10 players choose a side and pit their courage and battlefield mettle directly against others. In addition, multiplayer bots are available to sharpen your skills offline or to fill out your online private matches on Xbox LIVE.
• New to “Gears of War 2” is a party system that allows players to form a full or partial team with friends and continue together from match to match without the need to reform after each game. “Gears of War 2” also supports a skill-based online matchmaking system, powered by TrueSkill, which groups players of similar skill level together in competitive multiplayer matches.

Gears of War 2 is currently available worldwide.