I big step up from the original.

The story is MUCH better.

Way better lighting.

Better guns and a lot more ways to kill people.

I've played about one and a half hours into the game and there are lots of things you can do such as:

-Cut vines with chainsawa

-lure rockworms with fruit

-You comp. teamate can now revive you

I've never played the multiplayer yet so i cant say for that but i must say if you didnt like the first gears of war you might like gears 2.

Enjoy...

Nothing that we didin't knew about :P

Ooh that's me haha.  But really I think Gears 2 just from videos and details is a huge step up from the first which is why I'd like to say why my arguments against the first were so strong.  Because the first was a simplistic run of the mill title that could have been so much more given EFFORT and Gears 2 proves that.

The game is awesome, but mainly due to being basically Gears 1 tweaked to perfection. It probably won't convert anyone who didn't like the first one.