Gears of War 2: Bigger, Badder, Etc...

Will the AI use flanking maneuvers and other tactics?

Tsunoda: There's no sense in having those types of big battles unless there's some type of [strategy] in how the battle's forming around you. One of the great things, even with Gears 1, is just getting away from that stupid Braveheart mentality of action with everyone charging into one spot. You've got a hundred more Locusts you are fighting... you've got a big open battlefield now and obviously you want the AI to take advantage of not only their numbers but the terrain as well.

I think it adds a whole new tactical variation to the game. When you're going down a hallway, there's only one way you can go, you know. It's like, go over down the hall. There's not much variety to that. That's the cool part of [Gears 2]. Not only the big level objectives, but the minute-to-minute way that you [are] approaching the battle. The bigger battlefield gives you a lot more opportunity for how you, as an individual, are approaching the battle and the tactics you employ to be successful. I think it's really good in the variety how each person plays the level and definitely adds to the replayability of the campaign as well.

How much have chainsaw kills changed?

Tsunoda: That's one of the cool things -- they're so visceral... I always felt like I was at a disadvantage when someone came at you with a chainsaw that you didn't really have anything you could do about it. I think that's a huge part of it is empowering the people that are on the other end of the chainsaw... It makes you feel so much better getting to the chainsaw move when you go through a little more sophisticated gameplay to get to that kill. Not that it wasn't completely satisfying to get behind someone and go at them with a chainsaw. I think those head-to-head gameplay elements of chainsaw vs. chainsaw makes getting a kill on it that much more satisfying.

Are the more open environments and meat shields going to show up in multiplayer as well?

Tsunoda: We're not really talking about the multiplayer stuff today. Obviously Epic is a really smart developer... it wouldn't be of a stretch to see that that could be part of multiplayer as well.

If I were going to take a week off of work in November to play Gears of War 2, should I plan to take off at the beginning of the month or the end?

Tsunoda: (Laughs) I'd say that any week you take off to play Gears is a good week to be off.

Will there be the same sort of drab color pallet as before or will be see some green fields and such this time around?

Tsunoda: The way the story is being expanded on now, you're going to be out in areas not only where the COGs are, but down underground with the Locusts. It gives you a much wider pallet of the types of environments you can build and there's just so much more you can do with what the environments look like, the colors, the lighting. It gives a much more distinct look to each of the campaign missions you go through.

How does the game change when people playing co-op have different difficulty modes? Is it just increased health?

Tsunoda: No. There are a lot of branching off missions and you can see how you can easily tailor those branching off missions. It's not just a question of the health, but it's tailoring the individual battles sequences that each person is going through to the difficulty levels set at the beginning of the game.

What are the chances of having more than two people able to play co-op?

Tsunoda: You know, we haven't really said on that yet so I don't think [it's] been decided one way or another. So we'll see how that plays out.

What can you tell us about the new vehicles in the game?

Tsunoda: [Part] of the variety in the gameplay is giving you a bunch of vehicles you can interact with -- and not just from a driving perspective. The derricks [from the trailer] -- you can approach the gameplay on that vehicle from a variety of different ways. You can sit in the front in this big mounted turret or get down in the bed of the vehicle and fire from the sides of the vehicle and fight there or you can disembark and fight alongside the vehicle. Not only is there a lot more variety in the types of vehicles but variety in how you are playing in each of the vehicles which I think is pretty sweet. It's just trying to provide a more robust gameplay experience.