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'Tis the holiday season and the most anticipated titles of the year all seem to be dropping at once. The shear amount of high-caliber goodness this year is already quite substantial (Mirror's Edge, Left4Dead, Dead Space, Pacific Rift, Fable II, Fallout 3, etc.), but even among these triple-As there are a couple of titles that have piqued our interest even more, making them especially delicious. Gears of War 2 is one of those crème de la cream of the crop games that we've so patiently waited for since the series began two years ago. So what is it about Gears 2 that makes it better than its predecessor? Well, faithful readers, how does 'just about everything' sound?

The planet of Sera is much like that of earth; inhabited by humans, plenty of trees, basic elements for life (earth, water, air, etc.), and its landscapes and cities are very familiar to our own. Unlike Earth, however, the humans of Sera have been at war for nearly a hundred years (first with each other in the Pendulum Wars and then united against a common non-human enemy, the Locusts). In Gears 1 you're introduced to the principle cast of hardcore, thick-necked grunts by playing as Delta squad leader, Marcus Fenix. You spend the entire first game trying to plant a lightmass bomb, the BFG of explosives, deep in the cavernous crust of plant Sera in the hopes of killing the Locusts where they live...

Obviously, it didn't work. Aside from a sweet lightshow and massive quantities of destroyed beauty, the only thing the explosion seemed to accomplish was the complete elimination of the annoying mutant piranha-bat creatures known as the Kryll. That means no reprieve for Marcus, Dom, and the rest of Delta.

While the story is by and large predictable, kudos should be given to Epic for at least trying to flesh out the characters involved, even if their attempts are somewhat contrived. Along with the continuing Human/Delta Sqd vs. Locust conflict, Gears 2 also makes an effort to interweave themes outside of war and destroyed beauty. The clearest example of this is brought to life through Marcus's right-hand man, Dom Santiago, who has his own personal crusade to find his wife (showing not only a softer side to the rugged and tough members of Delta, but also giving further validity to Dom's and Marcus's relationship.) Again, while the side-narrative itself is humdrum (and feels slightly tacked-on), the delivery is surprisingly acceptable.

The gameplay and the single player campaign focus much more on evolution than revolution this time out. There are some new weapons and a few different ways to perform the basic functions (eleven different ways to excute!!!!), but for the most part this is just more of Gears 1 (which isn't a bad thing). The multiplayer, on the other hand, has received a couple of fundamentally different mechanics, building quite a bit on what was already an above-average online experience.

Another interesting twist is the capture-the-flag inspired Submission multiplayer mode. Gears 2 introduces the ability to pick-up and hold a Locust/Person as a human shield. In the new Submission multiplayer mode, there is one NPC that both teams try to capture (by first knocking them down, and then picking them up as a human shield) and carry to a marked location, one slow step at a time. It's a lot more fun that it sounds, and after years of standard CTF, it's a fresh direction for something that would otherwise be mundane.

I think the beauty of Gears 2 is that it retains everything we loved from the first game, sheds some of the fat, and offers a more streamline, and hence exciting, experience. Its single player campaign doesn't answer any questions (actually, it kind of ends with a lot unanswered), but has a certain amount of growth in the form of character and game-universe development. Included with that is some of the most fully-featured multiplayer available on the 360 and arguably the best co-op experience on any platform so far this generation.

I'm hesitant to say that if you have modest (read: realistic) expectations for Gears 2 the game will be as satisfying for you as the first if not more so. Conversely, if you're hoping for something epic or monumental (like, for example, MGS4 or Mass Effect; two games that still managed to blow my insanely high expectations out of the water), you may be slightly disappointed. That said, it's important to note that the only reason I'm saying this is to keep your standards in check - Gears 2 is by all measure a must-have title for the Xbox 360.