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By now we’re a little too accustomed to hearing the infamous “three B’s” surrounding the hype of Epic Games’ much anticipated Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360.  We’ve heard about GoW2’s latest weapon additions in the flamethrower, and the spiffy new execution and “meat shield” systems, but little has actually been seen in the way of visuals.  Fear not, Nukodians, as we’ve just got our hands on a slew of screenshots for both the singleplayer and multiplayer portions of the title.

It just wouldn’t be Gears of War without the game’s signature chainsaw bayonet, and this update shows Epic Games “ain’t messin’ ’round” this time, displaying all flavors of chainsaw-induced brutality, showing off a few new ways to play out your human-fueled lumber jacking fantasies.  One of the less publicized features that caught our eye is the ability to use two chainsaws at once, alongside another teammate — that, combined with duels and the ability to use the chainsaw from behind an enemy looks to produce a drastic change from GoW1’s single death animation.

They say the Devil’s in the details, and looking at the file name for several of the images, we learned of the existence of a few new characters to the Gears of War universe in the cowboy-hat wearing Dizzy, and the tribal-tattooed Tai, who appear alongside series favorite Cole, and the ever-cynical Baird from the last game.  If you’re not down with C. O. G. (yeah, you know me) a few new locust character models were added as well, with the Cyclops, Grenadier, and Hammerhead classes.

With all of the flying body parts, blood, and mouth-watering action on display here, it’s inherently obvious that this is definitely still Gears of War.  The visuals on the first game floored critics and fans alike, and it’s definitely noticeable that Epic has cleaned up the graphics quite a bit.

Several of the new features shown off today look like healthy additions, but we’re still most concerned with how well the singleplayer ends up turning out.  Mythology was one of the first game’s biggest weaknesses, and with games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 pushing storytelling in new ways, it’ll be interesting to see if Epic can spin themselves out of the plot-hole filled knot they put themselves in with Gears 1.  Check out our full exhibit after the break!