Gears of War 2: Flashback Map Pack

After about 10 hours with the Gears E-Day multiplayer beta, Xbox's long-time shooter series is making some smart gameplay changes.

Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel entry that maintains the Gears of War formula, according to a 3-hour preview of its Horde mode.

In both movie and comic book forms, the greatest flaw of Civil War is that the conflict eventually ended. But thanks to a pivotal new series, that problem is finally being addressed 20 years later.

Popping Locust heads and active reloading has never looked better than in Gears of War: E-Day, but this prequel is also making some big changes to how you'll move through the campaign. Movement has received a massive overhaul in the prequel, as Marcus Fenix and the rest of his squad can get around all manner of obstacles to reposition themselves while in combat. The game technically has a jump button for getting over larger obstacles like display cabinets, but don't expect Gears of War: E-Day to turn the series into a platformer. Speaking with GameSpot, The Coalition studio creative director M

Horde and Versus without the chaff.