Gears of War 2's Horde mode is a continuation of that struggle. First, let's not get too carried away: at its core, this is simply a survival mode, something we've played in any number of other games. It's just not something we've seen in Gears, or with five online players. And after extensive hands-on time with the mode, I found Horde to be a very welcome addition to the Gears multiplayer lineup. Each round of Horde challenges players with a wave of AI-controlled enemies, which naturally increase in difficulty. To the benefit of the mode, the variety of enemies in Gears 2 has been noticeably improved; players will face tiny suicide bombers, fast-running soldiers, and massive, lumbering monsters. The overall number of enemies is tracked by a simple health meter-style bar, which is replaced with a numeric counter when only a few enemies remain. At the end of the round, the score is tabulated for each member, along with an overall team score.

Levels are set up in arcadey fashion, and tended to be on the small size. One of the maps had the waves entering from an almost maze-like series of fences, while another was set up with a sort of Alamo-style corral of sandbags atop a bridge, the foes streaming in from all sides. Monsters made good use of the many objects, slowly stalking our squad.

When a teammate is taken down, tapping "A" will allow him to crawl on his hands and knees, dragging himself toward a teammate for revival. In the event that a player is knocked out of the round, he'll have to sit around and watch the action until the round is over, at which point all fallen teammates are brought back to life.

I played a round with five co-op comrades, and another with only one partner. Each situation presented obvious challenges; with only two players, sticking together was a necessity in order to ensure a quick revival. With four teammates, extending your front line was less of a risk, though the added chaos made it more difficult to coordinate.

Tactical cooperation was difficult in the loud demo room, but I got the sense that the mode would definitely reward a tight group of players. Taking down some of the larger enemies was obviously easier with help--though some weapons such as the Hammer of Dawn and Mortar will save Rambos in a pinch. The latter weapon acts like a standard mortar in its normal firing mode--holding down the fire button increases the power like a swing in a golf game, which was difficult to master, but fun to screw around with. The quickfire had the character simply picking it up and using it as a grenade launcher, a much more effective version.

Horde mode manages to recreate some of the best moments of Gears co-op, without all those overblown cutscenes to slow things down. With a group of four Shackers, this will be a lot of fun.

Gears of War 2 is scheduled for a November 7 release on Xbox 360. Check out new footage of the game on Shackvideo.