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Quite apart from the new chapters and the Brumak, there's also a few other additions to the multiplayer side of things. Three new maps bring the total shipping with the game to nineteen and there's also a new multiplayer mode, King of the Hill, where each team gains points for holding onto a single ring in each map.

Indeed, multiplayer will doubtless continue to be an important theme for Gears of War on the PC. On Xbox 360 the online options were important to the game's success, especially the much lauded co-op mode, which naturally makes a return. Gears of War PC also marks the debut of the Unreal Engine 3 Game Editor, which Cliff was particularly excited about since some of Epic's best designers have come from the modding community. As part of the Games for Windows scheme, the game will also utilise Microsoft's LIVE service for multiplayer matchmaking, and only a free Silver account will be required. This also means, as with the Xbox 360 version, that there's support for Achievements, which helps to maintain consistency between the two versions.

Spending a little more time with this version of the game, it's clear that Cliff and his team have done a great job balancing it for the PC. Put in the hands of less discerning developers it would have been all too easy to lose the essence of the Gears of War gameplay; one must only look at Bioshock to see how a console and PC version of the same game can feel very different to play. In that case it mattered little but for Gears any noticeable difference would have been a problem, so calling this version "familiar" is something akin to the ultimate compliment.

Obviously, though, there are differences, you're using a keyboard and mouse after all, but you gain no definitive advantage from using them, which was the real concern. By default the left mouse button is your primary fire button, with the right button reserved for the zoomed aiming mode that's so essential to combat in Gears of War. The role of the A button is taken up by the Spacebar, which allows you to sprint and hop in and out of cover. Switching weapons has changed slightly too, with the weapon selection moved to the left of the screen as a list that can be scrolled or selected using the number keys.

Cliff was at pains to point out, however, that you can still use an Xbox 360 controller, which is actually quite an attractive feature - especially if coming from playing the Xbox 360 version. Doubtless the majority of PC gamers will use keyboard and mouse, as is their want, but the option is there, and it's well executed too with the tool tips automatically detecting which input you're using when playing. Indeed, as if to highlight how well balanced this PC version of the game is, there was very little discernable disadvantage to using the controller and, in some instances, the familiarity of knowing which button was Melee and so on, actually proved an advantage.

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