Gearbox has announced that Aliens: Colonial Marines will tout a new gametype called Escape Mode that sees teams of marines desperately fleeing from an Alien Onslaught... but that's not all. Contrary to earlier statements, Colonial Marines will also include a number of playable female characters - including new squadmate Jennifer Redding in cooperative games or a selection of avatars in competitive multiplayer matches.

We've got all the details - and a trailer - below.

First things first: Escape Mode. This new competitive gametype splits players into Marines vs Aliens and tasks the human team with hitting a series of checkpoints. Aliens will be able to choose from a number of specialised Xenomorphs, much like Left 4 Dead's survival mode. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I assume that this trailer will probably suffice for the time being:

I daresay that many of you will be more excited to hear about the inclusion of female characters, however, especially after producer Brian Burleson categorically stated that Colonial Marines wouldn't feature any at E3 2012. However, Gearbox now purports that Burleson's comments were specifically referring to the E3 demo build, and that female squadmates were always part of the plan.

You'll be able to play as Pvt Jennifer Redding in cooperative matches or choose from a number of avatars in the multiplayer suite. Speaking at PAX [reported by Kotaku]. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford explained that female characters bring an important sense of visual diversity to the game, since they move and animate very differently. The concept artwork (above) isn't final since the announcement has been brought forward.

Let's rock!