Gears of War 3

Having now completed the campaign and given the multiplayer a good seeing to, I can confidently say that this is the pinnacle of the Gears trilogy.

I've never really been a Gears fanboy before but have enjoyed my time causing merry alien bloodshed with Marcus and chums. The social aspects of the game, such as co-op campaigns, Multiplayer and Horde, were what I really enjoyed. These have always been well executed and demonstrate why Gears is such a popular MP experience. I was hoping that Gears 3 could match the polish of its predecessor and it delivers in spades.

It took me around 10 hours to complete the campaign on normal and about the same again with a group of mates in Hardcore setting. The campaign plot shines through. The mixture of pace throughout levels is well judged and shows that the Gears' creators have begun to feel increasingly comfortable in having a nice balance of slower paced sections in amongst the frenzy of war. I was really impressed with the focus on storytelling and the noticeable efforts to really tie up a lot of the series' plotlines. As a miserable old cynic I was genuinely touched by a few moments in the story and thought that sentimentality was treated with real reverence. That's not to say that the gruff humour of the previous games is somewhat lacking; it's evident throughout but there is always the underlying thought that this is the end of things, one way or the other.

Lots of old faces return and none of these appearances feel shoe-horned into the plot. The cast get their chance to shine and do their thing for the COGS. Not only does give us some of the standout and most touching scenes of the Gears trilogy, but it also offers us some stunning individual levels. For me, a siege level encountered half way through the game encapsulates what is best about this series; a sense of urgency; the wide range of useful weapons available; the feeling that you are fighting overwhelming numbers; the importance of teamwork and the bond that exists between the soldiers. The AI in the game is superb, both on your side and with regards to the enemy. In most battles, modifying your attack approaches will reap rewards. It's this AI that really makes Gears 3 such a pleasure to play. The increased range of enemies adds real breadth and longevity to the game as you discover new strategies to deal with them. The scale and magnitude of some of them are a thing of gaming wonder. An arcade mode of the campaign is available which allows you to get one over on your friends by besting their score. Stealing kills has never felt so good.

As for the Multiplayer, Horde returns improved and more nuanced than previously. Not only do your motley crew have to fight off ever-improving groups of enemies, but now elements of castle-defence games have been thrown into the mix. What this means is that as you accumulate kills, you receive funds that can be used to help kit you out with better defences and equipment. This adds a further layer, to what is already an outstanding game mode.

Beast mode is new to Gears 3 and is similar to Horde. In this mode you play as an attacking group of Locust troops, striving to wipe out a group of humans. The better you do, the more experience you will have to spend on characters. The more experience you gain, the more characters become available. The best praise I can give is that this works as well as Horde, which is high praise indeed. The only improvement would be for rounds to be longer, but that aside I can see this game type eating up a lot of social gaming hours.

The rest of the Multiplayer options build on the successes of the previous Gears games and add range and content. They work brilliantly and offer a range of excellent game modes.

It's a fine game. As a package, it offers hours of entertainment. The love that the developers have for their franchise is obvious through all the little extras that exhibit the game, but also with the level of detail evident throughout, It's a near-perfect ending to the trilogy. I cared little for the story before but the writers really engaged me throughout and I found myself being drawn into a game that i thought would be just another polished run and gun experience. The co-op experiences I've had so far have been great and I haven't suffered any lag at all.

Having said all that, there is one small scene involving a character named 'The Cole Train', which has to go down as one of the most painful, cringe-inducing moments in gaming history. The fact that I didn't then will Cole to die painfully is perhaps testament to the excellence of the plot and gameplay.

Gears 3 is the best of the trilogy and for value for money, possibly only The Orange Box comes close. You will get many hours gaming pleasure from this. Whilst I was dubious that Gears 3 would live up to its huge hype, I'm happy to report that it's better than I could have expected.

Games like this represent nothing but pure fun, its constant shooting with big epic set pieces. With the RPG beginning to slowly but surely creep its way into other genres within gaming, going down the open world route and so on this kind of run and gun down what is basically corridor after corridor in its format is a dying breed. You have no choices, you have no impact on its story at all, no upgrades to to play with as you progress and you cant decide which direction to go in or how you go about completing the game. But, the name of the game here is sheer adrenaline action and scale, with which you could imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger as Marcus and Sylvester Stallone as Dom standing side by side sending thousands of rounds out of machine guns that are way to big for them to be using at oncoming monsters some the size of houses lol. This is basically, give me a gun and show me where to shoot type gameplay, which in the 3 person genre it has no peers.

Its story is nothing special in comparison the increasingly high standards being set by such games as Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption, the script is 80s action movie cheese ball style lines which you either love or hate but the main characters simply ooze charisma. It brings a satisfactory conclusion to the plot started from Gears 1 though has many lose ends, in particular certain facts and information that wasnt ever given (DLC likely).

Its campaign can be played through by yourself or with 3 other online players, it will last around 10 hours depending on which difficulty you set it at, how good you are or who you are playing with. But, with its arcade like structure youll want to play through this game many times and in particular through online. It has the usual game modes featured in countless multiplayer games like COD, Team Deathmatch and so on with some interesting variations. With character and weapon skin unlocks, smooth gameplay and quick access to match ups its online features will keep you going for a long time if you find yourself under its charm. For me, its best online asset is Horde mode, its brilliant! Tackling wave upon wave of increasingly hard enemies, at every 10 waves you fight bosses, spawning such things as house high Brumas firing rockets and machine guns at you, while bullet near proof man sized locusts try to force you out of cover. It has another mode called beast mode, which pits you as the locust against the gears in horde like style, which, offers variety.

At times i find myself laughing during certain moments within the game, be it while im firing hundreds of rounds with my machine gun at an enemy the size of a skyscraper or being on the bad end of a mortar strike meanwhile chainsawing enemies while my fellow cogs deal with house high rocket propellin and constant machine gun firing monsters. There are countless explosions in the game, with which if you have a good quality surround sound system youll feel like your house is falling down. Larger enemies or enemies that glow explode with great sound effects and visual flair.

Graphically, the game is beautiful. Nothing groundbreaking but clean and crisp with a silky smooth frame rate. If you like OTT action movies, typically like that of Stallone for example then youll simply love this. Its very much just more of the same though, its gears 1 and 2, but, BIGGER and BETTER in every way. This is the type of game you wanna play after a hard days work/school, its fun, its simple and doesnt tax your mind or your emotions in any way, its just fills you with adrenline charged pulsating action that never ever stops coming. Its not game of the year, but, its one of the games this year that you have to have on your game rack if you even mildly adore shooting things non stop.

I got the Epic version of Gears of War 3 this morning and I've been playing the campaign since, along with some Horde and a Beast mode match. So far, its the best game I've ever played.

The campaign is brilliant, the story has been progressing very nicely with some unforeseen plot twists, great voice acting and facial animation techniques, and a strong plot that I cannot wait to see the end of. So far I am at Act 3 Chapter III "Ghost Town" and the last two levels were absolutely bloody fantastic. Can't wait to see how it ends, and I have a strong feeling the next few levels will be among the best in the entire series.

Horde most has been very much improved. The enemies are mixed and matched with Locust and Lambent coming in together, and the new fortification features and cash are very nice additions to a trailblazing game mode. Gears of War 2 first had the Horde mode, and now many other games follow suit and add their own version of Horde. And with plenty of new variants of enemies in Horde like Corpsers, Brumaks, Berserkers (Lambent Zerkers too), and the Savage Locust it only adds further to the mode, and makes each stage a thrill to play through.

Beast mode is already as good as Horde mode and offers the chance to really play as the Locust, not just wear their skin in multiplayer. Boomers, Tickers, Wretches, Kantus and even the Berserker are all playable in Beast mode when you go up against the Stranded and the COG. Its a bit short at only twelve stages but when played on a higher difficulty it can be a hell of a challenge to get through the whole game. And of course getting a Berserker and charging right into the COG is one of the best things of the entire mode.

I think that GoW 3 will likely be Game of the Year for 2011, and I thank Epic Games for the incredible series they have given us in Gears of War. But thankfully the series isn't done yet, as Gears of War: Exile has been confirmed. Nobody knows what it is but we'll find out eventually.

Until then I am far from done with Gears 3, more of the campaign awaits tonight.