XboxGameZone.co.uk

Don’t you just love the smell of chainsaw oil in the morning? Yes, the brutal Lancer has returned along with the eponymous Gears to conclude Epic’s blockbuster trilogy. Gears of War 3 is the first major AAA title truly marking the end of the summer games drought, yes, Christmas is coming, but has it come early in the shape of a massive Xbox 360 exclusive that lives up to the hype?

Without spoiling the plot, the scene is set for Gears of War 3 with Marcus, Dom and fellow COGs taking refuge aboard a massive ship following the sinking of Jacinto, the last human stronghold on the ravaged planet Sera. It’s not long before you’re thrust into the action with the new Locust mutations, the Lambent, launching an unexpected attack (was it really unexpected? I don’t think so). And so Gears 3 picks up where Gears 2 left off: shooting uglies in the face. The plot of Gears of War 3 has one simple and basic premise: to conclude the story of Marcus’s and Dom’s perennial fight against the Locust, no secret has been made of this fact. What follows is akin to a largely brainless, roller coaster ride action-fest of a big-budget Hollywood movie. Just disengage your brain and get swept along with the over-zealous bravado and exuberance that Gears of War is renowned for.

Interspersed between the frantic gunfights, the story is conveyed by the obligatory cutscenes, these include the expected posturing, welcome doses of humour and at times, even a true sense of poignant emotion. And it’s not all just “The Marcus and Dom show”, time is spent uncovering some of the character behind Cole “Train” and as it turns out, he’s not all just “Whooooo!” either (although mostly he is). If you enjoyed the stories behind the previous Gears games, then this one certainly won’t disappoint, just don’t expect a plot that is cerebrally taxing.

Now, we’re all familiar with shooting your common or garden Locust, they come in various shapes and sizes from the innocuous wild Ticker to the rather large and unpleasant Corpser. The arrival of the Lambent variant sees a far more diverse range of critters, which are not only a lot uglier, but tend to be bigger, angrier and glowier (is that even a word?). However, the Lambent enemies do tend to perish in a far more explosive manner than their native Locust cousins, basically, being next to one when they die is not a good idea, although quite spectacular. More often than not, your skirmishes with the Locust and Lambent are kept separate, but there are occasions where the battle turns into a three-way affair just to keep you on your toes.

One thing that the Gears of War series isn’t is understated and that rings true for the weaponry as well.  Seriously, would you really have a machine gun with an integral chainsaw?  Gears does!  All the favourites are back, there have been a few tweaks such as the first person iron-sight on the Locust Hammerburst and there are a few new toys to play with too.  There’s the aptly named Oneshot, a new super-vicious sawn-off shotgun, the cunning Digger-Launcher and a massive cleaver melee weapon – leg of Locust anyone?

Gameplay wise Gears 3 retains the same over-the-shoulder 3rd person shooter perspective, coupled with the familiar and now very fluid cover mechanic. The active reload function remains unchanged, as does the over-the-top bloody executions, yes Gears 3 is still not for the squeamish, or under 18s. Combat is often a cycle of shoot and cover, the Locust and Lambent frequently outnumber your squad in numbers, so charging in with guns blazing is a foolish affair, however if you do take too much damage, death is not guaranteed. Should you soak up too many bullets, then you’ll find yourself crawling along the floor whilst you bleed-out, however one of your nearby squad mates can revive you, which it must be noted the A.I. are particularly adept at. In fact your computer-controlled allies are fairly useful, they not only do their bit in suppressing and eliminating the opposition, but also attract some of the attention, which in turn takes some of the heat off you. However, you are not limited to playing through the campaign on your own, you have the option of 2 player split screen, or up to 4 players on Xbox Live. The co-op campaign works incredibly well with players being able to drop in and out as they please, providing you have used the appropriate party privacy settings.

Gears of War 3 isn’t a particularly challenging game, I managed to finish the campaign on Hardcore difficulty in around 12 hours of play. That’s not to say I didn’t die at all, but certainly if you’ve played a Gears game before, then you should leave Normal and Easy difficulty well alone if you want the most bang for your buck. To keep you going back for more, the campaign is littered with a great many collectibles, which are Achievement linked and there are also some truly brilliant Easter eggs to be found. Additionally the campaign can be played through on Arcade mode, which adds a scoring system, with a few mates this is the perfect recipe for some epic grub hunting sessions.

Whilst Gears of War 3 is particularly gory and messy, it also at times, demonstrates a level of beauty that surpasses its forefathers and indeed most other Xbox 360 games. The detail found in some of the panoramas presented is quite breathtaking, coupled with improved lighting effects; this is a bit of a showcase game. The delay in releasing Gears 3 was obviously time well spent, the game is very polished and runs faultlessly, of course there is also a suitably massive soundtrack to accompany the action to give that proper blockbuster feel.

Campaign of course is only one part of the story, the Gears of War trilogy started with a basic versus online multiplayer and in the second instalment we saw the addition of the brilliantly realised cooperative Horde mode. Epic have really gone to town with the Gears of War 3 multilplayer, it does everything that Gears 2, but, bigger, better and far more refined.

Epic had good intentions with the versus multiplayer of Gears 2, but for some it was just a bit too broken and the mass exodus to other multiplayer games was as vicious as one of Marcus Fenix’s executions. I was one of those that tried to love the Gears of War 2 versus mode, however my lack of skill and the unfair nature of host advantage too frequently made me a victim for the rolly-polly shotty squad. You know the ones: you would be there unleashing a full Lancer clip into a somersaulting enemy, who would seemingly always survive and blast you at point-blank range turning you into little more than a large puddle of beef stew. Because of the nature of the Gears 2 multiplayer modes, you would then be sat there watching your teammates being annihilated in much the same way until the end of the round, then rinse and repeat. But Cliff Bleszinski and Epic have listened to the fans and I’m pleased to say that Gears of War 3 versus multiplayer now works like a dream, alas my skills are still painfully lacking, but the experience is far more enjoyable and a lot fairer with it.

There have been a raft of improvements that have been levered into the Gears 3 multiplayer, however the most major of these is the addition of dedicated servers. The connection on a 5 vs.5 Team Deathmatch, for example, is faultless, the playing field has been completely levelled in this respect and the matchmaking system will always attempt to put you in a game with players in your locality (we’re talking nationally here). On top of this the weapons have been rebalanced, so that the rifles are a viable option against the shotgun, providing you don’t get too close to your opponent. The Gnasher shotgun is still deadly in medium-close to close range, however the new sawn-off shotgun is absolutely devastating at close range, it has the capacity to destroy multiple opponents with one shot and has a very large hit angle. However, the sawn-off is useless at range, can only fire one shot before reloading and has a very slow reload time to boot. The rolly-polly shotty squad still exist, but they’re finding out that players armed with a Lancer and a good sense of distance are now formidable foes.

The versus multiplayer modes from Gears 2 all make a return; there’s the hardcore Warzone & Execution modes (one life per round), Capture the Leader (like capture the flag, but with a mobile player taking that roll), Wingman (two man squad deathmatch), King of the Hill and Team Deathmatch (Like Warzone, but each team has 15 lives per round to share with respawns enabled). Of these modes, Team Deathmatch seems to be the firm favourite judging by the playlist figures, undoubtedly this is because of two reasons; the basic premise of shooting each other to win, coupled with the fact that when you die you’re not just left sat there watching the rest of your team finish the game. For the casual Gears multiplayer gamer this really goes a long way in relieving some of the frustration, particularly if you’re like me and not very adept at the art of bloody slaughter.

There is multiplayer respite from the likes of Team Deathmatch if you’ve had your fill of being sawn in half by other players, you can instead team up to take on one of two co-operative modes. Horde 2.0 takes the brilliantly realised cooperative mode from Gears of War 2 and turns it up to eleven. The objective is still to survive 50 waves of increasingly dangerous Locust, but has been expanded to give an even greater strategic slant to the otherwise simple task of survival. For each Locust kill a sum of money is awarded and you can then spend this money on valuable defences, these can be anything from barbed wire to slow the enemy down, to the deadly Silverback war mech. At first you only have access to the basic defences, but as you utilise each of these you will gain experience, which in turn unlocks more powerful defences. So, for example, repeated use of razor wire will ultimately level up to highly damaging laser fences. There are pre-determined positions to put these defences, but they are set up so that your team can barricade itself into a corner. Think of Horde 2.0 as Gears of War meets Toy Soldiers and you’ve got a pretty decent flavour of what it’s all about.

At first it might seem that completing 50 waves of Horde 2.0 is a doddle given all these new toys at your disposal, but the Locust have a trick up their sleeve; every 10th wave will greet you with a huge “boss” Locust in the form of a huge Brumak, a few Reavers or rather angry Lambent Beserkers. Horde 2.0 is great fun; with a bunch of friends it’s possibly one of the best co-op experiences on Xbox Live.

New for Gears of War is the cooperative Beast Mode, think Horde 2.0, but in reverse.  You and your Locust chums have the task of destroying a group of humans comprising of some of the stranded population and double-hard Gears.  Initially you only have access to low-level Locust like the Tickers and Wretches, as with Horde 2.0, you’re rewarded for the kills you earn and also gain experience.  As the levels progress the human opposition get tougher with more Gears and better defences, but this is where it gets really fun.  The latter levels of Beast mode give you access to some of the larger Locust bad boys; have you ever fancied playing the role of a Corpser?  You’ve got it!  Beast mode is hugely entertaining, but feels like it finishes a little bit short when it reaches its climax on Wave 12.

Overall Gears of War 3 is a very accomplished package, Epic have successfully closed the trilogy and delivered an enduring multiplayer experience.  There are at least four DLC packs planned that have promised to expand both the multiplayer and the campaign.  Whilst Gears 3 doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, it provides a rock-solid third-person shooter and carries itself with style and aplomb.

 
One of my favourite mottos is: “If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.” and clearly this is the rule that Epic has applied to the final title in the Gears of War trilogy. The conclusion to the Xbox 360 exclusive series really doesn’t disappoint and fans are undoubtedly going to be more than satisfied with the overall experience. However, the wheel (or COG in this case) hasn’t been re-invented, Gears of War 3 takes the well worn path of its predecessors and carves a bloody, but well deserved place in video game history.