There’s no doubt that Halo is the flagship franchise for Microsoft’s line of XBOX consoles. But if we had to pick one franchise that would be the runner up in the the debate, we’d have to pick Epic Games’ Gears of War series. Since the series was first introduced early in this console cycle, Gears of War has set the bar for how you make a great third person shooter on a console. So it’s clear that the third entry has a lot to live up to. But after giving Gears of War 3 a good amount of time, we’re happy to say that it lives up to the expectations and more.
Gears of War 3 takes place some time after the conclusion of Gears 2. The Locust threat may be gone after the sinking of Jacinto at the end of Gears 2, but the Lambent have made life impossible for the humans of Cera. Making things worse, the official government has broken down, resources are scarce, and the end looks inevitable. Enter Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad to save the day once again.
Even the women on Cera spend a lot of time in the Gym
While the core gameplay of Gears of War hasn’t changed much over the years, the amount of polish in the gameplay of Gears of War 3 exceeds anything we’ve seen in the series before. The cover and control mechanics feel flawless, the aiming functions all react smoothly, and the new weapons and enemies make for an exciting and challenging game. We particularly liked the challenge of learning the weaknesses of a new batch of enemies (the Lambent) rather than seeing an over abundance of the Locust horde we’ve gotten used to over the previous two games. We also liked some of the new boss battles, such as the Leviathan and the Lambent Beserker. We also enjoyed the addition of the Retro Lancer to the weapons list, which has an old fashioned bayonet affixed and can be deadly when used in a bayonet charge (though we still love a good chainsaw kill as well).
We did find we had some minor complaints about the party AI from time to time, but found it was much more reliable than in past games in the series. We also were not overly thrilled with the one underwater level, but truthfully when have we ever liked underwater levels?
Story wise, Gears of War 3 is very solid, if not quite as strong as Gears 2. There is a sense of “We’ve seen this before,” with some of the story telling elements, as the game follows the same 5 Act arc as the previous iterations. But overall we found that we enjoyed the experience in the same way we would have enjoyed one of those guy flicks with over the top action and just enough plot to connect all of the set pieces. We also liked the inclusion of female soldiers to the mix as well, as it gave the game a bit more depth than the “bromance’ of the first two games. However we would have liked to have seen more of a complete conclusion to the story at the end, but that may just be personal preference.
I once caught a fish THIS BIG!!!!
Along with the game’s single player experience, Gears of War 3 also offers up a number of multiplayer options. For one, the game’s story mode can be completed with up to four players in co-op. Not only that, but there’s even an arcade mode option for the co-op, which tallies up points in a similar style as the game’s multiplayer modes.
Along with co-op, the traditional player vs player multiplayer modes return. There’s your standard Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill and Capture the Leader modes, as well as series favorites like Execution and Wingman. Overall we found the game’s maps to be nicely designed and balanced. But our favorite thing about the multiplayer this time around is the new matchmaking.
Multiplayer still brings the heat
Where as in past iterations players were randomly matched together based on what type of match they were looking for, Gears of War 3 also takes into account the player’s level, meaning that players will be more likely to get matched against players of their own relative skill. No one likes being the low man on the totem pole, stuck in a match where they’ve got no chance to have fun. The new matchmaking does a very good job of giving all players a chance to enjoy the multiplayer, opening up the mode to even the FPS layman and thus expanding the game’s potential audience.
Returning from Gears of War 2 is the very popular Horde mode, which pits up to five players in a co-op battle for survival against wave after wave of enemies. While the concept of the Horde mode has since been duplicated in other games (most notably by the Halo Firefight mode), the team at Epic has raised the bar by adding in a leveling experience that rewards players with new gear as they progress through the waves of the horde. And players will need this new gear, as the horde is more dangerous than ever, with new enemies like Beserkers making an apperance in the mode this time around. However we did find that at times the challenge of Horde mode revolved too much on the equipment that we were able to pick up.
Gore is good in Gears of War 3
As a sort of mirror to the Horde is the new Beast mode, which allows players to play as the the various Locust creatures in the same type of wave after wave experience. Players can play as all sorts of creatures from the game, everything from Tickers to Beserkers and all the Locust in between.
All in all we’ve really enjoyed our experience with Gears of War 3 in both single player and multiplayer. We find that it strikes a nice balance for both the hardcore gamer, and the newcomer who’s just getting his feet wet. We have some minor complaints about the party AI, and the kind of open ended finale in the game, but these complaints should not detract from what was over all a strong finale to the Gears of War trilogy. If you own an XBOX and are even remotely interested in shooters, Gears of War 3 should be in your game library.
Overall Score: 9/10
