Gears of War 3 - The Review You've All Been Waiting For

Dane "Waterborn" Tullock hunkered down in his bunker to play through Epic Games' long-awaited Gears of War sequel. Read on for his full review.

Brothers To the End – Gears of War 3 Brings Respect Back to the Franchise

As the Cole Train would say “Woooo! Gears is back baby!” Cliff Blezinski and the team at Epic Games regain my admiration and respect with the third and final installment in the Gears of War Series. With a strong story line inspired and fleshed out by the books of Karen Traviss and some much needed adjustments to weapon balancing, online gameplay and map design, Gears of War 3 makes up for the shortcomings of its predecessor.

A Quick Review of My Gears of War Legacy

Before I get into my thoughts on Gears of War 3, I think it is important to give you, the reader, a bit of perspective on my own personal history with the Gears franchise. As many of you know, I became a member of the Gears of War clan, Art of War (AOW), shortly after the first game released in 2006. Like many others at the time, I quickly became a rabid Gears of War fanatic. I played through the campaign on co-op over the course of a few days with various members of AOW and then engaged in multi-player battles on almost a nightly basis. Gears of War became a regular fixture in my daily routine. The visceral nature of the gameplay, the sense of weight and density that the character in the game displayed, the “crunchy”, almost physical feel to the weapons – made the original Gears of War unlike any other game I played up to that point.

Not since my days playing Unreal Tournament on the PC had my interest been so firmly held by a single video game title. For the better part of two years Gears was my primary gaming fix. Now don't get me wrong, I would check out other titles too, but I always returned to the world of Sera and the Coalition of Ordered Governments. As the impending release of the second installment in the Gears of War series drew closer in 2008, I became deeply enmeshed in the community supported by Epic Games. I voraciously read Karen Traviss’s novel Aspho Fields to delve deeper into the lexicon of the COG. I joined the throngs of Gears fans who searched the globe for (and in my case found) one of 1,000 COG tags deposited by Epic Games in conjunction with their Last Day viral campaign for Gears of War 2. I developed long-term relationships and made life-long friends via these adventures, and I anxiously counted down the days until Gears of War 2 released.

The game was good, a respectable sequel to the original. However, it lacked some intangible traits that made the first game so appealing and addictive. Before long the Gears of War community began to unravel a bit. Players drifted away and even my clan dropped its focus on the game as our members became disenchanted with the various bugs, host issues and general diminishing level of interest exhibited by the Gears of War community at large. I too wandered away from the online Gears of War community, a bit deflated and wanting more. So it was in this state of video game limbo that I found myself nervously awaiting the final act of the trilogy. I wondered if Epic would be able to re-ignite the enthusiasm and passion they inspired back in the fall of 2006. Well, I am happy to report they did just that for this gamer!

The Story – A Campaign Done Right

Through the fictional works by Karen Traviss (Aspho Fields, Anvil Gate, Jacinto’s Remnant and Coalition’s End) the world of Sera receives depth and a rich historical background. From the Pendulum Wars, through Emergence Day and into the game’s current timeline with the discovery of the Lambent, Traviss gives something to the Gears of War lexicon that the second game could not, a reason to care about Delta Company. If you have not read any of Traviss’ Gears of War novels, I strongly suggest you at least sit down with Coalition’s End prior to playing Gears of War 3. The story is that important.

The game begins 18 months after the conclusion of Coalition’s End. The name of the book gives a hint as to the state of the Coalition of Ordered Governments (aka the “COG”) as the opening credits roll. Though the introductory video gives some background on what happened to Delta Company and the rest of mankind, some players who jump directly from the previous game to this one may find themselves wondering “when the hell did all that happen?” The first sequence will seem very familiar to longtime fans of the series, paying homage to the original game in more ways than one. Without going into any spoilers, the Prologue is probably the weakest portion of the whole campaign. I was not thrilled by the approach that Epic took to reintroducing gamers to the state of the world in Sera after the events outlined in Jacinto’s Remnant. With that said, it was easy for me to move beyond this shortcoming once the action ramped up. Gameplay quickly became frenzied and engrossing. The first time I went up against a wave of polyps I experienced the very same jittery, gut churning feeling that I did when I first read about the Lambent incursions in Traviss’ stories. By now most gamers know about the various gameplay videos that Epic released introducing the Lambent. Take that energy exhibited in those films at E3 this past June, triple it, and you get an idea of how fun the firefights are in the campaign mode. There is a good amount of variability in the environments, including a few instances where I was rather impressed with the development team’s decision to go a little bit out of the box with respect to locales. Of course vehicles (including several organic varieties) play a big role in several of the acts. The good news is that there is little of the frustrating control issues that were exhibited in Gears 2 (Reaver Chase Sequence anyone?).

Going back to the story, I am also happy to report that there are no “Maria Moments” in this game. That is not to say that Epic withholds all emotional content from this installment. At the risk of receiving catcalls of “Girly Man” from my peers here at 2old2play, at one point a little over halfway through the game I actually felt a sense of pain and loss as a result of what I saw on my television. Yes, Epic almost made me tear up a bit and that is no small feat for a story about oversized soldier fighting a subterranean reptilian horde. However, the single best part of the campaign mode for me was finally getting to see Bernie Mataki in action, sporting her cat fur booties and giving Baird aka “Blondie” hell. My only complaint with this inclusion is that for some reason, Epic apparently decided that Bernie needed dolling up a bit. In Traviss’ books, Mataki is a 50-something war veteran and showing her age. However, in the game, she comes across as more of a dread-locked Aussie who would feel as comfortable in a bikini on a beach as she does in COG armor. Check out the photos below to compare the conceptual models released earlier this year and the final result and make your own conclusions.

Now some folks will look to the whole Lambent story line and say “Haven’t we seen this before?” Honestly, there seems to be some resemblance to the whole Covenant/Flood situation in Halo. With that said, the story outlined in Gears of War 3 brings some new and interesting plots twists to the table, including a few that I never saw coming. In the end, Gears of War 3 kept me engaged and pushing forward throughout the whole game. In fact, this is the first and only modern video game that I ever finished in one setting (about 10 hours), only taking breaks for the “necessities”. As the Gears 3 campaign was most definitely one the more enjoyable gaming experiences I had in quite some time. I look forward to playing through the campaign again on insane with a friend or two and trying to locate all the COG tags and special pick-ups that I missed the first time around.

With regard to the question of “Does Carmine live or die?” - to that I say, you need to play the game to find out! 

Multiplayer – Host Shotty is a Thing of the Past.

I was able to put in about four hours of online multi-player matchmaking last night before digging into the campaign today and most of the news on this front is good. With the use of dedicated servers the issues with host advantage in deathmatch games is no longer an issue. Over the course of approximately 20 games, there was not one incidence when I felt as if I was getting pwned by the system. Game play was smooth and load times between matches were not to long. One issue that I did encounter was that I could not simply back out of a room between matches and go back to the lobby. I literally had to hit the Xbox button and exit to the dashboard. This was fairly annoying and I hope that Epic is working to fix this issue shortly after release

Weapons behave pretty much as they did during the public beta with a few exceptions. The retro lancer now kicks like a mule and can be difficult to use at first. After toying around with this weapon a bit I was able to get a reasonable degree of accuracy by firing in short, controlled bursts. Unfortunately, I still cannot consistently get the charging melee to work with this gun, but I think that is more operator error that a glitch in the system. The power of the sawed-off shotgun seems reigned in just a bit, which will be a welcome relief to gnasher fans who were tired of the roadie running double barrel spammers that tended to prevail in the pubic beta. The hammer burst is still my personal gun of choice as it represents the best combination of power, accuracy, ease of active reload and clip size. For those players who did not participate in the beta, the one-shot will most likely be the most interest new addition weapon-wise. Similar to Halo’s laser rifle, the one-shot require a short (about 3 seconds) warm-up period before it can be fired and is ultimately lethal. This weapon will give players the best opportunity for single-shot multi-kills, provided members of the opposing team are kind enough to line up like ducks for the picking off. Finally, the digger adds a new component to the mix with tunneling ordinance that can be shot under barriers such as walls, rocks or sand bags. As was the case with the beta, the digger is pretty easy to avoid as long as the player does not find oneself trap in an enclosed space. All the other weapons perform pretty much as expected, reliable for their individual purpose without any single item being too overpowered.

Maps are one area where Epic really excelled by going above and beyond expectations when compared to those in the previous games. May players who participated in the beta expressed concerns with the spawn areas in some of the maps, particularly with regard to Thrashball, Trenches and Checkout. Epic heard these complaints and created alternate side exits to the spawns on each of these maps, allowing players to safely navigate back on to the field of battle without the frustration of finding themselves corralled like veal calves. Of all the new maps that were not in the beta, Sandbar is my personal favorite. This map is a sprawling beachside venue with sniper rifles spawning on both sides. In addition, a One-shot is located in a central exposed area low on the map and a set of ruins lead up to an overlook were much of the early action occurs as both teams vie for high ground and a key power weapon (the Boomshot). This map allows each player to engage the enemy in the way that works best for them. Love to snipe headshots from afar? This is your map. Really enjoy sneaking up behind those annoying snipes with the sawed-off shotty? You can do that here as well. All in all the map selection in Gears of War 3 is by far the best so far in the series and with the promise of multiple map-packs via DLC (See Epic’s Season Pass deal for 33% off of the first four DLC installments).

Horde 2.0 and Beast Mode give the player more of a good thing in Gears 3. Similar to the Horde mode found in Gears of War 2, this new iteration pits a team of four COGs up against increasingly large, numerous and well-armed waves of Locusts. The addition of a monetary system, upgrades and the ability to fortify locations on the map between waves make Horde 2.0 a significant improvement on what was already one of the most popular modes in the previous game. Beast mode gives you a similar opportunity, but from the Locust perspective as you fight off waves of COG grunts. I only played a few rounds of each mode since receiving my review copy of the game, but I anticipate spending many hours on both sides of the trenches with my friends saying “Just one more wave!”

In conclusion, Gears of War 3 re-instilled my love of the COG and the franchise as a whole. It represents a marked improvement over the second chapter of the series. Epic went back to the roots of what made this property so popular in the first place with a strong story, great graphics, balanced multi-player experience and varied game play options that will keep old and new fans alike coming back for more. I predict a long tail for this one folks. See you on the servers.

Gears of War 3 Scavenger Hunt

What would an article by Waterborn be without a SWAG give-away you ask? Well, let’s not find out. Our friends at Epic promised to send us some cool Gears SWAG in support of an upcoming tournament that we will be hosting here in Mass in October (keep an eye on the front page and my blog for more details on this event coming soon). To celebrate the official release of Gears of War 3 on September 20th, we are going to hold back on piece of said SWAG to give away to one lucky reader of this review. Exact details regarding the prize will be forthcoming soon, but I am going to give you folks the chance to get a head start on the competition. While playing through the campaign, I came across the little piece of Ticker Graffiti that you see in the picture below. To win some cool Gears of War 3 SWAG all you have to do is locate this wall in the game, take a picture of it with some proof that it is actually on your personal system (a screenshot with a piece of paper sporting your gamertag will do just fine) and submit said photo to me via email. The first to find the in-game mural and send me the picture (remember to include your gamertag in the photo) will win. So starting searching for that ticker on September 20th and good luck!