Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3 cover artwork, depicting the Gears.
Developer(s)	Epic Games
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Studios
Producer(s)	Chris Wynn Rod Fergusson
Designer(s)	Cliff Bleszinski
Writer(s)	Karen Traviss
Composer(s)	Steve Jablonsky
Series	Gears of War
Engine	Unreal Engine 3.5
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release	NA/PAL: September 20, 2011
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Originally due for release in April 2011, the game was delayed and eventually released on September 20, 2011.

Gears of War 3 made over one million pre-orders and was one of the most anticipated games of 2011. It is the third installment of the Gears of War series, and the final game in the current story arc.

The story was written by science fiction author Karen Traviss, who has authored four Gears novels and is working on the next one.

Gameplay

Overview

Gears of War 3 features four-player co-op for the first time in the series. A fully controllable mech suit, called a Silverback, is available for use in certain parts of the game, armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher. They have two operating modes, in assault mode it is controlled like a standard character. The player once again plays as Marcus Fenix, although at several points throughout the game, control changes to other characters such as Augustus Cole, or better known by his nickname, "Cole Train".

There are several new Locust enemies in the game, including the Savage Grenadier, the Savage Theron, the Digger Boomer, the Locust Siege Beast and the Kantus Knight, as well as the return of the Berserkers (both ordinary as well as Lambent). Additionally, the game introduces the new Lambent enemies, such as Drudges, Polyps, and Lambent Stalks. There are also new weapons; the Retro Lancer (an older Lancer model with a bayonet as opposed to the chainsaw attachment that has slower fire rate, high recoil and deals more damage than the actual Lancer), the Digger Launcher (a gun that launches small digging creatures through the ground at high speeds that explode), the Sawed-off Shotgun, Incendiary Grenades, the One Shot (a heavy sniper rifle that, as the name suggests, kills enemies in a single shot), the Vulcan (a machine gun that requires two Gears to operate, one for the gun and one for the ammo) and the butcher's Cleaver. Three new playable female characters were introduced: Samantha Byrne, Anya Stroud and Queen Myrrah, Other new playable characters include Jace Stratton, a battle-hardened soldier who appears in the comic series and is mentioned in the second game, and Griffin, leader of a group of human survivors called the Stranded. Canadian rapper/singer Drake is reported to be voicing Jace. Hip-hop star Ice-T voices the character of Griffin, while actress Claudia Black is the voice of Samantha.

There is also an enhanced progression system with players able to gain experience and level up through all modes, including the campaign. the final level is 100, as announced at the Horde 2.0 G4TV interview. Also, in this interview, weapon swapping, money swapping, and ammo swapping was confirmed.

Multiplayer

Gears of War 3 includes a new mode called Beast mode. Similar to Horde Mode in Gears of War 2, the player instead attacks COG members as the Locust creatures (starting with weaker creatures such as wretches and tickers). Tokens are earned for killing enemies, allowing the player to upgrade their character to a stronger class of Locust such as the berserker and boomers.

Horde Mode is also featured in the third installment, dubbed "Horde 2.0". Instead of previously being a simple "find a spot and hold out" game as in Gears 2, Horde 2.0 plans to be far more strategic. Players now choose an area as their "Command Post" and earn cash from kills which can be used to build defenses around it, such as wire and laser fences, automatic and manual turrets, the silverback mech, and exploding decoys. Every tenth wave now features boss monsters from the campaign, including Brumaks, berserkers, Lambent Berserkers, and more.

The game runs on dedicated servers due to fans complaining of several issues that hampered the multiplayer in Gears of War 2. Variants of the original multiplayer modes appear in Gears of War 3. In Team Deathmatch, a similar game type to Warzone, every team has a total of 20 lives per round, and when all the lives run out the match turns into a mixture of Warzone and Execution rules. Capture the Leader is a combination of Guardian and Submission, where the leader has to be captured and held for 30 seconds. However, the leader is still able to struggle and knock his captor around, which causes minor damage and can turn a match around. Also, there is King of the Hill, which is very similar to Annex from the two previous Gears of War games. Additionally, players can earn awards based on their performance and unlock several different character variants. New executions, weapon skins, and mutators (customizable options for private matches), can also be unlocked.

Stereoscopic 3D

Gears of War 3 includes a stereoscopic mode for 3DTV sets. It uses TriOviz for Games Technology, which is integrated with Unreal Engine 3, for stereoscopic 3D support. All "Gears of War 3" gameplay and cinematics have S3D support, and this extends to split-screen play as well.

Plot

Further information: List of Gears of War characters

Eighteen months after the fall of Jacinto, the survivors of Jacinto moved to the island of Vectes to rebuild. After a generally quiet period, the Imulsion infected Lambent began to emerge from underground. Hiding something, the COG head of state, Chairman Prescott, abandoned the COG. Now leaderless and being forced off the island, the COG disbands and separates to the safest places left. Victor Hoffman takes some survivors to Anvil Gate while Delta squad sets off on a Raven's Nest Class carrier, the CNV Sovereign, with the remaining humans to avoid further Lambent incursion. While on the Sovereign, Marcus learns from a disk, given to him upon the arrival of Chairman Prescott, that his father is still alive, and they must journey to find him on a hint that he has found a way to help save humanity. While learning this, the Sovereign is attacked by Lambent forces and a Lambent Leviathan and only Marcus, Dom (who has sinked into a state of depression from his wife's death), Jace Stratton, and Anya are there to defend it. Elsewhere, Cole and Baird are joined by Samantha Byrne and Clayton Carmine, the third Carmine brother, in search of supplies in Cole's hometown of Hanover. The local stranded at first appear hostile to the group, but Cole's presence eases their hostility. They navigate through the town looking for supplies, but are attacked by the Lambent. After delivering supplies they had found in a local market, the squad venture to the town's thrashball stadium. While there, Cole reminisces about his previous life as a thrashball star. The squad escape the stadium by grappling across to the nearby Centennial Bridge, where they encounter remnants of the Locust. When the group sees the Sovereign under attack, Baird comes up with the idea to throw a crate full of tickers onto the Lambent Leviathan. Although they are successful in killing it the lambent creature explodes, destroying the ship.

Marcus and his crew survive, but Prescott is badly injured, and dies from his wounds. Before doing so, he tells Marcus that his father is at a secret research laboratory named Azura and gives him an encrypted data file telling the location. Marcus, Dom, Baird, and Cole then journey to Anvil Gate to get the data off the disk. To get there, they cross through the Deadlands, where they fight their way through a Locust stronghold, discovering the survival of the Locust Queen, Myyrah, along the way. They are able to hijack a Locust Gas Barge to get to Anvil Gate. While on their way, they find Dizzy defending an outpost from the Locust. After securing the outpost, he then joins the group. Near Anvil Gate they find a massive column of Locust marching towards the fort. They are then shot down by Myyrah, but are able to make it to the fort, where they are joined by Hoffman and the various members of the garrison to fight off the Locust assault. They later rescue Sam, Jace, and Anya from the Lambent, which appear just after the Locust invasion. After the fight, and a deadly encounter with a Lambent Berserker, Baird is able to decrypt the data code. It reveals Azura's location on an island, but they find it is protected by a Maelstrom barrier (a barrier that creates an artificial hurricane around it) and the only way to get there is by Submarine. Hoffman tells them of one situated in Endeavor, but it is out of fuel and needs repair. Dizzy offers to repair it since he is ex-merchant Navy, and Dom recommends going to Mercy or Char to find fuel. They choose to go to Mercy, which happens to be the town where Dom's wife Maria was born.

Marcus, Dom, Jace, Anya, Sam, and Dizzy head to Mercy, while Cole and Baird find reinforcements. After surviving an assault by the Locust en route, Delta squad make it to Mercy, which they discover to be seemingly deserted. While in-search of the city's fuel pumps, they discover that the inhabitants have turned Lambent. They fight their way to a church, where a fuel pump is located. While at the church, Dom finds a statue at the Flores family grave - speaking to it, he tells Maria that he hopes to see her soon. When leaving, they are attacked by both Locust and Lambent forces, and make a stand at the gas station, where the tank is being filled. Outnumbered and low on ammo, Dom takes control of a nearby truck and tells the rest to jump out of the way. Dom then rams the truck into the gas station and gas tank, killing the Locust and Lambent and sacrificing himself in the process. Marcus tries to save him, but Anya stops him and insists that he is gone.

The squad then head towards Char to get more fuel, where they encounter survivors and their leader, Aaron Griffin. Griffin is willing to let them have some of his fuel if they go pick up a shipment from his refinery. When Marcus questions why he has not done it himself, he states that they have, but no one has come back. He forces them to go, revealing that he has captured Dizzy, as insurance for their co-operaion, and gives them only an hour to get the fuel. After reaching the fuel refinery, they are attacked by more human Lambent. After fighting through the refinery and finding the shipment, they take a cable car to Griffin's building, which is under attack by Lambent and Locust. They fight them off and Griffin, the lone survivor of his group, leaves, after Marcus tells him off when the Stranded leader blames them for the attack. They then head to the shipyards, where despite a heavy Locust presence they are able to find and fix a submarine. They head out to sea and make it to the island despite being attacked by fish and a Leviathan.

On the island they discover that Azura was a hiding place for the COG elite, but the Locust have discovered it and killed almost everyone inside. Marcus' father is able to contact them through the speakers and cameras in the facility. Adam Fenix then tells them that the reason he was captured by the Locust Queen was that he discovered a way to destroy the Lambent, but it would also kill the Locust in the process, and Queen Myyrah was trying to force him to alter the weapon so it would kill only the Lambent. He tells them that in order to shut off the Maelstrom barrier, they need to switch off the power sources. They succeed, but the Locust have a back up generator. They then deactivate the coolant system, narrowly escaping the resulting explosion, which destroys the generator and turns off the Maelstrom Barrier. Cole and Baird are able to get reinforcements, but can not land until the anti-air defenses are destroyed. With the defenses down, Cole and Baird join Marcus. Marcus breaks the news of Dom's death to Cole and Baird, and they, along with Anya, head in to the facility. While the rest make their last stand, they succeed in rescuing Adam Fenix, who tells them that the Imulsion is a parasite, and that the cure will kill the Lambent and Locust, but that those with small exposures to the Imulsion will not be harmed by the cure (possibly hinting that not all the Locust will be killed). Adam also elaborates on how he discovered the existence of the Locust days before E-day. Adam reveals that he struck a promise with the Queen to help save the Locust from the Lambent, hoping to prevent E-day. His failed attempts to come up with possible answers due to a lack of time gave an impatient Queen Myyrah the excuse to allow the Locust to attack the surface. Baird questions Adam's cure, but Adam assures him that it works. When they reach the top of the building to expose the cure to the world, Queen Myyrah and her guards try to stop them. Carmine arrives on a Raven to assist, but the Queen shoots it down. With the help of Adam and the Hammer of Dawn, the squad takes down the Queen. When trying to escape, Adam says he can not go since he had fully exposed himself to the Imulsion in order to make the cure. Before he dies, he tells Marcus and crew to live their lives to the fullest and not waste them on war. The cure then turns him to dust in front of Marcus. The Locust Queen, revealing herself to be still alive, berates Marcus on how his father thought he could save everyone, but thought his ideas were only cleverer ways to kill the Locust. Marcus then fatally stabs her, for all the people the Locust have killed over the years.

The cure is spread to the rest of Sera, killing all of the Locust, Lambent, and the Imulsion. On the beach, the remains of the chopper that aided Marcus and the rest in the final battle lie destroyed, along with Carmine's Helmet. A few seconds later, Carmine reveals himself to have survived the crash and puts his helmet back on (his fate was decided in a vote held by Epic Games in 2010). The remaining Gears celebrate their victory. Marcus does not and walks to the beach. Anya tries to comfort him, but Marcus asks her what they have left after all they have endured. The game ends with Anya telling him that they finally have a tomorrow.

Marketing

File:Gears 3 epic edition.jpg

Gears of War 3 Epic's Edition Content

Gears of War 3 was officially unveiled on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon by Cliff Bleszinski, with a teaser trailer featuring the song 'Heron Blue' by Sun Kil Moon. Prior to the official reveal, an advert for the game was accidentally displayed on the Xbox 360 Dashboard.

Retail version

The game was available for pre-order in three retail versions: Standard, Limited, and Epic. The game also has special character variants based on where the game was pre-ordered. Confirmed variants include Mechanic Baird, Commando Dom, Savage Grenadier Elite, and Savage Kantus. On May 23, 2011, Epic Games confirmed that an exclusive replica Retro Lancer designed by NECA will be available exclusively at GameStop, while a gold version of the replica Retro Lancer is also available exclusively at Play.com.

• The Limited Edition contains an Octus Award Box with the Octus Service Medal awarded to Dr. Adam Fenix, exclusive Adam Fenix playable character for multiplayer, fabric COG flag, and the personal effects of Dr. Adam Fenix such as his Last Will and Testament, Hammer of Dawn schematics and Fenix family mementos.
• The Epic Edition includes everything from the Limited Edition as well as a Marcus Fenix statue, a 96 page book about the game's art and design, and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack that includes skins for the Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Sawed Off Shotgun and Gnasher Shotgun.
• The game can also come bundled with a limited edition Gears of War 3 console. The console will also include a headset, two wireless controllers, a 320GB hard drive, and two tokens to unlock Adam Fenix and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack.

Fate of Carmine voting campaign

Clayton Carmine, brother of Anthony and Benjamin, of the previous two games, appears in Gears of War 3. Carmine is more competent in the third game, with tattoos of his brothers and the reasons they died on his arms (Keep your head down! and Practice reloading!). He was shown wielding a Mulcher machine gun in several released pictures from the game. A vote was held between July 29, 2010 and September 6, 2010 to determine whether Carmine would live or die based on sales of Xbox avatar T-Shirts available for purchase on Xbox live. Additionally, actual T-shirts were available from San Diego Comic-Con with all purchases. The voting campaign raised over $150,000, which was all donated to Child's Play. In the ending, It was depict that Carmine have survived the helicopter crash and puts his helmet back on.

Collaboration with Ice-T

Beside voicing the character of Griffin, it was announced during E3 2011 that Ice-T's band - Body Count would be reuniting to make a song titled "The Gears of War", which was featured in the Horde 2.0 trailer.

Multiplayer beta

On December 17, 2010, Epic Games confirmed that the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm for the Xbox 360 included early access to the multiplayer beta of Gears of War 3 and access to exclusive content. It was later announced that pre-ordering Gears of War 3 in any edition at GameStop in the United States or GAME in the United Kingdom would grant access to the public beta. There will be in-game achievements unlockable exclusively for beta testers that include characters and weapon skins. All players that participate in the beta will receive a medal to identify themselves as beta testers upon the release of the final game. The Bulletstorm exclusive beta began on April 18, 2011, a week before the GameStop pre-order beta which began on April 25, 2011. The beta concluded on May 15, 2011.

Unlockables

Announced via Twitter from Cliff Bleszinski, Gears of War 3 will have unlockables just like Gears of War 2.

• On April 1, 2011, Bleszinski announced as an April Fools' joke via twitter that Gears of War 3 will have a new unlockable weapon in the form of a 6 barrelled shotgun that has a special ability to shoot nukes. The beta had exclusive unlockables, such as a Golden Retro Lancer by completing 90 matches in any game type, and earning 100 kills with it will unlock it for use in the full game. Players who purchased the Bulletstorm Epic Edition unlocked an exclusive Flaming Hammerburst for use in the beta and the full game.

• Epic announced that players must hold on to their beta saved file for their unlockables to appear in the full game. It was also confirmed on June 24, 2011 that completing required achievements from Gears of War and Gears of War 2 will earn the player new weapon skins and medals in Gears of War 3.

• The Gold Lancer and Hammerburst have been confirmed as returning from Gears of War 2 to Gears of War 3. Rod Fergusson announced that players with the Veteran Gear achievement from Gears of War 2 will earn an in-game Old Guard medal and callsign as well as gold variants of all five starting weapons. There was a method to obtain all five gold weapons without the achievement, but after listening to negative fan feed back, they have since made the golden Gnasher shotgun exclusive to Veteran Gear players.

• Chrome weapon skins for the five starting weapons have also been confirmed to be unlockable by playing the Xbox 360 or PC version of Gears of War and Gears of War 2.

• It was confirmed by Rod Fergusson that the player will earn the green liquid metal skin in a special marketing promotion, he also announced that there will be an achievement by killing an Epic employee or killing someone who has the achievement.

Downloadable content

On 29 August 2011, Microsoft and Epic Games announced a Gears of War 3 Season Pass that entitles gamers to the first four installments of downloadable content (at a discount) that will roll out over the course of the next year, with the first releasing in November 2011.

Past gears characters

Tai and RAAM will be future downloadable content characters.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	91.28% (26 reviews)
Metacritic	91/100 (55 reviews)

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	8/10
Game Informer	9.5/10
GamePro
GameSpot	9.5/10
IGN	9/10
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	10/10
X-Play
Joystiq
The Guardian
Giant Bomb	5/5
Destructoid	8/10

Upon release, Gears of War 3 received universal acclaim, garnering an aggregate score of 91 on Metacritic based on 70 reviews. Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb gave Gears of War 3 a review of 5/5; stating "Gears of War 3 is a fantastic follow-up that answers important questions about the nature of the Gears universe while backing it all up with an even bigger, better multiplayer suite". IGN stated it as "The spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated sagas in video games".

After Eurogamer published an 8/10 review for the game, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski reported, saying "When people rated Gears 2 higher than Gears 3, it kind of upset me because I know Gears 3 is a better game on every level". His comments were rebuked by Destructoid and GamePro. In GamePro, where McKinley Noble said his comments were "selfish".

External links

• Official website
• Gears of War concept art gallery