Gears of War 3 Review

"Brothers to the End….."

Campaign

This is the end, the final in the trilogy. Rejoin Delta squad, two years after the second game where the COG is no more and everyone is stranded. The puts you perfectly into the shoes of each of the players you play as, with the deep desperation they are all in scavenging and trading for whatever they can get in terms of ammunition and food.

The game opens in a dream of Marcus’s where he’s going back the jail at the start of the original game, then to the stairs where he lost his father. Only to be awakened to the emergency for the ship. From there you are re introduced to the characters and then the new lambent forces meet up with you. An interesting set of enemies that mutate and change as you shoot them.

One of the most interesting new part of the campaign besides four player is the switching up between teams, where you get to go back to Cole’s hometown as him and relive a memory or to. Aside from the COG’s problem, you can also tell the Locust are going through tough times against the lambent, using whatever they can to build their weaponry or where they set up camp. You will be taken all over and across Sera to all sorts of locations talked about in earlier games, but never seen until now.

Face armies of new enemies, some of which you never expected to be fighting and venture through the lambent infested world that’s spewing of emulsion. In the deepest and most emotionally pack Gears yet, won’t spoil anything, but there will be a few deaths involved that may be quite depressing. Anyways the campaign carries the special parts of Gears from splitting off into different teams or holding areas until something happens and introduces some different playing aspects.

Arcade

A new side addition the campaign is arcade mode, similar to the Halo score mode you play campaign as normal, but you are scored on performance. The goal is to get low deaths and achieve a high multiplier, but its nice that if you die you are given a respawn after some time, but that does leave room for your competition to take the lead!

Also like skulls in Halo there are mutators unlocked by various game tasks that change how you face your enemy, from lack of ammo drops to tougher enemies adding an extra multiplier to your score.

Multiplayer

The most awesome sandbox mode, which is the most compelling feature to this purchase. Basically it is the game open for exploring without a care in the world, besides the annoying psychopaths. Yet other than that just roam around killing zombies, or even venture and try a challenge to get a medal for some bonus PP. The best part, from just roaming around is that everything done in this mode carries to other and also for campaign to this! That includes levels, PP and kills!

Horde

The game sadly scraps the fun money making Terror is Reality mode… but fear not there is still the great coop mode allowing you to take on the zombies with a friend. Doesn't change really anything, but is definitely a blast.

Beast Mode

Not much has changed in the game, despite the camera and the new area. The graphics look slightly better, but it's pretty much the same. The game still has terrible load times, but far better in comparison to the last.

Gameplay

-Gears of War 3 is the balance of the series, it features a more grounded game with a higher balance and beautiful dedicated servers. The polish is absolutely fantastic to ridiculous points. The playing feels smoother than ever and movement is easy. Every game mode plays well with no problems and the enemies are mostly new and redone.

The Conclusion

This, is the end. One hell of an end. This is what everything has been leading up to, from the campaign to the multiplayer and the added aspects. Everything has been polished to perfection and game is completely balanced.

All the levels looks amazing and every character is beautiful. The campaign is packed with emotion and action, bringing in extra players and massive levels. The campaign brings you to areas you never thought you would see in massive detail and scale. The multiplayer has been upgraded and hybridized to something that feels right. With dedicated servers, everything is smooth and with no lag.

Horde is back with upgrades that change the style of play and gives it a great tactical feel. Beast mode is a sickly awesome game mode that gives me the ability to finally be the awesome creatures of Gears. This is the fantastic finale to the Gears of War trilogy. Brothers to the End.

Gears of War 3 on Xbox 360

Rating Overall: 10