A Look at Gears of War 3
Against my better judgement, I went out with a friend of mine and grabbed Gears of War 3 when it released last week. I was not hyped up for the game at all; I thought they were dragging out a game series which Microsoft knew they could get cash from (Microsoft has fewer big IP’s compared to the other consoles). When I originally watched the announcement trailer posted above, it was boring to me. The feel of the trailer was that of the very first Gears 1 teaser, which I liked then, but now felt stale. It seemed to me like there was no way to salvage the story that Gears 2 left; when playing through Gears of War 2 the plot elements changed faster than Lady Gaga changes outfits. Not only that, but multiplayer for Gears was fun, though often frustrating when various weapons (like the shotgun) weren’t balanced correctly.
The only thing that possessed me to go to that midnight release, besides my incredibly excited friend, was the fact that Karen Traviss was the Gears 3 writer. Now for those who don’t know, or those who aren’t super ultra mega Star Wars nerds like myself, Karen Traviss is a fantastic science fiction writer. She is responsible for the Republic Commando series, as well as much of the Mandalorian fluff. To say the least, I’m a fan of her work, and I thought that if anyone could salvage what is the Gears of War storyline, it was her.
After acquiring the game and returning to my home, we popped in the disc and started the campaign on the Hardcore difficulty (Not because we’re hardcore, but because we like to punish ourselves). I won’t say any spoilers, but Gears 3 picks up quite some time after the second game. The old gang is still together, and fighting nasties at every turn. The game is separated into five acts, with varying amounts of chapters in each of them. The first couple of acts felt like I was playing any old shooter. There was a good composition of different enemy types with their own interesting abilities, but the battles were small and easy to beat. It wasn’t until act three that things really got interesting, the story picked up and the fights along with it. Maybe it was because I felt like I was finally given a purpose, up till then it was go to X to Y the Z. It’s not until the story really ties into the gameplay do you really get that feeling of immersion. Ohh yes, and Carmine was there, but we won’t talk about what happens to him….
Ohh Carmine…
Anyways, I won’t pretend that I truly understood all of the plot elements; some of them kind’ve befuddled me (though this may just be because we played for ten hours with no sleep). Though I must give Relic props, the one part of the story gave me a serious feeling of nostalgia, if you’ve played through the game series and go through this one I’m sure you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Relic made excellent use of cutscenes throughout the game, it furthered the narrative and there was only one time when I said something like, “Hey, why didn’t s/he just do that before?” Though all in all, I was pretty impressed with the story for Gears, it was a grim dark tale with a hint of light at the end of the tunnel (though that’s probably just a train).
As far as gameplay itself goes, I felt that the wider variety of enemies really clears up some problems had in the last game. For instance, you can’t just hide behind cover in one place and just take out everything from there. The enemies force you to move around the battlefield, and make proactive choices when selecting weapons. I’m a fan of popping heads, so I held onto the sniper rifle as long as I possibly could, and I never really found a situation when having it was terrible. As Hardcore as the difficulty we played was, we almost never died. No, not because we’re awesome. Trust me, we fell down more times than a toddler trying to walk for the first time. The thing is, when you’re playing co-op, your ally can pick you back up in a heartbeat if he’s close; so can the friendly NPC’s. I’m a fan of teamwork, but I think it should be a little easier to die if I just absorbed fifty bullets to the face and a pat on the back from my buddy is all it takes to get me back up and rearing to go. Not only that, but the friendly AI are terribly incompetent; sometimes they’ll pick you up right away and other times they let you play in your own puddle of blood for awhile before getting you back up. Besides that, the campaign is pretty smooth. The graphics are fantastic, though you’ll see cracks in the terrain occasionally.
All in all, the campaign is pretty solid. The narrative is excellent, the graphics are fantastic, and the gameplay is fun. Replayability is about the same as any other shooter, there are little items to find and read throughout if you’re into that sorta thing.
As for multiplayer, there are a lot of fun game types. Horde mode returns better than ever, and there’s now also a Beast mode where you play as a Locust trying to kill Human civilians and COG heroes. From what I’ve played, the game mode is fun. If you enjoy murdering innocent civilians then you’ll like this game mode, also, you’re a bad person. Death match is a load of fun, but I find some of the older problems resurfacing. Shotgun damage and range still needs to be tinkered with, and using downed opponents as a meatshield is way too good. Also, who ever thought it’d be a good idea to put in a sawed off shotgun which obliterates any foes in front of you, should feel appalled at the beast they’ve created. One feature I love, however, is the team stock lives. Each team shares fifteen lives, so not running out there to die is a good idea. I feel this kind of system encourages the individual to be a team player, and actually think before charging blindly at the enemy.
If you were a fan of the Gears franchise before now, I’m sure you’ll love this installment in the series. Otherwise, maybe now’s the time to get into it. Gears of War isn’t personally my favourite series on the Xbox, but it’s definitely one to look into for sure.
