Review: Gears of War 3

Well-oiled Gears

'Here we go again...'

In 2006, Epic started something special with the release of Gears of War, the game was a big contributor to the early success of the Xbox 360, and showed the world what ‘next-gen’ gaming was really all about. It was one of the first games to offer the feeling of actually playing a sci-fi action blockbuster, and defined the way third-person shooters would be developed from that point on. It’s fair to say the state of gaming today would be quite different had Gears never been released. With the release of Gears 2, Epic improved on the formula in nearly every possible way, the battles were bigger, the bosses were ridiculous, and the action was ten times as intense. In Gears terms, the game was badass. Now, we finally come to Gears 3, a game with all the hype in the world to live up to, the finale of one of the most important franchises in gaming and the defining series of the Xbox 360. I can safely, and happily, say that Gears 3 provides everything I was hoping for, a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the storyline, a campaign that improves on nearly everything seen before, refining the things Gears does best and letting you enjoy every bit of the ride, stunning graphics, beautiful environments, fantastic boss battles, the ultimate Gears multiplayer experience, and a decent amount of new weapons, characters, and modes that really make this feel like the perfect end to the series. 


Of course, it probably won’t actually be the end to the series. The Gears franchise is so huge and important to both Epic and Microsoft that I doubt we’ve seen the end of Lancers, Locust, and Lambent, but the game certainly at least captures the feel of an ending. When you finally reach the end of the game, having seen these characters go through hell and back all over again, it does definitely seem as though this is the end of Marcus’ story. Without delving into spoiler territory, I’ll simply say that most loose ends are tied-up, and you won’t be left wondering what just happened, the end of your journey across Sera is satisfying and well-executed. 

He doesn't look too friendly

And what a journey it is. The campaign should take around 8-10 hours, but that can vary depending on difficulty setting and number of players, and it really is, in typical Gears of War fashion, a thrilling ride from start to finish, but with a few new twists. The COG has disbanded, Marcus’ dad might be alive, Dom’s psychological breakdown is ongoing, and in fact nearly every character just seems pretty tired of all this fighting. This set-up adds a fresh emotional feel to Gears 3 that we haven’t really seen before, and provides added motivation to see the story through, if you’re even half as invested in these characters as I was, then you’ll literally want to keep fighting in the hope of finally granting them the peace they deserve. For all the criticism the series has received over the years for its exaggerated dude-bro style and corny dialogue, the game manages to be pretty emotionally powerful at times, you'll really see the more down-to-earth nature of some of these characters and the game tells a great story.


The disbanding of the COG and the rise of the Lambent also contribute to making this experience vastly different from the games before. You’ll no longer have an organised military force backing you up, forcing Marcus and friends to trade with the Stranded and scavenge for whatever supplies they can find, and the Lambent have developed from effectively being glow-in-the-dark Locust at the end of the last game, to real monstrosities in the two years that have passed. Some are like spiders scurrying across the ground, others are great hulking brutes that can hurl balls of imulsion at you, there are plenty of new creatures to fight, keeping the combat fresh. Similarly, the mixture of battles with both Locust and Lambent add further depth to the fighting, so as long as you enjoy Gears gameplay, you really will never get bored throughout the story. Every area feels different, and, as usual, there is plenty of variety in the fighting, along with a few unique levels here and there to break up the action.

Some of the new Lambent enemy types are pretty terrifying

Strangely enough, my biggest criticism of the campaign is also my biggest praise, in that it feels like a ‘Best of’ Gears campaign, that is to say, you’ll recognise an awful lot of the sequences here, and they’re all, most likely, the parts you loved most from the earlier games. There‘s the optional stealth section when sneaking into an enemy base, the vehicle level, the corpser fight, the 'survival horror' bit, and plenty more. At times it feels like Epic looked back at their first two games and chose the best bits from each campaign, then just put them all together. You've definitely done most of this before, and you‘ll be able to tell, there were several points throughout the game where I literally said "Oh this is just like that bit in Gears 2", but to say the campaign is nothing more than a rehash would be doing it a great disservice, there is plenty of new material here and even the old ideas are presented in new and exciting ways to make them feel just as unique as they were the first time. Similarly, the fact is that the first two campaigns were so good that you wouldn't really want an entirely new campaign because it wouldn't be true to Gears, Berserker fights are some of the most terrifying boss battles in gaming and I wouldn't have liked Gears 3 as much without one, the same goes for a lot of the other content. It’s been done before, but it’s so good that you want to do it again. Gears 3 gives you the chance, along with the new ideas, they bring back classic sequences and perfectly refine them to give you the ultimate Gears of War campaign experience.


This experience can be had in a variety of ways, there’s standard singleplayer, up to four player co-op, an arcade mode giving you points for kills, and leaderboards to see how you stack up against the world, and even a bunch of unlockable mutators like big head mode, infinite ammo, instagib melees, and a few more obscure ones. The variety of ways you can play the campaign and the absolute fantastic quality of it provide cause to revisit the story time and time again, but there’s a lot more to enjoy in the Gears 3 package.

Seems like a fair fight

The versus multiplayer is back, and arguably better than ever. The game ships with ten maps, with the promise of more to come, and the usual modes return, along with a couple of new additions. It’s not often that you can call Team Deathmatch an innovation to a series, but this really is the first time we've seen it in Gears multiplayer, and it’s done well. Each team has fifteen respawns, which, while not technically being much different to the standard TDM formula, gives every death a greater sense of value and encourages players to stay alive, help out their teammates, and revive others whenever possible. I’m sure there are many extreme hardcore fans out there who would disagree, but, as a long time Gears player, I’d say the multiplayer feels well-balanced, there are one or two specific weapons which offer casual players some easier ways to get kills but overall the classic team-oriented, methodical strategy of Gears multiplayer is intact, and the days of exclusively using the shotgun have long since passed, with the machine guns and new weapons having a much more effective presence. Having said all that, the competitive game is still something an acquired taste and can be difficult for the uninitiated, something that Epic must have been aware of since they included a ‘Casual’ mode just for new players, a method used elsewhere in the likes of the Halo series to ease players into the multiplayer environment. It’s hard to say how well this works, but it’s at least an option for anyone looking to try and get into the versus mode.

An appendectomy, Marcus Fenix style

If all those shotgun-duels and frag-tagging aren’t your thing, Epic have still got you covered. Horde mode returns, better than ever. The original wave-based survival mode that inspired the likes of Halo’s ‘Firefight’ and Call of Duty’s ‘Zombies’ has taken a few cues from these imitations to add new layers of strategy to the gameplay. Horde 2.0 lets you build barriers, turrets, and more to fortify and defend key areas of the map, currency is earned from kills and assists, and must be spent on repairs, upgrades, weapons and ammo. You’ll also have bonus rounds, boss rounds, and the like to spice up the progression and keep it varied. These new additions come together well and provide a much-needed modernised depth to the mode, ensuring people like me will no longer get bored after the first ten waves. Overall Horde 2.0 is a big improvement on its predecessor, and is further proof of how good Epic are at building on, and perfecting, their own ideas.


There’s also Beast mode, what you might call ‘reverse Horde’, wherein players take control of the Locust creatures themselves and attempt to break through the human defences and wipe them out in a series of increasingly difficult waves. As you would expect, it feels and plays much differently to Horde, waves are timed, and you’ll be granted a few extra seconds for every kill but the mode feels frantic and fast-paced, a welcome change from the somewhat slower Versus and Horde modes. Also, using a class-based system, Beast requires you to earn money for kills which you can spend to spawn as different species of the Locust. Everything from tickers to corpsers are playable, with each having their own abilities and uses, pros and cons, and all being very fun to play. Very little compares to slithering about a supermarket as a giant armour-plated serapede, or crushing all in your path when charging as a berserker, for some Gears fans, playing as these creatures will be a dream come true.

Playing as the Locust is great fun

Overall, the multiplayer side of Gears, just like the singleplayer, is exceptional. The robust offering of modes will appeal to a wide variety of gamers, ensuring there’s something for everyone, and if you ever get tired of playing one mode, you can hop into another for an entirely different experience. The switch to dedicated servers was long overdue for the series, and vastly improves the quality of online matches. There’s also, as in every online shooter these days, a pretty deep progression system and stats screen. Battlefield-style ribbons are earned in every game mode, even the arcade campaign, and XP can be gained through just about anything, unlocking more characters and weapon skins as you level up, as well as nameplates and emblems that you‘ll earn for completing various actions. The progression is deep and engaging, and the whole stats page is well-presented, offering a surprising level of detail. The whole multiplayer experience feels as though it has been refined in every aspect. 

He wasn't quite at the front of the queue when they gave out good looks

That’s the word I would primarily use to describe the entire Gears of War 3 package; refined. It feels polished, perfected, as though what Epic first set out to do with the Gears games has been finally fully realised. This game gave them the opportunity to go out with a big bang and create the absolute best Gears experience they possibly could, and they seized that opportunity with both hands. Usually I’d try and at least write some semblance of a paragraph detailing my main problems with the game, but it’s really too hard to find any, this game is undoubtedly the most well-made in the series, down to every little detail. I even struggle to think of many complaints you could have about the first two games, but if you had any, they are more than likely addressed here. Gears of War 3 looks better, plays better, and has a lot more content than either of the first two games, and is sure to please any fan of the series. Epic are good at what they do, and they have proven it in crafting the perfect realisation of the series they began in 2006. Gears of War 3 is everything you could want, in one incredibly well-made package.