Gears of War 3 Multiplayer Beta Impressions (April 18th - Present)

November 7th 2008, Gears of War 2 had just seen release, met with Critical Acclaim and day one sales figures of over an astounding 2 Million, the future looked bright for Epic Games. Avid Gear Heads made the jump immediately to the sequels multiplayer component and where met with both a tremendous gameplay experience, and some disheartening lag issues. And so began the months of title updates intended to combat the flaws and bring us closer to the experience Epic Games originally aimed for. And, Epic being the dedicated development team they are, succeeded, and those of whom stuck with the title through its dificult times, (such as myself) were able to relax in the knowledge that the game was no longer as incosistant as on its release date. Whilst the skillful players remained, Epic were begining to realise a gap in the market, deriving from the modes available in the title. Whilst those with skill were able to enjoy themselves, moving cover to cover gibbing there opponents, others felt discouraged from further playing the game due to there continuous anhialation, followed by a hefty waiting time for the next round to begin and for them to be capable of respawning to meet the same fate. and same wait.

This problem would later be combatted in the third instalment of the franchise, Gears of War 3, with a new mode, Team Deathmatch. Whilst not the treditional Team Deathmatch found in games such as Call of Duty, Halo and such, the game mode had its own "Gears twist". Utilising the idea of a "life-pool", each team has 15 Respawns, with each death a respawn is depleated. Whilst catering for the "newbies", many longtime skilled players (such as myself), where somewhat worried at the prospect of respawns in other than Capture based modes such as Annex and King of the Hill. And gameplay videos didn't offer us an answer as to how much this addition would change the overall experience. However, on December 17th 2010, Epic Games confirmed player would be getting a Beta to the recently delayed third instalment, and so, four months later, on April 18th 2010, we got our answer.

As many members of N4G will be well aware of my obsession with the Gears of War franchise, it will come as no shock that I am currently enjoying the hell out of the Beta for the third instalment and any worries about respawns being implemented being vaporised. Respawns do not deter me from utilising a similar play style to that of which I used in the first two titles, nor do they prevent the game from being enjoyable. In this Blog Post I'll share my opinions of the Beta. First stop, weapons.

W E A P O N S

Anyone who's played a Gears of War titles multiplayer component will be well aware of the central weapon of use and th most requiring of skill, the Gnasher Shotgun. With so many kills registered on a daily bases using the GS, it was an obvious choice for Epic Games to bring a new shotgun into the frame. Many, including myself, were sceptical of the prospect of having a new, more powerfull shotgun, however, I applaud Epic Games, for both the balancing of the weapon, and the enjoyment of using said weapon. Whilst not detering me away from the Gnasher Shotgun, the Sawed off is tremendous, requiring a different approach from the Gnasher entirely, the gun requires the player to get a matter of inches away from his opponent to achieve its kill, and an astoundingly lengthy reload to prepare for its next. With the lengthy reload, this both prevents overpowering of the weapon, and discourages the player from rushing multiple opponents in the hope of challenging each of them to a battle. Whilst many Gears of War forum visiters have complained of the guns power, I assure you, this is solely due to their frustrations of being the victim of the weapon. There are simple ways of avoiding and combatting a user of the Sawed-off shotgun... keep at a distance.

Also (somewhat) new, is the Retro Lancer, being briefly mentioned in the Gears of War 2 Art book, the weapon is the original model of the Lancer Assault Rifle, utilised during the human vs human "Pendulum Wars", of which occured prior to the original game's start. With Gears of War 3's campaign being set in bleak times, with the lambent and locust having destroyed the COG, it can be assumed resources are low, and therefor the team have resulted in fishing out dated weapons to combat Sera's threat. The weapon is incredibly inaccurate, however, each bullet packs one hell of a punch, and with this weapon, Epic have achieved the impossible, they have designed a weapon even Gears Pro's won't mind using close range away from the shotguns. Again, the gun is highly balanced, with its terrible accuracy and insane recoil, the gun demands a certain degree of skill. However, all is not what it seems with the RL, as all of whom have even seen Gears of War will know, the standard lancer wasn't only capable of firing bullets, with its mounted chainsaw, players were capable of tearing the enemy in two. The RL was equipped with the aged equivelent, a bayonnette, allowing for people to charge (similar to the roadie run) with the holding of the melee button (B) and impale any direct enemy.Whilst a one hit kill, the execution last several seconds, leaving you completely open to enemy fire whilst completing the animation, and also, those worrying that the "Retro run" would be over used, the charge needs a lengthy run up to count as more than a standard melee. Also, with Stopping power yet again returning, enemies charging in plain sight, dont stand a chance.

Yet again, the Hammerburst has seen a redesign (of sorts), with the weapon now allowing for the use of iron-sights. New to the franchise, the iron-sights are a welcome addition, whilst only featuring on the hammerburst and requiring single fire due to the slight recoil of the weapon, it feels well incorperated and allows for both a closer look at distant combat and for better accuracy of certain limbs in combat. The hammerburst is widely considered on the Beta to be the mid-ranged rifle, with the lancer being long and the retro being close-ranged, however this doesn't deter it from being occasionally useful in close-quarters.

Another new weapon arriving in to the franchise is the Digger Launcher, its shots burrowing underground, cover becomes useless when faced with this weapon, istead the player needs to be completely aware of the shots tunneling beneath the ground and role out of the way. Whilst the gun is powerful, it features only 3 Shots and requires pinpoint accuracy for the shot to lift above ground before exploding. However, if the player is feeling lucky an accurate hip-fired shot will result in the pirrana like creature trapping in the enemies chest before exploding, incredibly satisfying.