Gears of War 3

[Ekkebus]

Anyone play this yet? I hear its pretty good.

[Wood]

I'm up to Act 3 in co-op campaign. It's Gears alright! Normal seems a little more easier than I remember. The new weapons fit the story, and there's quite a few new weapons. The Sawed-Shotgun in my new best friend. Just remember it's really a melee weapon and you're set. Diggers fire rockets that go undercover, then pops up like a bouncing Betty when it reaches a target. They're slow, so it's really easy to dodge. Retro Lancers have bayonets instead of chainsaws, but you can insta-kill with them, and you can charge with them. Though they are less accurate than the normal lancers, but deal more damage. I like the hammerburst myself. You can only riflebutt with it, but you can aim down the iron-sights, making it a great carbine. I hope I get the gold version this week! The longshot has a bubble effect with the scope now, so it'll take some shots to get used to the new scope. Single use weapons went up a lot in this. You can pick up cleavers now, and there is a new weapon called the "one-shot". Super powerful sniper weapon that will insta-gib anything that's hit by it. But, it draws a line directly back to your position just by aiming it.

Oh, check out the info on Horde Mode, because they changed it quite a bit. Still looks like a blast, but there's a money mechanic now where you spend money on ammo drops, barricades, turrets and the like. And hopefully we'll be able to check out beast mode too.

[gobbleskat]

This game feels, well, far more fleshed out. The world feels like a world and less like a map. The characters get more developement in their introducions then they do in the other two games combined (Dom the florist!). Likewise the addition of interesting female characters makes the cast feel more rounded, and the racial diversity feels far more natural than say...the burger king kids club.

New weapons are marginally useful. Gnasher and Longshot feel nerfed, so I'm happy to grab a Sawed-off or One-shot when I can.

More to say, but I'm sick of typing with thumbs. hope to take another big chunk out of it tonight.

[Jakanden]

My copy should arrive tonight or tomorrow at which point I will probably marathon the campaign

[Wood]

4 player co-op. I'm used to the 2 player version, but having the extra company really does make the campaign that much more fun.

Story I have in my head about this series:

Gears of War: Marcus "Fucking Locust"

Gears of War 2; Marcus "Fucking Locust"; Dom "WHERE'S MY WIFE!"

Gears of War 3: Dom: "You fucked up my PUMPKINS!!"; Marcus "WHERE'S MY [spoiler]!!!"

[Juese]

Aside from Cole still being Cole (hard to avoid), I'm really impressed on the writing side from watching. On the lowest level, I'm interested as to what's going to happen next, which I couldn't say about either of the previous games.

And as Rory said, the effort to flesh out the world and not have it feel like it was made just to play a level of a game in makes a huge difference.

[Wood]

I don't know. Hearing Cole say "You ever felt you died but no one told you?" really drove home some depth of character in Cole. Granted, it's only a bit, but I got the feeling that he's upset over the life he had to leave behind, due to Locusts. Though I'm still a little taken back by Anya's transformation.

[gobbleskat]

Dialogue is better in general, although as Juese noted there is still an easy way to get alcohal poisoning if you turn 'Cole Train' into a drinking game.

Even Cole is coming off as deeper than before, though I still find him silly. I love Baird and Sam's antagonistic friendship. Anya is working well for me, especially since I never really built a picture of her as a character when she was just your dispatch. No single character is getting rammed down my throat, and I'm getting to spend time with a rotating crew, so I can get excited when Baird or Sam shows up.

It feels like Gears grew up and finally realized it had all this potential to tell an adult story that could appeal to a broad base without sacrificing its fundamental base.

It feels like Gears grew up and finally realized it had all this potential to tell an adult story that could appeal to a broad base without sacrificing its fundamental base.

[Ekkebus]

I love Cole and I only love him more after all the attention he gets paid in Act 1. What I don't understand is why the flashback with Marcus defending the Fenix estate wasn't at the beginning of Gears 1. In general, this sudden degree of attention paid to the characters, story, and world is kind of bittersweet. You had it in you all along Epic, why didn't you show us?

[Jakanden]

The stuff with Carmine is pure awesome

[Ekkebus]

FINISHED!!!!

Talk about an explosive and satisfying ending. To the game and to the series.

Highlight for spoilers. The only spoiler I want to talk about really

CARMINE LIVES!!!!!!!! I loved how they handled the whole thing with him and the big reveal with him at the very end was just awesome. So happy.

[Jakanden]

Dammit - I didnt want to read the spoiler but just couldn't help myself.

[Wood]

Ok, been playing the campaign on online co-op, and I neverthought I'd get all tearie-eyed during the game. Yeah, both my partner and I were completely silent during that cutscene. Can't wait to finish the game! Also, excited for tomorrow!

[King wiL]

Havent got anyone to play the campaign with yet so havent played any yet (sadface)

[Ekkebus]

New Horde mode has quite a different feel to it. I think they need to adjust how the money works a bit, either by giving out more or by making certain things cheaper. Especially the barricades felt ridiculously expensive by 30+ waves in. Overall though I like having the defenses there to buy, I like having different 'base' areas and man, the variety of the Horde itself just feels much, much bigger. The enemy composition is just so much more unpredictable, you really never know what the hell is coming in the next wave. The boss waves are exciting too. Overall, I think they just need to work on the balancing of the money a bit.

We also gave Beast Mode a shot which is a lot of fun. It doesn't feel quite as deep as Horde, and its a lot quicker but I don't think that's a bad thing.