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Gears of War 3

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Gears of War 3
Gears of War 3 cover artwork,
depicting the COGs.
Developer(s)Epic Games
Publisher(s)Microsoft Studios
Designer(s)Cliff Bleszinski
Writer(s)Karen Traviss
Composer(s)Steve Jablonsky
SeriesGears of War
EngineUnreal Engine 3.5
Platform(s)Xbox 360
Release
Genre(s)Third-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Originally due for release in April 2011, the game was delayed and will now be released on September 20, 2011.[2]

Gears of War 3 has made over one million pre-orders and is one of the most anticipated games of 2011.[3] It will be the third installment of the Gears of War series, and the final game in the current story arc.[4]

Gameplay

Overview

Gears of War 3 will feature four-player co-op for the first time in the series.[5] A fully controllable mech suit, called a Silverback, will be available for use in certain parts of the game, armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher. They have two operating modes, in assault mode it is controlled like a standard character, in stationary mode, they lock into position and deploy their armor, as well as cover for other Gears from their legs.[6]

The player will once again play as Marcus Fenix, although at several points throughout the game, control will change to other characters.[7]

There will be several new Locust enemies in the game, including the Savage Grenadier, the Savage Theron, the Digger Boomer, the Locust Siege Beast and the Kantus Knight, as well as the return of the Berserkers (both ordinary as well as Lambent). Additionally, the game introduces the new Lambent enemies, such as Drudges, Polyps, and Lambent Stalks. There will also be new weapons; the Retro Lancer (a lancer with a blade bayonet attachment that fires slower), the Digger Launcher (a gun that launches small digging creatures through the ground at high speeds that explode), the Sawed-off Shotgun, Incendiary Grenades, the One Shot (a heavy sniper rifle that, as the name suggests, kills enemies in a single shot), the Vulcan (a machine gun that requires two gears to operate, one for the gun and one for the ammo) and the butcher's cleaver.

Four new playable female characters will be introduced: Samantha Byrne, Anya Stroud, Queen Myrrah, and Bernadette Mataki, a character from the Karen Traviss novels. Other new playable characters include Jace Stratton, a battle-hardened soldier who appears in the comic series and is mentioned in the second game, and Griffin, leader of a group of human survivors called the Stranded. Hip-hop star Ice-T will voice the character of Griffin, while actress Claudia Black will be the voice of Samantha.[8]

There will also be an enhanced progression system with players able to gain experience and level up through all modes, including the campaign. the final level is 100, as announced at the horde 2.0 G4tv interview. Also, in this interview weapon swapping, money swapping, and ammo swapping was confirmed.

Multiplayer

Gears of War 3 will include a new mode called Beast mode. Similar to Horde Mode in Gears of War 2, the player instead attacks COG members as the Locust creatures (starting with weaker creatures such as wretches and tickers). Tokens are earned for killing enemies, allowing the player to upgrade their character to a stronger class of Locust such as the berserker and boomers.

Horde Mode is also featured in the third installment, dubbed "Horde 2.0".[9] Instead of previously being a simple "find a spot and hold out" game as in Gears 2, Horde 2.0 plans to be far more strategic. Players will now choose an area as their "Command Post" and earn cash from kills which can be used to build defenses around it, such as wire and laser fences, automatic and manual turrets, the silverback mech, and exploding decoys. Every tenth wave will now feature boss monsters from the campaign, including Brumaks, berserkers, Lambent Berserkers, and more.

Epic has announced that the game will run on dedicated servers due to fans complaining of several issues that hampered the multiplayer in Gears of War 2. Variants of the original multiplayer modes will appear in Gears of War 3. In Team Deathmatch, a similar game type to Warzone, every team has a total of 20 lives per round, and when all the lives run out the match turns into a mixture of Warzone and Execution rules. Capture the Leader is a combination of Guardian and Submission, where the leader will have to be captured and held for 30 seconds. However, the leader will still be able to struggle and knock his captor around, which causes minor damage and can turn a match around. Also, there is King of the Hill, which is very similar Annex from the two previous Gears of War games. Additionally, players can earn awards based on their performance and unlock several different character variants. New executions, weapon skins, and mutators (customizable options for private matches), can also be unlocked. [citation needed]

Stereoscopic 3D

Gears of War 3 will include a stereoscopic mode for 3DTV sets. It uses TriOviz for Games Technology, which is integrated with Unreal Engine 3, for stereoscopic 3D support. All "Gears of War 3" gameplay and cinematics have S3D support, and this extends to split-screen play as well.[10]

Synopsis

Further information: List of Gears of War characters

Eighteen months after the fall of Jacinto, the survivors of Jacinto moved to the island of Vectes to rebuild. After a generally quiet period, the Imulsion infected Lambent began to emerge from the ground. Hiding something, the COG head of state, Chairman Prescott, abandoned the COG. Now leaderless and being forced off the island, the COG disbands and separates to the safest places left. Victor Hoffman takes some survivors to Anvil Gate while Delta squad sets off on the "Raven's Nest" naval ship with the remaining humans to avoid further Lambent incursion. While on the Raven's Nest, Marcus learns from Prescott that his father is still alive, and they must journey to find him on a hint that he has found a way to help save humanity.

According to Cliff Bleszinski, the game will "answer the majority of the questions that players have about the history of the world and what's going on".[11] The story is being written by science fiction author Karen Traviss, who has authored four Gears novels and is working on the next one.[12]

Marketing

File:Gears 3 epic edition.jpg
Gears of War 3 Epic's Edition Content

Gears of War 3 was officially unveiled on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon by Cliff Bleszinski, with a teaser trailer featuring the song 'Heron Blue' by Sun Kil Moon.[13][14][15] Prior to the official reveal, an advert for the game was accidentally displayed on the Xbox 360 Dashboard.[14]

Retail version

The game is available for pre-order in three retail versions: Standard, Limited, and Epic. The game will also have special character variants based on where the game is pre-ordered. Confirmed variants include Mechanic Baird, Commando Dom, Savage Grenadier Elite, and Savage Kantus. On May 23, 2011, Epic Games confirmed that an exclusive replica Retro Lancer designed by NECA will be available exclusively at GameStop, while a gold version of the replica Retro Lancer is also available exclusively at Play.com.[16]

  • The Limited Edition contains an Octus Award Box with the Octus Service Medal awarded to Dr. Adam Fenix, exclusive Adam Fenix playable character for multiplayer, fabric COG flag, and the personal effects of Dr. Adam Fenix such as his Last Will and Testament, Hammer of Dawn schematics and Fenix family mementos.
  • The Epic Edition includes everything from the Limited Edition as well as a Marcus Fenix statue, a 96 page book about the game's art and design, and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack that includes skins for the Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Sawed Off Shotgun and Gnasher Shotgun.
  • The game can also come bundled with a limited edition Gears of War 3 console. The console will also include a headset, two wireless controllers, a 320GB hard drive, and two tokens to unlock Adam Fenix and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack.

Fate of Carmine voting campaign

Epic revealed that Clayton Carmine, brother of Anthony and Benjamin, of the previous two games, will appear in Gears of War 3. Carmine will be more competant in the third game, with tattoos of his brothers and the reasons they died on his arms (Keep your head down! and Practice reloading!). He is shown weilding a Mulcher machine gun in several released pictures from the game. A vote was held between July 29, 2010 and September 6, 2010 to determine whether Carmine would live or die based on sales of Xbox avatar T-Shirts available for purchase on Xbox live. Additionally, actual T-shirts were available from San Diego Comic-Con with all purchases.[17] The voting campaign raised over $150,000, which was all donated to Child's Play.[18]

Multiplayer beta

On December 17, 2010, Epic Games confirmed that the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm for the Xbox 360 included early access to the multiplayer beta of Gears of War 3 and access to exclusive content. It was later announced that pre-ordering Gears of War 3 in any edition at GameStop in the United States or GAME in the United Kingdom would grant access to the public beta. There will be in-game achievements unlockable exclusively for beta testers that include characters and weapon skins. All players that participate in the beta will receive a medal to identify themselves as beta testers upon the release of the final game. The Bulletstorm exclusive beta began on April 18, 2011, a week before the GameStop pre-order beta which began on April 25, 2011.[19] The beta concluded on May 15, 2011.[20][21]

Unlockables

Announced via Twitter from Cliff Bleszinski, Gears of War 3 will have unlockables just like Gears of War 2.

  • On April 1, 2011, Bleszinski announced as an April Fools' joke via twitter that Gears of War 3 will have a new unlockable weapon in the form of a 6 barrelled shotgun that has a special ability to shoot nukes. The beta had exclusive unlockables, such as a Golden Retro Lancer by completing 90 matches in any game type, and earning 100 kills with it will unlock it for use in the full game. Players who purchased the Bulletstorm Epic Edition unlocked an exclusive Flaming Hammerburst for use in the beta and the full game.
  • Epic announced that players must hold on to their beta saved file for their unlockables to appear in the full game. Players will no longer have to hold on to their saved file when Gears of War 3 comes out. It was also confirmed on June 24, 2011 that completing required achievements from Gears of War and Gears of War 2 will earn the player new weapon skins and medals in Gears of War 3.
  • The Gold Lancer and Hammerburst have been confirmed as returning from Gears of War 2 to Gears of War 3. Rod Fergusson announced that players with the Veteran Gear achievement from Gears of War 2 will earn an in-game Old Guard medal and callsign as well as gold variants of all five starting weapons. There was a method to obtain all five gold weapons without the achievement, but after listening to negative fan feed back, they have since made the golden Gnasher shotgun exclusive to Veteran Gear players.[citation needed]
  • Chrome weapon skins for the five starting weapons have also been confirmed to be unlockable by playing the Xbox 360 or PC version of Gears of War and Gears of War 2.
  • It was confirmed by Rod Fergusson that the player will earn the green liquid metal skin in a special marketing promotion, he also announced that there will be an achievement by killing an Epic employee or killing someone who has the achievement.[citation needed]

Downloadable content

On 29 August 2011, Microsoft and Epic Games announced a Gears of War 3 Season Pass that entitles gamers to the first four installments of downloadable content (at a discount) that will roll out over the course of the next year, with the first releasing in November 2011.[22]

Past gears characters

Cliff Bleszinski has hinted past characters like Tai and RAAM as future downloadable content.[23]

Body Count song

Ice-T's band Body Count have made a song titled "Gears of War" and was featured in the Horde 2.0 trailer. [citation needed]

Reception

Gears of War 3 has received universal critical acclaim upon release. Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb gave Gears of War 3 five stars, stating "Gears of War 3 is a fantastic follow-up that answers important questions about the nature of the Gears universe while backing it all up with an even bigger, better multiplayer suite" IGN stated it as "The spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated sagas in video games". It currently has a average score 9.5 with 4 perfect scores.

References

  1. ^ a b "Gears of War 3 Related Games, Gears of War 3 Similar Games". Gamespot. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  2. ^ Wesley Yin-Poole. "Gears of War 3 delayed Xbox 360 News - Page 1". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  3. ^ ""Gears of War 3" Pre-orders Top One Million Units Worldwide; Fastest in Platform History". Epic Games. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  4. ^ "VG247: 360 dashboard shows Gears of War 3 for April 2011 release (was delayed until late 2011)". VG247. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  5. ^ "Twitter / Cliff Bleszinski: Also, Rod confirmed and I'". Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  6. ^ "Gears of War 3 Announced, Trailer Debuts". PCWorld. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  7. ^ Hinkle, David. "Gears of War 3 single-player preview: Two paths coming together". Joystiq.
  8. ^ Kelly, Kevin (2010-07-23). "Gears Of War 3 - Comic-Con 2010". G4tv. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  9. ^ Gears of War 3 E3 2011 Horde 2.0 Footage on YouTube
  10. ^ "Gears of War 3 adds 3D support, we await Gears of War 3-D re-titling". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  11. ^ Reilly, Jim (2010-04-13). "Gears of War 3 Includes 4-Player Co-op, New Weapons - Xbox 360 News at IGN". IGN. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  12. ^ "'Gears Of War 3′ Writer Is Noted 'Star Wars' Author Karen Traviss". MTV Multiplayer. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  13. ^ Kyle Orland (2010-04-13). "Bleszinski shows and details Gears 3". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  14. ^ a b Andy Chalk posted on 9 Apr 2010 16:27 (2010-04-09). "Microsoft Accidentally Unveils Gears of War 3". The Escapist. Retrieved 2010-05-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Posted: Apr 13, 2010 (2010-04-13). "Gears Of War 3 Video Game, Ashes To Ashes Debut Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos". GameTrailers. Retrieved 2010-05-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Dominic Sacco (2011-05-27). "Play.com selling Gears of War gun". MCV. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  17. ^ var authorId = "48841511" (2010-07-21). "Epic Puts Gears 3 Story In Your Hands". IGN. Retrieved 2010-09-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (6 September 2010). "Gears of War 3's 'Fate of Carmine' campaign raises $150K for RedTube". Joystiq. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  19. ^ "Gears of War 3 Beta Begins Mid April". Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  20. ^ "Pre Order Gears Of War 3 | GOW 3 Beta Code". GameStop. GameStop. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  21. ^ "Gears of War - Gears 3 Beta Launching on Xbox LIVE in April". Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  22. ^ "Gears of War 3 Season Pass Available Sept. 20th". Epic Games. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  23. ^ http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gears-of-gt-tv-extended/719555
  24. ^ Ryan McCaffrey (September 15, 2011). "Gears of War 3". Official Xbox Magazine. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  25. ^ Arthur Gies (September 15, 2011). "Gears of War 3 review: The damage done". Joystiq. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  26. ^ Nick Cowen (September 15, 2011). "Gears of War 3". Guardian. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  27. ^ Jeff Gerstmann (September 15, 2011). "Gears of War 3 Review - Giant Bomb". Giant Bomb.
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