Everyone’s favourite tough guy character Marcus Fenix returns in the wildly successful third-person shooter franchise that has consistently made it into Best-of lists for Xbox 360 games. Gears of War 3, with over one million global pre-orders, concludes the Gears of War saga that started back in 2006.
First off, the developers have not changed what gamers have loved the most about the game. Gears of War 3’s single-player action remains functionally similar to Gears of War 1 and 2, with the remnants of Delta Squad shooting and covering their way against the Locusts baddies that stand in their way.
Gears of War 3 starts off where the previous game ends. In the opening level of the game, the government has fallen, and the survivors are banding together to aid each other against the growing Lambent threat just right outside his base. The sneak preview shows the return of Richard Prescott, and Marcus receives confirmation that his father is still alive, thereby setting the stage for another roaringly epic good time shooting aliens.
For newbies to Gears of War, Prescott was the ex-chairman of the coalition before he fled at the end of the second game. The Lambent Locust, meanwhile, is a tentacle-worm “thingy” that flails around in the background of the first level – from the looks of it, it’s a major baddie in the game.
New multiplayer options are available in the game, such as a four-player campaign Co-op, the new Beast mode (where players assume the roles in the Locust army bent on wiping out waves of humans), an enhanced Horde mode where players have more gameplay upgrades to hold off waves after waves of Locust enemies, as well as new multiplayer maps and game types.
First impression of the game: it is very similar to the previous Gears of Wars games. Don’t expect anything too radically different, which makes Gears of War 3 just a bit more of the same thing, gameplay-wise. The storyline and extended campaign will reward the faithful gamer who wishes to fight with Marcus till the last breath, though, and will conclude the series’ story arc.
Gears of War 3 is slated for a global release on September 20, 2011. Fans can start to pre-order the game from this week onwards, and those who have pre-ordered a copy can look forward to the official launch at Funan DigitaLife Mall on 19 September, from 7.30pm.
Gears of War 3 comes in the Standard Edition, which will cost S$69, and in a Limited Edition that includes goodies such as replicas of the Octus Service medal and award box, unlockable Adam Fenix multiplayer character and a fabric COG flag, which will retail at S$84.90.
A limited edition Gears of War 3 Xbox Console, featuring a 320GB Gears of War customized Xbox, 2 customized controllers, and a standard edition of Gears of War 3, will also be made available.
