Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Even since I first played Gears of War one I fell in love with the story, characters and game play, in fact the whole Gears Universe. So when I saw the first demo for Gears 3 at E3 oh so long ago I was hyped, and went and pre-ordered myself a copy. That was nearly a year ago now, and after a year I'm still playing this brilliant game and I can see my self playing it for years after the xbox 360 life span has ended.

Gears of War picks up a while after Gears 2. Don't worry if you haven't read the books they soon fill in the gaps of what you have missed since last facing the locust horde. This did slightly annoy me, I hadn't finished reading the books only to hear spoilers of the book I was oh so enjoying. But if I hadn't been reading the novels I would also have been annoying if they didn't tell me what was going on, can't please some people. One other thing that did bug me, to bring the player up to speed in the start of the game, characters mention big events as if they are reminding fellow gears, like they'd forget the big events from a few months ago. I feel that this was done to bring in gears players who are new to the universe, which I do understand but parts of conversations seemed a tad odd, maybe I'm just fussy.

It may seem I'm complaining about the game but I truly do love this game, but for it to be a fair review I must mention parts I disliked. The voice acting is great in this game and the conversations between members of the squad makes you feel a part of the team and it shows that the characters have been through a lot together.

Game play is pretty much the same as we know and love, made with refinements but actual controls are the same. True to gears style the locust have changed the hammer burst rifle, for the better once again. The same as Gears 2 style but now with a better zoom. Ammo seems to work different as well, when using crates I noticed my beloved long shot didn't reload, which is actually a good thing gave an extra challenge to the game. Any veteran gear will be able to jump back into the action with little difficulty the game doesn't feel very hard. There is a great arsenal of weapons from the ones we know and love to new ways to turn enemies into a pulp, my favorite of the new weapons has to be the 'One Shot' and it lives up to it's name. We also get a mech suit that uses mulcher type guns, it is good fun to use but I don't overly understand why we suddenly have them, why not use them in gears one and two? must have been saving these suits of destruction for a rainy day.

Along with a wider arsenal we have a wider range of enemies to face, from savage locust with a few new classes, to the queens guards and the fearsome lambent. Fighting the different types of enemy does make a nice break up instead of just dealing with the same old every time. During the campaign we get some great boss battles, a brumak and lambent berserker.

Gears of war 3 defiantly doesn't feel like a re hash of an old game that's been done before. We get to visit vastly different locations not the usual grey darkness we have had previously. In fact it's a very good looking game.

Im not really a multi player sort of person so Im not really going to cover the modes available other than the new and improved horde and brand new beast mode.

Horde 2.0, I was extremely happy to have this mode, I loved Horde in gears 2 building bases out of boom shields, but now we can actually build forts with defenses to keep the locust at bay. This could be a stand alone game in it's self. The game starts and you choose when you wish to make your stand, using money earn from killing grubs you can build, buy and upgrade defenses. You can also share money and ammo with your fellow gear to. It still work like the horde we know and love, each wave comes with bigger and tougher monsters that want you dead but now the 10th wave bring trouble, boss waves this can be anything from berserker, to brumaks. So be prepared for a tough fight.

Beast, this mode is good fun playing horde from the locust view point, player race against a time playing as the locust horde starting off as weaker grubs like tickers and by killing humans and taking out defenses points are won that allow you to play a stronger locust like blood mounts. The time adds a sense of urgency you need to kill the humans before the hammer of dawn is called down upon you, though I do wish there was a way to switch off the time just so it is possible to mess around more as a mauler or what ever locust you chose.

The only part of the story I feel a little disappointed is the lack of answers, gears 2 brought in a lot of questions not many did i feel we found out. Like the main who the hell is the queen, when we can find out in true fenix style Marcus says never mind we'll talk about it later, when will this later come i ask?


Gears 3 is a great game, if your a fan of the series or never tried it, this is a brilliant game to play. It contains an immersive story that keeps you engaged, great little easter eggs hidden through out the game, and all out gorey fun. (Don't worry if you don't like a lot of blood it can be turned off but I expect that wouldn't be the same this is an option I shall never touch).

****Extra note****

The gears season pack is a good buy, it does start stronger than the later releases. The horde add on pack gives more maps and upgrades, then we have a story DLC http://uk.gamespot.com/gears-of-war-3-raams-shadow/user-reviews/798438/