Gears of War 3 is the final game in the Gears of War trilogy for the Xbox 360. Set 18 months after the end of Gears of War 2, Gears 3 sees the COG take up a final stance against the Locust and a new, unknown threat of the Lambent.
Campaign
The campaign while having some pretty cheesy lines moves at a good pace as well as varying up what is happening mixing it up between on-rails and actual on the ground shooting. The cut scenes explain the story well and Epic has done a great job of rounding out the current story of this trilogy. In particular epic has done a great job at exploring the emotions of characters outside of the main protagonist Marcus. The story will give a satisfying ending and not leave you asking any major questions.
Multiplayer
This is what the Gears of War franchise is built on and has added new maps as well as modes from Gears 2. Warzone, Execution and Horde modes return while Wingman and King of the Hill are revamped. In addition to this Gears 3 sees the introduction of Capture the Leader, Team Deathmatch and Beast modes. Finding matches now is much easier than Gears 2 with the new quick match option allowing you to join matches in progress instead of waiting to accumulate 10 players, this way there is always a game available. To get the most out of this game though you will need to have some mates to play with since playing with people on xbox live on certain modes can be very hit or miss, especially in Wingman, Horde and Beast mode. It also makes objective based games such as King of the Hill and Capture the Leader easier since you will not need to worry about a teammate running off trying to do the whole thing himself. Horde mode, easily the best aspect of multiplayer, sees you work with four other people to defend your base through building fortifications and defensive weaponry, to defeat 50 waves of Locust which include Reavers, Brumaks and Berserkers. The newest most intriguing addition to Gears 3 is Beast mode which is a reversal of Horde mode, in which you take up members of the Locust army trying to defeat all the COG members over 12 waves. Sadly one negative is that the spawning is a little out of whack with the enemy spawning behind you and having the upper hand. Although this does not happen often it happens enough to get frustrating. Overall with all the modes available this game will not get boring and in addition there will always be people to play with.
Graphics
The graphics, quite simply, are brilliant. Gears 3, while being a post-apocalyptic game, manages to mix the right amount of carnage for this type of setting as well as colour to get away from the bleak grey and brown. For instance Azura is beautiful to look at, as while fighting there is the ever continuous hurricane in the background. Another instance is the Sandbar multiplayer which while being a post-apocalyptic world is also a lush and colourful beach. Overall these are lovely to look at and at times it can lead to you to just looking at the setting and not playing them game. This shows to date what the Xbox 360 is capable of.
Sound
The Gears of War franchise is not known for its sounds or music but it does what is necessary here. The guns sound as they should when firing, between shots and reloading with no glaring mistakes. The voice acting is good as no character sounds out of place or that the wrong voice is attributed to the wrong character. One great song is Mad World which plays under certain circumstances which fits the mood of the map brilliantly. Overall, the sounds and voices are not out of place and do not distract from the main gameplay.
Final Thoughts
This game presents massive replay value with multiple difficulties for the story as well as an Arcade mode to play story on. This as well as Beast and Horde modes which allow friends to work together co-operatively. Add this to the multiplayer match types and medals that are earned from all the modes and this game has plenty of replay value as well as offering something for everyone depending on how they play. Nothing is out of place and everything fits in perfectly capping off the end of the Gears of War trilogy on the Xbox360.
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