Gears of War 3 just might be damn near third-person shooting perfection. I can't think of anything truly wrong with this game on the surface level. Most complaints I would have would be with some of the DLC practices, or a couple of over tuned weapons here and there, and maybe the piss filter but I feel like those don't impact the raw experience of playing this masterpiece.
The game shows the ultimate conclusion of the Locust War. Humanity has lost most of Sera, but it still keeps trucking on with Marcus Fenix at the front of the battle. Marcus is much more somber in this game, there barely is a CoG let alone humanity and it is all because of humanity's own hubris. Marcus loses so much in this game, but ultimately keeps leading the human remnants toward a future where they hopefully never need to experience loss like this ever again.
Cole and Baird are playable for the first time in a Gears campaign and they are loveable as ever, Cole is actually the only CoG most Stranded will accept because he was Sera's biggest Trashball star pre-war, much to Baird's cold dismissal. Hell more characters are playable this time around as it is one of two Gears games that allows for four players. The character range from Marcus, Dom, Baird, and Cole, to returning game characters like Jace Stratton, Anya Stroud, to the new Carmine brother and novel exclusive character Sam Byrne. The banter between these guys and gals are the best in the series and you really get to see them grow with each other.
The new additions to the campaign are massive, bigger guns, gadgets, and set pieces make for a much more robust Gears campaign than ever. There will be moments that pull at your heartstrings more than the last two games did. It is one of four shining achievements of Gears 3.
The other three lie in the extra game modes. On the PvE side, you have a much more expanded version of Horde, which has an ungodly amount of new defenses and ways to play, so no one Horde game feels the same from another. The other PvE mode is Beast, where you are fighting from the other side, taking on waves of well defended CoG Heroes and Onyx Guard as different types of Locust. It only appeared in this game sadly, as if it was expanded on more it could have been a series staple.
The main series staple however is the multiplayer and this hands down was the best 360 era Gears game for that. Progression was tight, you had to be excessively good at the game in every mode to unlock everything cool. Not only that, but the beloved gameplay loop of Gears 1 was tweaked for a much more balanced experience with Gears 3, opting for heavy punishment if you didn't adapt to the new rules rather than taking away everything beloved again. You don't only have to play Gnasher this game, as the entire sandbox is extremely viable now. There is a reason I lost so much of my early teen years to this game and I owe it to the multiplayer.
Gears of War 3 is the best this series has to offer by a LongShot. It is a shame the other games never really shaped up to the behemoth that this game was.
The game shows the ultimate conclusion of the Locust War. Humanity has lost most of Sera, but it still keeps trucking on with Marcus Fenix at the front of the battle. Marcus is much more somber in this game, there barely is a CoG let alone humanity and it is all because of humanity's own hubris. Marcus loses so much in this game, but ultimately keeps leading the human remnants toward a future where they hopefully never need to experience loss like this ever again.
Cole and Baird are playable for the first time in a Gears campaign and they are loveable as ever, Cole is actually the only CoG most Stranded will accept because he was Sera's biggest Trashball star pre-war, much to Baird's cold dismissal. Hell more characters are playable this time around as it is one of two Gears games that allows for four players. The character range from Marcus, Dom, Baird, and Cole, to returning game characters like Jace Stratton, Anya Stroud, to the new Carmine brother and novel exclusive character Sam Byrne. The banter between these guys and gals are the best in the series and you really get to see them grow with each other.
The new additions to the campaign are massive, bigger guns, gadgets, and set pieces make for a much more robust Gears campaign than ever. There will be moments that pull at your heartstrings more than the last two games did. It is one of four shining achievements of Gears 3.
The other three lie in the extra game modes. On the PvE side, you have a much more expanded version of Horde, which has an ungodly amount of new defenses and ways to play, so no one Horde game feels the same from another. The other PvE mode is Beast, where you are fighting from the other side, taking on waves of well defended CoG Heroes and Onyx Guard as different types of Locust. It only appeared in this game sadly, as if it was expanded on more it could have been a series staple.
The main series staple however is the multiplayer and this hands down was the best 360 era Gears game for that. Progression was tight, you had to be excessively good at the game in every mode to unlock everything cool. Not only that, but the beloved gameplay loop of Gears 1 was tweaked for a much more balanced experience with Gears 3, opting for heavy punishment if you didn't adapt to the new rules rather than taking away everything beloved again. You don't only have to play Gnasher this game, as the entire sandbox is extremely viable now. There is a reason I lost so much of my early teen years to this game and I owe it to the multiplayer.
Gears of War 3 is the best this series has to offer by a LongShot. It is a shame the other games never really shaped up to the behemoth that this game was.