Gears of War 3

Gameplay
Gears of War 3 is an upcoming third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Games 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][3] It will be the third installment of the Gears of War series, and the final game in the current story arc.^[4]

Gears of War 3 will feature for the first time a four-player co-op mode^[5] and the introduction of three playable female characters: Samantha Byrne, Anya Stroud, and Bernadette Mataki (a character from the novels by Karen Traviss). Another new playable character is Jace Stratton, a battle-hardened soldier who appears in the comic series and is mentioned in the second game.

The game will feature new weapons, including a double-barreled shotgun and a Pendulum War Era Lancer, with a normal bayonet attached. In the June Issue of Game Informer, Epic revealed other new weapons such as an Incendiary Grenade, a new heavy weapon called the Digger Launcher that fires explosive diggers that dig through the ground at high speeds. Another new heavy weapon, the One Shot, can take down any enemy with a single round. The Gorgon pistol is now a fully automatic weapon, and is known as the Gorgon SMG. Also, a new turret has been revealed that allows up to four of any weapon to be mounted on it.^[6]

A fully controllable mech suit will be available for use in certain parts of the game, armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher. It has two operating modes, in assault mode it is controlled like a standard character, in stationary mode, it locks into position and deploys its armor, as well as cover for other Gears from its legs.^[7]

Hip-hop stars Drake and Andrew Colvin will be the voices of Jace Stratton and Griffin, respectively. Claudia Black will be the voice of Sam Byrne.^[8][9][10]The Locust have also expanded with the addition of the Savage Grenadier, the Digger Boomer, the Locust Siege Beast, and an armored Kantus - sometimes referred to as the "Kantus Knight". Gears 3 will mark the return of the Berserkers. The game also introduces new lambent enemies, such as Drudges, Polyps, Lambent Stalks, and a Lambent Berserker.

New moves in the game include the ability to swap weapons with squadmates and knock over enemies while going over cover, as seen in the live demo. Players will also be able to kick Lambent enemies away after they have been killed by the chainsaw or bayonet, and perform new executions.

Multiplayer

Gears of War 3 will include a new mode called Beast mode. It is the opposite of Horde Mode in Gears of War 2, the player instead attacks COG members as Locust. Tokens are earned for killing enemies, allowing the player to upgrade their character to a stronger class of Locust. Horde Mode will also reappear in the third installment. Original multiplayer modes are back in Gears of War 3, but with a twist. In "Team Deathmatch", a game similar to Warzone, every team has 20 lives per round, and when the lives run out the game-mode turns into a regular Warzone match. "Capture the Leader" is a combination of Guardian and Submission, and the leader will have to be captured and held for 30 seconds. But, the leader will still be able to struggle and knock his captor around. The struggling causes minor damage and can turn a match around.

Also, players can earn awards based on their gameplay and can unlock character variants, and it has been revealed that there will be many choices to choose from. New executions, weapon skins, and “mutators”, can also be unlocked. Along with this, Epic has announced that they will be providing dedicated servers to prevent the issues that Gears of War 2 had with multiplayer. There will also be a playable beta released in April 2011 that can be attained by buying the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm and by pre-ordering Gears of War 3 at GameStop.

Synopsis

Eighteen months after the fall of Jacinto, the Gears have moved to the island of Vectes and are living aboard a converted aircraft carrier called the Raven's Nest. The Cog has disbanded and the imulsion that powered Sera's cities has infected and mutated members of the Locust, causing them to become Lambent. The Lambent are evolving into a new enemy that threatens both the Locust and humanity.^[11] The Stranded also live on the island along with other survivors from E-Day.<1>

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".^[12] The story is being written by science fiction author Karen Traviss, who has authored three Gears novels and is working on the next two.^[13] Epic revealed that Clayton Carmine, brother of Anthony and Benjamin, of the previous two games, will appear in Gears of War 3. A vote was held between July 29 and September 6 to see if Carmine will live or die, based on Xbox avatar T-Shirts available for purchase on Xbox live. Additionally, real life t-shirts were available from San Diego Comic-Con with all purchases counting towards the vote.^[14] The voting campaign raised over $150,000, which was all donated to Child's Play.^[15]

Marketing

Gears of War 3 was officially unveiled on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon by Cliff Bleszinski, with a teaser trailer.^[16][17] Before the official reveal, an ad for the game was accidentally leaked on the Xbox Live platform.^[16] The song featured in the trailer is 'Heron Blue' by Sun Kil Moon.^[18] The teaser trailer was also unveiled on the Xbox 360 Dashboard on April 14, 2010. The game is currently available for pre-order in three editions: standard, limited, and epic.

Public multiplayer beta

On December 17 2010, Epic Games confirmed that the epic edition of Bulletstorm for the Xbox 360, will include early access to the multiplayer beta of Gears of War 3. It will also allow access to exclusive content. It was announced on March 4 2011, pre-ordering any edition Gears of War 3 at Gamestop will grant the person access to the public beta and will also receive a 'beta tester' metal that will coincide with the game once released. There will be acheivements unlockable exclusively for beta testers as well that include character and weapon skins. The public beta is scheduled to begin on April 25. The Bulletstorm exclusive beta will begin a week prior on April 18. The beta concludes on May 15.