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Gears of War 3 - Source: Gamefreaks
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: Third person shooter
Platforms: Xbox 360
Rating: 8/10
Gamefreaks
You just can't beat the third part of a trilogy for sky-high expectations and, all too often, crushing fan disappointment. Gears of War 3 has the dual responsibly of closing the series' storyline and upping the ante technically thanks to the previous titles' precedent. Fans needn't fear, though, as the third instalment comes to a thundering, satisfying conclusion on all fronts.
Not far off the same despairing tone of its FPS franchise cousin, Resistance, Gears 3 returns players to a world where humanity's defeat is all but a done deal. Having discovered a brand new foe in the infected Lambent creatures of part 2, leading to the downfall of civilisation's last great bastion, prospects for Delta Squad and those they protect are not looking good.
The original antagonists, the Locust hoard, are on the back heels but far from defeated and the Lambent have mutated into even more insidious forms in the two years since Jacinto's fall. The human government has disbanded, survivors have been scattered to the winds and, while their bodies are as impossibly buff as ever, none of the members of Delta Squad can avoid the psychological affects of slowly losing a long-term war.
If you're familiar with the uber-macho beefcake world of Gears you might find this a little hard to believe but, between the chest thumping, groin thrusting and barrel polishing, the story manages to come across somewhat human. The unrelenting dialled-to-11 action of Gears 2 has been revised with a clumsy nod to the notion of pacing; outrageously exciting set pieces still pepper the game but every now and then the action grinds to a halt and let various characters have their moments.
From a gameplay perspective it can be frustrating; slow, contemplative scenes are not Cliffy B and crew's forte and going from full-steam to inert is a jerky experience. From a story perspective, though, you have to give the team credit for at least trying to give the cast some depth beyond fist-bumping camaraderie. It doesn't always work, but on the whole fans that have committed to the Delta Squad story for the duration will not be disappointed.
Gameplay-wise not much new has been introduced in Gears 3 and given how soundly part 2 ironed out the kinks of the original's redefining of the third-person shooter genre, that's no criticism. With each iteration the Gears of War series has situated gamers on the very edge of what's technically possible in the penned-in genre; streamlined, cinematic and exhilarating.
However, the same contrivances still tug at our suspension of disbelief, most notably the amazing tendency of rubble across the globe to fall in convenient parallel rows of cover. But with a cover system and gunplay is as sharp as this silliness can be quite happily ignored, if not completely forgiven.
From the razor-sharp battle action to the dizzying boss battles and unexpected tenderness of the story, Gears of War 3's campaign is a masterclass in rounding out a blockbuster trilogy.
Those in it for the online gaming do not go wanting either, in fact it's the series' most robust offering so far. A 4-player online co-op mode opens up the campaign's memorable stunts for multiple replays and the popular wave-based Horde mode returns with a few new strategic tweaks. Players can also experience life on the flipside in Beast mode, taking control of several classes of Locust creatures as they try to infiltrate military strongholds.
Performance of the online games has also been substantially lifted with the addition of dedicated servers eliminating any sort of host advantage. While the games themselves are all technically sound, and in some cases very clever, the experience of playing competitively online still has the unpleasant tang of part 2. If you don't have hours to pour into your game there's not a lot of incentive to stick with it casually; skill-matching attempts don't make up for continually getting shotgunned in half by better players without much chance to improve.
Only a fool would believe this was the end of the Gears series but the creators could easily walk away from the franchise now, confident they have left their mark in the pantheon of gaming greats. Slick, exciting and (in its own way) ambitious - Gears 3 is a popcorn triumph.
