(Review) Gears of War 3

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It’s a rare experience when you reach the end of a blockbuster, million-dollar videogame and when the credits roll, you actually believe the story is finished. Whether you believe Microsoft will actually abandon the franchise is beside the point – Gears of War 3’s single purpose is to bring closure to a world that’s been blown wide open in the previous games.

Avast: be aware that beyond this here point be some spoilers, ya scallywags.

The story

The world of Sera is in worse shape than it’s ever been: everything is crumbling, decayed, and now half underwater. Even the planet’s inhabitants are barely scraping together an existence. Everyone from once-powerful corporate CEOs (voiced by Ice-T) who’ve lost it all and four-star generals who once spent their days on the tip of the spear have drawn loved ones closer (and out of the blue) on the front porch to defend the homestead.

And speaking of loved ones, no better example of this is the much-maligned Dominic Santiago. Dom’s a character that I’ve long lam(b)ented, claiming him to be a whiner and boring. When we’re first introduced to him in Gears 3 he’s gardening and I threw up my hands in “see? I told you so!” disgust. Over the course of the adventure, he actually comes into his own and does a great job of getting things done. Dom’s storyline, while I felt it an absolute joke in Gears of War 2, is told in the best possible way a game in the Gears universe can. Scenes with him, particularly the final one, are really stand-out and are the high water mark the other scenes should aspire to be (but don’t really live up to).

And then there’s Marcus Fenix, the most thick-necked brute of them all. This time around, with the world destroyed and everyone left standing or swimming on it having been issued snorkels, Marcus’ overarching drive isn’t to save planet Sera from the Locust or Lambent, it’s to rescue his father from a five-star resort where glowing bellhops have him held up.

The game introduces, and does nothing with, a few new characters (Jace and Samantha), and finally gives Anya a Lancer and shoves her out the door of the chopper and into the fray. Sadly, none of the new characters is really given a chance to explain why they’re there (outside reading the Gears 3 novel series by the game’s author, Karen Traviss). They hint a bit at their back stories, but to be honest only one game in the series isn’t enough to develop their characters.

One thing Gears of War 3 does very well is having the environment do an excellent job of telling the story. Weapons that are and are not in the game (I’m talking about you, Hammer of Dawn) do well pushing the “world destroyed” story. For example the Retro Lancers, typical Lancer machineguns with awful aim have been equipped with bayonnets and appear as items scavenged by the enemies to build outfit their army and to make makeshift turrets. One area in particular – Griffin’s city – left me breathless when I first encountered it. Epic has done a great job in building an interesting, lived-in world.

The graphics

One thing I really enjoyed about Gears 3 is the constantly changing scenery. You’re not in a dismal gray city anymore with broken doorways and heavily militarized architecture. Now you’re in beaches, grocery stores, salt flats, and outpost towns. And because of these changes in scenery, Gears of War 3 does an excellent job of shaking up the visual tedium of the past games. The colour palette has exploded! Instead of a limited gray palette, there are now sunsets! Things are orange! Insanity? This isn’t insanity – THIS IS SERA!

The visual effects are stellar as well, but seeing as they’re coming from the Unreal Engine, that’s not a surprise. Everything looks really nice, especially the stormy levels later on in the game.

The formula of war

Know that what hasn’t changed is the Gears of War 3 gameplay formula. As with the other two games in the series, Epic Games has anthropomorphized four boab trees, outfitted each with a machine gun, chainsaw, and dew rag, put them behind some traffic barriers or other waist-high cover, and let them get down to business. If you’re not into cover-based combat or are hoping for something different, you’re swimming against the current here.

The gameplay

Gears 3’s gameplay feels looser than in the past games but it might just be because I haven’t played a Gears game since finishing the second back in 2008. I felt like I wasn’t sticking to walls by accident too often or getting clipped by doorways like I’ve felt in previous games. Then again, I typically play Gears in a way not necessarily intended – I usually rush in and blast everything to bits instead of staying back and hiding behind cover.

The game introduces some neat new gameplay “modes” as well that have you suiting up in a weaponized freight loader called a Silverback. This vehicle addition is a nice way the game breaks up the action. During two player co-op, Gears of War 3 does a better job than it’s done in the past of having each player protect one another’s progress, particularly outside of the fort (you’ll know it when you see it).

Other interesting vehicle modes include manning the turret on the back of a truck as it blazes across an airfield and an interesting submarine level that offers some unique challenges, but feels as vital to the whole game as the Halo Reach space dogfight section.

Some of the greatest new features appearing in Gears of War 3 isn’t the story, but the multiplayer. There’s a new tower defence mode called Horde that pits you and your teammates against wave after wave (50 in total – I’ve made it to 12) of enemies. Between rounds, you’re able to use credits that you earn from killing foes to buy new weapons or ammo – or more importantly, to buy, repair, and upgrade defences like razorwire, decoys, and turrets. Despite not being into tower defence games, I enjoyed the mode a lot. Another new mode, called Beast, puts you in the Locust boots and has you trying to eliminate the cog troopers.

Another thing Gears 3 does really well is unlocks. Between cog tags and magazine cut outs to statues and being able to level up every weapon to unlock more, you’ll be spending a lot of time in the sub menus seeing how close you are to getting that gold Lancer. You can unlock weapon skins, characters and more by playing multiplayer games and through the main storyline. Of course, you can also skip the middleman and just buy the weapon skins you want to from XBox Live and save yourself the aggravation of playing over and over. Then again, if you’re going to spend cash on the goods, chances are you’re going to want to use it in game and getting some practice is never a bad thing.

Conclusion

(Yaar: beware this clip for there be livin’ some scurvy spoilers)

Gears of War 3 is the end of the series and it does a great job of tying everything up with a big, bloody, bow. From character development to cool new multiplayer modes, Gears 3 is a must-have for any fan of the series. In my opinion, Gears of War 3 isn’t a knock-out, 5-heart, must-have game but it is a good game and would make a fine addition to anyone’s collection, and if you’ve already got the other Gears games, you’re definitely going to want to pick this up, not only to see it through but because you’re probably a fan and it won’t disappoint you.

For all the complaining I feel like I’ve done in this review, I’ve really had a ton of fun with Gears 3 – more than I’ve had with any other game in the series. I spent close to eight straight hours at a game retreat playing the Gears 3 campaign with a pal and had a lot of fun covering each other and exploring the world of Sera. If you’re into games like Gears I’ll be you will too, baby! Whoo!