REVIEW: Gears of War 3.

Two video game reviews in a row? Man, I sure know how to blog about what’s relevant. I have no idea why it took me so long to post this review, but I guess better late than never.

Gears of War 3 was the most anticipated game of 2011, and it did not disappoint. The final chapter in the epic trilogy of Marcus Fenix concludes in a harrowing manner that sticks with you for days after you finish playing it. A game’s storyline has never made me speechless … until now. Where the campaign isn’t painstakingly long (I beat it in roughly 12 hours), it’s still well done and keeps tugging at you for a long time after.

If you think the campaign is too short, fear not. I could literally spend hundreds of hours playing this game and not be 100% complete. The addition of a few modes turned this game into a Game of the Year candidate.

• Arcade Mode: It’s just like the normal campaign, but with XP for multiplayer. For those non gamers, XP stands for experience points, and is what allows you to level up. Leveling up takes a while, so given the ability to replay the campaign and gain valuable XP? Genius move by EPIC.

• Beast Mode: Horde Mode is still Gears’ bread and butter. They’re the ones who championed the “wave after wave of bad guys come at you until you beat it or die” thing that other games like Call of Duty try to do (but do less well). In Beast Mode, you get to be a member of the Locusts. Basically, it’s Horde Mode in reverse. You choose your bad guy and try to kill humans. The best part of the entire game might be smashing fortifications as an almost blind Beserker.

• Horde Mode: This mode is the reason to buy Gears. You play in teams up to five players (but can play solo, as I have on many occasions) and try to defeat 50 waves of Locust who get stronger each wave. Every tenth level is a “Boss” level, and each of these contains a boss type baddie (Gunker, Beserker, Brumak, etc). The big difference between Horde in Gears 3, however, is the addition of fortifications and money. As you kill more Locust and Lambent, you get money. After each wave, you get a 30 second break to buy or upgrade fortifications. From barriers like simple caltrops to laser fences, you can barricade yourself in an area. Decoys fool the Locust into firing at it instead of you, and give your team a chance to kill a bunch of unsuspecting villains with a Frag Grenade or two. Turrets start off inaccurate and unable to take much damage, but eventually become armored Troikas, which are extremely deadly. Sentry Guns allow you to waste any enemy who comes within its proximity. Finally (and most expensively), a Silverback is a sort of robotic exo suit equipped with machine guns and rockets. When you get further up in the mid 30s and 40s, the Silverback can be a huge difference maker in dealing with the larger enemies who take more ammunition to destroy. Basically, Horde Mode is the shit.

• Ribbons & Medals: Another cool addition is a very arcade like rewards system that gives you Ribbons for killing in certain ways (I headshotted someone with the Torque Bow, it exploded and killed another guy behind him. Two with one shot) and for accomplishing certain feats (such as 10+ kills and no deaths for an entire match). The medals give you tons of XP, and they take so long to get that you absolutely will not get bored any time soon.

One negative, though, is public Team Deathmatch. I absolutely loathe how it’s almost exclusively people whose only talents are rolling out of the way and using the shotgun to kill you. I emptied an entire clip into a guy as he was trying to evade me, and one shot from his Sawed-Off from ~20 feet away destroyed me. It doesn’t make sense, and I only ever play public (“ranked”) TDM if there’s a special Gears Event happening. My favorite event thus far has been Torque Bow Tag. The Torque Bow, for those who don’t know, is an explosive bow & arrow. It’s pretty amazing, and probably one of my favorite weapons in any video game ever. Torque Bow Tag made it so everyone spawned with only a Torque Bow and a pistol, and all the weapon spawns were Torque Bows. So, instead of having douchey 13-year-olds rolling out of the way and shot gunning me to death, they had to actually aim with a weapon that’s difficult to use (not a lot of people use the Torque Bow, so I was at an advantage for once). It was really fun, and I look forward to more events like these.

Other than ranked being impossible to enjoy for non shotgun users, Gears 3 is near perfect. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played with my brother and his two friends on Horde, Beast, or going through the campaign on Co-Op. The game also features the ability to play four player Co-Op for the campaign. This makes beating the game on Insane Difficulty so much easier.

Overall, I absolutely love this game. Of my Big Three that were coming out this fall (Gears 3, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations), I was looking forward to Gears the least. That’s not to say I wasn’t looking forward to it, because I still pre-ordered it. I was getting it because I knew it would be fun, and would hold me over for the month until Batman came out. I beat Arkham City in two days and put Gears back in my Xbox.

I don’t know what will happen when Revelations comes out in two weeks, because I’ve honestly never been this anxious for a game to hit shelves. I do know that I won’t stop playing Gears 3 anytime soon, though. This game is amazing, and deserves the highest of praise.

9.5 out of 10.