Gears of War 3

The trailer is fantastic. Poor ol' Dom looks like he's losing the will to fight. Great music too.

I can't possibly wait a year for this.

Jay wrote:

I can't possibly wait a year for this.

Looks like we'll be waiting longer still:

http://kotaku.com/5652552/gears-of-war- … ive-months

Gears 3 now has a new, official release date: September 20, 2011 worldwide -- save for Japan, who gets it on 9/22.

Did anybody vote on that "Fate of Carmine" campaign last year?  I did, and I went with.... Save Carmine.  C'mon, let's give the family a break already. 

There was a huge Gears 3 preview blowout from several of the big media websites yesterday.  Kotaku's collected most of them, along with accompanying links, in their feature.  Goes without saying that if you want to stay completely spoiler free, you'll wanna stay away; they cover a significant chunk of the first act.

As a heads-up, Amazon is offering a $20 promotional credit for any future video game purchase when you pre-order Gears 3 from them.  This looks to apply only to the regular edition, and not the Limited or Epic Editions.  (If I plan this out right, I can put that $20 toward Arkham City in October, and then take advantage of the $10 promotional credit they offer for Arkham to put toward Uncharted 3 in November.)

The official soundtrack's leaked online, well ahead of its September 20th release date.  Being a huge fan of Gears 2's music score, I couldn't help but take advantage of the early listen.

It's about par for the course for a Jablonsky soundtrack: muscularly unsubtle and heavily entrenched in RCP mannerisms.  I'm happy that he opted to bring back the Gears 2 main theme, which is a relief after his Autobots thematic blunder in Dark of the Moon from earlier this year.  The theme gets plenty of air time throughout the album's generous 79 minutes, with some of the more notable reprisals being "Gears Keep Turning" and "Forever Omen."  An especially epic send-off is also featured in what appears to be the finale.  Strangely enough, I haven't yet come across the Locust theme, a signature mainstay even from the Kevin Riepl days of Gears 1.

My favorite action cue so far is "Hammer Meet Anvil."  It's freaken MASSIVE.

Last edited by Angela (Sep 11, 2011)

Angela wrote:

I'm tearing through Gears 2 again in anticipation for next week.  It's still one of the most enjoyable single player campaigns of this generation.

Will everyone be starting on Hardcore difficulty for Gears 3?

I've considered doing so, but I have the impression from reviews that difficulty has been upped a bit, so I'll probably start on Normal.

I'll start on Hardcore but won't feel any shame if I have to switch. I very rarely play games on hard settings - Gears 1 and 2 were exceptions. Both were enjoyable on hard but I think made much easier by the fact that I had already gone through on normal so there were no surprises.

If I remember correctly, Gears 2 on Hardcore was a good bit easier than 1, wasn't it?

Played through about an hour and a half and, so far, I'm loving it. The visuals don't quite hold up as well as they used to and the textures are very high contrast - very dark lines and some bright colours in between, almost like cel shading - but there's tons going on on-screen. It's already pretty intense and has gone through some big set pieces. All feels big really, which is exciting but doesn't quite have that control of the original, if you know what I mean (where a single Boomer could have you soil your pants). Seems pretty great so far.

Yes, I started on Hardcore and, while it's early days yet, it's all been pretty easy so far. Like in 2, your teammates are very good at holding their own so you have a bit of a safety net. At least so far. It remains to be seen what happens if or when the challenge ramps up.

Can you describe what is making the game so easy? Are the enemies hit points too low? Are the guns overpowered? Are the hiding behind wall strategies too safe?

Last edited by vert1 (Sep 20, 2011)

This felt like the longest work day ever before finally getting home to play. :p  Started up the single player on Hardcore, and made it to the end of Act 1 before forcing myself to pull away.  First impressions:

-Controls feel like they combined the best of Gears 1 and Gears 2.  We've got the faster general movement and Roadie Run from Gears 1, along with the tighter precision of both shooting and wall slamming/bouncing of Gears 2.

-I see what Jay means about the capability of your teammates.  They feel much too capable, and that's the biggest problem with the game so far.  When they're not constantly reviving you to the point where you don't even have to worry about dying, they're unloading everything they've got on the enemy so that they leave you but with a scant few bad guys to shoot for yourself.  And even when you feel you've got a bead on the last few enemies, they swoop in and finish the job for you.  It's beginning to feel very unsatisfying.

-And someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain that both Gears 1 and Gears 2 resulted in several more instant deaths.  Here, you almost always go into "Revive me!" mode, which always gives you a chance to get out of it alive.  I can see why they'd want to go this route because of the inherent new 4-player co-op, but it really takes away the tension from the battles, at least from a solo player stance.

-The new 'bowl' combat layout.  There's definitely a lot more maneuverability in the way you can approach skirmishes.  You're constantly on the move, retreating to one constantly vulnerable piece of cover to the next, whilst also looking for the most efficient ways to flank the enemy in a near 360 degree setting.  Again, I see this type of level design really benefiting the dynamics of the 4-player co-op.

-You can now run while characters are having conversations on the TAC com.  Cool.

-I like how weapons and ammo are very clearly marked by name, so there's no mistaking which ones you pick up now.  That, and the new "Hold the X button for a split second to confirm your pick ups" is handy too.

-The new Hammerburst's rapid fire seems slightly slower when squeezing the trigger manually.  I'm getting used to the new iron sight zoom-in, but still screwing up on the weapon's new active reload timing.  There's a significant time delay when reaching "perfect reload," and they made it even trickier since they tagged it at the very end of the gray colored "successful reload."  It's a lot easier to flub even a regular successful reload now.

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And now for some Act 1 spoilers:

-Hanover is a beautifully rendered level.  That whole Thrash Ball sequence was made of pure win.

-Anyone notice how frag-happy Anya and Sam are?  Honestly, these chicks must have an infinite supply of grenades on hand.

-Loving the new Carmine.  That bacon dialogue. ;)  And the clever throwback to the sniper shot and the helmet.   

-The splash damage from the Gunker's imulsion bomb projectile is absolutely insane.  Even adequate cover isn't enough to avoid severe injury.

-Getting hit by the OneShot sniper rifle was a VERY unpleasant surprise.

-Anyone else find the Cougars cap for Cole?  I wore it backwards.  And I found it clever how they effectively did away with it once you ride on the zip line near the end of the Act.

Last edited by Angela (Sep 21, 2011)

Finished up Act 2.  The highly aggressive AI-controlled allies backing you up still persists, which really is sapping the joy out of the game.  (Stop taking all my targets, you assholes!)  I'm seriously thinking of dropping the difficulty down to Normal to see if that affects the CPU any.

Nevertheless, the campaign's definitely picking up steam, and there are some terrifically varied set pieces on display.

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Act 2 spoilers:

-The new Digger Launcher is quite cool, both as a weapon in your hands as well as the enemy's.  Satisfying to use, but also a thrilling weapon to evade, like the Gunker's imulsion bomb, it really defies the concept of keeping cover for too long.

-I loved the traveling fire's perspective when using the Siege Beast trebuchet against the Brumak.  Likewise, the encounter against the second Brumak with conventional weapons was thrilling.

-Anyone else get super giddy seeing all those stacks of ammo at key refill points?  Times like these you wish the COGs had deeper pockets to stock up with.

-The Mama Corpser boss battle was intense.  I'm glad they handed out a checkpoint just before destroying the final eye; she nailed me after she went berzerk and you had to make the 25 second escape.

-Dizzy's back!  I kind of surmised that he would be, since he was a presence in "Coaliation's End," the Karen Traviss novel that predates Gears 3.  Still, it's great to see he's still alive and kickin' after his scuffle with Skorge.

-I love the progression of time throughout this act, and how it affects the level's lighting.  Starting out at early dawn, which transitions into mid-day, then eventually settling into a sunset and finally ending at night, the color palette throughout these levels are dazzling.  And holy shit at the aerial view of the vistas during the last gas barge flight.  Those mountains and that night sky!

Last edited by Angela (Sep 22, 2011)