For the past week or so, I’ve been playing through the Gears of War 3 beta. If you liked Gears of War 2, you’ll undoubtedly love the next installment. Almost everything you loved about the previous title made it into the sequel, and the things that have been changed are clear improvements.
The gameplay itself is classic Gears of War – its shootouts from cover and close quarters shotgun battles aplenty. The controls are much smoother, however, and unlike the previous title, I didn’t find myself sticking to the walls by mistake too often. The new weapons in the beta are also refreshing, offering an entirely new range of strategy depending on which tool of destruction you choose. The sawed-off is a shotgun that has a super wide kill field for quick and close encounters, but the trade off is limited range and long reload times. The digger launcher shoots a torpedo like bomb that travels underground avoiding all obstacles before popping up right in front of your opponent and exploding. There’s also the retro lancer, where the chainsaw has been ditched in favor of a bayonet that results in a satisfying impaling of the victim. I should also mention that smoke grenades actually do something this time around. In addition to providing large, thick smokescreen, they also stun your opponent, giving you a chance to move in for a quick kill.
Just like the 2nd gears, the visuals are pretty impressive and with 4 entirely new maps on the beta, the game itself is very immersive. Compared to the past games, Gears of War 3 is smoother, faster, bloodier, and more intense. Unfortunately, the beta is only active for another week before the September release, so if you haven’t been playing it, look forward to a final version in a few months. If the beta is any indicator of how things are on the development side of the game, Gears of War 3 will definitely prove to be one of the most successful strategy shooters of all time.
