It is finally here, Gears of War 3. The final installment in this Gears of War series is upon us. Can it really live up to the previous 2 games? YES IT CAN! Epic Games shows off how you can improve a game greatly from the previous games, creating an amazing game in the end. The COG are battling the lambent for humanity…can they win in this final story arc of Gears of War 3?  Find out when we review Gears of War 3 for the Xbox 360.

Epic Games hasn’t let Gears of War fans down in Gears of War 3, the single player campaign and multiplayer options are vast. In fact, this is one of the longer single player campaigns in recent memory; clocking in about 11-12 hours depending how fast you run through the level without looking for hidden goodies and collectables (hint hint).

The story continues with the same tug at heart strings, same gore when chain sawing the enemy and of course the awesome corny one liners from the characters including Marcus. The Coalition of Ordered Government (or the COG), has pretty much fallen apart. Without going into spoilers, much of the campaigns involve finding supplies and just surviving on what’s left of Sera and trying to rid the world of the lambent. The story is told with a mix of pre-rendered cgi and in game cut scenes that look very good for such “old hardware”.

The game play mechanics have been tweeked slightly to make it easier, such as holding X to swap out guns, picking up guns in the previous games would most likely get you killed as you fumbled around with the controller. Reviving a downed team mate is much easier this time around with the same X hold…awesome if you are in a middle of a firefight and you just have to pick up your co-op team mate before he/she dies and you have to restart the section over again.

Co-op is simply amazing, up to 4 players online or 2 player split screen per Xbox 360 via System Link is a feature well worth it for the price of the game. The 4 player co-op isn’t just thrown in because the marketing department wanted it; co-op was built in from the ground up. Sometimes you will even get split up in some parts of the level and two of you will be on a higher part of the map providing cover fire to the teammates below.

The lambent AI seems slightly smarter than the previous games, taking cover and not peeping up if you are firing at them. The lambent will actually run for a different cover if you’ve spotted them, making for a more interesting campaign this time around. You also will find that you won’t find much cover in some areas, making hopping from one small rock to another to find cover essential in Gears of War 3. If you are playing with 3 AI teammates, they will revive you most of the time and will kill many enemies. But for some odd reason your AI team mate will suddenly take off from a great cover spot and get pounded to death with incoming fire and you’ll have to rescue them.

The Versus, Horde and Beast modes: This is the meat of Gears of War 3, you got to take this game online to fully enjoy it, even the single player campaign. Let’s start off with the Versus Mode: It comes with 10 multiplayer maps, also includes the first classic GOW map “Gridlock”. Of course your favorite modes have returned including Execution, Capture the Leader, King of the Hill and Team Deathmatch. Horde mode: Has some good tweaks, you must consider is where is the best place to put your base equipment on the new maps and of course cash management between your 5 team mates so you can get re-enforcements from all those kills. Beast mode is the reverse of Horde mode, you get to play as the lambent battling the humans.

Sound is key in any game, and Gears of War 3 doesn’t let down, with an amazing sound track, the game has better sounding weapons than the previous game, just sounds fuller and more satisfying. Even the Retro Lancer has never sounded better. The voice acting is fine and is pretty good in some parts making you feel sorry for what is occurring to the human race and caring about what you are trying to do.

The levels are quite varied in the single player campaign, you and your 3 squad members will battle the lambent on a ship, in bombed out cities, in forests and many other unique locals. While you don’t get to drive vehicles in this game, you will be along for a few hair raising rides where you’ll need to keep blasting away to stay alive in the vehicles you are being driven in. Some boss battles just seem to go on forever, you are blasting away and nothing seems to be happening.

Gears of War 3 is definitely the most polished third person shooter game out there to date on the Xbox 360, with tons of refinements and tweaks it will make you wish that officially this is not the final game in this series and just in this part of the story. Even if you have stayed away from the gory Gears of War series, this game might change your mind. An amazing finish to this trilogy, a must buy for any shooter fan.

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