GAMES REVIEW: Gears of War 3

Epic finishes its trilogy with a flurry of violence and lump-in-the-throat moments.

This being the third and last of the Gears games, I am not sure if it’s the best but, if you have played the previous two, then you will want to play this.

It does feel fresh despite an occasional feeling of deja-vu and the strained attempt to take its self seriously but it soon comes round and we are rewarded with the usual blood fest that we all love and know.

The dialogue is liberally scattered with the usual corny one-liners and there are no shortage of over developed muscular characters.

Things are going really bad in Gears 3 The COG (coalition of ordered Government) has disbanded and are outcasts as far as the locals are concerned.

The story follows Marcus Fenix yet again and the now infamous Delta squad, this is the final battle against the evil Locusts and a wide variety of new and nasty little creatures including the lambent (infected humans that swarm at you like a plaque of zombies).

The battle scenes are typical Gears – lots of ducking and diving and explosions.

The big shock is Marcus’ dad is still alive (didn’t see that coming!!) so the search is on.

Meanwhile, Cole faces a mid-life crisis whilst endless new creatures appear out of nowhere and cause chaos.

The action is relentless and the whole feel and sound of the game takes you with it, there is a feeling of desperation and foreboding throughout the game which is what us Gears fans expect.

The checkpoints are still a bit annoying because you can end up going back too far and after a couple of times doing this it can be boring.

I also don’t see the point of collecting things, I mean do we really want collectables when all I want to do is kick locust butt?

There are five acts within the game which takes about 15-20 hours to complete even on hard-core, the campaign can be played with up to four players in co-op mode.

Multi-player

Epic has improved the experience from Gears 2 which, frankly, was a real pain and the game play is more like Gears 1 and much more enjoyable.

Conclusion

Gears of War 3 is everything Gears fans would expect – it has set a new benchmark in the third person shooter genre which others can only follow.

This is a fitting end to a masterful and legendary trilogy and the corny drama sequences are forgivable, the lasting appeal of this game will see it around for a long time to come and I give it 9 out of 10.

For more information go to http://gearsofwar.xbox.com

Review by Dayvid Ryan

XBox 360

First person shooter (FPS)

Campaign, multi-player, co-op

Age rating: 18

Epic games

Release date: 15/09/2011