LW Mag LW Magazine
Platforms: [XBOX360]
Age Restriction: 18VL
Score: 92/100
Fun factor: 5/5
Do you remember the lambent? Well they are here and need to be sorted out. Gears of War 3 is an Xbox-only, third person shooter continuation and there are now three sides to this story. This game has more than just a few more improvements or the third instalment of a story, however this extra fun will cost a little more. Most franchise titles come out just adding a little more to the story and a few more weapons or improvements to the game but Gears seems to have waited just the right amount of time and given back exactly what the gaming community wants.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Te5fcnrUA
The story continues just where it left off and for those that don’t know the story or forgot what it was there is a quick reminder video to summarise the events. It’s a long story with a solid 10 hours of game play in it, but collectables, co-op and different difficulty make it worth a few replays. I have finished the game and only some of the Acts on Insane and its name is apt, seriously! The game is 40% story and 60% multiplayer. There are a range of different multiplayer modes to spice up the fray but my personal favourite is King of the Hill. Areas on the map need to be held by the team for 150 seconds and it would be easy if the areas did not deplete out of time and change to another area on the map. This brings a good mix of attack and defence and sacrifice to contest the area for a second just to stop the timer moving at the cost of your life. The game has an 18 age restriction for violence and language and even with the extra blood and language turned off very successfully I still would not buy it for my 12-year-old son. This one is strictly for adults!
Horde mode has a 2.0 on it and has great improvements with the new version. Players can put up barbed wire or electric fences as well as decoys, turrets and a Silverback to boot. The trading of weapons, ammo and even money for the good of the team is available throughout the game but shines in horde mode. In the third version of Gears they also bring you the opposite of Horde mode in Beast mode where the players are the Horde and kill the Gears. There are only 12 waves of beast mode to the 50 in horde but it gives you another choice when logging on to play. There should be updates and add-ons coming and let’s hope that one of them is more waves to beast mode. When playing try to make friends with the people you meet as finding random games takes a long time. They seem to want to match you up with the right rank rather than just getting you into a game.
All the multiplayers can be played over local network or online even with two people per console on a split screen. While the local can be done by anyone with an Xbox, online will require a Gold Xbox Live account at around R50.00 per month for South Africans. Gears of War 3 give those that are undecided between buying an Xbox or a PlayStation a good reason to go with the first.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggrWLhuif4&feature=relmfu
Summary:
Gears of War 3 brings more than just an extra chapter to a story or more weapons. There is Horde 2.0 and Beast mode with a refresh on the people playing multiplayer. If there was no other games on an Xbox, Gears 3 would be reason enough to have one.
