The day has finally come, Microsoft's biggest franchise (no-one cares about Halo anymore) finally draws to a close. In typical Epic style, the game is bigger, bloodier and more action packed than the previous 2 titles put together, but does this really make it a better game? Yes, yes it does. Gears of War 3 does right by gamers and answers nearly every nagging question you had with a surprising amount of detail and even more surprising than that is the fact that it makes sense and wraps things up neatly. All of this while introducing us to more characters, more locations and even more weapons to blast the locust (and a new enemy) with.
I wont give away any of the storyline details, but I will tell you that if you are a big fan of Epic's franchise, then you're in store for a heap of treats, and even a couple of heart wrenching moments among the massive, bloody battles. To it's credit, Gears of Wars strength has never been in its storytelling but here, an actual effort has been made to make you care about more than just the bloodshed. There are character arcs, some touching moments, and plenty of humour all wrapped up in well told story that manages to feel different than the other games, while still touching on some of the same points.
The biggest difference here is (much like Resistance 3) that the humans are now on the losing side of the war. Most of the characters are content with just getting by, but not our Hero Marcus Phoenix. After receiving word that his father may still be alive and has a way to stop the Locust once and for all, he risks everything to find him and end this fight. The landscape is more barren and destroyed than before, you spend less time in tunnels and more time trekking across open deserts and destroyed streets. It's less about beautiful architecture this time and more about a world that has fallen into ruin. Even the characters look like they've run out of clean clothing and are surviving off scraps.
All of this just makes you feel more for the characters though, as you all cling to the last remnants of a functioning society and do everything you can just to get a bit of fuel or some ammo. It's a stark contrast to the previous titles where vehicles and able bodied soldiers seemed to be in plentiful supply. It also helps to make you feel like there's more at stake now, nearly everything is lost and every man and woman counts. The weapons and combat remain largely unchanged since last time, with only a handful of new additions, but it still works great and doesn't feel stale, so why change anything?
What changes there are, are very welcome, such as 4-player co-op and the extremely fun beast mode, a reverse of horde mode from gears 2. The graphics have updated yet again, not as much as between the first 2 games, but there are definitely some moments where you'll be wondering how they managed to get so much out of the Xbox 360. The frame rate does suffer during cut scenes though, which can be distracting, and one character model in particular (you'll know when you see him) look so absurd it's laughable that it was left the way it is. The score is just awesome as usual, with some hauntingly beautiful music one moment, then heart pounding action orchestras kicking in for the action scenes. It's difficult to find any flaws in the presentation at all.
In fact, the game as a whole is so near-perfect that only one flaw really stands out. That flaw being the difficulty, which has been scaled back considerably since Gears 2. The fights, while still epic, feel a little bit to easy to win, and injuries that flat-out killed you last time, only hurt you a little bit this time. Couple this with 3 Ai team mates that can revive you constantly and it feels like there's little penalty for dying most of them time. Definitely start your first playthrough on hardcore if you've played a Gears game before. On the flipside of this, the next difficulty up is insanely hard, but only unlocked after completing the game. Here you can't be revived from any injury, making some sections nearly impossible, a happy medium would have been nice.
On top of the, the voice acting is a bit weak. While Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird are all enjoyable in a cheesy kind of way, most of the new additions feel out of place. The character Jace is dull, and very poorly acted when compared to his more lively squad mates. Claudia Black voices Sam, a character that is exactly the same is pretty much every other character Black has ever played, and along with another character, her Australian accent sticks out like a sore thumb. Most of the other characters are voiced well, but sometimes it feels like if you don't fit it with the cheesy vibe of the game, you're going to stand out.
Overall Gears of War 3 is the crown jewel of the Xbox 360 catalogue, nearly everything that could have been improved from previous games has been, with the exception of poor frame rates in cut scenes, and a scaled back difficulty. The graphics are amazing, the gameplay is bigger and better than ever, there is so much variety in the levels that it feels like 3 games worth of content, and the hanging story threads are almost all wrapped up. If you're a fan, there's absolutely no question, you must own this game. If you haven't played a Gears game before, this is the reason to pick them all up.
9/10
I wont give away any of the storyline details, but I will tell you that if you are a big fan of Epic's franchise, then you're in store for a heap of treats, and even a couple of heart wrenching moments among the massive, bloody battles. To it's credit, Gears of Wars strength has never been in its storytelling but here, an actual effort has been made to make you care about more than just the bloodshed. There are character arcs, some touching moments, and plenty of humour all wrapped up in well told story that manages to feel different than the other games, while still touching on some of the same points.
The biggest difference here is (much like Resistance 3) that the humans are now on the losing side of the war. Most of the characters are content with just getting by, but not our Hero Marcus Phoenix. After receiving word that his father may still be alive and has a way to stop the Locust once and for all, he risks everything to find him and end this fight. The landscape is more barren and destroyed than before, you spend less time in tunnels and more time trekking across open deserts and destroyed streets. It's less about beautiful architecture this time and more about a world that has fallen into ruin. Even the characters look like they've run out of clean clothing and are surviving off scraps.
All of this just makes you feel more for the characters though, as you all cling to the last remnants of a functioning society and do everything you can just to get a bit of fuel or some ammo. It's a stark contrast to the previous titles where vehicles and able bodied soldiers seemed to be in plentiful supply. It also helps to make you feel like there's more at stake now, nearly everything is lost and every man and woman counts. The weapons and combat remain largely unchanged since last time, with only a handful of new additions, but it still works great and doesn't feel stale, so why change anything?
What changes there are, are very welcome, such as 4-player co-op and the extremely fun beast mode, a reverse of horde mode from gears 2. The graphics have updated yet again, not as much as between the first 2 games, but there are definitely some moments where you'll be wondering how they managed to get so much out of the Xbox 360. The frame rate does suffer during cut scenes though, which can be distracting, and one character model in particular (you'll know when you see him) look so absurd it's laughable that it was left the way it is. The score is just awesome as usual, with some hauntingly beautiful music one moment, then heart pounding action orchestras kicking in for the action scenes. It's difficult to find any flaws in the presentation at all.
In fact, the game as a whole is so near-perfect that only one flaw really stands out. That flaw being the difficulty, which has been scaled back considerably since Gears 2. The fights, while still epic, feel a little bit to easy to win, and injuries that flat-out killed you last time, only hurt you a little bit this time. Couple this with 3 Ai team mates that can revive you constantly and it feels like there's little penalty for dying most of them time. Definitely start your first playthrough on hardcore if you've played a Gears game before. On the flipside of this, the next difficulty up is insanely hard, but only unlocked after completing the game. Here you can't be revived from any injury, making some sections nearly impossible, a happy medium would have been nice.
On top of the, the voice acting is a bit weak. While Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird are all enjoyable in a cheesy kind of way, most of the new additions feel out of place. The character Jace is dull, and very poorly acted when compared to his more lively squad mates. Claudia Black voices Sam, a character that is exactly the same is pretty much every other character Black has ever played, and along with another character, her Australian accent sticks out like a sore thumb. Most of the other characters are voiced well, but sometimes it feels like if you don't fit it with the cheesy vibe of the game, you're going to stand out.
Overall Gears of War 3 is the crown jewel of the Xbox 360 catalogue, nearly everything that could have been improved from previous games has been, with the exception of poor frame rates in cut scenes, and a scaled back difficulty. The graphics are amazing, the gameplay is bigger and better than ever, there is so much variety in the levels that it feels like 3 games worth of content, and the hanging story threads are almost all wrapped up. If you're a fan, there's absolutely no question, you must own this game. If you haven't played a Gears game before, this is the reason to pick them all up.
9/10
1 comments:
Ok, ok I'll get it from JB. Not that much cheaper on Play-Asia anyway hehe.
Post a Comment