February 21st, 2012

Gears of War 3

At some point in the past, Gears of War 3 was a game that warranted the purchase or an Xbox 360. After seeing how Microsoft has been doing out nothing much besides casual stuff of late, one can confidently say that this is the game that has managed to redeem the Xbox 360. It is a violent, bloody unapologetic conclusion to one of the Xbox 360’s most beloved first party titles. If you own an Xbox 360, there is no two ways about it. You have to buy it!

The game puts players into the war-hardened boots of Marchus Fenix once again as he strives to end the Locust menace plaguing his planet since Emergence Day. Unfortunately, this time round he has a new menace to deal with in the form of the Lambent. Now these guys are band news. They don’t really care about whom they infect and kill, going after both the human as well as the Locust race. And the whole concept of the enemy of my enemy is a friend doesn’t really work here, so you’ll pretty much kill everything that isn’t human.

Epic are fierce believers of the ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ philosophy, so if you’ve played either of the previous games, you will know exactly what to expect here. You will play as one of the burly macho dudes, spend a lot of time taking cover, chainsaw enemies in half, blurt a lot of cocky one liners and grin at the over-the-top violence. Although the games had different environment, but you end up doing the exact same things and it can get pretty boring. Although there are new enemies, weapons and enough set pieces to give Naughty Dog a run for their money, but ultimately Gear of Wars 3 is a long list of clichés. The 8 hour long game can get a bit boring towards the end and you may feel as though it is an Epic that has run out of steam and was just forcibly stretching the game’s length.

You can play the entire game by yourself or team up with up to 3 of your friends over Xbox Live to tackle it co-operatively. While playing solo, the friendly application interface does a pretty good job of backing you up. They do stupidly charge into a horde of enemies at times, but for most of the game they can hold their ground in the battle just fine. You play the Gears of War 3 in either the Horde or Beast mode each of it supporting the co-operative experience.

In this game, the Horde Mode returns from Gears of War 2, with some tower defense like features. For those who haven’t played it at all, it is very simple. In this mode, you will need to withstand 50 waves of enemies, each of which is progressively tougher. After every round, you will have time to purchase ammunition and supplies and also fix your damaged defenses or upgrade them to make them tougher.

In the Beast mode, instead of humans you will play as the Locust or the Lambent and your goal is to kill all the humans before time runs out. At certain levels, it gets really tough and intense.

For those who have already played the previous versions can skip this one. But if you are an avid fan of this franchise you can go ahead and purchase it!!