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Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3

Microsoft and Epic invited GR-UK to try out the GoW3 Beta before its launch in April. Who were we to refuse?

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A missed lunge with a Lancer. An attempted roadie run escape the trajectory of which cannons me into a nearby wall rather than the enemy-free street nearby. There's no denying my Gears skills are rusty. From behind my booth groans and swearing muffle the sound of chainsaws clashing and the wet sounds of bodies exploding - sounds like I'm not alone. The opening games are brutal, skills and survival tactics taking a while to re-emerge, early scoreboards embarrassing to look at, wallowing as I am in the lower tiers.

GR-UK is in a back room of a London hotel getting a hands on with the Gears of War 3 Beta and, as the sessions draws to a close in over two hours time, talking to Executive Producer Rod Fergusson about its release come April 25 (or a week earlier if you're an owner of the Bulletstorm Epic Edition). Right now however, I'm just trying to remember the right timing in igniting my Lancer's chainsaw that'll see me survive any bullet barrage and carve some Locust steaks.

The assembled throng is split across two system link games, working through five maps today on three different game modes; Team Deathmatch, Capture the Leader and King of the Hill, the latter two will roll out in the Beta's final week, ending on May 15. There's also a selection of unlockables to earn and exclusive to the Beta, such the Gold Retro Lancer and a Thrashball skin for Cole. Its one of the first questions I ask Fergusson about as we sit down towards the end of the play session.

Gears of War 3
The tight confines of Checkout - fear trying to hold any location!
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What's the reason for the unlockables?

Rod Fergusson: "What you try and avoid with a beta is that people go in, try it for the first day or two, then put it aside; its like a taste test, right? "I won't play it any more until the final game comes out." For us, part of the beta is the technical test, with a lot of game being played so we can test a bunch of systems.

So we wanted to come up with a bunch of systems that hopefully would encourage more people to spend more quality time with the game and therefore give us more data to analyse. Coming up with with unlockables that require fifty or ninety matches, playing each week, and rolling out the game modes.

We had a lot of other surprises like the Gears calendar which will unlock special events over the course of the beta. Its just more data for us to analyse."

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Check the maps on the pre-match loading screens and you can be forgiven thinking they're too similar in layout - most sporting a main rectangular body with smaller box areas clinging to the sides. But there's a world of difference when you're pounding town streets or ducking through dusty dig sites.

I take my usual route in accessing new multiplayer maps and charge through and around each stage, killing a secondary requirement to learning good cover points, hidden alcoves and knowing what leads to where. Epic has eased mental mapping somewhat by letting players flash up the overhead map with a press of Back and B, the blueprint also noting the location of both power weapons and your teammates. If that makes you feel too exposed at any time during the match you can tap LB to highlight where your team as well as weapon spawns are through the level. All of the maps on offer great potential, but even in the short play session a couple of favourites come to the fore.

One is Thrashball. The level takes place in an arena of the fictionalised sport which has been referenced in the previous games. The pitch is littered with debris, and an overhead scoreboard in the centre can be broken from its support cables with a well-aimed shot to take out anyone going for the power weapon stationed directly underneath.

To both sides of the pitch there are two corridors stretching its length, one atop the other. The bottom one is a darkened alley that used to be for Thrashball teams to march onto the pitch, but now serves as an straight access to both ends of the pitch with cover points halfway between. The straight run proves perfect for a smoke grenade followed by a Retro Lancer charge - any enemy caught at the end of the classic weapon's bayonet will immediately be gutted.

The higher placed corridors, accessible via stairs in the crowd risers, is where most of the blood will be shed in the weeks to come. Due to generous views looking out onto the pitch along their length, as well as the large amount of debris hindering a clear line of sight to them from the pitch below, they become near-impregnable fortresses to whoever manages to secure them first. As such, teams shore up inside and reign death on anyone attempting to storm the stairways. We can see why this was a no-brainer for Epic to include in the beta and not chance it not being voted in with the Facebook campaign.

Gears of War 3
Thrashball Cole is unlocked in the Beta and carried over to the main game in September.

You seemed surprised by the Facebook campaign to vote on the beta maps...

RF: "It was six people short of eleven thousand, but we rounded up [laughs] It wasn't so much surprising as pleased. Any time we work with the community and have them interact with us on the forums or on Twitter, or whatever - it makes for a better experience for the game and for us as developers.

For us to have that avenue to say "hey you guys help us decide, and get to involved" - from the 'Carmine Live or Die' campaign that raised one hundred fifty thousand dollars for child's play, this 11k votes for what maps they want to play - its great having that kind of interaction."

Mercy is another map with decent holding points, the crumbling churchyard in the map's middle book-ended by a raised balcony on one side, and a small church interior at the other. The church is accessible through two small doors either side, though a locked gate at its front is low enough to lob grenades over. But in the back of the room is located a digger launcher. These organic mines burrow straight and true until encountering foes, bursting out and exploding at head level.

However, their progress is signposted by a notable crack on the tuff above paralleling their movement, giving enemies time to dodge either side. The best use I found was flanking round the level, partially hidden by archways and low-level walls, and get behind whoever is hunched up on the balcony opposite - as they've got their hands on a mortar launcher, which proves to be the main arsenal of contention on the level. Whoever holds this point can turn the churchyard below into a rain of blood. Because of its slow rate of fire, and that the balcony is shaped as a half-circle which right by the two sets of stairs leading to it, it effectively hems in an opposing team, and the low-level burrowing of the digger remains unseen before its too late.

Its on this map that leads to one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes of the day as all those intricacies are tossed to one side as both sides charge across one corner of the map to the other, overlapping just outside the church gate and increasing the graveyard figures in a short space of time. Be it either random occurrence or some human quirk using the Paper, Rock, Scissors principle, this happened three times. In a row. It does score me my largest killing streak of the day, hidden behind a pillar and firing Gnasher shells into either hulking human body that tries to run by. Its the start of my climb back up to the top of the scoreboards for the rest of the day, and a good time as any to get a handle on Gears 3 most talked about weapon addition - the sawn-off shotgun.

Gears of War 3
Flamethrowers are good, but slow to cook - incendiary grenades are better when cornering enemies.

What has been the response to the weapon additions?

RF: "I think the sawn off shotgun is an interesting one because its tailored towards the new player who maybe doesn't have the accuracy of a hardcore player. But its a challenging weapon because something we're focusing on is how do you communicate the range?

We've learnt a lot even now with having the Showcase, PAX East and today. So in post-beta you'll see things added to it, like the reticule will turn red when you you're in range, stuff like that,. But reaction has been good. when you first hear about the weapon you're like "whoa, a weapon than blow away three people at once?". It sounds very overpowered, and that's how people come to it, believing the balance will be broken. But when they come to play, find out the long reload time and how short the range is - they come away feeling its very balanced."

There's no doubt scoring a hit with the sawn-off shotgun has that 'red shell at the finish line in Mario Kart', 'sniper shot from across the level in Call of Duty' feel. But that's because its hard-earned. The sawn-off shotgun's range is melee distance only. Its stupidly short. Miss - and you will first, second, and even third time - and you're woefully exposed for a counter-attack. The reload time's so bad its not worth attempting.

Yet even with this, and perhaps because of it, the Gnasher's cousin plays off heavily on the risk/reward factor. One shot will reduce anyone (up to three opponents at once) into chunks instantly. You can see the gameplay shift slightly to work with its limitations - people start adopting surprise tactics by waiting at blind corners rather than charging through cover points.

That tactic is especially useful in Checkout, the smallest and most intense of maps in the list. It's a supermarket shaped like a cross, with aisles dividing the stage into tight corridors. There's no safe ground here, cover points open to attack from two, even three sides at times. A chain gun is located behind a Delhi counter to the west of the level and can make mincemeat of players fighting over the shifting territories in King of the Hill. Though given the map's shape and small size its useless to try and shift the weighted hand cannon anywhere other than where it spawns - even with this in mind, the counter becomes a hotly contested area in anything other than Capture the Leader.

Gears of War 3
The Retro Lancer charge proved popular, but you got to have a good aim to strike!

The sawn-off shotgun's popularity is followed closely by the Retro Lancer, or more specifically, the Retro Lancer's charge attack, which as pointed out earlier, lets you run into an opponent bayonet-first. Its a fun but risky move - players who spot your roadie run have ample time to dodge your charge. The gun's nowhere near as accurate as the Lancer, sustained fire bucking the weapon's sight all over the show, and if you need more accurate and burst-fire shots, you might as well stick with the Hammerburst.

One weapon that still needs to prove its worth is Gears' own 'Elephant Gun' (as Fergusson calls it), which only comes into its own with a King of the Hill match on Trenches. A long range sniper rifle seems at odds with Gears close-range combat focus, and our attempt at finding a good hiding spot in the curved and cobbled streets of Old Town as well as a clear line of sight prove useless as we start out from the lower end of the level. The town is built on a slow rise, and the narrow walkways with plenty of cover leave scant time to aim and score a one-hit kill.

On Trenches it proves deadly, as an elevated dust bowl on one side proves a fantastic sniper's nest and a decent overlook onto some of the King of the Hill territories. The only reprieve teams get from having to stick closely to cover is when a passing sandstorm covers the level and reduces everyone's vision to only a few feet in front of them. For those long seconds until it clears, the sound of running feet can be heard across the muddy terrain, followed by curses as Retro Lancers are grabbed and charges are initiated. Play styles become adapted to the situation, and even from the small number of maps and modes on offer today, we see there's plenty of variety on offer with Gears.

Is there added pressure since this is effectively your sign off on Gears?

RF: "This being the culmination of the trilogy has forced us to push ourselves even further. Typically, you look at Gears 1, and you make certain reductions in scope so you can polish them and make a really polished game. Things were really hard to cut on with Gears 3 - we knew this was it, this is the big one. That's why we're so grateful for the extra time to September because it allowed us to polish everything, from Campaign, to Arcade mode, Beast, Horde, competitive multiplayer, all that, to get it to the level of quality we wanted to get it."

You mentioned how community's a big thing earlier. What's the feedback thus far on Gears 3?

RF:"Very positive. We've been trying to walk this line of giving a throwback to Gears 1, and the hardcore have loved we've went back there. But also we've been really focused on mainstream accessibility, broadening and growing that audience so its been walking this fine line and we seem to be doing a good job of it."

Gears of War 3
King of the Hill proved a contender for the best use of the Trenches map.

Our time with the Gears of War 3 Beta ends, and the throng seems pretty stoked by what it's played. Asking Fergusson the reaction to the beta has been so far, he says its "nothing but positive". Its an obvious statement to make, but its reflected in the smaller discussions that start the second the session ends - there's plenty of gestures thrown as people relate their own victories or close shaves, always the mark of a good online title.

However, as people spill out of the hotel and onto the road outside, one lingering question arises. There's no denying that Gears players have some five years worth of experience under their belt already. It's hard to come into the Gears online arena fresh-faced and not feel like target practice for the experienced players from the off.

It's reflected in the scoreboards throughout the day. There's a massive kill difference between the top two leaders and the rest of the board, and leaves one colleague wondering if there's any room for newcomers, or indeed, any point in trying to. It's a problem facing all online multiplayer franchises the longer they go on. It'll be interesting to see what Epic does to combat the issue - Fergusson at least seems to acknowledge the need to bring in a new audience - but for now, we're stuck with growing a pair and learning the hard way.

HQ

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REVIEW. Written by Gillen McAllister

"For those holding their breath waiting for it fail: it doesn't. For those hoping for it to innovate: it doesn't. Either way, it's damn fine entertainment."



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