Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Originally due for release in April 2011, the game was delayed and eventually released on September 20, 2011. It is the third installment of the '' series, and the final game in the current story arc.

Gameplay
Gears of War 3, like its predecessors, is a third-person shooter that emphasizes the use of cover and squad tactics in combat situations. The player's character can carry four weapons: one pistol, one set of grenades, and two other weapons, all which can be swapped with other weapons dropped by fallen foes or at stockpiles throughout the game. Most weapons feature a secondary fire mode; the game's signature rifle, the Lancer, includes a chainsaw bayonet that can be used at close range to slice through enemies. When the player reloads a weapons ammunition, they have an opportunity for an "active reload", shown by a small cursor moving over a line with a marked section on the player's heads-up display (HUD). If the player hits a control button when the cursor is in the marked section, they will reload faster with the resulting reload being slightly more powerful than normal bullets. If they press the button outside this section, this temporarily jams the weapon, leaving the player vulnerable. Alternatively, the player can opt to not try to for the active reload, reloading the weapon at normal speed. At times, the player can carry a heavier weapon, such as a mortar or gatling gun, which slows their pace while it is carried.

When in combat, the player can take some damage from enemy fire, filling a blood-colored "crimson omen" on the HUD as a measure of the player's health. By staying out of the line of fire, this will dissipate, but by taking too much damage, the player will become downed, and must be brought to their feet by an ally within a short "bleed-out" period, or else the player will die. The player can also be killed during the bleed-out by the use of an execution move by the enemy. Some types of damage, such as explosives or head shots, can kill the player immediately without the bleed-out period. Similarly, the player can also cause enemies to fall into bleed-out in the same manner. The player and their allies and enemies can use nearly any structure as cover, firing blind from behind it or leaning out to take aimed shots. Players can quickly switch between nearby covering walls or jump over lower cover to rush forward. Within Gears of War 3, some cover can be destroyed after taking some amount of damage, which can be used to a tactical advantage to draw out enemies from cover.

New to Gears of War 3 is the ability to tag enemy opponents; computer-controller allies will then concentrate fire on these marked enemies, while human allies will be alerted to their location on their HUD. Players can now also swap weapons and ammunition with other allies in the course of battle.

The player maintains an experience level that persists across all game modes. The player earns experience through kills, performing special types of kills, reviving and aiding teammates, and through general process of the campaign or competitive modes. Earning levels unlocks the use of special character skins and weapons within the game's multiplayer mode.

Campaign
The story-driven campaign can be played by oneself but allows for up to 4 player co-operative play, with additional players replacing the computer-controlled squad members. Certain sections of the campaign require the squad to split up for a brief period, allowing the squad to approach a battle from two different fronts. Some sections feature the use of a vulnerable servo-assisted Loader to carry very large objects, requiring the rest of the squad to protect it, while others use a Silverback, a similar enhanced suit that is equipped with large weapons to fight back against the enemy locust and lambent.

Though the primary player controls Marcus Fenix for most of the game, some chapters switch control to Augustus "Cole Train" Cole, performing events that are happening simultaneously with those witnessed from Marcus' point of view.

Multiplayer
The game features a competitive multiplayer mode, pitting 5 on 5 player battles using game types from the previous Gears games. Team Deathmatch gives each team 15 respawns for each round; a team wins by forcing the other team to exhaust their respawns and killing the remaining foes. Warzone and Execution feature rounds without any respawning, with Execution further requiring that the players must finish off their enemy with execution-style kills. King of the Hill requires teams to try to hold randomly marked points on a map for as long as possible, earning points to reach a target score first. Capture the Leader tasks the teams to locate and capture the randomly assigned enemy leader for 30 seconds, while protecting their own. A final mode, Wingman, pits 4 teams of 2 players each against each other.

The Horde cooperative mode, where players must survive increasingly more difficult rounds of enemy forces, has been improved from Gears of War 2. Kills in this mode earn the player money that can be used to improve their command post with barricades, decoys, automatic and manual turrets, and the Silverback mechanical suit. Additionally, every tenth wave features a boss character that challenges the team's efforts.

New in Gears of War 3 is cooperative Beast mode, where the players play as the various Locust forces attempting to kill all the humans manning a command post across twelve rounds. Players are given a small amount of money from which they pay to spawn as one of the several enemies available. By breaking down the humans' defenses and killing the humans, the players earn more money to spawn as stronger monsters.

The game runs on dedicated multiplayer servers due to fans complaining of several issues that hampered the multiplayer in Gears of War 2, particularly in terms of input lag and oftentimes that hosts of online games would have a significant advantage over other players in the game.

Setting
In Gears of War 2, Marcus Fenix and his COG forces were forced to destroy the Jacinto plateau, the last major city on the planet Sera since the appearance of the Locust on Emergence Day seventeen years prior, to flood the Locust tunnels and slow the spread of Lambent (Locust creatures mutated by their exposure to the energic liquid known as Imulsion).

Plot
Taking place after eighteen months since Jacinto was flooded, the human survivors have moved to the island of Vectes to rebuild. After a generally quiet period, the Imulsion infected Lambent began to emerge from underground. Hiding something, the COG head of state, Chairman Prescott, abandoned the COG. Now leaderless and being forced off the island, the COG disbands and separates to the safest places left. Victor Hoffman takes some survivors to Anvil Gate while Delta squad sets off on a Raven's Nest Class carrier, the CNV Sovereign, with the remaining humans to avoid further Lambent incursion.

While Augustus Cole and his squad look for supplies from the ruins of his hometown, Chairman Prescott arrives on the Sovereign, providing Marcus with a data disc that shows his father, the scientist Adam Fenix, is still alive. The ship is soon attacked by a Lambent Leviathan; Marcus and his team try to defend the ship, luring the creature into a trap set by Baird at a nearby bridge. Though the Leviathan is destroyed, the ship is also lost. Prescott is among the mortally wounded, but before dying, provides Marcus with an encrypted key with the location of a secret base known as Azura where Adam is being held. Leaving some of his Gears to help the survivors, Marcus, Cole, Dom, and Baird take off towards Anvil Base, where they have the equipment to decode the key, while Anya and rest care for wounded.

The Gears are forced to travel across Locust-controlled bases, and the Locust Queen, Myrrah, alerts all her troops in their path to the team approach. Marcus and his team eventually hijack a Locust gas barge to travel by air, stopping to help and rescue Dizzy, a skilled mechanic and driver. They arrive at Anvil Gate and help Hoffman defend against a Locust onslaught. Afterwards, they review the encrypted key to find the location of Azura but discover it is protected by a man-made Maelstrom, preventing arrival by air or on sea. Hoffman notes the location of a submarine in the ruins of Char, a nearby city, but they will need fuel. Dom suggests traveling to Mercy, where an Imulsion filling station is located, but also the home of his dead wife Maria.

At Mercy, the Gears discover humans that have become Lambent from Imulsion poisoning, and fear the infection may spread. As they are surrounded by Lambent forces, Dom sacrifices himself by driving a truck into the storage tanks, incinerating the Lambent in the explosion and allowing Marcus and the others to escape but losing their fuel in the process. Turning to Char, they come across Stranded, led by Griffin, who have come to despise the COG due to Char being one of the first chosen cities in the Hammer of Dawn counter-strikes. Griffin holds Dizzy hostage to force the Gears to return a supply of Imulsion from a nearby building; when they return, Myrrah and the Locust have attacked the tower. The Gears escape with Dizzy, while Griffin vows to get revenge for the deaths of the Stranded. Eventually, the team makes their way to the naval base, where the submarine is located. After repairing and refueling it, they set off for Azura.

After slipping under the Maelstrom, they find Azura is fashioned as a large resort. As they fight off the Locust that are also trying to get to Adam, the team deduce that Prescott had knowledge that Emergence Day was coming, as he had ordered the construction of Azura and brought the world's elite to it prior to the appearance of the Locust. Adam is able to contact the team via the security cameras on the island, and explains he has a cure to stop the Lambent but needs the Gears help to execute it. Marcus and his team fight through the Locust to shut down the Maelstrom generator with Adam's instructions, allowing Baird, Cole and Carmine to arrive togehter with the remnants of the COG and UIR to provide air and ground support. As Lambent forces start appearing on the island, the Gears make their way to a hotel where Adam is being kept. En route, they face Myrrah, who reveals that Adam had been working with her for twenty years and refuses to let them help him complete his plan. After dispatching Myrrah, the squad reaches Adam's room. After a brief reunion and hearing news about Dom, Adam explains that Imulsion is a parasite, adapting itself to both Locust and human bodies to create the Lambent, and it is evolving quickly, threatening to destroy Sera. Adam has developed an energy wave that, like a neutron bomb, will only destroy cells infected by Imulsion. Though this will kill the Lambent, it will also kill the Locust troops; Adam had been in contact with Myrrah to try to stave off the effects on the Locust and to discover a cure that would not harm them, but could not find it in time.

Marcus and his squad escort Adam to the roof of the hotel where the energy generator for his cure sits. The team defends against Myrrah's attack, with the support of Carmine in a Raven, as the machine powers up. Eventually, the machine reaches full power, sending waves of energy across Sera, killing all Locust and Lambent. Adam reveals that he will die shortly as well, having infused himself with Imulsion to test his cure, and tells Marcus to live his life to the fullest before he is turned to ash and crumbles. As Marcus agonizes over the loss of his father, Myrrah, still alive from the last attack, openly mocks Adam in front of him. Enraged, Marcus stabs Myrrah with Dom's knife, killing the Locust Queen. As the COG and UIR forces celebrate the end of the war, Marcus continues to mourn the loss of his father, but Anya reminds him of his father's last words and that now, thanks to them, they finally have a tomorrow.

Stereoscopic 3D
Gears of War 3 includes a stereoscopic mode for 3DTV sets. It uses TriOviz for Games Technology, which is integrated with Unreal Engine 3, for stereoscopic 3D support. All "Gears of War 3" gameplay and cinematics have S3D support, and this extends to split-screen play as well.

Fate of Carmine voting campaign
Clayton Carmine, brother of Anthony and Benjamin, of the previous two games, appears in Gears of War 3. Carmine is more competent in the third game, with tattoos of his brothers and the reasons they died on his arms (Keep your head down! and Practice reloading!). He was shown wielding a Mulcher machine gun in several released pictures from the game. A vote was held between July 29, 2010 and September 6, 2010 to determine whether Carmine would live or die based on sales of Xbox avatar T-Shirts available for purchase on Xbox live; Epic had developed endings reflecting either choice prior to the conclusion of the vote. Additionally, actual T-shirts were available from San Diego Comic-Con with all purchases. The voting campaign raised over $150,000, which was all donated to Child's Play. C. Carmine was shown to have lived, surviving a helicopter crash along with the pilot, in the game's closing cutscene.

Collaboration with Ice-T
Beside voicing the character of Griffin, it was announced during E3 2011 that Ice-T's band - Body Count would be reuniting to make a song titled "The Gears of War", which was featured in the Horde 2.0 trailer.

Unlockables
Announced via Twitter from Cliff Bleszinski, Gears of War 3 will have unlockables just like Gears of War 2.


 * On April 1, 2011, Bleszinski announced as an April Fools' joke via twitter that Gears of War 3 will have a new unlockable weapon in the form of a 6 barrelled shotgun that has a special ability to shoot nukes. The beta had exclusive unlockables, such as a Golden Retro Lancer by completing 90 matches in any game type, and earning 100 kills with it will unlock it for use in the full game. Players who purchased the Bulletstorm Epic Edition unlocked an exclusive Flaming Hammerburst for use in the beta and the full game.
 * Epic announced that players must hold on to their beta saved file for their unlockables to appear in the full game. It was also confirmed on June 24, 2011 that completing required achievements from Gears of War and Gears of War 2 will earn the player new weapon skins and medals in Gears of War 3.
 * The Gold Lancer and Hammerburst have been confirmed as returning from Gears of War 2 to Gears of War 3. Rod Fergusson announced that players with the Veteran Gear achievement from Gears of War 2 will earn an in-game Old Guard medal and callsign as well as gold variants of all five starting weapons. There was a method to obtain all five gold weapons without the achievement, but after listening to negative fan feed back, they have since made the golden Gnasher shotgun exclusive to Veteran Gear players.
 * Chrome weapon skins for the five starting weapons have also been confirmed to be unlockable by playing the Xbox 360 or PC version of Gears of War and Gears of War 2.
 * It was confirmed by Rod Fergusson that the player will earn the green liquid metal skin in a special marketing promotion.

Downloadable content
On 29 August 2011, Microsoft and Epic Games announced a Gears of War 3 Season Pass that entitles gamers to the first four installments of downloadable content (at a discount) that will roll out over the course of the next year, with the first releasing in November 2011. Previous characters in the series, including Tai, Minh, Skorge and RAAM, will be future downloadable content characters. It has also been confirmed that Story DLC will be available after launch, and that the regular cast of Gears of War will not be in future DLC.

The first downloadable content is the "Horde Command pack", scheduled for release on November 1, 2011. In addition to new character and weapon skins, it provides three new maps for use in Versus and Horde mode and three new fortifications that the players can build.

The second downloadable content is "RAAM's Shadow", scheduled for release on December 13, 2011. Included in this DLC is six new multiplayer characters, a new weapon set named "Choclate", new achievements, and over 3 hours of singleplayer gameplay. The story takes place before the first Gears of War, set in Sera post-emergence day. Zeta Squad is enlisted to evacuate Ilima City and protect the citizens against a Locust Kryll storm. The player will be in the role of General RAAM, the main antagonist from the first Gears of War. Zeta is led by Michael Barrick (from “Gears of War” comics fame) and compsed of returning characters such as Lt. Minh Young Kim, from the first Gears of War and Tai Kaliso from Gears of War 2, and also includes a new female character, Alicia Valera.