Gears of War 3 Multiplayer BETA:- Second Opinion

Have EPIC learned from Gears 2 with Gears 3?

by : GrathiusXR

©2011 Arthur Kotsopoulos

[ED;- OXCGN often does a 2 part take on reviews or BETA releases, so that our readers get 2 takes on the topic in question. This time of course it's the hugely sought after Gears Of War 3 Multiplayer BETA, the first of which was published last week, and you'll find the results at:-

OXCGN’s Gears of War 3 Beta Play

A great leap forward, not just over chest-high walls

But in the mean time, here's Arthur's take on the BETA; let's see what he has to say on the matter.]

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The Gears of War franchise has been crucial to the 360′s success much like Halo was to the original Xbox.  With the absence of Master chief for almost a year after the 360 was launched, Microsoft needed some big hitters and EPIC’s Gear of War delivered on almost all aspects.

The “next-gen” graphics, the heavy hard-nosed protagonists, ruthless antagonists, blood and gore left, right and centre, more headshots than you can count and an amazing multiplayer that was played for hours on end by any Xbox 360 gamer.

It was a 4 vs 4 Public/Ranked match scenario with the perfect mix of weapons from the close range Gnasher (shotgun) to mid-long range weapons such as the Lancer (chainsaw mounted machine gun) and Longshot (sniper), to heavy weapons such as Mortar and Boomshot.

It featured 10 maps on the disc and 6 in total for DLC after its release, with classics such as Raven Down, Canals, War Machine and Gridlock that were small enough to cater to the 8 player cap count.  Yet they still managed to be big enough to show off the game engine and graphics capabilities.

Also the fact that with public or ranked matches you could host if you had a good enough connection meant that finding games in your current region was as easy as 1,2,3.

Since its release Gears of War was the most played game on Xbox Live until the return of the king and juggernaut that was Bungie‘s baby, Halo 3.

Gears of War 1 was just spot on.

One major drawcard that Bungie had with Halo over its competitors, though, was its superb Matchmaking system. Unfortunately EPIC’s decision to go for the same style of multiplayer in its sequel, Gears of War 2, would ultimately be its downfall.

From what I remember it took EPIC a total of seven, that’s right SEVEN, title updates to fix various glitches, bugs and matchmaking problems before they finally got it right.

Unfortunately it was too little too late for Gears 2. With Halo 3 and Modern Warfare battling out for the most played game on Xbox Live each month and World at War being released a mere few months after Gears of War 2, the problems that plagued EPIC’s sequel weren’t fixed fast enough and many had abandoned the game altogether.

• Gears Of War 3 Screenshots & Concept Art Slideshow

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The maps that were included on the discs were in no way fun to play, the matchmaking was horrible and it was almost a guarantee that if you lived anywhere but America you would have an extremely laggy game. Even the new weapons that were introduced made multiplayer very unbalanced.

With Gears 2, the bad outweighed the good.

This is where the Gears of War 3 Multiplayer BETA enters.

This was only available to those who either preordered from their local game store, or bought the EPIC edition of Bulletstorm or were lucky enough to get a code from some competition.

Gears of War 3 Multiplayer seems to have taken what was good from the original Gears of War and a few things that were good in Gears Of War 2 and molded them together to make a very positive mix.

So what can we expect to see come September when Gears Of War 3 lands on our laps worldwide? Something that stands out I trust, well, I certainly hope so.

Gears of War 3: so far so good.

EPIC seems to have listened to the criticism of gamers and have made the matchmaking in Gears 3 spot on off the bat.

Gone are the long wait times just to find a match, only to have it cut short by constant drop outs.

Unlike Gears Of War 2, each old and new gun are constantly being balanced with new inclusions such as the digger launcher allowing you to get rid of those pesky campers behind walls doing nothing but annoying you.  The available maps seem to be reminiscent of those classics such as Raven Down, Gridlock and Rooftops.

The 5v5 player cap that Gears 3 features is not too small to feel cramped yet not too big to frustrater players wanting to get in on the action quick.

Executions are back and this time they offer more showboating for those who are the last man standing and when they take out the entire opponent team.

Old gameplay mechanics return such as when shooting an opponent whilst roadie running it will slow him down, making it hard for them to shotgun you to death.

There are also new gameplay mechanics such as knocking back enemies who are in cover if you jump over the knee high wall which change up the pacing of the game. This is definitely one of my more favourite additions to Gears of War 3 as it shows EPIC as a developer evolving.

Whilst other games’ multiplayer may include jetpacks to change the pacing, such as Halo: Reach or games like Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 letting you literally blow up houses to change the game as whole, EPIC have included subtle changes that may not change the dynamic of the game greatly but offers a satisfying experience.

It’s not quite Gears of Wart 1 multiplayer of memory but it sure as heck beats the living daylight out of Gears of Wars 2′s horrible multiplayer.

If this BETA is anything to by, EPIC will surely have a title on their hands that should be able to hold its own against the Halos and Call of Duties as king of Xbox Live each month.

EPIC have definitely listened and let’s hope come September when Gears 3 is released the BETA will have done its job and we will be provided with an awesome multiplayer experience.

OXCGN Anticipation Meter

Highly Anticipated

©2011 Arthur Kotsopoulos

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• Gears Of War 3 Screenshots & Concept Art Gallery

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