Gears of War 3 is the explosive conclusion to the saga of the Beefcake Boys. Set several years after the conclusion of the previous game in which the Boys sunk a city to try and stop their grubby rivals, it follows the Boys and now some women?!?!?! on a quest to seek out Marcus Fenix's long thought dead father, who promises a solution that will end the never ending war for the fate of their planet once and for all.
If Gears of War 2 was the Empire Strikes Back to Gears of War's Star Wars, Gears of War 3 feels like.....Attack of the Clones. It is too short in some places, way too long in others, and seems to substitute authentic storytelling for a series of twists and shocking moments that aren't appropriately acted on as the game barrels towards its explosive conclusion.
Even if the storytelling is close to defunct, and the pacing is wildly uneven, the gameplay is still the most polished version of the Gears formula yet; gunning down grubs of various varieties, including the newly explosive lambent-infected grubs, is immensely satisfying. Its easy to forget that everything propelling you forward is so wonky when rootin, tootin, and shootin is as good as it is in Gears of War 3. If anything, I wish the game was more difficult; on hardcore difficulty mode I seldom felt any significant challenge due to the encounter design being muddled by a less than necessary revive system.
As it stands, Gears of War 3 takes the heights of Gears of War 2 as simply refuses to understand what made its campaign so significant. Everything feels bigger and more chaotic, but it all rings hollow when death is trivial and the storytelling feels so much like a regression.
It's fine, but after Gears of War 2 showed us all that there was "money in the banana stand," so to speak, it kinda sucks that Gears of War 3 burns the banana stand down while seeking approval for such an action.
The worst part? I'd probably play it again someday.
If Gears of War 2 was the Empire Strikes Back to Gears of War's Star Wars, Gears of War 3 feels like.....Attack of the Clones. It is too short in some places, way too long in others, and seems to substitute authentic storytelling for a series of twists and shocking moments that aren't appropriately acted on as the game barrels towards its explosive conclusion.
Even if the storytelling is close to defunct, and the pacing is wildly uneven, the gameplay is still the most polished version of the Gears formula yet; gunning down grubs of various varieties, including the newly explosive lambent-infected grubs, is immensely satisfying. Its easy to forget that everything propelling you forward is so wonky when rootin, tootin, and shootin is as good as it is in Gears of War 3. If anything, I wish the game was more difficult; on hardcore difficulty mode I seldom felt any significant challenge due to the encounter design being muddled by a less than necessary revive system.
As it stands, Gears of War 3 takes the heights of Gears of War 2 as simply refuses to understand what made its campaign so significant. Everything feels bigger and more chaotic, but it all rings hollow when death is trivial and the storytelling feels so much like a regression.
It's fine, but after Gears of War 2 showed us all that there was "money in the banana stand," so to speak, it kinda sucks that Gears of War 3 burns the banana stand down while seeking approval for such an action.
The worst part? I'd probably play it again someday.