So Gears of War 3 has been out for about a week now; released on September 20th. A week removed from the release date I've had a chance to hop into multiplayer and amass a fairly high amount of experience points. As of this writing I believe I'm a level 19 which I think is a decent number to cultivate an idea of things thus far. Luckily I had an opportunity to participate in the Gears 3 beta that Epic ran earlier this year so I was able to get a good idea of how the final product would play. I'm happy to report that there are some definite improvements.
Firstly let me just say the gameplay was already very tight; with a steady, smooth framerate and responsive controls. Nothing about this has changed. That is all still exactly the same and just as good as before. As far as the weapon balance goes; originally I had some problems with the sawed-off shotgun but not so much anymore. It hasn't been toned down much but having had more time with other weapons I can see that it's not as strategically advantageous as I thought it would be. Quite frankly I see most people rushing head strong at enemies into a stream of gunfire just to fire off their deadly sawed-off shot. Sadly for them a player like myself will use the Retro Lancer to cut them down in mid run and laugh at their mistake.
So to sum that up; gun balance is just fine. Map balance is a different story but there's absolutely good news there. Once again I reference the beta back in the early summer which had a few problems with the three maps that were in rotation. For instance there was the map named Thrashball which was a crumbling stadium. Each team spawned in the map's locker rooms on either end of the field. The problem with this was that there was only one way out. So if you ever experienced an overly aggressive team it was likely that they would attempt to push you back into your spawn area and lock you there with no real way of fighting your way out. Another map, Trenches, was set up in such a similar way that it was very easy to spawn trap a team and pick them a part. This is why Gears employs a rotating spawn system so when things get too heated, you spawn in a safe zone.
Unfortunately, the spawn system was sometimes broken and you would continually spawn back into the doomed situation. Thankfully with a few tweaks to the maps Epic remedied the situation. They added in escape passages out of the locker rooms on Thrashball and under the incline in Trenches. This way you always have an escape route when a team tries to spawn lock you. Meanwhile some maps prove to be more strategic than others. Immediately coming to mind is a map called Overpass in which the team that overtakes the large bridge overhead takes the tactical advantage away from the other team. It was quite interesting watching other players attempt to fight their way up the staircase while gunfire rained down from the high ground. It's good to play a game that requires strategy again. And this goes for all the returning modes; the revamped Team Deathmatch(which I covered in my beta write up), King of the Hill, Capture the Leader(Gear's version of capture the flag), and my personal favorite, Wingman.
Also returning but with some new additions is the fan favorite Horde mode. In the original Horde mode, you and a team of 4 other players would band together to find wave after wave of oncoming Locust enemies. The goal was to last to and defeat 50 waves. The trick? Each wave increased the amount of enemies as well as the kind of enemies that attacked. And after 10 waves, the Locust became tougher to kill and more accurate with their shots. It also didn't help that ammunition was in low supply and had to be split between 5 different people. Things got a little hectic. Horde 2.0 only ratchets up the experience but they definitely added some unique twists. What they did was add some tower defense aspects to an already stellar mode. Now each round you make a certain amount of money for your efforts which you can then use to buy outposts. Each outpost can then be surrounded with fences which are upgradable to barb wire and eventually electrified fences. You can also purchase decoys and turrets to protect your outpost.
This is all definitely handy versus the amount of opposition the game tosses at you. Even going as far as to raise the stakes and include boss fights after every 9 rounds. Needless to say it gets hectic and a little crazy at times. So far I have managed to get into a group that's lasted an amazing 20 rounds before we could go no further. It was a hell of an experience.
One thing I haven't had a chance to touch yet has been the newest addition to Gears' multiplayer suite; Beast Mode. However I will definitely have some thoughts to share on it once I've actually had more time to dissect it. For now you have the general idea of how Gears' multiplayer works and what's in store for you once you pick up the controller. Have at it ladies and gentlemen; and look for me online with my Retro Lancer.
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