Gears of War 3 - Megathread
- Thread starter Horhay
- Start date
argh!
I didn't quite know since I wanted to forget about it until I actually had it in my hands to play it. Damn you M$!
argh!
I didn't quite know since I wanted to forget about it until I actually had it in my hands to play it. Damn you M$!
Microsoft has announced that the upcoming Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta is a little over a month away. It will begin sometime in "mid-April" and sounds like it includes a good deal of content.
Three competitive multiplayer modes will be included along with four of the game's new maps. Just which maps will make the cut has yet to be decided -- fans will be able to decide begining today by visiting the official Facebook page and voting on which maps they'd like to see.
Gears of War 3's release date was announced yesterday as the day before fall, September 20. Access into the beta can be secured by picking up the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm or through other, as-of-yet unannounced methods.
Here’s Why You Need To Play The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer Beta
Michael McWhertor — Here's Why You Need To Play The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer BetaI played the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta. I executed other players by swinging the butt end of a bulky rifle at their Locust skull. I even chainsawed Anya. Xbox 360 owners, you'll be able to do the same soon.
Epic Games will soon release the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta, with one game type, their own take on Team Deathmatch, and four maps. Bulletstorm "Epic Edition" owners get it first, with the rest of you getting it a couple months later. The beta will offer familiar, but fun and chunky violence in improved five-on-five battles to the death. You're going to want to play it, Gears fans, to see its new weapons, its tweaked controls and its unlockable prizes that can be redeemed in the retail version of Gears of War 3, which hits on September 20.
Here's what we learned about Gears of War 3 multiplayer last night, what we thought of that delightful massacre and why you're going to need to log into Facebook this weekend.
The Maps
Two maps are already guaranteed to be in the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta: Thrashball and Checkout.
Thrashball, named after the fictional sport played by Cole, is a tight quarters map built in a compact, dilapidated stadium. There's a suspended scoreboard at its center, which displays each teams kills and can be shot down, crushing whoever is unlucky enough to be beneath it when it collapses.
Checkout takes place in a dirty, destroyed shopping center, filled with displays behind which the player can take cover.
Four other maps were on display during the beta preview: Overpass, Mercy, Old Town and Trenches. Only two of those maps, however, will make it into the multiplayer beta. You'll need to visit the official Gears of War Facebook page to vote on which ones you'd like to see. Would you prefer Trenches, with its sandstorm effects that turns the map into a massive dust cloud? Or would you like Overpass, with its high ground advantages and the fight for a deadly turret? Old Town has pumpkins and, according to Cliff Bleszinski, a "skewed and chaotic" feel. Do you like pumpkins in your deathmatch?
Check out all the maps here and decide for yourself. Make it quick. The poll ends Monday.
Unlockable Goodies
Here's Why You Need To Play The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer BetaBeta players, you'll be getting some gold and some Cole, if you invest the time. The only way to unlock a Gold Retro Lancer in Gears of War 3 will be to play the beta. First, you'll need to play 90 matches to unlock it in the beta. Then, you'll need to kill 100 players with it. Do so and it's yours when Gears 3 ships.
Maybe easier to acquire will be the Thrashball Cole skin. You'll need to play 70 matches in the beta to unlock Cole's Cougars uniform, then play with it 13 times to unlock it in Gears of War 3 retail. Why those numbers? They add up to Cole's player number, of course.
Guns & Active Reload
In the beta, players will have access to the standard load-out weapons, like the Hammerburst rifle, the Lancer, the Retro Lancer, the Gnasher and the Sawed Off Shotgun. The special weapons you'll have access to, the ones scattered about maps, will depend on which multiplayer maps you vote on. Weapons like the new Digger Launcher and One Shot, plus classics like the Mulcher and Mortar, will be accessible in the multiplayer beta.
Epic is playing around with how Active Reload works, changing the timing on some weapons to offer more strategic reloading opportunities. The Hammerburst assault rifle now has a late AR window, with the Retro Lancer sporting an earlier one. Up to you to decide whether the trade-off of reload speed versus damage boost is better for your needs.
The Controls
Gears of War 3 features a few control tweaks too. Players will likely feel at home, but less frustrated with some of Epic's changes. Two buttons have tap and hold variations. Tapping X lets you pick up a downed teammate, holding for a second longer it lets you pick up a weapon or ammo. There's a mini-progress meter to illustrate that, one that moves much quicker than, say, a similar function in Fable III.
On the Y button, a tap will pick up an enemy to use it as a "meat shield." Holding Y performs an execution.
And speaking of meat shields, players now have the option of using grenades while holding a body. Simply press up to pick a frag grenade, for example, and your character will jam it into the back of the meat shield's head, kick them forward and sending that exploding body at your enemies. It works with smoke grenade too, offering a chance to escape behind a puff of smoke.
Michael McWhertor — Here's Why You Need To Play The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer BetaI played the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta. I executed other players by swinging the butt end of a bulky rifle at their Locust skull. I even chainsawed Anya. Xbox 360 owners, you'll be able to do the same soon.
Epic Games will soon release the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta, with one game type, their own take on Team Deathmatch, and four maps. Bulletstorm "Epic Edition" owners get it first, with the rest of you getting it a couple months later. The beta will offer familiar, but fun and chunky violence in improved five-on-five battles to the death. You're going to want to play it, Gears fans, to see its new weapons, its tweaked controls and its unlockable prizes that can be redeemed in the retail version of Gears of War 3, which hits on September 20.
Here's what we learned about Gears of War 3 multiplayer last night, what we thought of that delightful massacre and why you're going to need to log into Facebook this weekend.
The Maps
Two maps are already guaranteed to be in the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta: Thrashball and Checkout.
Thrashball, named after the fictional sport played by Cole, is a tight quarters map built in a compact, dilapidated stadium. There's a suspended scoreboard at its center, which displays each teams kills and can be shot down, crushing whoever is unlucky enough to be beneath it when it collapses.
Checkout takes place in a dirty, destroyed shopping center, filled with displays behind which the player can take cover.
Four other maps were on display during the beta preview: Overpass, Mercy, Old Town and Trenches. Only two of those maps, however, will make it into the multiplayer beta. You'll need to visit the official Gears of War Facebook page to vote on which ones you'd like to see. Would you prefer Trenches, with its sandstorm effects that turns the map into a massive dust cloud? Or would you like Overpass, with its high ground advantages and the fight for a deadly turret? Old Town has pumpkins and, according to Cliff Bleszinski, a "skewed and chaotic" feel. Do you like pumpkins in your deathmatch?
Check out all the maps here and decide for yourself. Make it quick. The poll ends Monday.
Unlockable Goodies
Here's Why You Need To Play The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer BetaBeta players, you'll be getting some gold and some Cole, if you invest the time. The only way to unlock a Gold Retro Lancer in Gears of War 3 will be to play the beta. First, you'll need to play 90 matches to unlock it in the beta. Then, you'll need to kill 100 players with it. Do so and it's yours when Gears 3 ships.
Maybe easier to acquire will be the Thrashball Cole skin. You'll need to play 70 matches in the beta to unlock Cole's Cougars uniform, then play with it 13 times to unlock it in Gears of War 3 retail. Why those numbers? They add up to Cole's player number, of course.
Guns & Active Reload
In the beta, players will have access to the standard load-out weapons, like the Hammerburst rifle, the Lancer, the Retro Lancer, the Gnasher and the Sawed Off Shotgun. The special weapons you'll have access to, the ones scattered about maps, will depend on which multiplayer maps you vote on. Weapons like the new Digger Launcher and One Shot, plus classics like the Mulcher and Mortar, will be accessible in the multiplayer beta.
Epic is playing around with how Active Reload works, changing the timing on some weapons to offer more strategic reloading opportunities. The Hammerburst assault rifle now has a late AR window, with the Retro Lancer sporting an earlier one. Up to you to decide whether the trade-off of reload speed versus damage boost is better for your needs.
The Controls
Gears of War 3 features a few control tweaks too. Players will likely feel at home, but less frustrated with some of Epic's changes. Two buttons have tap and hold variations. Tapping X lets you pick up a downed teammate, holding for a second longer it lets you pick up a weapon or ammo. There's a mini-progress meter to illustrate that, one that moves much quicker than, say, a similar function in Fable III.
On the Y button, a tap will pick up an enemy to use it as a "meat shield." Holding Y performs an execution.
And speaking of meat shields, players now have the option of using grenades while holding a body. Simply press up to pick a frag grenade, for example, and your character will jam it into the back of the meat shield's head, kick them forward and sending that exploding body at your enemies. It works with smoke grenade too, offering a chance to escape behind a puff of smoke.
When Gears of War 2 launched, its mutliplayer community quickly singled out two distinct issues: the nerfed shotgun and a mess of glitches, including a host exploit that was allowing unscrupulous players to gain an unfair advantage. Epic would eventually address these issues through title updates, but one serious problem remained: all of those damn cheaters.
These ne'er-do-wells plagued the community until the bottom fell out, leaving only a dedicated core group of players. You won't find too many folks playing much Gears 2 these days.
For Gears of Wars 3 multipalyer, Epic is adding dedicated servers, the community's most requested feature, which design director Cliff Bleszinski describes as "the best way" to combat cheating.
"It's the best way, it is absolutely the best way," Bleszinski insists of the dedicated servers. "Look at WoW; when you actually have a server farm, suddenly everything changes quite a bit."
Online multiplayer developers have long clashed with hackers. "Counter-Strike back in the day," Bleszinski reflected, "they had to go back and forth with all of the wall hacks, and it eventually became a running gag. There's almost a metagame of 'how can I circumvent the system; how can I hack this and ruin everyone's experiences,' which I wish we could find a positive outlook for, but it doesn't look like that'll happen anytime soon." The solution, then, has got to be dedicated servers, according to Bleszinski, and he's glad Microsoft is on board for Gears 3.
"Getting Microsoft to invest in this kind of infrastucture -- you don't see it with a lot of shooters online -- it brings a lot of good will, which, to be frank, is necessary after you look at the perception of Gears 2's online play."
Playing Gear 3 multiplayer at a press event this week, it was impossible to grasp the exact impact of dedicated servers. While producer Rod Fergusson confirmed that the matches were being run on dedicated servers, the event was, by nature, a small sample of players. As an active Gears player myself, I did note that I would've liked to have been able to see a real-time indication of host migration built into the UI.
Of course, servers aside, I was excited about some of the other changes to the multiplayer. First of all, there's now more customization: Players can choose between the standard or (new) "Retro" Lancer, or the single- or double-barreled shotguns at the start of each match and again while dead, waiting to respawn. Some weapon behavior has changed for the better, too. The Gorgon Burst Pistol, for instance, is now fully automatic.
The Tac-Com on-screen navigational system has also been overhauled, ditching the cursor-based location data of old for a snazzy x-ray vision-type display that reavels ally locations in the environment. Tac-Com also now shows weapon spawns, and a new overhead mini-map displays all of this data in real-time, as well.
My favorite change to the multiplayer is definitely the restructuring of the setup. Before, the game was broken up into rounds: a group of players would search for a match, connect, load the map, and then play out each round against another team. A lot of times, you'd have to suffer through long-drawn-out rounds because a player on the other team was hiding or not actively playing. This waiting game was further compounded by the wait-time between rounds.
In Gears 3, each team now has a pool of shared lives, which is depleted as players respawn. If that pool hits zero, your team loses -- and the first team to win two rounds wins the match.
This subtle change really seems to have addressed the pacing issues. Throughout my admittedly brief time with the game, there wasn't an instance of waiting to play that exceeded 30 seconds, even between matches. The engagement is further augmented by constant on-screen awards: milestones, badges and other mini-achievements. You now earn assists, too, which should help quell some of the "kill-stealing" that has irked a lot of players in the past.
Still, this taste of Gears 3 multiplayer was ultimately familiar -- in the most comforting sense. Epic has taken care not to alienate fans, essentially iterating the parts of the multiplayer that they love best. The true test, however, will be when the multiplayer beta launches and the community pushes the limits of the dedicated servers. Only then will we know if Gears of War 3 has the potential to do what its predecessors could not: Keep the rotten apples from spoling this barrel full of fun.
These ne'er-do-wells plagued the community until the bottom fell out, leaving only a dedicated core group of players. You won't find too many folks playing much Gears 2 these days.
For Gears of Wars 3 multipalyer, Epic is adding dedicated servers, the community's most requested feature, which design director Cliff Bleszinski describes as "the best way" to combat cheating.
"It's the best way, it is absolutely the best way," Bleszinski insists of the dedicated servers. "Look at WoW; when you actually have a server farm, suddenly everything changes quite a bit."
Online multiplayer developers have long clashed with hackers. "Counter-Strike back in the day," Bleszinski reflected, "they had to go back and forth with all of the wall hacks, and it eventually became a running gag. There's almost a metagame of 'how can I circumvent the system; how can I hack this and ruin everyone's experiences,' which I wish we could find a positive outlook for, but it doesn't look like that'll happen anytime soon." The solution, then, has got to be dedicated servers, according to Bleszinski, and he's glad Microsoft is on board for Gears 3.
"Getting Microsoft to invest in this kind of infrastucture -- you don't see it with a lot of shooters online -- it brings a lot of good will, which, to be frank, is necessary after you look at the perception of Gears 2's online play."
Playing Gear 3 multiplayer at a press event this week, it was impossible to grasp the exact impact of dedicated servers. While producer Rod Fergusson confirmed that the matches were being run on dedicated servers, the event was, by nature, a small sample of players. As an active Gears player myself, I did note that I would've liked to have been able to see a real-time indication of host migration built into the UI.
Of course, servers aside, I was excited about some of the other changes to the multiplayer. First of all, there's now more customization: Players can choose between the standard or (new) "Retro" Lancer, or the single- or double-barreled shotguns at the start of each match and again while dead, waiting to respawn. Some weapon behavior has changed for the better, too. The Gorgon Burst Pistol, for instance, is now fully automatic.
The Tac-Com on-screen navigational system has also been overhauled, ditching the cursor-based location data of old for a snazzy x-ray vision-type display that reavels ally locations in the environment. Tac-Com also now shows weapon spawns, and a new overhead mini-map displays all of this data in real-time, as well.
My favorite change to the multiplayer is definitely the restructuring of the setup. Before, the game was broken up into rounds: a group of players would search for a match, connect, load the map, and then play out each round against another team. A lot of times, you'd have to suffer through long-drawn-out rounds because a player on the other team was hiding or not actively playing. This waiting game was further compounded by the wait-time between rounds.
In Gears 3, each team now has a pool of shared lives, which is depleted as players respawn. If that pool hits zero, your team loses -- and the first team to win two rounds wins the match.
This subtle change really seems to have addressed the pacing issues. Throughout my admittedly brief time with the game, there wasn't an instance of waiting to play that exceeded 30 seconds, even between matches. The engagement is further augmented by constant on-screen awards: milestones, badges and other mini-achievements. You now earn assists, too, which should help quell some of the "kill-stealing" that has irked a lot of players in the past.
Still, this taste of Gears 3 multiplayer was ultimately familiar -- in the most comforting sense. Epic has taken care not to alienate fans, essentially iterating the parts of the multiplayer that they love best. The true test, however, will be when the multiplayer beta launches and the community pushes the limits of the dedicated servers. Only then will we know if Gears of War 3 has the potential to do what its predecessors could not: Keep the rotten apples from spoling this barrel full of fun.
I'd try it, but you need to buy Bulletstorm to get access and have XBL Gold to play so no thank you.
Same problems i have here no gold and i refuse to waste money on Crap Storm. i got the triple pack and haven't even finished the first Gears Of War.
Going to miss out on that gold gun.
I played a total of 20 minutes on GeOW 1 MP and never again played MP. It's really bad and clunky.
Blasphemy!
I am more excited about GOW3 than I was about 2 for some reason. I think the screenshots look pretty damn good.
I missed out on BulletStorm epic edition when it first came out and think I overpaid for it on Ebay for $80. is the only difference in Beta is an extra week to get the flaming Hammerburst?
also, does anyone know if there will be some Midnight Madness promotion like with the golden hammerburst for Gears 2, and what does Gears 3 Epic Edition contain thanks!
also, does anyone know if there will be some Midnight Madness promotion like with the golden hammerburst for Gears 2, and what does Gears 3 Epic Edition contain thanks!
There might be, I don't think there's another blockbuster game for xbox coming out. I haven't seen any special editions announced yet, maybe because there's still 6 months until release date.
For anyone who didn't have early access to the Beta or who didn't play yesterday. This was by far the coolest holiday surprise a video game has ever provided me.
For anyone who didn't have early access to the Beta or who didn't play yesterday. This was by far the coolest holiday surprise a video game has ever provided me.
Wow, that is pretty neat.
Ive been playing it quite a bit. I definitely like the new modes. I think my favorite is capture the leader. There has been a lot of complaining on other boards about certain unfair weapons but hey whatever works for you. I am not one to knock someone for using/exploiting a weapon they are good at. The sawed off is insanely powerful and will blow anything close range and about a 180 degree radius to bits. but if you rely on that for long range you will fail. Overall its good. I'm sure it will be more polished once we get the final product but I cannot wait. If you see me on at all this week and you have the beta send me an invite and well play.
For anyone who didn't have early access to the Beta or who didn't play yesterday. This was by far the coolest holiday surprise a video game has ever provided me.
you've obviously never played World of Warcraft, lol.
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