RAD episode 230-Raam's Shadow
Birdman and Micah armed with retro lancers and a serious case of the ass kicks are ready mow down the latest Gears of War 3 DLC,Raam’s Shadow!
Gears of War 3
Players: 1-2 Offline Players, 2-10 Online Players
Publisher: Microsoft
Genres: Third-Person Shooter
Publisher: Microsoft
Genres: Third-Person Shooter
Release Date: September 20, 2011
Developer: Epic Games
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Epic Games
MSRP: $59.99
Gears of War 3 is the final chapter in Epic's gritty shooter. Gears plunges players into a harrowing tale of hope, survival, and brotherhood. With the last human city destroyed and the remaining survivors stranded, time is running out for Marcus and his comrades as they fight to save the human race from the jaws of extinction.
Sage Reviews: Gears of War 3
Posted By Bennett The Sage about 1 year, 7 months ago
More brown and gray than a UPS truck crashing into Strong Sad.
Follow me on Twitter at BennettTheSage
Gears of War 3: Week 1 Beta Impressions
ince I've had a good amount of time with the beta myself, I'll be bringing you fans of Blistered Thumbs the impressions that I'm getting during each week of play, with both video and impressions of every game mode and the balancing.
Gears of War 3 Beta: Week 2 Impressions
Since I've already talked about each of those game modes at length, allow me to simply go over what's changed since I last dove into the murdertown that is Gears of War 3.
Gears of War 3 Beta First Impressions
Gears of war is one of the Xbox 360's Top selling franchises. With a beta of Gears 3 available, Sean analyzes his experience with the Beta.
Gears of War 3 Review
The Gears are back for the final installment in this Xbox exclusive trilogy from Epic Games. Yousif Alshaker has managed to wrangle himself a copy early and somehow kept quiet about it. Find out his thoughts on the game.
Gears of War 3 (Full Game) - Beast Mode and & Horde Mode First Impressions
Guru Larry and Ian Higton (a guy from a rival gaming TV show in the UK) get together to take a first ever look at the Beast mode and Horde mode on Gears of War 3 (Literally, this is their first ever go on it!) so true British wit and laughs aplenty guaranteed!!!
Gears of War 3 is AWESOME!
Testosterone spews from our boob caps as we play the very manly Gears of War 3 co-operatively!
Sage Reviews: Gears of War 3
More brown and gray than a UPS truck crashing into Strong Sad.
The Gears of War series in 5 seconds
Is the series that makes Xbox 360 owners proud so perfect compared to the competition ?
RAD episode 215-Gears of War 3
Armed with a retro lancer and a smile Birdman finishes up the Gears of war trilogy! We also have details on a new RAD contest as well.
RAD episode 230-Raam's Shadow
Birdman and Micah armed with retro lancers and a serious case of the ass kicks are ready mow down the latest Gears of War 3 DLC,Raam's Shadow! 
Gears of War DLC Comes November 1st
For those of you aside from Yousif and myself who love chainsawing people with bayonets, there’s going to be some downloadable content coming our way.
RAD episode 215-Gears of War 3
Armed with a retro lancer and a smile Birdman finishes up the Gears of war trilogy! We also have details on a new RAD contest as well.
The Gears of War series in 5 seconds
Is the series that makes Xbox 360 owners proud so perfect compared to the competition ?
Gears of War 3 is AWESOME!
Testosterone spews from our boob caps as we play the very manly Gears of War 3 co-operatively!
Gears of War 3 (Full Game) - Beast Mode and & Horde Mode First Impressions
Guru Larry and Ian Higton (a guy from a rival gaming TV show in the UK) get together to take a first ever look at the Beast mode and Horde mode on Gears of War 3 (Literally, this is their first ever go on it!) so true British wit and laughs aplenty guaranteed!!!
Gears of War 3 Review
The Gears are back for the final installment in this Xbox exclusive trilogy from Epic Games. Yousif Alshaker has managed to wrangle himself a copy early and somehow kept quiet about it. Find out his thoughts on the game.
Gears of War DLC Comes November 1st
For those of you aside from Yousif and myself who love chainsawing people with bayonets, there’s going to be some downloadable content coming our way.
RAD episode 215-Gears of War 3
Armed with a retro lancer and a smile Birdman finishes up the Gears of war trilogy! We also have details on a new RAD contest as well.
The Gears of War series in 5 seconds
Is the series that makes Xbox 360 owners proud so perfect compared to the competition ?
Gears of War 3 is AWESOME!
Testosterone spews from our boob caps as we play the very manly Gears of War 3 co-operatively!
Gears of War 3 (Full Game) - Beast Mode and & Horde Mode First Impressions
Guru Larry and Ian Higton (a guy from a rival gaming TV show in the UK) get together to take a first ever look at the Beast mode and Horde mode on Gears of War 3 (Literally, this is their first ever go on it!) so true British wit and laughs aplenty guaranteed!!!
Gears of War 3 Review
The Gears are back for the final installment in this Xbox exclusive trilogy from Epic Games. Yousif Alshaker has managed to wrangle himself a copy early and somehow kept quiet about it. Find out his thoughts on the game.
Gears of War 3 "Five Against All" Trailer has Ice-T
You need to watch this trailer, if only to hear Ice-T yell, “Somebody make me a sandwich!”
Gears 3: RAAM’s Shadow Review
Posted By Micah C. about 1 year, 5 months ago
Gears 3: RAAM’s Shadow Review
Despite the fact that the Gears of War series is at an end with the third installment, it doesn’t mean that there can’t be side stories told of the conflict on Sera. Released on December 13th for the Xbox 360, RAAM’s Shadow is a story campaign that serves as a prequel to the original Gears of War. As per usual, it’s time to answer the questions that often arise with downloadable content like this: What is in it, how much does it cost, and is it worth the price of entry? Well, allow me to answer these questions for you before you spend your hard-earned cash.
The setting of RAAM’s Shadow is, as I said before, prior to the events of the first Gears of War game. You play as Michael Barrick and Zeta team, which is lead by Lt. Kim from the original Gears. The team consists of the aforementioned Kim, Barrick (a character from the Gears of War comics), a younger, slimmer Tai Kaliso from Gears 2, and a new character named Alicia Valera who is voiced by Alicia Tyler. The story tells two sides simultaneously though, as you also control General RAAM and some of his elite soldiers as they prepare the way for the mass genocide of an entire city.
The story’s quality is solid for an action title. Though it’s not exactly a character driven story, it does keep a basic idea of what it wants to tell, and then molds the action around it. The thing about Epic and the Gears series is that they’ve become masters at telling a good story that allows them to blow things up in the same way that other major shooter developers do without compromising the quality of the plot. Thus, we get an airtight narrative with some great storytelling moments that don’t often break for a cutscene and a bathroom break. I often use the Predator reference with Gears, and I think it still holds true. You’ve got some cool characters that are a little more than archetype that are fun to be around, and you see them in dark scenarios fighting monsters.
For those long-time Gears fans and/or those who follow the expanded universe, you'll see some familiar faces.
The main purpose of the story, however, is to flesh out the Gears universe. What we see here is the beginning of the Locust slaughter, and there’s a reason I use the word “genocide.” These creatures are the lizard version of Nazis. They kill indiscriminately, and thus the story is very dark throughout. If you don’t like an action plot with serious moments or dark moments, you’ll hate this DLC. At the same time, you probably hate Gears for those same reasons, and should probably just walk away now. For those who enjoy this type of narrative, you’ll love it, because all the dark moments make the heroic moments and moments of success that much brighter.
Going on about developing the Gears universe, the great dialog that the series has shown throughout still applies to this downloadable content. Through regular banter between the Gears, we learn exactly what the COG is, and what life is like on Sera for these people. It’s a harsh, bloody world where death seems to be around every corner because your enemies are relentless monsters, and the government you serve is comparable to Soviet Russia. Even cooler is the fact you get to play as those aforementioned monsters. Playing as RAAM serves a point within the story, because you get to see exactly how malicious and evil these beasts are, on top of the power that they wield. Since I don’t really want to spoil what’s going on, let’s just say through him you learn the Locust military method, and see exactly how cold the Locust war machine is.
Lunch Money. Now.
Now that I’ve got all the story bits out of the way, let’s talk about the content of the DLC, considering the gameplay and presentation really haven’t changed too much. Were you to read a press release, it would sound simplistic. RAAM’s Shadow contains three and a half hours of a new campaign, six more multiplayer skins, and a few new weapons skins. Doesn’t sound like much, right? Wrong. There is quite a bit to enjoy here. The extra skins and weapons looks really are just icing on the cake. The meat of the DLC, the campaign itself, is right on par with the rest of Gears of War 3’s disc based single player.
RAAM’s Shadow is three plus hours of intense combat that gives you quite a bit of bang for your buck. Aside from the fact that you get to play as some awesome Locust units to mix things up, the scenarios that the game throws at you within the DLC are fantastic. Each new section is an action packed romp that delivers every thrill that the series has been able to give up to this date. The firefights are excellent, it’s a great little time for you and up to three more friends, and it never disappoints. The only problem is that sometimes the AI has issues, but Yousif already covered that in his review of the full title, and I’d suggest you read that review. My British friend was right on the money with it.
To close this one out, I think that the last thing that needs to be said is RAAM’s Shadow follows what should be considered the legacy of Gears of War. Though pretentious folk will make brown jokes and portray masculinity as a negative, those who see the game for what it is will see the best shooter series of this generation. RAAM’s Shadow is an excellent piece of DLC that is worth the price of entry. Most shooter expansions are sold on discs for forty bucks or more and give the same amount of content. In fact, I’d argue that this game contains as much content as Halo 3: ODST, but it’s one quarter of the cost. If you enjoy Gears of War, you need to pick up RAAM’s Shadow the minute you have the time. Then again, if you got the season pass, you get one of the best pieces of DLC I’ve played this year for free.
Kicking myself for not buying the season pass.
-Micah C.
Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow was purchased by the reviewer for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). The campaign was completed in three hours and thirty minutes, give or take.
For more Gears goodness and other such stuffs, follow Micah C on Twitter!
9/10
Gears of War 3: Week 1 Beta Impressions
ince I've had a good amount of time with the beta myself, I'll be bringing you fans of Blistered Thumbs the impressions that I'm getting during each week of play, with both video and impressions of every game mode and the balancing. Gears of War 3 Beta: Week 2 Impressions
Since I've already talked about each of those game modes at length, allow me to simply go over what's changed since I last dove into the murdertown that is Gears of War 3. Gears of War 3 Beta First Impressions
Gears of war is one of the Xbox 360's Top selling franchises. With a beta of Gears 3 available, Sean analyzes his experience with the Beta. Gears of War 3 Review
The Gears are back for the final installment in this Xbox exclusive trilogy from Epic Games. Yousif Alshaker has managed to wrangle himself a copy early and somehow kept quiet about it. Find out his thoughts on the game. Gears of War 3 (Full Game) - Beast Mode and & Horde Mode First Impressions
Guru Larry and Ian Higton (a guy from a rival gaming TV show in the UK) get together to take a first ever look at the Beast mode and Horde mode on Gears of War 3 (Literally, this is their first ever go on it!) so true British wit and laughs aplenty guaranteed!!! Gears of War 3 is AWESOME!
Testosterone spews from our boob caps as we play the very manly Gears of War 3 co-operatively! Sage Reviews: Gears of War 3
More brown and gray than a UPS truck crashing into Strong Sad. The Gears of War series in 5 seconds
Is the series that makes Xbox 360 owners proud so perfect compared to the competition ? RAD episode 215-Gears of War 3
Armed with a retro lancer and a smile Birdman finishes up the Gears of war trilogy! We also have details on a new RAD contest as well. RAD episode 230-Raam's Shadow
Birdman and Micah armed with retro lancers and a serious case of the ass kicks are ready mow down the latest Gears of War 3 DLC,Raam's Shadow!-
January 04, 2012 at 07:01am
“Error loading media
The requested item has been removed.”I keep getting this error message on Blistered Thumbs videos.
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January 01, 2012 at 11:58am
I really enjoyed the gears series and cant wait for the next installment(u know there will be more games since it sold so well) . I get people were not too crazy about the dialogue. It didn’t bother me, I’d prefer it be a serious story with bits of humor instead of the other way around ala bullet storm(the humor mostly from cole and barid, with barid providing a line that actually made me laugh out loud, something games rarely make me do no matter how hard they try.). This was the best effort of the gears games, and GOW has always been about high production value and tight gameplay so thats saying something. When a game sticks with you after you play it you know it did it’s job and gears 3 did that for me. I am looking forward to play ramms shadow and this review confirmed (for me at least) it is well worth the 15 dollars, hell reading some of the comments and the review ,this dlc has lots more value then a lot of other shooters out there. This is MY game of the year, just My humble opinion. Afterall i did think BF3 had a better campaign then MW3…
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December 18, 2011 at 03:38pm
It might be worth noting out that Alicia is voiced by Aisha Tyler, the actress and recent voice actress, not Alicia Tyler who according to Google is a porn star. Should we scratch this one up as a Freudian slip?
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December 18, 2011 at 05:33am
Brown jokes? About Gears of War? But it’s such a colourful game! /sarcasm
Honestly, the last few years games have gone under the slogan ‘The Future is Brown.’ Fallout series, RAGE, GoW, just to name a few. Bulletstorm was a breath of fresh air in that they at least put some colour into the game. Hell, even my bitter hatred of Halo is dampened by the fact it has colour.
I’m tired of staring into a sewer on my screen. Bring back colour! -
December 23, 2011 at 02:33am
I’m gonna have to disagree. I mean I played both Bulletstorm and Gears of War 3, and honestly they have just about the same color palette. Also if you really believe Gears 3 is just brown, then you probably need to play it again, you haven’t played it or you’re just talking out of your ass.
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December 14, 2011 at 10:30am
I enjoyed this DLC. You get a good deal of content for the price, some full retail games have single player portions that are about as long as this DLC. I was mainly reminded how little I liked Kim & Jace and Tai is weird. Barrick is pretty cool badass even if I felt like his voice didn’t quite match his looks and Valera was okay I suppose. There was some well layed out and challenging shootouts (I played on hardcore, I might give it a go on insane at some point) but I disagree about nothing else being usable than Lancer as I played the whole thing with Longshot & Sawed-Off.
The bits where you got to play as RAAM were cool as hell, I would have liked to play more as him but then again I know it would have got repetetive as he doesn’t have all that many attacks in his arsenal so I guess it’s always better to have people asking for more than the other way around. He is overpowered but he should be, he was a complete pain to beat in Gears 1 and getting to play as him reflects that.
I had a good time returning to Gears as it is among my best games of the year. People love to rag on it about the story and characters and dialogue but it sets out the universe and tone well and executes telling the story very well, much better than most shooters. If anything I’d love the game to be cheesier, some times I feel like they try to cater to the people who don’t like the cheese-factor by adding too much serious drama into the narrative.
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December 14, 2011 at 09:16am
At first I was going to really like GOW3, but pretty much near the end, I felt like NC by saying “STOP F#$%ING FIGHTING!” Yeah, I got really tired of the last act since it was looking for an excuse to drag out the game with as many mundane shoot-outs as possible (and to agree with Sage, you might as well not bother with any other weapon since the Lancer and Hammer Burst Rifle are too powerful to begin with).
I also found that anytime they were trying to be dramatic, it seemed more really funny rather than dramatic, but I will give it this, the game really had a lot of effort behind it, I was expecting to hate this game yet I did end up somewhat enjoying it, but I didn’t hold on to it for too long. May be annoying to me, but I’ll let it pass.
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December 14, 2011 at 04:54am
After playing The Missing Link from DX3, I realised that the last thing I want from DLC is just more of the same from games where, by the end of the campaign, I was more than satisfied.
I liked Gears 3, but that last act, one of the most repetitive, soul-destroyingly mundane moments I’ve experienced all year, made me damn sure I was done with the series. I’ve had my fun, time for something else.
No Posts
RAD episode 230-Raam's Shadow
Birdman and Micah armed with retro lancers and a serious case of the ass kicks are ready mow down the latest Gears of War 3 DLC,Raam’s Shadow!
The Gears of War series in 5 seconds
Is the series that makes Xbox 360 owners proud so perfect compared to the competition ?
Gears of War 3 is AWESOME!
Testosterone spews from our boob caps as we play the very manly Gears of War 3 co-operatively!
Gears of War 3 (Full Game) - Beast Mode and & Horde Mode First Impressions
Guru Larry and Ian Higton (a guy from a rival gaming TV show in the UK) get together to take a first ever look at the Beast mode and Horde mode on Gears of War 3 (Literally, this is their first ever go on it!) so true British wit and laughs aplenty guaranteed!!!
Gears of War 3 Beta First Impressions
Gears of war is one of the Xbox 360′s Top selling franchises. With a beta of Gears 3 available, Sean analyzes his experience with the Beta.
RAD episode 230-Raam's Shadow
Birdman and Micah armed with retro lancers and a serious case of the ass kicks are ready mow down the latest Gears of War 3 DLC,Raam’s Shadow!
RAD episode 215-Gears of War 3
Armed with a retro lancer and a smile Birdman finishes up the Gears of war trilogy! We also have details on a new RAD contest as well.
Gears of War 3 (Full Game) - Beast Mode and & Horde Mode First Impressions
Guru Larry and Ian Higton (a guy from a rival gaming TV show in the UK) get together to take a first ever look at the Beast mode and Horde mode on Gears of War 3 (Literally, this is their first ever go on it!) so true British wit and laughs aplenty guaranteed!!!
Gears of War 3 Beta: Week 2 Impressions
Since I’ve already talked about each of those game modes at length, allow me to simply go over what’s changed since I last dove into the murdertown that is Gears of War 3.
Gears of War 3: Week 1 Beta Impressions
ince I’ve had a good amount of time with the beta myself, I’ll be bringing you fans of Blistered Thumbs the impressions that I’m getting during each week of play, with both video and impressions of every game mode and the balancing.
Gears of War 3: A Wishlist
There are several regrets that I have had in the course of my lifetime, and
The complaint about the controls is completely inaccurate. They are sharp and responsive, allowing the player to cover and navigate effortlessly through the environments. Aiming is spot on. Uncharted 3 which was praised by Sage for the controls feel stiff and automated. This game was designed to be a tournament game and it shows.
Man, that was a good, solid review. I don’t always agree with Sage’s views on certain games, but I do know that he can be counted on to give his unbiased opinion. Why are so many people getting angry at this review? His opinions differed slightly from the majority and he gave his reasons for disliking the game, and suddenly he’s bashing it. This is not bashing, bashing would be more along the lines of: “This game sucks because it’s guns suck and the actors are shit and the writing is crap.” Not: “The characters can be slightly annoying at times and the controls are a bit sketchy.”
Sheesh, if this is how people react to friendly critiquing, I’d hate to see how people would respond to an angry review about it.
Maybe now Epic can revisit the Unreal universe…
the whole Space Marine genre is FUCKING BORING.
This is just typical of Bennett. Anything that’s hugely popular (but isn’t Sony or COD) gets bashed, for no real reason. This is the same guy that felt the need to nitpick Halo Reach to death, to find anything he could at all to dislike about the game, but gave both COD: Black Ops and Killzone complete passes. Really pretty irritating that the guy seems to want to pick some games to nitpick to death, but he just lets other games have full passes. That’s why the fan voting scale is completely at odds with Bennett’s “review”. He just doesn’t have anything really substantial to complain about, yet he complains anyway. Trying to make it seem as though his “complaints” are legitimate faults, while anyone with half a brain stem can easily see that he’s nitpicking the game to death. Many of my personal friends have been introduced to the franchise though this game, and NONE of them have had ANY of the “complaints” Bennett has. That says a lot to me.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” -Mark Twain.
Better then i could say it myself.
Gears 3 is a amazing game. Its beautiful to look at, the controls are tight and the gameplay is absolutely perfect imo. It’s ok that Sage didn’t care for it… that’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it. Now if this game was getting bashed left and right just for being a shooter and being a 360 exclusive then I would feel obligated to jump in here and defend it… fact of the matter is though that actions speak louder than words… Just look at the user voting poll up top… I think that says it all.
Why is it that anytime a reviewer gives an opinion in opposition to the general populace, it must just be because “he just doesn’t like it,” or because “he’s a fanboy of the competition”?
Grow up kids. Give Sage some credit, even if you disagree with him. When has being an Xbox game ever stopped him from giving an honest review? The man wouldn’t own one if he hated it THAT much. Further, he’s already proven that he can give unbiased reviews to games; even the ones he doesn’t like. But hey, I personally find it funny to watch people praise him when they agree, but curse him and question his credibility when they don’t agree. I love hypocrites.
He’s given perfectly valid reasons for his opinion on the game. At the end of the day, that’s all you can really ask for. No one says you have to agree with the man, but let’s not start trashing his cred just because you don’t like his opinion. As long as he gives proper justification to back up his stance, his job is done.
I find it odd that people are using the old cliche critique of modern shooters to describe this entry in the series. To say this game has ”more brown and gray…blah blah blah” tells me that you didn’t play Gears of War 3. This is the most colorful and varied of the three games and to say otherwise is just a joke. Feel free to down vote this haters.
I’m sorry Sage, but this review does sound like a Sony fanboy doing a review for his second console of choice. You were going about giving great points to the last shooter on Sony (Killzone or Resistance) but while Gears is pretty much the exact same way as that game, you focused almost solely on the negative of Gears. At the end of the day, one has to wonder if this review should have been done at all. I’m not saying your review was necessarily bad, but it failed to really point out any of the positives as more of an after thought then as strong points.
As for the color scheme, are you new to the Gears series?? They have always used basically the same scheme, why would they change it? The world is not getting better as this “War” progresses, so there are not going to change it for the sake to change it.
Sorry this had to be said, it just has a very negative feel overall, I don’t mind that you may dislike some things, but sometimes you just have to pass up on a review if you feel that you can’t give something very subjective.
I’ve been avoiding this series so far, watched Fraser & Ben on VGA play this one and it looks pretty fun and action packed in co-op but I have so many other games in my backlog right now and rarely have time to set up a couch co-op session so I’ll be skipping this one for now. Thanks for the honest review Sage.
Sometimes I think Sage can be too much of a Sony fanboy.
I know why people are getting up in arms about this. Gears of War is a shooter on the Xbox 360 with online multiplayer and an actual bearable story mode and emphasis on Co-op, so naturally it’s going to be popular. What I’m a little annoyed by is the hostility for him for that reason. Of course, if someone says something bad about the game people will get defensive and if someone says how his review is crap then they will get thumb-up’d to the High Heavens and if someone tries to defend him the opposite will happen (which I’m expecting with this post)
But really? Stop being so defensive and think about it, other reviews are praising the game while Sage, who wasn’t so delighted by the game, points out its bad points with what is a mostly unbiased review. We need people to do things like this, lest we dive into an experience we were hoping would be better than it actually is. In other words, it helps us to look at both sides of the spectrum.
Simply put, watch Sage’s review, then watch/read someone else’s who is likely more positive. While I don’t usually endorse using a review to completely create your own opinion, use the reviews to build a pros and cons so as to encourage your decision on whether you want to buy it or not.
Personally, I have nothing against GoW. In my eyes it’s not a bad game, but I’m not a big fan. I guess you can say I’m indifferent.
Sage, I give you a lot of props for doing this review. So many people would try to avoid the 360 fanboy backlash by giving their games no less than stellar reviews, but you came out and gave the game a fair, deserving review, untainted by the rose-coloured glasses the fanboys have for this and, of course, the Halo franchise.
You were fair with your review and that’s what counts.
This is why I tend to dislike mainstream, “corporate” reviewers – they’ll do many of their reviews attempting to pick apart or bash most games, but the second a game with a large, rabid fanbase (mostly a 360 exclusive or a blockbuster Sony title), they seem to go out of their way to avoid talking negatively.
Good job, Sage, for not giving into this kind of reviewer trap and sticking to your guns.
Defenders of the realm make me LOL. See if you can get that nose a little further in there…when only 6% of the viewers on this site agree at this point, one must wonder if there’s either nothing but 360 owners here, or that this may actually be a fantastic title…
Well there’s something else. Everyone has the ability to downvote and post no matter their tastes, how many video games they play, their level of maturity, etc. Moreover people don’t like things that challenge their opinion, it’s only natural. Couple that with the fact that shooters are extremely popular on the Xbox means that people will naturally disagree and voice/vote their opinion on a large scale, so it really has no affect on whether or not the game is good (I’m not saying GoW isn’t good, though).
Quite simply more of the same. If you like the earlier games this will be no exception.
I’ve never had the same gaming sensibilities as Sage does but first liking El Shaddai and now GOW3 isn’t even “pretty good” – which I guess would be somewhere along the lines of ‘decent at best’ – it has become quite clear that his taste in games, in my eyes mind you, sucks.
The controls? I play on maxed out sensitivity and can pinpoint hip fire with any gun, as well as maneuver as well as any game I play (though, there is a steeper learning curve than one would expect, perhaps)
The graphics? The palette has always reflected the death and destruction the Locust have swept upon the land…
I have my gripes about the game, but it’s certainly a few notches above “pretty good” on it’s multiplayer components alone.
I’ll just wait for Uncharted 3 and the later Mass Effect for my 3rd person shooter fix.
I can’t agree with the review on some parts. The controls are just fine, just like the Gametrailer review said: “Once you get your ‘sealegs’ so to speak, the controls feel responsive and good”, or something like it. It’s all matter of old fashioned learning to play the game. The characters move just fine if you put some effort in learning the game. And color scheme is part of the atmosphere: It’s a world torn by war. But then again, I love those washed out colors, so I am bit biased on that.
But I can understand the dislike. Gears of War is one of those games that you either love or hate. It’s a mark of the great series.
So…the characters weigh down the story and offer no variety, yet they have character-defining introspective scenes. The reason these character-defining scenes offer no character variety is because the incessant antagonizing robs them of all inherent drama…What does that even mean? It sounds smart, but it doesn’t make any sense. The hostile nature of…something (in the middle of a war zone, go figure) removes the drama from the scenes. I don’t get it. In this rough and gritty universe, I thought everything was supposed to be hostile, and that’s where the game’s drama comes from.
Also, dialogue is interchangeable? I can describe the character traits of all the characters given their dialogue, because they reflect the characters’ personalities. I can relate too, because I was always the sarcastic nerd when I was in Iraq.
The game mechanics don’t suit you. That’s fine, I guess. I can’t really argue against that. I just figured that lack of finesse in this game is perfectly appropriate given its setting. I’ve actually been trained and was in a war, so I can tell you that finesse and motor skills go out the window in combat and it all becomes adrenaline fueled chaos. Like I said, I can’t argue with your dislike of the mechanics, but that’s like saying you don’t like a cat because it behaves like a cat. Not much to say, I guess cats just aren’t your thing.
The visuals aren’t vibrant because of the murky color palette? The color palette is part of the style. You get a real sense of the decay of the planet and society from the colors. It reflects the desperate and trying times of humanity. You know, never mind, I take that back. Deus Ex wasn’t vibrant at all because its color palette was just black and yellow. I mean what is this, Pittsburgh? There’s no variety! (I’m being sarcastic, of course)
The voice actors are top notch and put their all into their roles. Dialogue is once again indistinguishable, yet you cut to a line from Ice-T as an example. Pretty poor example, seeing as how none of the other characters talk like that.
Well, needless to say, I don’t agree with this review, and this adds to the fact that I have never agreed with a single one of Bennett’s reviews. Your negative marks give an air of intelligent thought behind them, but are pretty baseless and lame excuses for not liking something if you actually analyze them.
You were trained and in a war, but don’t understand how much finesse and motor skills were a part of that training? Don’t sell yourself short. Combat may be life-threateningly hectic, but your engrained talents never leave you. Times of stress are when all mental and physical finesse and talents must be used instinctively. Dozens of distinct combat-ready positions performing hundreds of complicated maneuvers and jobs, on the field and off. Such skills are not only present on the battlefield, but absolutely crucial to the success of any mission. If it was simply just adrenaline fueled chaos, anyone with basic stress management could be on the front line.
Don’t underestimate the effect that such a stress can have on someone. First time I saw danger, my entire body froze to the point that I had to keep moving from sheer force of will. Of course things like training and maneuvers kick in, but your basic motor skills do get shot. Your muscles tense up, you become stiffer, and your ability to perform complex motor tasks diminish.
Case in point. When reloading a rifle, you are trained not to instinctively pick up a new magazine from your pouch with your fingers and orient it into the magazine well. Instead, you grasp the magazine from the pouch making a fist around it, yank it out, bang the magazine against your chest to orient your hand placement at the bottom, and slam it into the magazine well. The reason for this is to eliminate the use of fingers because complex motor skills such as manipulating each finger simultaneously would cause you to fumble with your magazine. This isn’t just restricted to finger use. Rifle marksmanship is focused around moving your entire body to aim instead of muscling the rifle into aim. It’s likely you’ll have a death grip on your rifle, and nimbly moving your arms becomes impossible. Complex motor skills are compensated for by basic ones. The physical actions of combat are reduced to simple basic motor functions so you can still function.
“First time I saw danger, my entire body froze to the point that I had to keep moving from sheer force of will.”
You sound like a pussy to me.
Now now, no reason to lash out at someone just because he made you look like a whiny tool in another thread. Go back to where you belong and try to troll with a little more competence, son. I’ll even indulge your pansy attempts at it.
hilarious, this only shows so much more about you, I needed that laugh
You know, there’s more to trolling than just “i laff at joo!”
On a serious note though, you think you could react better? I think it’s quite an accomplishment to do as dangerous a job as sticking your face into cars to check for bombs, the very day after another checkpoint got blown up and killed my friends with a suicide bomb. If you read my comment correctly, you’d realize I was scared, yet forced myself to do the job I was assigned to do nonetheless. Not once did I back down. Since that point, I encountered numerous IEDs in my convoys and did it all without a hint of cowardice. I later got out of the Marines as a sergeant, and I’m now a disabled veteran with neurological and back problems.
You may think that a funny trolling attempt, but nothing you say can ever put yourself above my experiences and sacrifices. Personally, I think that speaks volumes about the type of person you are, and it’s not very impressive.
lol
I can nit pick zelda, mass effect ,and jesus fucking christ himself and say they’re all not that bad but not great either the game is great, sorry you didn’t feel the way 98% of reviewers and gamers felt want to be different guy.
Hit the nail on the head there.
A good and fair review Sage, you summed up pretty much how I feel about Gears. I looked forward to the first one, then I played it, and it just didn’t click with me. It felt too clunky and it just didn’t allow me to get into it. I can recognize it’s well put together, has great graphics (I have no problem with a military type colour pallate, it fits the game well) and a solid multiplayer….I just can’t have fun with it at all.
Sorry, but complaining about color palette? Really? No offense, I get that it’s boring since it’s been overused but there’s a reason why it looks that way. It’s a war torn world where it comes to do kill or be killed. There’s not going to be a lot of color. Besides, just automatically dismissing a game because of a color palette is wrong. Gears of War looks the way it looks because that’s how it’s supposed to look, there’s thought and actual design decisions behind it. You may not like but you can’t just automatically dismiss it because of that. I agree that a lot of games don’t think when they use the mainstream color palette of brown and gray but Gears of War does have a point.
Other than that, I can only agree. If you didn’t like Gears of War before, this title isn’t going to change your opinion. I love the game, I’m having a blast playing with a friend and I thought the game tied the story up very tightly and neatly. I have no complaints about the dialog, it’s there to amuse me and it does, Baird especially cracks me up every time he opens his mouth, I love the guy. As for the campaign being monotonous, bullcrap. I played through the campaign and loved it. I mean, yeah, if you only run around with the Lancer, sure, but half the fun with Gears of War is the weapon variety and the campaign is the ONE place where you’re truly free to experiment with it, I loved finding new weapons, testing them out and using the execution moves. Gears of War 3 is like Gears of War 2 but better which in turn was like Gears of War but better.
Personally I’m very satisfied with Gears of War 3 and I’m looking forward to many, many hours spent playing Horde, Beast and the campaign coop.
As I’m not fan of series there is no reason for me to get this. After all its so much like previous two that I’m not going to like it becouse I didn’t like those.
This game is better then Sage leads on. The controls can feel clunky at first yes, but you get used to it pretty quick and then they don’t bother you at all.
The graphics look great especially concidering the age of the engine, the production values are out of the roof. You can clearly see that there was put a lot of effort in everything.
The story is pretty much on par with what you’d expect of an Action movie blockbuster and well…it ain’t the greatest story ever…but it does the job really well. And the witty remarks by Baird etc I do like and don’t annoy me…probably just a matter of taste.
Yeah cover is shattered throughout each level but it never really feels like there is cover because there needs to be cover.
Gears of War 3 suprised me at how much fun I’m having. It manages to keep my attention and not many games do that anymore for me. I hadn’t preorderd the game and hadn’t given it much time…but I was able to buy the game for 40 bucks on release day so I thought…what the hell…I’ll give this game a try.
I have to agree with Gibby and Micah C. This review feels waaaay to nitpicky.
Even though my feeling about this game are opposite from you Sage, let me just say great review. I’ve been a Gears of War fan from the beginning, it was the first game this generation that really wowed me. I can’t say it was really the story or the character but something really drew me towards it. Gears of War 3 is definitely the best in the series, and the most satisfying. There may have been a lot of cheese here and there in the campaign but some of the better parts will really be enjoyed my long time fans(maybe). Anyways I’m really enjoying Gears 3, and once again Sage great review, keep up the good work.
I am a fan of the series, i bought an xbox just for the first gears, but just because i am fan doesn’t mean i say is the best game ever made, its not, its really good, its on my top ten and multiplayer is so much fun, but yes it has its flaws, the story doesn’t explain a lot, there is to much brown color, the graphics aren’t the best i have seen, and when it tries to be sentimental there is always something that keeps you from getting you into it. Being a fan doesn’t mean to praise the game and tell people all the other games suck in comparison, i accept it has issues but still is one of the best for me and i recommend it to anyone.
There are normal sized people in this game? weird
Excellent review. Sadly i can’t be more happy about the game. With no PC version this series simply stops at the first for me.
I had fun with the series.. course its not the best series ever but I would still recommend it and online is fun
When I saw the Gametrailers review, I remarked that I hadn’t seen so much brown since Quake 2.
I cannot freaking BELIEVE that this color scheme is a noticeable improvement over the previous two games. How the hell brown WERE they?
I am not a die hard fan but this game has hit some strides. The story doesn’t explain a lot when it comes to tell us who the Locust queen is, why she’s doing this and her whole explaination on why she declared war on man is so stupid and dumb that…it doesn’t make sense. I don’t know which plot is drier, this or Resistance 3
I honestly am not a hardcore fan of the series. It is fun, and plenty awesome in its respects, but it’s nowhere in my personal top 10 favorite games of all time.
Nevertheless, I can’t wait to play this, when the price goes down after a few months or so.
Sorry Sage, but I can’t agree with this review. I thought Gears 3 was great, and it’s definitely the best of the three. The whole review just felt negative for the sake of not wanting to sound like the other reviews. Maybe it’s just me. Keep up the good work though.
I’m in agreement. This review really feels like it’s pandering to the people who hate on Gears because of its popularity, or because you can’t play the third installment with a mouse and keyboard.
Of course, someone couldn’t possibly have an honest opinion that it isn’t the best game ever (but still good) – they must just simply be ‘hating’ to gain favour with other haters.
Excellent observation.
“A reviewer saying some bad things about a game with huge marketing campaing behind(which is pretty much the only difference between this game and the other 100 cover shooters)? he must be pandering to the minority!,”
Anyway, something that sage really forgot is how rehashed the game feels, playing this or the first one or the second is pretty much the same beside the minor differences. Back in the days(when reviewers where not paid or bribe), that was a really bad point, but now most “professionals” ignore it
Yeah…this game needed jet-packs. Or maybe it should have been an RTS, right?
Wait, aren’t you the guy who thought that downgrading Vanquish despite it’s excellent controlls and gameplay to a 6/10 was appropriate just because the “story” wasn’t good?
So you think that Sage should have ignored actual problems in Gears 3 that involve controlls as in the player controlling the game character and said that everything is fine like every so called “game journalist” did so far?
What makes Gears different? I would guess nothing except you liked the game and think it is great despite the glaring flaws Sage points out, which existed since the beginning of the series and were never fixed. But he is of course the guy who is pandering to the haters.
I was one who avoided the series till now, so many of my friends picked the game up and I had enough spare to pick up a copy myself, i’ve had fun with it so far at least.
Nice true facts though, I can see where you are coming from.
This review definitely enforces my theory that Gears has become popular, more than anything, due to the fantastic ad campaign that the first one had, and also enforces my choice to not seek out this game.
For those who watched this review hoping for glorious praise of the game i have a recommendation for you by the name: Space Marine
I second that recommendation! If only for the lack of chest high walls. Gears may have an excellent cover system with those walls but they have spread to dozens of other games like a bad STD.
Great review. I’ve only ever played GoW2 and it was okay but nothing special.
Wow, finally a review that isn’t fawning over Gears 3. Looks like I’ll continue to avoid the game then because I’ve heard elsewhere the multiplayer is dominated by ‘shotgun rolling’.
Let me guess…you’d rather play a game devoid of fast paced strategy where you can camp with a sniper rifle?
I haven’t returned to the series after I played the first one – I felt much the same way about that title: I had some fun, it was pretty good, but I was never blown away.
I always smile when something from homestarrunner.com is mentioned or referenced.
Awesome as ever Sage. Keep up the great work