Gears of War 3 Public Beta First Impressions

By now most gamers are aware that on April 25th the Public Beta for Gears of War 3 begins on Xbox Live.

Starting on the 25th and running through May 15th, the Beta will give gamers the chance to experience multi-player combat in the newest Gears title, providing for what most gamers will be their first look at the new game and its intense game play.

Gamers who have purchased the Bulletstorm: Epic Edition get into the beta one week earlier starting today, but games journalists got their access granted on April 15th -- three full days of advance access during which for the most part we played matches against other games journalists and those gamers who had the connections to score a code for themselves early.

Whenever you get early access to a game -- and especially a game like GoW3 -- there is a temptation to write about it immediately, but we resisted that temptation, and instead put in many hours of grueling play in order to form an opinion worthy of sharing.

Sure, we could have said "multi-player combat in GoW 3 is awesome!" or "the frenetic pace and the return of the battle cam means that there is much familiar in the newness that is the Public Beta" but all that would tell you is something you already know -- GoW 3 has awesome PvP combat!

Last month at PAX East we had the opportunity to briefly experience the Gears 3 Beta (see our Preview in the Preview Section) and while the play elements are pretty much identical, being able to spend as much time as we want with the game makes all of the difference in the world -- and it is now time to share our First Impressions with you!

Despite the fact that the code gave us access on the 15th -- three full days early -- there was no shortage of gamers to battle, and evaluating the wait time in the lobby before our first match required consultation with an astrophysicist at NASA in order to define just precisely what a fraction of a second actually is... Just kidding. There was no perceptible wait, as the match started as soon as we entered the lobby!

Having played GoW 1 and 2, and having played PvP in GoW 2 fairly extensively we had something of an idea of what to expect -- though simply playing that mode in the previous game does not really communicate properly the impact in this newest offering -- in fact the impact of the environment actually caused us problems in the game. What are we talking about?

Picture this: You are in the lobby, you have selected your weapon, your kit, and your character, and the game spawns.

Your teammates are counting upon you to hold up your end of the load, the firing starts as the aliens begin their attack -- and you are standing stock still looking at a dust mote in the air, and a billowing cloud of smoke from a grenade; bullets are ricocheting off of a nearby shipping container while the cacophony of battle sounds recedes into the background and your subconscious as you come to the realization that nothing could have prepared you for how stunning the world is in this game!

You take in the details, while out of the corner of your eye you see one of your teammates running past, swinging a grenade that he then releases, dropping it right on top of a large and fearsome looking alien who is then blown to smithereens. Another alien gets the bead on the bloke who threw that grenade, putting a half-dozen rounds through his shoulder and chest, and he goes down, screaming for help.

That is what it took to shake you loose from the paralyzing impact of your first view of the world -- you move quickly to your mate and heal him, then realize you are being fired on by several enemy! You quickly get into cover, then when their attention is diverted, you run out and around the container and up a wooden ramp to the top of another structure, where you crouch down and aim using the sights on your rifle.

An unfortunate alien -- you are on the human side of this battle of course -- makes the mistake of thinking that because he is behind cover, he is safe. He may be safe from the people on the ground, but you are above him and, with three well-placed shots, blow his head off.

That is when you realize that you are not just having fun -- you are having freaking awesome fun! Your heart rate climbs, your smile turns into a mad grin, you look down the sights for another target and then you hear something behind you! As you turn to look the world goes from the vivid clarity of the battlefield to red then black, and you are now a floating battle cam at the other end of the field -- a slimy alien bastard crept up on you and bashed your skull in!

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After nervously punching in the code you are surprised to see that the download is just 85MB -- that can't be right, right? As you watch the date flows quickly into your Xbox and then -- plink! -- you hear the sound of a completed download. You eagerly hit the B-button to return to the dashboard, then one flick up and two to the right to get to the Game Library page, and you see 'Gears of War 3 Beta" at the top of the Recent Games list! Hallelujah!

But when you run it instead of seeing wondrous Gears Goodness you are prompted to approve a download?! Yeah, you knew that was too good to be true -- that 85MB was just the game loader, not the game itself! You say yes, and see that you will have to wait for half-a-gig of game to download -- a good time to grab a hotdog and a Coke and check your email!

This time when you push the button on Gears of War 3 Beta you get the Play Game menu -- and hit Play Game! After a warning that the contents may not be appropriate for children, you chase all the kids out of the room, shutting the door and, for good measure, propping a chair under the doorknob, because those little bastards are clever and they might pick the lock!

On the screen in black-and-white-and-red is what you desired to see: Gears of War 3 Beta!

The typical match in the Beta includes a mixture of the in-game talk and the near constant chatting from your teammates who have their mic on -- the difference between the in-game voices and chat is obvious enough so that you are not likely to confuse them, thought, so when you hear the cry of "Medic!" you will know whether it is a team member's character calling for help or a member of the team goofing on you.

At the end of each match you see a summary of the stats for the match, with your score, kills, and deaths easily viewed. Once you have joined a group for a match you will follow that group to the next match unless you drop out -- with each team alternating from match to match between the human side and the alien side for fairness and variety.

Getting killed in a match pops you into Combat Camera mode while the respawn timer counts down if you have any lives remaining, giving you the option of watching over your teammate's shoulders while they continue the fight! When you have run out of lives you are pretty much restricted to watching as the match plays out, a feature that was part of PvP in the previous game as well.

Most of the maps feel large but are not so large that you cannot quickly get into the action -- if that is what you want. The weapon variety in the beta is somewhat limited -- you have access to the basic and the starter weapons and that is it. Still there is enough variety to keep it interesting, and when you factor in environment items that you can use to kill -- the large scoreboard dangling from the arena roof by a cable that you can shoot out to crush your opponents beneath it being a good example -- death in this game is as limited as your creativity and awareness can make it!

In GoW2 it was often difficult to tell at a distance who was a friend and who a foe -- but that issue has been fully resolved in 3, as each player has a color-based identifier light on them as part of their standard kit, with the aliens in red, and the humans in blue, so you do not make any costly mistakes!

The satisfaction you get from ripping apart or crushing the enemy with your bare hands -- or a melee weapon -- is still a significant part of the combat process, as knocking down an enemy with a few well-placed shots is not the same thing as killing them, and still requires you to deliver the killing blow either with a few more shots or an execution move.

There are three basic aiming techniques available to you -- shooting from the hip (spray and pray), aimed shots that give a medium view of the target (a little better control), and using the iron sights on your weapons (the most accurate). Each of the three modes has a drawback associated with it though... When you spray and pray you burn through a lot of ammunition with less effect; when you use the medium aim you are a bit more accurate but still tend to burn through more ammunition; the iron sight mode gives you the best ammo conservation and accuracy, but at the cost of peripheral awareness, which means you are a lot easier to flank and kill.

The biggest challenge for most new players is learning to combine shooting from cover with the right amount of aggressive play -- the first time you encounter an experienced player with a Longshot you will start to appreciate the process of moving from cover-to-cover, to be sure!

As if you needed motivation to play the game, but what the hell! There is plenty of that anyway in the goodies that are available for playing! What we are talking about is the extensive system of Awards, Rewards, and Recognition that was built into the Beta and, you will just love this -- carry forward into the full game!

There are lots of awards for you to earn -- in fact there are a total of 84 Ribbons to be unlocked, and for your entertainment we list the five that we consider to be the most interesting of them:

(1) No Smoking -- Killed an opponent with a Smoke Grenade.

(2) Hail Mary -- Boomshot Kill from over 200 feet.

(3) Pick Up Artist -- Most revives in a match.

(4) Death from Beyond -- Killed an opponent after you have died.

(5) The Cleaner -- Final kill in every round of a match.

As you can see there is a lot of variety in the ribbons -- which translates to a lot of encouragement to play -- and this is a Beta! If you are thinking that Awards are just ribbons, well then be prepared to do the happy-happy joy-joy dance, because in addition to ribbons there are also Weapon Skins, Characters, and Execution Styles!

Weapon Skins

These are a mixture of instant and progressive -- and the word on the street is that most of the ribbons and some of the other rewards that are unlocked in the Beta will be carried forward into the main game when it releases this September, which is all the reason you probably need to go for as many of these Awards as you can, right?!

There are two basic types of Skin Challenges: Instant Unlocks and Cumulative Unlocks.

Instant Unlocks

(1) Chrome Hammerburst -- Earned 'Rookie Gear' Achievement in GoW2

(2) Flame Hammerburst -- Played in Week 1 of the Beta

(3) Flame Lancer -- Played in Week 2 of the Beta

(4) Flame Sawed-Off -- Played in Week 3 of the Beta

(5) Flame Hammerburst -- Played in Week 4 of the Beta

Cumulative Unlocks

(1) Urban Lancer -- Play 5 TDM Matches in Beta

(2) Urban Hammerburst -- Play 5 KOHT Matches in Beta

(3) Urban Retro Lancer -- Play 5 CTL Matches in Beta

(4) Urban Gnasher -- Play 15 CTL Matches in Beta

(5) Urban Sawed-Off -- Play 15 KOHT Matches in Beta

(6) Gold Retro Lancer -- Played 90 Matches in Beta

(7) Gold Retro Lancer in Retail -- Score 100 Gold Retro Lancer Kills

Characters

In addition to everything else there are eight unlockable characters for you to seek out -- and of course the process of unlocking them requires lots of Beta Play!

(1) Anya Stroud -- Play 10 TDM Matches in Beta

(2) Flame Grenadier -- Play 10 CTL Matches in Beta

(3) Augustus Cole -- Play 20 KOTH Matches in Beta

(4) Kantus -- Play 10 KOTH Matches in Beta

(5) Damon Baird -- Play 20 CTL Matches in Beta

(6) Savage Theron -- Play 40 TDM Matches in Beta

(7) Cole Train -- Play 50 Matches in Beta

(8) Cole Train in Retail -- Play 10 Matches as Cole Train

Executions

There are a total of 16 special execution moves that you can unlock in the Beta, including:

(01) Lancer Rifle Execution -- 25 Lancer Kills

(02) Hammerburst Execution -- 25 Hammerburst Kills

(03) Retro Lancer Execution -- 25 Retro Lancer Kills

(04) Gnasher Execution -- 25 Gnasher Kills

(05) Sawed-Off Execution -- 25 Sawed-Off Shotgun Kills

(06) Gorgon Execution -- 10 Gorgon Pistol Kills

(07) Boltok Execution -- 10 Boltok Pistol Kills

(08) Boomshot Execution -- 10 Boomshot Kills

(09) Digger Execution -- 10 Digger Launcher Kills

(10) Hammer of Dawn Execution -- 10 Hammer of Dawn Kills

(11) Mulcher Execution -- 10 Mulcher Kills

(12) Mortar Execution -- 10 Morter Kills

(13) Oneshot Execution -- 10 Oneshot Kills

(14) Scorcher Execution -- 10 Scorcher Kills

(15) Torque Bow Execution -- 10 Torque Bow Kills

(16) Longshot Execution -- 10 Longshot Kills

Medals

You cannot have ribbons without medals, right? Of course not! And if you are going to win medals, well then they have to mean something, are we right? Of course we are!

A total of 40 Medals are available in the Beta for a wide variety of special deeds, including:

(01) Active Reloader -- 25 perfect active reloads

(02) Assistant -- 25 Assists in Vs. Multiplayer

(03) Bagman -- Capture 10 enemy leaders

(04) Battle Mistress -- Play a female in 10 matches

(05) Beta Tester -- Participate in the Beta

(06) Captor -- Kill 5 enemies with a Captive

(07) Cover -- Earn 5 Buttoned Up ribbons

(08) CTL -- Play 10 CTL Matches

(09) Explosives -- Get 10 explosives kills

(10) Field Service -- Reach Level 25

(11) Finisher -- Get 10 executions

(12) Gnasher -- 10 Gnasher kills

(13) Guardian -- Rescue 5 Leaders in CTL

(14) Hammerburst -- 10 Hammerburst kills

(15) Hard Target -- 10 Last Man Out Ribbons

(16) Headshot -- Get 10 Headshots

(17) Heavy Weapons -- Get 10 heavy weapon kills

(18) KOTH -- Play 10 KOTH matches

(19) Lancer -- 10 Lancer Kills

(20) Leader -- Earn 10 Untouchable ribbons

(21) Master at Arms -- Bronze Medal in all 5 Starting Weapons

(22) Match Winner -- Win 5 matches

(23) Medic -- Revive 10 Squadmates

(24) MVP -- Earn X MVP Ribbons (Bronze/Silver/Gold)

(25) Old Guard -- Earned 'Veteran Gear' Achievement in GoW2

(26) Old Schooler -- Curb Stomp 5 enemies

(27) Pistols -- 10 Pistol kills

(28) Pyro -- Kill 5 enemies with fire

(29) Retro Lancer -- 10 Retro Lancer kills

(30) Rifleman -- Bronze Medal with 3 starting rifles

(31) Sapper -- Destroy 5 enemy grenades

(32) Sawed-Off -- 10 Sawed-Off kills

(33) Shoxk Trooper -- 10 First Blood ribbons

(34) Skunker -- Skunk enemy team 10 times

(35) Sovereign -- Win 5 CTL as Leader

(36) Special Teams -- Get 10 map-based weapon kills

(37) Spotter -- Spot 25 enemies

(38) TDM -- Play 10 TDM Matches

(39) Vengeful -- 5 Face Punch Executions

(40) Veteran -- Play 10 Matches

The Public Beta is really two different games depending on whether you are in a game with skilled players or new players. The better your opponents are, the more you have to work for kills, and at the same time, the more you tend to enjoy it when you get them. With less skilled opponents it can be a very fast match, as kill stacks up on kill, and you find a different sort of joy.

The best games we experienced were the ones in which we ended up in teams that worked together, which does not happen often enough we must confess, as it seems that the majority of players prefer to play solo-style.

The Beta game is fun -- and different -- the maps in GoW2 tended to focus more upon structural elements for cover rather than environment elements, whereas with 3 you see a lot more rubble and low-wall cover, with transient elements like smoke factoring higher in your defensive strategies.

Dropped weapons are a lot easier to spot on the battlefield, even in the low-light interior areas, and although the selection of weapons is limited, the unique GoW style of the weapons more than makes up for that.

You can only play so many multi-player matches before you begin to pine for the campaign -- and we will not have access to that until this Fall -- so we would not be surprised if sales of GoW2 increase between now and then, as you have to scratch that itch somehow, right?

Gears of War 3 is being developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360, and is set for release in North America on September 20th, and worldwide on September 22nd. Gamers should take special note that while there are no Xbox Achievements associated with the Beta itself, playing in the Beta will unlock an Achievement in the full game after it is released.