White Wedding

Anyone who hasn’t had their head in the clouds will be aware that recently, there’s been quite an important event. A momentous occasion that was on the tip of everyone’s tongue and the mere thought of it could cause grown women to giggle childishly and grown men to faint. The vast majority of us were no doubt already aware of it – it’s not like this sort of thing hasn’t previously had the privilege of gracing our screens. I’m sure you know what I mean. The last time it made an appearance, I’m sure we had all become sick of the sight of it. The less we saw of it the better I think. Wait, you think I’m talking about the Royal Wedding? Hell no. I thought it was blatantly obvious I was talking about the marriage of Lancer chainsaw bayonet with the internal organs of whomever I push it into – the Gears of War 3 beta!

You see, I’ve recently had access to the Gears of War 3 beta and I have to say that if the final game is anything like it, it’ll no doubt be the multiplayer game of choice for at least a good year or so – even for me, and I quickly stopped being a fan of the last iteration. There are a few new additions such as medals – which you will amass by performing feats in-game a la Call of Duty – and skins for your weapons, to name just a couple. The latter of those two is great for those who, like myself, love customising things – even if the designs do sometimes look rather tacky when you stick them on the gun. A change somewhat more noticeable is the addition of some awesome new weaponry. A particular favourite of mine from the new arsenal would be the aptly named “Oneshot”. Put simply, it does exactly what it says on the tin – a single shot and whatever was in your crosshair is no longer in your crosshair! It really is quite dastardly. Another notable new addition is the Digger Launcher. The reason for its notability lies in how it functions – when you fire it, it immediately tunnels under the ground and heads off in a straight line until it finds an opponent. On doing so, it bursts forth from the ground and detonates, leaving anything in range in a pile of mush. I recommend firing it at point blank range to an enemy – let’s just say it still tunnels, but not into the ground. Some of the existing weapons, namely the Lancer and Hammerburst, have been beefed up too, which is something I’m definitely pleased about. In Gears of War 2, everyone just seemed to blitz about with shotguns (which is still the case for some people, it seems) but now in the Gears 3 beta, the game’s signature weapon is actually a viable option. The reason behind it is simply in that the damage has been ramped up and with such a simple change as that, it’s bewildering to think why they didn’t do it sooner. I am aware that it is a beta, so there can, and most likely will, be some changes to Gears 3‘s multiplayer between now and the 20th of September but personally I don’t believe that a hell of a lot will change. As it stands it’s pretty damn fun and also very robust – I haven’t had a single problem with it since I started playing and the ability to play it without a hint of lag is brilliant. If the finished game’s multiplayer is anything like that contained within the beta, which I’m sure will be the case, then Gears of War 3 will definitely be worth picking up.