The first proper Gears of War 3 gameplay details have been revealed, via a Cliff Bleszinski interview with MeriStation.
Our mate Cliff has confirmed that the third game will sport four-player co-op, an intertwining story and lots of new guns.
"One of the other things we're doing in the campaign that's cool is switching up the story a little bit," he said.
"At some point in the campaign you're not going to be Marcus and Dom - you're going to be another squad and you're going to experience their section and then eventually you're going to see some overlap and eventually they'll merge Pulp Fiction style, which is one of the cool ways that we're playing with the story this time.
"I can confirm today that we are doing 4-player co-op in the story mode," he added. "In Gears it's not the same as in other games because you're getting a story-based mode and in Gears 1 and 2 player one is Marcus and player two is Dom.
"The only way to play as Dom in the campaign is to be player two. That cascades down to players three and four; so if you want to play as Cole or Baird in the campaign, the only way you can do that is by playing three or four-player co-op."
Bleszinski explained that the third game takes place 18 months after the events of Gears of War 2, when nobody seems to know where the evil Locust Horde have disappeared off to and a new threat, the mutated Lambent are lurking in every corner.
On the weapon front Cliffy's confirmed the Pendulum Lancer - a precursor to the famous chainsaw version that "kicks like a mule" when fired and sports a nasty blade on the end for gruesome execution kills - of which Gears 3 will sport many more.
"We're looking at a double-barrel shotgun, we're looking at female Gears, we're looking at bringing back old maps - I can't confirm any but I can confirm that we will see some favourites returning," he said.
"We definitely want to improve players' ability to play with their friends and stick together as a party. We haven't announced how we're doing that yet but we definitely have plans for that."
Cliffy also promised improved lighting, a refined cover system and new moves for the third game.
Too true - I wish it was Gears 3 for Xmas and Natal for April 2011 (not too bothered by Natal until I see what it has to offer in 'proper' games).
And a female soldier is perhaps a bad idea - no-one wants to see a musclebound lady no-neck with stubble, and anything feminine would be out of keeping and unpopular with 12-year-old sweary yank kids.
I have a sneaky feeling (hope) that they learned from their mistakes in Gears 2 (mainly online) and give us a Beta for the MP, the SP and Co Op are going to be the Bomb they just have to make sure the MP is bang on from the get go.
If they are going for 4 player co-op, they've got to sort out the servers for online. I never went back to Gears2 online after about three months after playing it.
Have been through the offline co-op plenty of times though.
I have a sneaky feeling (hope) that they learned from their mistakes in Gears 2 (mainly online) and give us a Beta for the MP, the SP and Co Op are going to be the Bomb they just have to make sure the MP is bang on from the get go.
Yeah, they have enough time to set-up a beta! Another thing I'm excited for, is that Nancy Traviss (she wrote the Gears books) is doing the story on this one. She did a good job with the books, so I hope she can do the same for the game.
So far, I'm really liking the info about the game; especially the 4 player co-op and interwining story.
Hopefully, the campaign won't be as bloated as Gears 2 was; even though it was a great campaign nonetheless.For multiplayer, I really hope they add a theater mode like Halo 3. And what about customizable armour instead of just different characters?
Also, I hate it when hosts end games. Especially when you're doing so well during the match.
Cool, guns from before E-day, I hope one of the female Gears is the tattooed old english woman from the book she is awesome, And the way she bullies Baird is priceless.
Another thing I'm excited for, is that Nancy Traviss (she wrote the Gears books) is doing the story on this one.
Its Karen Traviss, but yes she is a brilliant writer and the fact EPIC have let her take the reigns of the games story when she has never written a game before is a great vote of confidence in what she is capable of in my opinion. Is anyone is interested she has a good blog here: http://karentraviss.com
Personally I play gears for the co-op and story, Multi player i like for one or two weeks than i get bored. But im looking forward to this nevertheless.
At some point in the campaign you're not going to be Marcus and Dom - you're going to be another squad and you're going to experience their section and then eventually you're going to see some overlap and eventually they'll merge
That's probably one of the first bits of information that I'm not looking forward to.
Marcus, Dom, Cole & Baird are the 4 characters we've been with since the first two games, why would we care about playing, let alone what happpens to anyone else?
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