Game: Gears of War 3 (Epic Games)

There's been some minor controversy concerning one Cliff Bleszinski, head honcho of Epic Games, as he made his upset clear when some critics stated that Gears of War 3 is not as good as it's predecessor. In his own words, he said that "Gears 3 is better in every way to Gear 2". With this amount of hyperbole and self assurance (some would actually call it arrogance but to each his own) and even the fact that the first two games were terrific, you'd think you were in good hands.

Unfortunately, after three years development, millions of dollars and thousands of man hours, Epic have produced a game that is not only pedestrian but thoroughly un-engaging and uninteresting. I'm definitely in the minority with this opinion as, for some reason, most reviews have showered it with a near jizz worthy amount of praise. But I legitimately can't see why. The great strengths of the first two entries were their sense of pace. Whilst the series hallmark is heart pounding and relentless action, this wasn't the be all or end all as, for the most part, they aimed to keep you on your toes. In Gears 1 if you weren't slaughtering Locusts you were tiptoeing into lit areas to avoid being dismembered Pitch Black style by Krill or sneaking through an abandoned and terrifying factory with Wretches around most corners or engaging in a fire fight with Locusts on a mine cart. Gears 2 had you making your way through a sunken city with panicked residence fleeing in terror or, again, sneaking through and abandoned and terrifying laboratory or getting into gunfight amidst razor hail that'll dismember you in two seconds or even fighting your way through the digestive tract of a giant worm. Either way, there was enough variation to keep the player tense and engaged.

Gears 3, in trying to up the ante, throws so many fire fights at you that it just becomes stale. There is literally no variation to speak of, just get from point A to point B and kill everything in between. In fact, after begrudgingly enduring all of Act 1 and most of Act 2, I found myself on a barge taking down Locusts with a mounted cannon. At last, I thought, this game has finally hit its stride. Imagine my anger then, when the next level literally had me greet my superior, speak all of two words before being told that the Locusts were attacking and that Delta Squad would need to help. Thus ensued a laborious gun fight in which waves of locusts poured into the base, only for said gun fight to end twenty minutes later with a giant explosion that could've taken place during an extended cut scene. Delta then huddle around Hoffman and continue their discussion from where they left off, you know, before the twenty minutes of needless padding.

The thing is, with the game being made up of padding like this, there is literally nothing memorable about it. There's no stand out set-pieces ala the giant worm level in part 2 or the night-time levels from part 1. There aren't even any interesting locales to take note of as we go from one trash city to another, or through a barren desert that is just as dull as it sounds. I even found I missed the underground hollows from the first two games.

In short, Cliff Bleszinski's claims that Gears 3 is better in every possible way from Gears 2 is, quite frankly, bullshit. What we have been presented with here is a pedestrian and repetitive shooter that ultimately feels gruelling rather than entertaining. Gears of War 3 goes so lazily through the motions it's almost insulting. If it were any other franchise, it'd be a passable effort but considering it's supposed to be the epic conclusion to one of the most successful franchises of this console generation, the fact that it doesn't surpass the first two is totally unforgivable.

Hand's down, the biggest disappointment of 2011.

2.5/5