For people who bought Bulletstorm: Epic Edition or pre-ordered Gears of War 3 at participating retailers, the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta officially went online for them on Monday April 18 2011. With months before the game is officially released, developer Epic Games decided to hold a multiplayer beta to help iron out problems in their multiplayer. Past Gears games have proven that this beta was something much needed because of how many bugs and how much imbalanced game play there was in previous Gears multiplayer. This will help craft a balanced and fun multiplayer experience for when the game is released while at the same time giving Gears fans a small taste of what to expect from Gears of War 3. This game marks the end of a trilogy in the Gears universe, ending the storyline for Marcus Fenix. Having played roughly 2 hours of the multiplayer beta, here are some of my thoughts of what we can expect from Gears of War 3 multiplayer when it arrives September 20, 2011.

                The game itself looks better than its predecessor   but because it is a multiplayer beta, I can't really tell you much more other than that the game looks great and the different types of maps that are available to play in the beta make for a different looking Gears of War game than the past two. There are 4 different maps available in the beta. Each map presents a drastically different venue that makes the game feel different each time a new map is played. Thrashball takes place in a stadium where players spawn on opposite sides and a scoreboard hangs in the middle eventually dropping to the ground and kill those unfortunate enough to be underneath. Old town is an large map that doesn't have a linear feel to it but instead feels more open than the rest of the other maps. It allows for more flanking which makes players have to pay attention to their surroundings. Trenches is a map that has a lot of low and high grounds for players to use to their advantages. The neat thing about that map is that at certain points, a sandstorm will blind players making it hard to see giving an added difficulty to the map. Checkout is a small grocery store with a lot of walls to take cover behind which makes it a typical Gears of War map.

 The multiplayer has one mode to start with, team death match, but later will add king of the hill and capture the leader to the beta later. In team death match, opposing teams look to kill their opponents until they have no more respawns. The match starts out with each team getting fifteen respawns each. Every time a player dies, the team loses a respawn point. Once the respawn points reach five, that team can no longer respawn meaning that once they die, they are out of the round. By doing this, the ends of matches can become a tense experience. I had a match that ended with one of my teammates versus three opponents and it eventually came down to a one on one match up where my teammate lost. The whole time I was on edge hoping he would pull out a victory. This reaction is what Epic hopes to get out of players with this type of team death match.

                Before you enter a match you must choose your load out. In the load out screen you decide what type of rifle you want and what type of shotgun you want as well as your character for each faction. There are three rifles to choose from, lancer, hammer burst, and the retro lancer. The lancer and hammer burst return from previous Gears games and feel similar to previous versions but with a few tweaks. The hammer burst reticule is different making it more unique compared to the other 2 rifles and it also sports an iron sight for more accurate aiming. 

The lancer remains the same but the most intriguing edition to the rifles is the new retro lancer. The retro lancer is similar to the lancer but is a burst rifle that does more damage and lacks a chainsaw. Instead, it has a bayonet which you can use to spear enemies by holding down the B button. During matches, I found that I would always want to go back to either the lancer or hammer burst because the retro lancer was not doing a good job at killing people. The recoil on the retro lancer makes the aiming reticule become incredibly inaccurate after one burst and its damage doesn't do enough to take down opponents quicker than the other two rifles. The bayonet is a charging melee but is hard to pull off and doesn't impale the opponent unless you have built enough speed which makes it hard to use in close encounters. There was one point where I had run straight into an opponent with the bayonet , ricocheted off and was left helpless as my opponent used his gnasher to kill me.

                The game still revolves around knowing where the special weapons are on the map and getting to them first to gain an upper hand. Many special weapons return from Gears of War 2 but there are some new additions   too. The digger launcher is one of the new special weapons that shoots an explosive in the ground and it digs through the ground until exploding at the end. It is a very effective weapon at getting past cover because it digs underground and is fun to use. They have also added a new grenade called the incendiary grenade that leaves two trails of flames that burn opponents, damaging them as long as their standing in the flames. It’s a nice alternative to the frag grenade.

                When you start matchmaking, you are always put into a full room that is filled with players and bots. When players enter the game, they replace the bots you are facing so it makes matchmaking faster and allows for players to play games instead of waiting in lobbies forever. Epic has also added an overhead view of the map that can be viewed when you have died or at the begin of the match to show you the map layout and where those special weapons are as well as where your teammates are. You can also locate you teammates by pressing the LB button which highlights where your teammates are so you can run and assist them if they are in trouble.  

                The multiplayer beta is only part of an entire game that we will get to see in September but if it is any indication of the final product, I would say that Gears of War 3 is looking really good. There are some problems that need to be fixed but that is the point of the beta so hopefully when the game comes out, we will see these problems gone and that the multiplayer becomes even better than it is now. I'd like to know your impressions of the Gears beta so please leave them in the comments below.