Gears of War 3 is a 2011 third-person shooter video game created by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the third part of the Gears of War series and the last game in the original trilogy. The game was originally planned to release on April 8, 2011, but was delayed and finally released on September 20, 2011. The story was written by science fiction author Karen Traviss.

Like the earlier games in the series, Gears of War 3 received high praise from critics. They praised the story, voice acting, visuals, and music, but noted that the game did not introduce many new ideas. The game sold more than 3 million copies and was the second best-selling game in the United States.

A follow-up game called Gears of War 4, developed by The Coalition, was released in 2016.

Gameplay

Gears of War 3 is a video game where players control characters in a third-person perspective, meaning players see their character from the side. The game focuses on using cover, like walls or objects, and working with a team to survive battles. Players can carry four weapons: a pistol, a set of grenades, and two main weapons. Players can pick up weapons and ammunition from fallen enemies or supply points during the game.

When reloading a weapon, players have the chance to perform an "active reload." This is shown on the screen with a small cursor moving over a marked section on the heads-up display (HUD). If the player presses a button while the cursor is on the marked section, the reload happens faster, and the weapon fires stronger bullets that cause more damage and push enemies back. If the button is pressed outside the marked section, the weapon gets temporarily jammed, making it harder to reload and leaving the player vulnerable. Players can also choose to reload normally without the extra power.

During combat, players can take damage from enemies. This is shown as a red "crimson omen" on the HUD, which represents the player’s health. If the player avoids enemy fire, the red mark will fade over time. However, if the player takes too much damage, they will be knocked down or killed. To survive, an ally must revive them within a short time, called the "bleed-out" period. If the player is on the "Insane" difficulty, they will die immediately without the bleed-out time. Enemies can also kill players during the bleed-out using special moves. Certain types of damage, like explosions or headshots, can kill players instantly without the bleed-out time. Players can also make enemies bleed out by using the same methods. Players and enemies can use any structure as cover, firing from behind it or peeking out to aim. Players can quickly move between nearby cover or jump over low cover to advance. Some cover can be destroyed after taking damage, which can help players draw enemies out of hiding.

A new feature in Gears of War 3 is the ability to "tag" enemies. Computer-controlled allies will then focus their attacks on these marked enemies, and human allies will see their location on their HUD. Players can now share weapons, ammunition, and money (in Horde Mode) with teammates during battles.

Players earn experience points by completing missions, killing enemies, performing special attacks, reviving teammates, and progressing through the game. Experience points can also be earned by winning medals and ribbons for achievements, such as defeating enemies with specific weapons or winning matches. As players level up, they unlock special characters and weapon designs for use in multiplayer mode.

Synopsis

Gears of War 3 takes place two years after Jacinto, the last safe place for humans, is destroyed to eliminate the Locust Horde. The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) moves to Vectes, a hidden island, to rebuild. After Chairman Prescott disappears, the COG breaks up. A new enemy, the Lambent, threatens the few remaining humans. When the Lambent attack Vectes, Marcus Fenix and his team escape to the CNV Sovereign, a helicopter carrier, while Hoffman leads others to Anvil Gate. Delta Squad includes Marcus Fenix, Dominic "Dom" Santiago, Anya Stroud, Damon Baird, Augustus "Cole Train" Cole, Jace Stratton, Clayton Carmine, and Samantha "Sam" Byrne.

At the start of the game, Chairman Prescott arrives on the Sovereign and tells Marcus he must speak to Captain Michaelson. The Lambent attack the ship, killing Michaelson and wounding Prescott. Before dying, Prescott gives Marcus a code to a disc held by Colonel Hoffman and reveals that Marcus’s father, Adam Fenix, is alive and held captive on Azura, a secret COG base. Marcus, Dom, Cole, and Baird travel to Anvil Gate, where Hoffman has equipment to decode the disc. At Anvil Gate, Marcus and his team help Hoffman’s soldiers fight off a combined attack by the Lambent and Locust.

After studying the disc, Marcus learns Azura is protected by artificial hurricane machines, making it reachable only by submarine. Marcus and his team, joined by Dizzy Wallin, find a submarine but need Imulsion fuel. Dom suggests visiting the abandoned town of Mercy, where they discover humans are turning into Lambent. During a rescue mission, Dom sacrifices himself to destroy enemies. Without fuel, the team travels to the city of Char, where Stranded civilians led by Griffin (voiced by Ice-T) reluctantly help them find Imulsion. After obtaining fuel, they are attacked by the Locust Horde led by Queen Myrrah. Griffin’s forces suffer heavy losses, but the Gears escape to repair their submarine.

Marcus’s group reaches Azura, a luxury resort for powerful people. Adam Fenix contacts them, revealing he is held in a hotel tower. Marcus and his team fight through enemies to reach Adam. Adam explains he created a device to destroy all Lambent and Locust life. He tried to adjust the device to only harm Lambent, but Imulsion, a parasitic lifeform, infected humans, leaving him no time. Adam infects himself with Lambent cells to test the device. As the machine activates, Adam dies. Myrrah attacks, but Marcus kills her with Dom’s knife. The machine releases a blue energy wave that destroys Lambent, Imulsion, and Locust. Marcus is left sad, but Anya comforts him, saying their sacrifices ensured a future for humanity.

A downloadable content (DLC) campaign adds a story set before the first Gears of War game. Players control General RAAM, the Locust’s leader, and Michael Barrick from the Zeta-Six squad. The setting is Ilima, a COG city previously shown in Gears of War 2 as ruins. Ilima is attacked by a Kryllstorm, a massive swarm of Kryll that will destroy everything when it gets dark. RAAM leads Locust forces to speed up the storm by destroying COG resistance and using Seeders to block the sky. Queen Myrrah orders RAAM to capture Ilima as a step toward attacking Ephyra, the COG capital.

Meanwhile, Zeta-Six helps evacuate Ilima using armored vehicles but is attacked by Locust. They use the Hammer of Dawn to defeat enemies and rescue civilians. Zeta-Six finds Jace Stratton, a young survivor, and agrees to search a high school for more survivors, including Jace’s adoptive father, Dr. Wisen. At the school, Zeta-Six fights Locust forces and follows a message to a nearby orphanage. They use exploding cars to defeat a Berserker and reach city hall, where Barrick controls the Hammer of Dawn to destroy Seeders. With time running out, Zeta-Six is redirected to the orphanage.

At the orphanage, Zeta-Six finds survivors, including Dr. Wisen. As an armored vehicle arrives with Jace, RAAM attacks, killing Alicia Valera and destroying the vehicle. Jace joins the fight, but the group is cut off. Zeta-Six and Jace fight through streets and sewers, defeating RAAM’s elite unit. Returning to the orphanage, they battle RAAM on a Reaver, using Kryll against them. Barrick stops Kim from attacking RAAM, and the group escapes.

Development

Gears of War 3 includes a 3D mode for 3DTV sets. This feature uses TriOviz for Games Technology, which is combined with Unreal Engine 3 to support 3D visuals. All gameplay and cinematic scenes in Gears of War 3 have 3D support, and this also works during split-screen play.

On December 17, 2010, Epic Games announced that the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm for Xbox 360 included early access to the multiplayer beta of Gears of War 3 and exclusive content. Later, it was announced that pre-ordering Gears of War 3 in any edition at GameStop in the United States or GAME in the United Kingdom would grant access to the public beta. The Gears of War 3 exclusive beta began on April 18, 2011, one week before the GameStop pre-order beta, which started on April 25, 2011. Beta testers could unlock in-game content, such as characters and weapon skins. All beta participants received a medal to show they were testers when the final game was released. The beta ended on May 15, 2011.

In 2017 and again in 2020, footage of Gears of War 3 running on a PlayStation 3 was shared online. This footage was confirmed to be real and came from a data breach Epic experienced in 2011. Kotaku confirmed with Epic Games that the footage was not from an unannounced version of the game for PlayStation 3, but from a test of the Unreal Engine. Epic described the software as "a byproduct of Epic’s internal Unreal Engine 3 testing process, which used both Gears of War and Unreal Tournament, and was never part of any actual product work for PlayStation 3."

Marketing and release

According to Tim Sweeney, Gears of War 3 cost between $48,000,000 and $60,000,000 to develop. The game was officially shown on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon by Cliff Bleszinski, with a short video clip featuring the song "Heron Blue" by Sun Kil Moon. Before the official reveal, an advertisement for the game was accidentally shown on the Xbox 360 Dashboard.

The game was available for pre-order in three retail editions: "Standard," "Limited," and "Epic." The game also includes special character variants based on where the game was pre-ordered. Confirmed variants include Mechanic Baird, Commando Dom, Savage Grenadier Elite, and Savage Kantus. On May 23, 2011, Epic Games confirmed that an exclusive replica Retro Lancer designed by NECA will be available only at GameStop, while a gold version of the replica Retro Lancer is available only at Play.com.

• The Standard Edition includes the game, a shorter manual, and a sheet of Gears of War 3 themed stickers.
• The Limited Edition includes an Octus Award Box with the Octus Service Medal awarded to Dr. Adam Fenix, an exclusive Adam Fenix playable character for multiplayer, a fabric COG flag, and personal items of Dr. Adam Fenix such as his Last Will and Testament, Hammer of Dawn schematics, and Fenix family mementos.
• The Epic Edition includes everything from the Limited Edition as well as a Marcus Fenix statue, a 96-page book about the game's art and design, and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack that includes skins for the Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Sawed Off Shotgun, and Gnasher Shotgun.
• The Gears of War 3 Limited Edition Xbox 360 console includes a customized red console with the 'Infected Omen' design, two Special Edition Gears of War 3 wireless controllers, a 320GB hard drive, and two tokens to unlock Adam Fenix and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack.

Clayton Carmine, brother of Anthony and Benjamin from the previous two games, appears in Gears of War 3. Carmine is more skilled, clever, and muscular in the third game, with tattoos of his brothers and the reasons they died on his arms ("Keep your head down!" and "Practice reloading!"). He was shown holding a Mulcher machine gun in several images from the game. A vote between July 29, 2010, and September 6, 2010, decided whether Carmine would live or die based on sales of Xbox avatar T-shirts sold on Xbox Live. Epic Games had already created endings for both choices before the vote ended. Real T-shirts were also sold at San Diego Comic-Con. The campaign raised over $150,000, which was donated to Child's Play.

Ice-T voices the character of Griffin. During E3 2011, it was announced that Ice-T's band, Body Count, would reunite to create a song called "The Gears of War." This song was included in the Horde 2.0 trailer.

Cliff Bleszinski announced via Twitter that Gears of War 3 would include unlockables, similar to Gears of War 2.

• On April 1, 2011, Bleszinski joked via Twitter that Gears of War 3 would include a new unlockable weapon: a six-barreled shotgun with a special ability to shoot nukes. The beta version had exclusive unlockables, such as a Golden Retro Lancer by completing 90 matches in any game type, and earning 100 kills with it would unlock it for use in the full game. Players who bought the Bulletstorm Epic Edition unlocked an exclusive Flaming Hammerburst for use in the beta and the full game.
• Epic Games announced that players must keep their beta saved file for their unlockables to appear in the full game. On June 24, 2011, it was confirmed that completing required achievements from Gears of War and Gears of War 2 would earn players new weapon skins and medals in Gears of War 3.
• The Gold Lancer and Hammerburst return from Gears of War 2 to Gears of War 3. Rod Fergusson announced that players with the Veteran Gear achievement from Gears of War 2 would earn an in-game Old Guard medal and callsign as well as gold variants of all five starting weapons. There was a way to get all five gold weapons without the achievement, but after hearing negative feedback from fans, they made the golden Gnasher shotgun exclusive to Veteran Gear players.
• Chrome weapon skins for the five starting weapons are also unlockable by playing the Xbox 360 or PC versions of Gears of War and Gears of War 2.
• Rod Fergusson confirmed that players would

Reception

When Gears of War 3 was released, it received high praise from critics. It earned an average score of 91.49% on GameRankings and 91 out of 100 on Metacritic. Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb gave it a 5 out of 5 star rating, saying it is a great sequel that answers important questions about the Gears universe and includes an improved multiplayer experience. IGN called it "the spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated video game series." Game Informer gave it a 9.5 out of 10, noting that the game was well-developed by a large team of skilled creators and featured exciting challenges, exaggerated scenes, and smart online gameplay.

Eurogamer gave the game an 8 out of 10 rating. Cliff Bleszinski from Epic Games said he was upset when some people rated Gears of War 2 higher than Gears of War 3, believing Gears of War 3 is better in every way. His comments were criticized by Destructoid and GamePro. In GamePro, McKinley Noble said that criticizing a review that is actually positive can seem selfish.

Gears of War 3 sold more than 3 million copies in its first week, more than the first two games in the series combined. It was the second best-selling game in the United States during its launch month, behind only Madden NFL 12, and the seventh best-selling game of 2011. The game also received more than one million pre-orders.

Awards and honors for Gears of War 3 included:
– IGN: Best Action and Shooter Game (2011)
– G4: Best Xbox 360 Game and Shooter (2011)
– Game Informer: Best Cooperative Mode (2011)
– GameSpot: Best Shooter (2011)

At the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Gears of War 3 for "Action Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay."