E3 '10: Video: Gears Of War 3

Being escorted into a room with Cliff Bleszinski, ready to answer questions about his game, was much less intense than I had come to expect. Since some of us had yet to see the full Microsoft conference, we started off with the trailer seen at the top of this post.

Among the first things I noticed was that the environment was more lush. Among my criticisms of the previous two titles are how drab the colors could be, but among the questions posed was with what season we were dealing. With the fall of Jacinto, and a summer season that occurs eighteen months after the end of Gears 2, there is more of a focus on the natural, and the word organic seemed to come up a few times. The one note I underlined was that there was this gorgeous shot of sunlight coming through foliage, and then as you moved past that, there wasn't a lens flare--a detail that often annoys me.

The government has disbanded, and the Gears are left to survive on Sera--hence why we see Anya Stroud in battle uniform, ready to fight. I asked about this particular detail, wondering how that happened, and what that meant for intelligence. The response included a quotation concerning the fact that we are three meals and a natural disaster away from chaos at all times--which is on what the game will focus for the third installment. She will also not be the sole female gear with a story, as Cliff mentioned one named Samantha Burns, a British-accented woman of mixed race. He stressed that we will see both an evolution and devolution of the characters, producing Stroud as an example of an evolution.

Along with the Locust, you will be facing the Lambent as well--a parasite that latches on to its host (we mostly saw Locusts--not sure if humans are planned for such attachment as well). This creates a rabies-type enraged beast you must fight--the trailer showing the return of a berserker who now has the ability to jump, and is much stronger. There are many new enemy types, and Lambent infected Locusts explode upon death, so strategy for killing them and using them as bombs also comes into play. Which happens to be 4-person co-op. So you can play four people together through the campaign.

It sounds as if the co-op system is being upgraded as well. There now exists the ability to switch weapons and ammo with teammates, so you can have more control over what everyone is using with AI, or switch weapons depending on skill level and situation. Which will hopefully ease the tension, because with the heat comes more testosterone-charged brutality and a desire to communicate the irritability of not just the Lambent-infected Locust, but of the Gears as well.

There was a question about vehicle sequences, which were described as a love-hate relationship--some gamers loving them, others loathing them. The idea behind them is apparently to cleanse the palate, but there may be tweaks to that system, and how much control we have over vehicles. More could not be revealed.

The last bit revealed was that among the co-op modes will be Beast Mode, where you take on the aspect of the Locust this time. It is a class-based progression system, and will feature unlockable classes. However, Cliff wanted to assure us that the game would ship with plenty unlocked, but they wanted to give extra bits to players who really wanted to play a Berserker, for instance.

Though I am not actually what I would call a Gears fan, I stay interested because I keep waiting for what I expect to be a reveal. I also remain intrigued that the game is adding more and more persons of color, what with the recent announcement that the musician Drake would be performing as Jace, and as a less boisterous, more serious character (in opposition to Cole Train--who makes me raise an eyebrow most of the time).