Raam's Shadow DLC showcased in latest Gears of War 3 screens

@sammo21

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I thought I read somewhere here that there's now a no-shotties playlist though - can anyone confirm that? Cuz if that's true, I'd be more than happy to return to Gears 3 multiplayer.

@Porker it was just an event weekend thing which took place last weekend. The even was called "This is my rifle" and essentially blanked out the shotgun slot only allowing pistols, grenades, and rifles...not sure about weapon picks but I think they were allowed.

Gnashers are fine and its easy to dodge sawed off shotties, but the range on the gnasher and the length to which people can cheese off 1 hit kills at all times from crazy distances with the thing blows my mind. I can't get instruction on how they do it and they can never explain it...they just can do it.

@sammo21 Two possibilites: lag, or perfect active reload.

It really doesn't one-shot-kill at ridiculous ranges though, so my guess is you're either lagging or exaggerating.

The Gnasher is why so many people love Gears multiplayer in the first place, it's supposed to have a prominent role, even in Gears 3.

@UselessNameHere I doubt its lag on my end as I am on a dedicated 30Mbps fiber connection at my house. Not every kill can be active reload. Some, sure...even I get those, but the range to which a gnasher is effective feels ridiculous to me at times.

@sammo21

Now it's been a while since I've played Gears 3 multiplayer (that wasn't horde mode) so maybe people have gotten better, but I don't recall the gnasher being as overpowered as you're describing it. Simply staying out of range and using the retro-lancer worked fine for avoiding any "bullshit gnasher deaths." Hell even at medium range I've out-gunned a gnasher with my retro-lancer.

@UselessNameHere

The Gnasher (and any shotgun for that matter) is also the reason so many people hate Gears multiplayer. I know plenty of people (myself included) who don't even bother with Gears multi because of the endless one shot kills. It still boggles my mind to no end that a game that basically started the current fad of cover-based shooters, relies so much on the exact opposite of that in multiplayer.

I'm just more of a tactical guy, which is why I stay away from the Gears of War and Call of Duty multiplayer games where lightning fast reflexes trump teamwork. Play me in those aforementioned games and I'm basically useless; play me in Uncharted 3 or Killzone 3 multi, and I'm one of your worst nightmares :)

Different strokes, right?!

@sammo21

use a retro lancer then. it easily trumps the gnasher near the end of the gnasher's range.

@The Pork

if you think reflexes trump teamwork in Gears, you're playing it wrong.

@maveric101

In a game where one-shot kills are so prevalant, I beg to differ. I've played enough multiplayer to see that players don't really go out of their way to pick up downed teammates, and regardless, with so many one-shot kills, there's no picking up to be had.

I'm not saying Gears is as mindless as something like Black Ops (erm, no offense, Black Ops-ers), but if you're looking for a multiplayer experience that truly focuses on teamwork, look at something like Killzone 3 (or, as I've read, Battlefield 3).

I'm not saying one game or genre is better than another, but let's not kid ourselves here and say Gears 3 is all about teamwork, because for the most part, it's not.

@The Pork

pork, you're never my worst nightmare. in fact, i love you. you're absolutely delectable.

@The Pork
I get what you're saying, but fortunately for you there are games with multiplayer that suit your playstyle better. Gears online has always been about the Gnasher, even if it initially wasn't EPIC's intention. It would be betrayal to their loyal fans if they made the gun useless in Gears 3.

You are wrong if you think Gears is mindless though, it's far from it. Teamwork does give an advantage, but only when you're playing on a high level, it is definitely not needed if you're just playing solo against randoms. I prefer the latter because I prefer to play solo in multiplayer. Believe it or not, but Gears can get pretty tactical. It's not just mindless shooting around, there is much more to it than that.

Gears is pretty much the only game I know with this kind of playstyle multiplayer wise. Which is why I think it should stay this way, and not change so that some people enjoy it better.

@supermonkey
You obviously weren't playing on a hard enough difficulty. On Insane (and even parts of Hardcore), your AI teammates are only good for the occasional revive, if you happen to go down within arm's reach of them. Oh, and they sometimes make halfway-decent pack mules for extra ammo.

@trendscenedental

I should have expected this reply, so my bad for not being more clear in my original post. I played on hardcore the first time through, which is the highest difficulty you can play on from the start. I have no intentions of playing through the game a second time.

On hardcore it can be challenging at times yes, but far too often I was revived when I would have been happy to have died and restarted. Just made it seem alittle too much like someone was holding my hand, for a gears game at least. I ended up just restarting the checkpoint myself if I was revived more then once.

Other times I just wanted to walk around and look for collectibles, and my teammates would run ahead and clear out most of the next section. I felt at times more like a spectator then the driving force.

I did love the game, no doubt there. But I'm not the only one to note though that your extra companions at times made the game a little too easy.

Having insane difficulty open to start with, or maybe having an option to limit the amount of times a teammate can revive you in a certain time period would have gone a long way.

@supermonkey

"Other times I just wanted to walk around and look for collectibles, and my teammates would run ahead and clear out most of the next section. I felt at times more like a spectator then the driving force."

This.

@trendscenedental and that's if your lucky. My friend and I went through on hardcore first time through and it wasn't too bad until the final boss. Your teammates are pretty much useless and can't be depended on in hardcore and Insane.

@sammo21

Maybe as soon as you play co-op with at least one other person it changes your ai teammates. But playing by yourself, on hardcore setting, I'd have to disagree with the fact that your teammates are pretty much useless.

In fact I cannot remember another game that has teammates that are as helpful as this one. Many times I just sat behind cover while my teammates cleared out the entire room. Othertimes I went out of my way just to see if I could get myself killed, only to be followed and revived time and again by my ai teammates.

Again, I enjoyed the game, just a lot of the tension was gone from the encounters when I knew I would likely be revived if I died (to which I fixed by my self imposed restarting of checkpoints)

Unless I misread your comment, and you mean your teammates were useless only for the final boss.

@MicahR
Yes, you do. He gets his own little single-player segment in this DLC, and you also unlock him for multiplayer.

@MicahR

Yup, and its glorious. Watch this!
http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/12/08/gears-of-war-3-a-look-at-raams-shadow

@xFenixKnightx
They can get away with a 30fps framerate since combat in Gears is slower-paced than most other shooters. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

@trendscenedental

Its a great pace for the way its supposed to be played. Go back and watch Gears 1 MP movement. It was fast but not as fluid and they legs and feet really didn't move well with the ground. Gears 2 was very slow and clunky. I felt like I was controlling a slow moving tank. Gears 3 is just right with improved speed and animations.

@eat it You'll be fine w a 4gb model if you want to do all that, I'm pretty sure. I think you can mount a ISBN flash drive for 16gb more storage if space rubs short. Plus there's the new cloud storage for flame saves, though I haven't tried using it yet.

@Endless VertiGo damn... USB not ISBN.

@eat it

You'll be okay. I got my kids the 4GB and they have no problems.

@Endless VertiGo
How did you mistype USB with ISBN???
:P

cool that's what I wanted to hear. thanks

@eat it

just a word of advice: skip Crackdown 2 and just get Crackdown 1. to me, it's the better game by far. oh, and no Fable 2 and Mass Effect 1 love?

@Liquidfingers

I played the first crackdown when it came out, I used to have a 360 4 years ago. I didn't like Mass effect 2, and Fable doesn't seem like my type of game.

@eat it

ahh, well if that's the case (with Crackdown) than you might want to re-think Crackdown 2. i was seriously disappointed with it. i loved the first, but they changed so little with the second that it hardly felt like a sequel. it was even in the same city with a lot of the same sights, only this time they added "zombies"...still, the awesomeness of jumping stories in the air is still there.

Google's magic auto correct on android =/