Sabbatical over, class back in session. BOOM baby!
After a lengthy sabbatical, the Professor is back at the head of the classroom and a new lesson is ready to go. This weeks lesson, the latest installation of what I feel is the best series of campaign/multiplayer 1st person/3rd person shooters. That can only mean one thing, kiddies.
Ah yes. Gears of War. How we have missed you and how we have longed for your return.
I was afraid I wouldn’t get my chance to play this until the release in September, as I had zero interest in playing Bulletstorm. My personal opinion, the demo for Bulletstorm was boring as hell and not worth buying. My hopes of playing the beta were not high.
Enter Gamestop. Pre-order and you get a beta code. Cue the Hallelujah chorus. (Ok, you may have gotten a beta code with other store pre-orders, but that’s where I got mine.)
How best to explain the Gears of War 3 beta..hmmm. Well, I think the best way is to just describe my very first kill. They only opened 4 maps for the beta session, all of which are pretty small. The first one I got to experience is called Thrashball. It’s essentially an indoor stadium, looking kind of like a hockey rink, but with grass on the field. About 2 minutes into the round, this notification goes off, suggesting I use the “look” key for a key point on the field. I do, and it shows me “frayed wire” just above the scoreboard. Assuming it means what I think it means, I aim, fire, and shoot said frayed wire. The scoreboard drops and squishes someone from the other team underneath it. Yes, I killed another man with a scoreboard. You’ll excuse my French when I say: FUH-KING COOL! Granted, this may not excite others the same as it did me, but man, that was the greatest thing ever. And it only got better from there.
The more and more I play the demo, the greater my love for this game becomes. They added a bunch of new weapon like Digger Launcher, Sawed-Off Shotgun, the One Shot, and Retro Lancer. Check out the links to see what they do. I would explain, but I’m trying to not go 4 pages long here.
There are 3 different games available to play in the demo: the usual Team Deathmatch, Capture the Leader, and King of the Hill. Team Deathmatch gets a new twist – each team gets a set amount of lives, currently 15. Once you are down to 5, its one and done. I haven’t really played King of the Hill, so I won’t speak on it, but I have done Capture the Leader, and that’s a blast. Check the link again for the description.
There are even some new abilities like being able to leap over a wall and kick your opponent back, giving you an advantage to shoot first. There’s also my favorite, the new ability to grab a meat shield, stick them with a grenade, and kick them into their teammates to create a shower of glorious body parts.
And of course there’s the chance to once again play as the great Augustus “Cole Train” Cole (WOOO WOOO!! PAIN TRAIN’S COMIN!! CAN’T STOP THE TRAIN, BABY!). And for the ladies who play, and I know some of you do, there are now female characters that can be played.
I don’t know that I could ask for more of this game.
Well, ok, there is one thing I could ask. Give me the full version before September. Please. Pretty please. With a Ticker on top. (Yeah yeah, I know it’s corny, but go with the theme, would ya?)
Bottom line: even though the beta is only open for 1 more week, if you can get a code, check it out. It’s completely worth it. I haven’t had this much fun gaming in quite some time.
That’s it for today. There should be another lesson tomorrow after I go check out Thor. From what I’m reading, it should be pretty damn good.
Class dismissed.
