Gears of War 3: Are We Losing Interest?

GEARS OF WAR FRANCHISE has always been my #1 Xbox 360 franchise from the first time I heard the words "take cover" and "stop and pop, not run and gun." When I finished Gears of War, I was left wanting more. When I played through Gears of War 2, I was left wanting even more and when Gears of War 3 was finally shown, I was starving for more Gears of War. So, does that feeling still hold true?

Well, the answer is yes and no. A lot has happened over the last while since both Epic Games and Microsoft had chosen to delay the game in order to run a full on beta and 'polish' the game up a little bit. It was Epic Games game to screw with Killzone 3 until it was delayed and Epic and EA decided to release Bulletstorm day and date with Killzone 3 as Cliff Bleszinski had stated himself that it was done intentionally to, yes "Screw with Killzone 3." The end result was that Cliffy B. purchased and admittedly openly he was playing the competition and People Can Fly, EA and Epic Games later realized what a mistake it was releasing Bulletstorm, a new IP along side a franchise that skyrocketed at its sequel after the "Halo Killer" burnt out a dud firecracker.

We're now sitting about a month away release of Gears of War 3 and really, we're just not feeling it like we once were. Perhaps we're still suffering from the drab summer time releases, though we got InFamous 2 but, it just doesn't really seem as though that same excitement is there. Pirates have cracked through the system and have boosted the code and made it available to everyone, and even though we've had no problem not viewing the posted video's some jerks have still managed to spoil it in comments sections throughout the net.

Additionally, as we played through the multi-player beta, I found it was extremely difficult to gather my buddies together to play some rounds in the beta. They didn't really seem to care anymore when we used to get online to play the original Gears of War constantly and Horde Mode in Gears of War 2. That's left me playing at it all on my own and things have surfaced leaving Gears of War stripped of its identity.

A lot has happened since the release of the original Gears of War. At the time, the game was all about strategy and when I'd play with friends, it was a lot like we were playing a multiplayer game of Metal Gear Solid. Was taking cover, moving around in silence and stealthily take out the opposition. Well, since then Modern Warfare 2 had hit the market and all that went out the window, Cliff's vision of how the game would play went from unique to mainstream. Now Gears of War has become a run and gun sort of game and we miss that. It was painfully apparent when we played the beta that all of that was gone leaving us with a eight hour campaign and horde mode otherwise, we might as well go off to play Resistance multiplayer or Call of Duty.

We've also found we're really concerned with the story, even though they pulled on a writer whom had written novel's for the franchise, we're still concerned. Gears of War has never had a strong story when placed up against say, Uncharted with a strong story and characters that you can relate to. It's also and extremely busy time for gaming with the releases of Batman: Arkham City, Resistance 3, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception multiplayer that's going to be available for FREE in October, God of War: Origins, ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection that's looking stunning, and we almost got Twisted Metal. But, by the time we've caught up with all of those, November will be here and Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception's full game will be released, Oblivion Skyrim and Dark Souls will be available, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection will be available and then what?

Again, we're not sure if its just the dry summer, but we wonder if Gears of War 3 was an avocado that could have made some serous guac but its starting to get a little too ripe in the window and though we're still ready to play it, it just won't have that same umpf it may have had back in April. How much was really gained during the beta testing? Will we find a lot of same irritants in the final build? It seems we've heard this all before if I remember correctly when Gears of War 2 was said that multiplayer was going to be the go to multiplayer experience. What's more is that during the BONUS ROUND of Game Trailers, it was mentioned there as well. We've seen this before and this causes us to worry. Has all this hype been built up and in the end, dissapointment? We've learned and know better not to expect much from the games single-player campaign storyline but, is this really going to be the definitive multiplayer experience? Will Claudia Black set herself apart as Sam Byrnes or will we just wonder what Chloe Fraiser is doing in a Gears of War game? All this will be told come September 20th.

For all things Gears of War, Gears of War 3, Xbox 360 and all things gaming, check back as we keep you inside the X-Gaming Zone here at the XZONE on Thumbdrive.