Gears of War 3

Overview

Gears of War 3 is a 2011 third-person shooter developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the third game and the end of the original trilogy. It was due on April 8, 2011, was delayed, and came out on September 20, 2011. Science fiction author Karen Traviss wrote the story.

It plays like the earlier games, with cover-based combat and squad tactics. You carry four weapons: a pistol, grenades and two main weapons. Health is shown as the red Crimson Omen, and a downed player must be revived before bleeding out. New in this game is tagging enemies, so computer allies focus fire and human allies see them on screen, and swapping weapons, ammo and Horde money with teammates. The active reload returns, and some cover can now be destroyed.

The story is set two years after Jacinto, the last human stronghold, is destroyed. The surviving COG forces have moved to the island of Vectes, and a new enemy, the Lambent, is threatening what is left of humanity. Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad learn that Marcus's father Adam Fenix is still alive, held on the hidden base Azura, which is now occupied by Queen Myrrah of the Locust, and fight their way across the world to reach him.

A player level carries across all modes and unlocks characters and weapon skins. A multiplayer beta ran from April 18 to May 15, 2011, and gave access to the Bulletstorm Epic Edition and GameStop and GAME pre-order customers. Footage of a PS3 version that surfaced in 2017 and 2020 turned out to be an internal Unreal Engine test, not a port.

It came in Standard, Limited and Epic editions. The Limited Edition added an Octus Award Box, a fabric COG flag, Adam Fenix mementos and a playable Adam Fenix. The Epic Edition added a Marcus Fenix statue, a 96-page art book and the Infected Omen weapon skins. A season pass covered the first four DLC packs, with the fifth and final one, Forces of Nature, following on March 27, 2012.

Reviews were widely positive, with a Metacritic score of 91. Critics praised the story, voice acting, visuals and music, and some said it lacked innovation. Game Informer gave it 9.5 and Giant Bomb gave it five stars.

It had over a million pre-orders and sold more than 3 million copies in its first week, higher than the first two games, and it was the seventh best-selling game of 2011 in the US. A sequel, Gears of War 4, followed in 2016.

Official trailer

Gears of War 3: Ashes to Ashes Trailer, XBOX. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

Gears of War 3 - Full Game - No Commentary (Xbox 360), Prospekt Mir. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Third-person shooter

Developer

Epic Games

Publisher

Microsoft Studios

Series

Gears of War (third game)

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Composers

Steve Jablonsky

Designers

Cliff Bleszinski

Writers

Karen Traviss, Eric Nylund, Aaron Linde

Producers

Tanya Jessen, Chris Mielke

Platforms

Xbox 360

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

Yes

Online multiplayer

Yes

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Subscription history

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Achievements

Achievements82 (2,000G)

1000G possibleNo

Total

82

Gamerscore

2000

Online note

Gamepressure lists a 50G achievement for finishing every campaign act in co-op and a separate one for finishing in 4-player co-op.

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Grind

• Campaign co-op achievements: every act in co-op, and a 4-player co-op finish

• Marcus, It's Your Father Woke up from a bad dream. 5G 92.18% of players
• Swimmin' in Glowie Gravy Defended the Raven's Nest from Lambent Leviathan. 10G 85.34% of players
• We Struck Gold, Son! Found food and ammo in Hanover. 10G 81.1% of players
• My Turf! Cougars Territory! Defended and escaped from Cougar Stadium. 10G 78.17% of players
• Putting it Scientifically… Blew up the Lambent Leviathan from the bridge. 10G 76.73% of players
• Okay, Now We Find Hoffman Discovered the location of Adam Fenix. 10G 74.91% of players
• Oh Yeah, It's Pirate Time Grabbed a Locust Gas Barge to travel to Anvil Gate. 10G 72.06% of players
• Thanks For Flying GasBag Airways Arrived safely, kinda, at Anvil Gate. 10G 71.52% of players
• Anvil Gate's Last Resort Defended Anvil Gate from the Locust siege. 10G 70.7% of players
• Was it Good For You? Defeated the Lambent Berserker. 10G 69.68% of players
• Lost Your Good Driver Discount Drove from Anvil Gate to Mercy. 10G 69.29% of players
• Brothers to the End Found and activated the fuel pump. 10G 68.81% of players
• Think You Can Handle That? Found enough fuel to get to Endeavor naval base. 10G 67.36% of players
• Baird's Favorite Kind of Toy Launched the sub. 10G 66.38% of players
• Welcome To -redacted- Passed under the Maelstrom and found Azura. 10G 66.12% of players
• Look at That, Instant Summer. Turned off the Maelstrom device. 10G 65.05% of players
• Ok. Faith. Yeah. Got It. Rescued Adam Fenix from captivity. 10G 64.42% of players
• You're Dead! Now Stay Dead! Killed Myrrah. 10G 64.03% of players
• Respect for the Dead Your respect for the dead earned you access to Griffin's special weapons stash. 5G 25.53% of players
• Ready for More Completed all campaign Acts on Casual or Normal Difficulty. 50G 61.65% of players
• Ain't My First Rodeo Completed all campaign Acts on Hardcore Difficulty. 50G 29.53% of players
• That's Just Crazy Completed all campaign Acts on Insane Difficulty. 75G 12.71% of players
• Collector Recovered 5 of 42 Collectibles. 5G 63.85% of players
• Pack Rat Recovered 20 of 42 Collectibles. 10G 28.72% of players
• Hoarder Recovered all 42 Collectibles. 15G 13.86% of players
• Remember the Fallen Recovered all 15 COG Tags. 15G 14.27% of players
• My Fellow Gears Complete all Acts in Co-op on any difficulty. 50G 24.35% of players
• We Few, We Happy Few... Complete all Acts in 4 player Co-op on any difficulty. 50G 9.17% of players
• Level 5 Reached level 5. 5G 92.66% of players
• Level 10 Reached level 10. 10G 82.48% of players
• Level 15 Reached level 15. 15G 60.5% of players
• Level 25 Reached level 25. 25G 43.23% of players
• Level 50 Reached level 50. 50G 23.73% of players
• Judge, Jury and Executioner Executed your enemies with variety and style. 10G 12.18% of players
• Wreaking Locust Vengence Wreaked vengence upon humanity! 10G 21.75% of players
• Enriched and Fortified Survived all 50 waves of Horde. 10G 23.07% of players
• It's All About the Loot! Earned the Bronze "Loot Courtesan" medal. 25G 35.14% of players
• All for One, One for All Earned the Bronze "Force Multiplier" medal. 10G 7.62% of players
• First Among Equals Earned the Silver "Number 1" medal. 25G 6.07% of players
• Award Winning Tactics Earned an Onyx medal. 25G 37.91% of players
• Seriously 3.0 You are the ultimate Gear! 100G 1.18% of players
• Welcome to Versus Killed 10 enemies in Team Deathmatch. 10G 50.58% of players
• The Versus Sampler Platter Completed one match in all six Versus multiplayer modes. 10G 23.39% of players
• Welcome to Horde Mode Survived the first 10 waves of Horde. 10G 54.55% of players
• Welcome to Beast Mode Completed the first 12 waves of Beast. 10G 44.91% of players
• Welcome to Arcade Mode Completed 5 Arcade Campaign chapters in co-op. 10G 27.62% of players
• Welcome to the Big Leagues Your skill and experience means you’re ready for Standard Versus multiplayer. 0G 48.23% of players
• Wait, What Time is it? Maxed the Consecutive Match Bonus in Versus multiplayer. 10G 26.26% of players
• Lambency Executed an infected player and is now turning Lambent. 50G 52.82% of players
• Socialite Earned the Onyx "War Supporter" medal. 70G Needs online 29.56% of players
• The Host with the Most Showed your friends the Horde Command Pack sights. 25G 7.83% of players
• Places to See, People to Destroy Found new places to destroy all humans. 25G 6.87% of players
• Kill Locust (Like a Boss) We are the elite Onyx Guard! 100G 7.84% of players
• What Does This Button Do? Good ROI on that Silverback upgrade. 50G 4.58% of players
• It's Hammer Time! The Hammer of Dawn is now online! 50G 6.62% of players
• Welcome To Zeta Completed "RAAM's Shadow" in Standard Campaign. 25G 15.86% of players
• Some Friendly Competition Completed "RAAM's Shadow" in Arcade Campaign. 25G 10.04% of players
• Help From My Friends Completed "RAAM's Shadow" in 4 player co-op. 25G 6.97% of players
• Finger of Doom As RAAM, ripped 50 Gears to shreds with your Kryll. 15G 16.89% of players
• I'm Rubber, You're Glue Used the Mauler shield to kill 10 Gears that had the temerity to fire upon you and your General. 15G 6.04% of players
• Death from Above Showed 50 Locusts the meaning of sky-fire with HOD Command Center. 15G 7.53% of players
• Unarmed and Dangerous Ignored all Loader safety guidelines and killed 10 Locusts. 15G 8.07% of players
• Ghosts from the Past Honored the memory of Zeta Squad in 10 matches of Versus. 15G 9.91% of players
• Foreshadowing As RAAM, made sure Minh never forgets that day outside the House of Sovereigns. 25G 4.42% of players
• Zeta Team, Go! Defeated the first 10 waves of Horde with every member of Zeta in your party. 75G 7.09% of players
• Now They Begin to Understand Completed all 12 waves of Beast on all Fenix Rising maps. 20G 5.89% of players
• Defending the Past Completed all 50 waves of Horde on any of the Fenix Rising maps. 25G 6.23% of players
• Come to Poppa! Won a Versus multiplayer match as a team of five Recruit Claytons (any mode). 15G 6.16% of players
• Locust, Forever! Won a Versus multiplayer match as a team of five Savage Marauders (any mode). 15G 6.11% of players
• Time to Re-up! Level 100 and going back for more! 50G 8.68% of players
• Again! Level 100 - so nice, I did it twice. 50G 5.72% of players
• I've Done it All! Earned all 132 combat ribbons. 75G 3.6% of players
• Natural Selection Completed all 12 waves of Beast on all Forces of Nature maps. 20G 5.19% of players
• Horde Natural Still standing after 20 waves - you're a natural! 20G 5.79% of players
• Unstoppable Force Completed all 50 waves of Horde on any of the Forces of Nature maps. 25G 5.91% of players
• Elemental Cleaved 25 enemies with a hidden weapon. 25G 5.87% of players
• Stock Piled Maxed out all of the Horde fortifications. 20G 5.66% of players
• Force Multiplayer Guardian is back! 25G 6.55% of players
• Witty Repairtee Found the right man for the job! 25G 8.43% of players
• Hunter Gatherer Captured and "released" 20 opponents as the Savage Hunter. 20G 5.9% of players
• I've Got This! Led by example and killed 10 opponents as Guardian leader. 20G 4.06% of players
• Force Multiplier The $!*@# was taken down with extreme force. 50G 4.32% of players

Space and patches

Space needed8.72 GB

Update patchTitle updates 1 to 6

The title updates on record for this game.

DLC

Five packs came out between November 2011 and March 2012, sold alone or in the Season Pass. On the Xbox store for the backward compatible version, the Season Pass is US$14.99, RAAM's Shadow US$9.99, and the Horde Command Pack, Fenix Rising, Forces of Nature and the Versus Booster Map Pack are free. Weapon skin packs are still sold too.

Items

Name	Date	Adds	Obtainable today	Price
Horde Command Pack	2011-11-01	Three maps for Versus and Horde, three fortifications, and character and weapon skins.	yes	Free
Versus Booster Map Pack	2011-11-24	Five multiplayer maps: Blood Drive, Azura, Rustlung, Bullet Marsh and Clocktower.	yes	Free
RAAM's Shadow	2011-12-13	Over three hours of story as General RAAM and Zeta Squad, four multiplayer characters and a weapon set.	yes	US$9.99
Fenix Rising	2012-01-17	Five multiplayer maps, four character skins and reup ranks past level 100.	yes	Free
Forces of Nature	2012-03-27	Three new maps, remade Jacinto and Raven Down, four characters, weapon skins and the Elemental Cleavers.	yes	Free

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Plays offline from the disc, split screen co-op and versus work, online play still runs, and every pack is still on the Xbox store.

Online

Online servers runningYes

Plays offlineYes

Online versus for up to 10 players, four-player online co-op, Horde and Beast still run over Xbox Live, and no shutdown has been announced.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Online multiplayer, co-op, Horde and Beast over Xbox Live	running	None announced

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	Xbox 360	91	100
GameRankings	Xbox 360	91.49	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Computer and Video Games	9	10
Destructoid	8	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Game Informer	9.5	10
GameSpot	9.5	10
GameZone	9	10
Giant Bomb	5	5
IGN	9	10
Joystiq	5	5
Official Xbox Magazine	10	10
The Guardian	5	5
The Daily Telegraph	4	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Designer	Cliff Bleszinski
Producer	Tanya Jessen
Producer	Chris Mielke
Programmer	Joe Graf
Artist	Chris Perna
Artist	Wyeth Johnson
Writer	Karen Traviss
Writer	Eric Nylund
Writer	Aaron Linde
Composer	Steve Jablonsky

Cast

Character	Actor
Aaron Griffin	Ice-T

Notes for collectors

• It was first dated for April 8, 2011 and moved to September 20, 2011.
• The list has 82 achievements and 2,000 gamerscore once all DLC is counted.
• Footage of Gears of War 3 running on a PS3 leaked, but Epic said it was an Unreal Engine test and never a port.
• Pre-order character variants included Mechanic Baird, Commando Dom, Savage Grenadier Elite and Savage Kantus, depending on the shop.
• A replica Retro Lancer by NECA was sold only at GameStop, and a gold version only at Play.com.
• Beta testers got a medal to show it in the final game, plus characters and weapon skins.
• The Versus Booster Map Pack was free.
• Tim Sweeney put the development cost between 48 and 60 million US dollars.

Credits

Publisher

Microsoft Studios

Developer

Epic Games

Released

2011-09-20

Age rating

M (Mature)

Disc ID

4D5308AB

Region

US

Time to beat

about 9.5 hours

Copies in the shop

• Gears of War 3 (XBOX 360) CA$14.99