14 DAY TRIAL // During Microsoft's E3 press briefing, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski announced a new cooperative mode for Gears of War 3 called Beast. Reports from the expo state that this is basically Horde reversed. Players take the role of the Locust defending themselves from enemy waves of well-armed humans. Exactly like in Horde mode, the battle gets harder as time goes on.
This is not all, though, as different classes of Locusts are available, starting with Tickers and Wretches and working up to Beserkers, Grenadiers and even the Armored Kantus. Players unlock these classes by trading in tokens won from killing enemy soldiers and helping fellow Locusts during the course of the fight.
The waves of human fighters are well equipped, packing Lancers, Auto-Turrets and even the dangerous Hammer of Dawn. The AI is said to be very good, taking advantage of every opportunity to flank or lay dawn suppressing fire against the players. Beast Mode is heavily focused on cooperation, more so than the usual Gears of War standard, as it is the only chance of survival against the onslaught of the enemy soldiers. The new abilities of the Locusts make this a nice and fresh approach to the game's cooperative multiplayer component.
Gears of War 3 is a cover-based third person shooter developed by Epic Games exclusively for the Xbox 360. It adds new features to the award-winning formula of the series, like online four-player co-op and new competitive multiplayer modes. Also, from the demo shown at E3, it is easy to gather that the developer is aiming for a more open environment, giving gamers more options regarding the way they choose to approach the battles. This new installment in the franchise will arrive on the 5th of April, 2011 in North America and on the 8th of April, 2011 in Europe.