New gameplay details emerge.
by Jim Reilly 
But new details have emerged this morning, courtesy of Spanish gaming website MeriStation. In an interview, Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski confirmed several new additions and details for Gears of War 3.
Bleszinski said the plot of Gears of War 3 picks up 18 months after the end of Gears 2, and will close the book on the trilogy.
"You can expect that we'll answer the majority of the questions that players have about the history of the world and what's going on," Bleszinski said. "We're not going to answer everything, but I can tell you this will be the conclusion to a trilogy."
In the same interview, Bleszinski confirmed two new weapons for Gears 3: A sawed-off double-barrel shotgun, which is more powerful than the standard shotgun, but has longer reload times and less range, and the Pendulum Lancer, the precursor to the chainsaw Lancer. This new lancer "kicks like a mule when it fires" and includes a large blade at the end that makes for nasty executions.
Bleszinski also said the team will continue to refine the cover system of Gears 3, making it the best in the industry. The game will finally include female characters. Anya, who was a "pencil pusher" in the previous Gears games, will now be fighting alongside the Delta Squad in the new game.
The biggest addition to multiplayer is 4-player online co-op in the story mode. Bleszinski said players can now take control of the other Delta Squad members Baird and Cole in the campaign.
"When you play Gears 1 and 2, Player 1 is Marcus, and Player 2 is Dom. The only way to play as Dom in the campaign is to be Player 2," he said. "That cascades down to Players 3 and 4. If you want to play as Baird or Cole in the campaign, the only way you can do that is to play 3 or 4 player co-op."
Bleszinski also noted the team has switched up the storytelling in Gears 3.
"At some point in the campaign, you're not going to be Marcus and Dom. You're going to be another squad, and you're going to experience their section, and you'll see some overlap and they'll merge Pulp Fiction style, which is one of the ways were playing with the stories this time," he said.
There will also be several multiplayer improvements. Bleszinski promised Gears of War 3 will include better region filtering to allow for less laggy games. Fans will also see the return of several old Gears of War multiplayer maps, but he could not say which ones.
Bleszinski also hinted at a possible new squad command system for multiplayer.
"We definitely want to improve the player's ability to play together with their friends and stick together in a party, but we're not announcing how that will work right now."
MovieMiguel.com
