5 things you didn't know about Gears of War 3. Until now

UPDATE: Gears of War dev Cliffy B has just tweeted the following: "Please don't trust badly translated leaked scanned info on Gears 3. Lots of false info out there." Thought we should point that out. Let's hope the bit about the vegetable patch is true.

We managed to get *some* details from the Gears of War 3 trailer, but we fully expected that E3 would be the next time any additional info on the game would be released.

However, some scans from a Russian games mag have cropped up on the Epic forums (and been subsequently translated) that have provided us with a whole bunch of stuff to get excited about. Like what? Well, like these 5 things that, until now, you didn't know about Gears of War 3.

Note: All images on this page are taken from scans of a magazine. We're using them here for illustrative purposes only. Click the images to see the full scan

The chain of command has pretty much collapsed. Like everything else

18 months after GoW2 and there is no COG and no government. The survivors that remain are waging their own wars and the last remnants of humanity has gone tribal. Even the Locust themselves are in a similarly shitty situation to the humans, having been in conflict with the aggressive Lambent (Locusts gone mutant after prolonged exposure to Imulsion).

And speaking of Imulsion - the valuable resource that caused the war in the first place - it seems that it's somehow killing the planet. Sucks to be on Sera.

Marcus and his Delta Squad chums will be on a boat. A really BIG boat with its own vegetable patch

Some of Gears of War 3 will take place on a COG aircraft carrier. Click the image below to get an idea of how immense it is.

It sounds like the open waves won't provide absolute respite from the conflict. Apparently the carrier has its own vegetable patch, which has to be protected from enemies. Seriously.

New grenade launcher. New shotgun. New rifle. And more

Mentioned in the article is a double-barrelled shotgun that takes an age to load but is stupidly-powerful. A grenade launcher that fires explosives that travel underground to reach their targets. And a rifle that fires single shots in quick succession, with each shot incrementally causing more damage.

Also, players will be able to swap weapons and ammo with their teammates.

The environment is constantly shifting

It seems like Sera is not entirely stable - a feature that will be apparent in single and multiplayer modes. Observe this scan that shows a 5 minute time-lapse in a multiplayer match:

Spot the difference? Yes, there is a huge chunk of floating rock in the bottom picture.

There's going to be a chunky-ass mech to control

Reserved for 'special situations', players will get to use a COG mech-suit. Check it out:

There were rumours about mechs in Gears of War 3, and this seems to confirm those rumours as FACT. The mech is armed with a machine gun and a grenade launcher. It can also be used as a turret when in stationary mode and deployable shields provide cover for foot soldiers. It looks bad-ass. No mention of whether or not it'll show up in multiplayer.

If you want to digest every last morsel of information, check out the Epic forums and inspect the magazine scans in their entirety at All Games Beta.

May 6, 2010