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What is it?
If you haven't heard about Microsoft's big-deal shooter for this holiday season, then you're probably reading the wrong article. Move along.
Why is it cool?
Gears of War 2 popularized the term "Horde mode," a game type where players cooperatively hunker down, attempting to repel advancing A.I. enemy forces. Gears 3 flips that concept around with a "reverse Horde" Beast mode. In it, players keep spawning in as various Locust units, throwing themselves at a small squad of defending A.I.-controlled COG soldiers, hoping to eliminate them all before time runs out.
Gears 3 also introduces Horde 2.0, which improves upon the Gears 2 version with fortifications (like barbed-wire fences or sentry turrets, which you can buy, repair, and upgrade with the money you've earned from kills), boss fights, and bases that you can expand…if you're feeling confident. You can still find ammo and weapon pick-ups scattered throughout the levels (which multiplayer and Horde share in common), but you now have to buy them with the cash you've earned.
The moment you'll feel "bigger, badder, and more bad-ass"
Developer Epic Games used those words to describe Gears 2, but they're very fitting for one upgrade in Horde 2.0. If you can save enough dough (hint: let your teammates pay for all the defensive stuff), you can eventually purchase the Silverback mech suit. Get in this thing (think the power lifter from the Aliens film, only with thunderous machine-gun cannons and a screen-shaking foot-stomp melee attack), and you'll feel…well, you get the idea.
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