Over 1,000 gamers showed up in Times Square to score a copy of Gears of War 3 last month, the third and final instalment in the arc that was introduced in 2006 with Gears of War; after tearing through the first mission with innovative weapons and impressive graphics, it was obvious that the hype was...

Quaking in Your Boots When I was six years old I remember sitting on my dad's lap at his 486 computer watching him play Wolfenstein 3D. For me, id Software has always been a unique studio that doesn't so much adapt to the times as it forges its own interpretation of what they feel a good game is.

Excellent singleplayer campaign

Multiplayer is lacking

Gears of War 3 iterates and polishes on everything that was present in Gears of War 2 and the folks at Epic still had time to add new modes, new weapons, and new enemies. Nothing feels like filler here, and the Gears of War 3 disc will have a reserved spot in my 360 for a long, long time.

Polished gameplay; new modes

It's still Gears; if you don't want that

Gears of War 3 follows the 2008 sequel to the 2006 original Gears of War and this time we're 18 months on – in their timeline – from the last time we saw Marcus Fenix and the Delta Squad co. knock seven shades of shit out of the Locust.

Gears 3 is Epics swan song to a series which came from nowhere in 2006 and shocked the gaming world with it's high fidelity graphics, it's cover mechanism and it's unashamed approach to violence.

Excellent detail; Emotionally charged story.

Friendly AI can be a little too good

Game game to play, cool story line, though does jump back so you play a different crew. Different level of game hardness to play. Great playing online on xbox live with your friends.

The end of a trilogy. As with movies as it is with games, so much pressure rests on the producer or developer to deliver something which not only betters the prequels in grandeur, scope and execution, but to also tie up any loose plot ends and deliver a final weaving lock to make the dress complete.

Time to gargle some boiling oil & get your man voice on! Gears of War 3 was amongst the most anticipated titles of this year, and with good reason! The Gears franchise both reinvented the way that players view the classic third person shooter genre, and prompted developers to up their game when it...

Small refinements make for a much smoother gameplay experience; Graphics which outclass most of its contemporaries; Excellent & varied multiplayer modes

Doesn't introduce many new gameplay elements; Feels somewhat familiar in places; Slightly underwhelming ending given the epic scale of the overall story

There are gamers out there that complain about "tacked-on" multiplayer components. The most recent example that I can think of is Mass Effect 3 (a game we haven't actually seen yet, so complaining isn't quite fair), and last year's Bioshock 2 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

In the beginning, I didn't like this game. I had not played the previous Gears titles and as soon as I started I found the controls hard to get used to and clumsy. Fortunately I persevered, and as time went on Act I found I didn't want to put it down.

Immersive plot and design; excellent weapons and satisfying action

Occasional grinding battles; stereotypical characters; control system takes some getting used to