Gears of War 3, Finally Getting It Right

By Josh Campbell

In November of 2006, Epic Games released Gears of War, and the game became an instant favorite for many gamers. It had a great story line, and competitive multiplayer to go along with. But like every game, it had its flaws. In each match there was always a player that was given what is called “host advantage” . This player hosts the game off their internet connection, so it gave that player little to no latency regardless of their internet connection, in turn giving that player a powerful advantage over other players. Then in November of 2008, Epic released Gears of War 2. With a new multiplayer that would find games by using matchmaking, it was thought that the games host would not have such a big advantage over the other players. People soon realized that the dreaded host advantage was still present in multiplayer.

Through the thick and thin of the Gears of War franchise, many gamers (me included) have remained loyal to the games. They stuck with the game and just dealt with its flaws. Then late last year, Gears of War 3 was announced as well as the addition of bringing dedicated servers into the multiplayer experience. With these dedicated servers, players will now not have to worry about any one person being more powerful. I have recently had the opportunity to play in the beta for the Gears of War 3 multiplayer, and so far I have been impressed. There is no lag in matches anymore, and nobody has an extra advantage by being the host, so it is an equal playing field. Along with this, there have been a number of other tweaks and fixes to the game. So it appears that Epic has finally got the perfect formula down for Gears of War 3. I am very much looking forward to the release of the third game, it still is just a beta, but it already feels like a complete game.

[ Gears of War 3 Screenshots ] VIA [ CVG ]