Campaign Information
Features:
- 4 Player Co-Op with 4 unique characters; includes Marcus, Dom, Cole, Baird and a "variety of other characters". At some points in the game you will play as an entirely different squad (that includes no Marcus and no Dom).
Story:
- The story is written by fantastic author Karen Traviss, who wrote the Gears of War book series.
- Set 18 months after Gears of War 2, and after the fourth Gears of War book.
- The Coalition has disbanded or dismantled. Everyone is essentially a Stranded.
- The Locust have not been seen in the time that has passed since the end of Gears 2 and the beginning of Gears 3.
- The location shown in the "Ashes to Ashes" trailer is a location nicknamed 'Char', where the remains of victims from the Hammer of Dawn strikes are heavily present.
- Imulsion is infecting everything, not just the Locust. The Lambent are a ton of different nightmarish creatures.
Weapons:
- The Pendulum Lancer is in Gears of War 3.
- A Double Barrelled Shotgun was spotted in the Ashes to Ashes trailer (more damage but lower range and slower reload time than the Gnasher shotgun).
Characters:
- Dom is now heavily bearded due to his problems dealing with the loss of his wife.
- Anya is the female COG soldier seen in the "Ashes to Ashes" trailer. We will learn more on her transition from pencil pusher to soldier throughout the books.
Enemies:
- Lambent Locust: These enemies mutate and transform as you fight them.
Multiplayer Information
Matchmaking:
- Cliff confirmed they are tackling the bad matchmaking issues in Gears of War 3. He mentions improved region filtering as one of the ways they are addressing this issue.
- There will be a new feature that allows players to stay together as a party. Details will be released later. This presumably covers random people you meet in matchmaking, as Gears already allows for group matchmaking.
Maps:
- Cliff confirmed that Gears of War 3 will include some old Gears of War 1 favorites that we didn't see in Gears of War 2.
New Feature Information
Moves:
- Cliff says there will be a ton of new executions in the game this time round and there will be an incentive for using them in multiplayer.
- Cliff confirmed you can kick someone as your vault over cover.