Gears of War 3 Beta: FAQ

Eagerly awaiting the third coming of Marcus Fenix? Here's everything you need to know about the Gears of War 3 beta.

Getting In

Owners of the Bulletstorm: Epic Edition will be able to get into an exclusive preview week starting Monday 18 April. The only other way to get into the beta is by pre-ordering from GAME or Gamestation, with an April 25 start date if you take this route. The beta is expected to run until May 15th.

What can I play?

Four maps have been provided: Thrashball, Trenches, Old Town, and Checkout.

These four maps will be playable in three different modes: Team Deathmatch, Capture the Leader, and King of the Hill. Not all modes and maps will be available on each week, as Epic is trying to make sure everything gets properly tested.

What's the difference between the modes?

All three modes in the Gears 3 beta are team-based, so you'll be split into two teams of five at all times. Matches are always best of three.

Team Deathmatch gives each team a reserve pool of 15 lives and has them fight it out to the death. This makes the average game of TDM faster and less careful than in Gears of War 1 and 2, although the same sense of anxiety quickly creeps in when you're down to your last life.

Capture the Leader randomly assigns one player on each team the position of leader, and players have to work to grab and hold the enemy leader while defending their own. To accomplish this, you must first down your target, and then physically pick them up. At this point your movement speed will be reduced, and you'll only be able to use your pistol.

King of the Hill lights up certain zones and teams must fight to gain possession over these areas. Points are accrued by holding these positions, with each team needing 170 to win the round.

What weapons are available?

Your default loadouts give you the option between Gnasher and Sawn-Off shotguns, and default assault rifle choices are the Lancer, Retro Lancer and Hammerburst rifle. You also spawn with a single smoke grenade and the Snub pistol. Default loadouts can be changed between respawns.

Nestled within the maps are plenty of heavy weapons, such as the Digger Launcher, Boomer, Mulcher, Mortar, Longshot, and Oneshot. You can also pick up the Boltok pistol and Gorgon SMG.

Gears of War 3 also sports an all-new incindenary grenade, alongside returning ink and frag grenades.

If you'd like to see the weapons in action, you can check out our preview videos here.

What about the stats?

Gears of War 3 handles experience in a fashion similar to Call of Duty or Halo: Reach. Scoring kills and grabbing objectives will net you juicy pools of XP, and completing certain criteria - such as getting 25 kills with a weapon - will unlock shiny, desirable ribbons that also come with extra buckets of experience.

Stats will almost certainly be reset for the retail game, so you don't need to obsess too much over your kill/death ratio.

What can I unlock in the full retail game?

Playing over the beta period will give you the chance to unlock exclusive items in the full retail game. Here's what you can get your hands on:

Beta Tester Medal: By playing one match in the beta you're given the Beta Tester Medal, which you can display in lobbies to show everybody how awesome you were.

Thrashball Cole: Play 50 matches in the beta and you'll get to deck the Cole Train out in his very own Thrashball costume, and playing 10 subsequent matches wearing this skin will unlock it in the retail game.

Gold-Plated Retro Lancer: This is the big one - expect to invest over 15 hours if you're looking to get hold of this gold-plated skin for the retro lancer. You need to play 90 matches to unlock it in the beta, and then get 100 kills with the skin to get access in the retail game.

Flaming Weapons: You'll unlock one flaming skin for the Hammerburst, Lancer, Sawed-Off and Gnasher shotgun by playing any match in particular weeks over the beta period.