Cert: 18+
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: First Person Shooter
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If there's one type of shooter that's dominated the current generation of consoles it's the tale of the space marine. And if there's one group of space marines who've chainsawed their way through the competition it's Marcus Fenix and the other Gears of War protagonists. Gears of War 3 is the conclusion to the tale of these 'brothers to the end' battling and failing to save their plant Sera from the locust horde.

The five act campaign revolves around Marcus's supposedly dead father but players also assume the roles of other popular characters from the previous games, such as the Cole Train. And things are as violent, over the top and visceral as you'd expect from any game that rewards you for executing your opponents . Gears of War is famous for providing the best co-op experience of any current generation title and the latest game encourages gamers to play the campaign again and again long after they've seen the credits roll by offering a variety of awards, unlockables and even through an arcade mode.

The deathmatch modes of previous Gears of War titles were plagued by lag and connection difficulties biased in favour of our American counterparts. This time the US based Epic Games is using dedicated servers and while this has had a noticeable impact the wait time for Irish gamers still feels longer than Call of Duty or Halo. The beloved Horde mode now features an in-game currency earned through kills and used to buy weapons and fortifications. Horde has also been turned on its head via the Beast mode which lets gamers play as locusts and take on waves and waves of humans. Whatever your online preferences there's something in Gears of Wars for you.

Just as Halo Reach refined the Halo franchise into the best it can be, Gears of War 3 is the definitive Gears of War title and it's one of the finest available on Xbox 360.

Buy or Rent: Buy
Graphics: 5/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Replay Value: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Reviewed By: Bryan Collins