So Gears of War 3 is brilliant. You know that now. Myself and Mr. Charlie Barratt certainly know it too. He wrote our review, and I've been happily playing it at home all week. But during that thoroughly rewarding quality time with my sofa, I've noticed something that you really need to be aware of. The difficulty levels in Gears of War 3 are not what you'll expect of the series. They're not what you'll expect at all.



In short, the new Hardcore is roughly the equivalent of the Normal setting of Gears 1 and 2. And Normal? Well let's just say that your squad AI is now so good, and the enemy AI so weak and stupid, that I managed to get through nearly all of Act 2 without firing a shot outside of full-scale boss fights and the odd compulsory set-piece. Standard nuts-and-bolts warfare? The game didn't even need me there. Actually, let's not just say that. Let's watch that in this video I've made.

Quick note: In the interests of not taking up your entire day, I've only included a run-through of Act 2, Chapter 1 here, but I assure you I managed to get through Chapters 1 - 5 at home using this same pacifist methodology. The only edits made to this video are some fast-forwarding - again in the interests of time - and the removal of the cut-scenes to avoid spoilers. It gets a bit hectic at times, but just keep an eye on the ammo counters...

September 15, 2011