Gears of War 3 knows exactly what it is: a badass simulator.

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see deal Gears of War 3 - Xbox 360 $14.99 on Best Buy

Killing+from+behind?+Coward.

Developer Epic Games strives to bookend the Gears trilogy with the most definitive third-person shooter gameplay of this generation while attempting to tidy up any and all loose story ends and shoehorn a bro-motional lump in your throat in the process.At the former, Gears 3 ultimately succeeds, especially in its rich suite of multiplayer content. Even the singleplayer campaign somehow manages to feel fresh despite rather conservative changes and a palpable sense of deja-vu coloring the majority of the campaign. As for the latter? Shakespeare this ain't, and Gears 3 struggles at times with its forced attempts at heart-string pluckery, but I can forgive it as much; gore-starved guns adorned with toothy chainsaws easily atone for any cheesiness suffered along the way.Destroyed beauty, hope runs deep, brothers; to the end. Part poetry, mostly marketing slang, the Gears 3 story continues with what amounts to a blood-drenched tale of woe, suffering, loss and absolution, cathartica that stands out in harsh relief when framed by the '80s era Schwarzenegger-ness of most of the dialogue. Cue the attendant grimaces, bro-vado and non-stop X-TREME one-liners. Translation: Gears 3 delivers exactly what you'd expect on the story side, ironically good news for longtime fans. For the rest of you, roll your eyes, chuckle and carry on. It's not Gears of War Things on Sera have gone from really sucky to really-really-sucky in Gears 3. The Coalition of Ordered Government, aka COG, has all but disbanded and fallen even farther out of favor with Stranded and survivors alike, if that were even possible. The action follows Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad's last stand against the Locust and every garden variety of Lambent, creatures that have become infected by Sera's yellow glowing Imulsion fuel.Drama aplenty ensues, along with lots of surprises for all your favorite giant macho dudes. Dom sports a scruffy playoff beard and overalls, Cole faces a serious mid-life crisis, bad guys spurt out from the ground like Locust geysers (gone are the Emergence Holes, replaced by the aforementioned geyser action and troop-spewing stalks), there are more Carmines and wouldn't you know it, Marcus' dad is alive. WTF, Epic?Everything about Gears 3 exudes polish. On the surface, it easily outperforms its two predecessors. Crisp visuals, fractured lighting and billowy smoke effects bring the world to life, giving this final and ever-decaying vision of Sera a tangible sense of place. The sound design creates one of the more cohesive combinations of music and sound effects in any game, fashioning an immediately recognizable experience.At its heart, Gears tells a story of survival. Everything you do over the course of the five-act story revolves around endurance. You'll go from escaping ambushes to scrounging for supplies to scavenging fuel to using ammo-less Retro Lancers in nasty-ass bayonet fights. Everything feels solemnly desperate and dire, a motif the designers use to great effect throughout the campaign.Delta Squad has grown and changed, bringing the total number of playable characters to eight, adding the now-armored Anya Stroud, Samantha "Sam" Byrne and Jayson "Jace" Strattonplus to the ranks alongside Marcus, Dom, Cole, Baird and, of course, Carmine.Gears 3 feels exactly the way you'd expect it to feel, but better, as everything's been overhauled and fine-tuned. The roadie run feels faster, snapping into cover works better and combat has been tightened-up. Plus you can kick fools while you vault over cover, which seriously rules. There's a ton of new implements of doom with which to shoot, impale, gouge and chew up your enemies with, including weapons like the Digger, a gun that allows you to fire a grenade underground for sneaky AOE kills, and the Silverback, a sweet power loader outfitted with chainguns (YES!!!) taken right out of Aliens.Overall, a few keg-o-rator moments (who gathers around a watercooler to talk about Gears?) will stick with you from the campaign. Nothing quite as iconic as the first Berzerker encounter from Gears 1 or the Brumak rodeo from Gears 2, but rest assured, you'll want to start the slow clap around the midway mark of the game during a sequence that features arguably the best use of music in a game since the finale of Red Dead Redemption.