Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3: Fenix Rising Map Pack – Review

Published By: Microsoft Games Studios, Developed By: Epic Games, Genre: Action, Release Date: Jan 17, 2012, Rating: M, Systems: Xbox 360, Price: 800 Microsoft Points.

What It Comes With? Fenix Rising Map Pack retails for 800 Microsoft Points but what are you getting and is it worth it? You get four new multiplayer maps including Anvil, Academy, Depths and The Slab. You get four new playable multiplayer characters which are pretty cool including Savage Kantus, Savage Maruader, Cole Train (LE) and Recruit Clayton Carmine (LE). You also get seven new Achievements and the ability to Re-Up. Re-Up is like prestige ranks in Call of Duty. Once you hit 100 level in Gears of War 3′s multiplayer you can start over again. Only the Fenix Rising Map Pack lets you Re-up.

Maps

Anvil: Anvil gave me a Gears of War 1 multiplayer vibe for its ruined structures look. The map itself is one of the bigger sized maps in Fenix Rising. Its not huge but can be considered fairly big. Off in the distance you can see a huge castle structure. I played alote of Stay Frosty gamemode on Anvil. Everywhere you look you see vines and greenery growing around all of the ruined structures. As far as who can excell at this map i would say anybody. I think any type of player can be good on Anvil. Its big enough for players who like to sit back with a Longshot. Many people did the gnasher thing when i played today so its flexible for different play styles. There are small areas for indoor fighting but most of the map takes place outside.

Depths: Easily the most unique setting out of all the Fenix Rising maps. If you ever wanted to fight in an exquisite hotel underwater this is the map for you. At times it feels like you’re fighting in a fishbowl. You can see a city outside the glass underwater. I like how the water on the glass roof created sparkling light reflections on the floor. I also got a strong Bioshock vibe as i played Stay Frosty on Depths. There are two main spawn stations on opposite sides of the map, a Lounge and a Train area. The hotel you fight in was pretty nice featuring marble floors, statues and chandeliers. Depths is a nice sized map. Its basically a big square and both teams have to fight head on since the space is so open. I personally enjoyed this map the most out of all the Fenix Rising maps.

The Slab: This map was the most unimpressive of the group. The setting is that of an old ruined maximum prison facility. The two main starting spawn points are the Exercise Yard and the Showers areas. The Slab is the only map that takes place in the nightime with rain and storms above. The reason i thought this map wasn’t so impressive was due to its size. Its a fairly small map. You pretty much just fight in the centerof the prison. The only outside area is the exercise area. If you love small Gears maps you will love The Slab i’m thinking. Outside you can see the mountains and a vast sea (nice view). You can see a sign over the prison that says “The Slab” and a sign near the entrance “Deathrow”. Red spray painted messages such as No Victory, No Safety are among the messages you see splattered on the walls.

Academy: From what i understand this map was where Marcus Fenix was originally going to attend military school but went a different direction. The Acadamy map definitely has the prestigous academy thing down pat. You fight in sweeping hallways lined up with bookshelves. Outside is a nice sized courtyard littered with marble statues and flags blowing in the wind. This was a good map despite my team ineptness of winning. This map takes place in the daylight and has some indoor and outside fighting areas. Academy is probably the most balanced designed map in Fenix Rising.

Character Skins

I was able to play with all four new character skins from the Fenix Rising Map Pack. The Locust skins were the best. Savage Kantus looks crazy and makes a wicked scream in-game, it just happens sometimes you can’t control it. Savage Marauder looks just like the Locust from the single player campaign bridge scene in Gears of War 3. As far as Cole Train and Recruit Clayton Carmine go i wasn’t impressed. Cole just wears his football uni, maybe it was different but i couldn’t tell. I seen that uni in the beta. Carmine i nver played with anyways so i really couldn’t tell. The Onyx Guard skin from RAAM’s Shadow looked way better than Carmine imo.

Gamemodes

Stay Frosty: This gamemode is a experimental mode featuring an overpowered head shottin Hammerburst. All players get a Hammerburst, Snub Nose and Frag Grenade. Everyone used the Hammerburst as it could easily kill you with three bad placed shots. If a person hits you once in the head its gameover.  The Hammerburst was clearly overpowered purposely for Stay Frosty. The mode was fun but kinda got old pretty quick since you can only use two different guns.

Alpha Executions: I played a few Fenix Rising maps on Alpha Executions and have no idea what’s the difference besides this and regular Execution. One thing that was obviously different was that all players looked the same on each team and had the same gun loadouts ala Gnasher, Lancer, Snub-Nose and Smoke Grenade. Getting back to the actual gameplay i thought it played the same as regular Execution.

Achievements

There are seven new achievements added to Gears of War 3 Fenix Rising Map Pack. Now They Begin to Understand (20g), Complete All 12 Waves of Beast Mode on All Fenix Rising Maps. Time to Re-up! (50g), Achieve Level 100 and Choose to Re-up Another Tour of Duty.  Those are just two examples of the of achievements in Fenix Rising.

Final Verdict: After so many Gears of War 3 maps already out asides from Depths none of these really stood out to me. The new character skins are cool and the ability to Re-up is definitely something hardcore Gearheads will want. Overall Fenix Rising is a good map pack no more no less.

7/10

Gears of War 3: Fenix Rising – Academy Trailer

Looks like more Gears of War 3 DLC is headed our way gamers. Below is the trailer for the map titled Academy which is one of five new maps included in the Fenix Rising Gears of War 3 DLC. Asides from the five new maps you also get new player skins and three new re-up awards. Its 800 MSP and releases January 17, 2012. I am starting to feel like a smart guy since i purchased the Gears of War 3 Season Pass after the game released.

It seems like a good deal already considering RAAM’S Shadow was really good. As for the Academy map it looks pretty good. It appears to be a Academy of sorts prior to E-Day and features large statues, courtyards and plenty of indoor fighting areas. I suspect Epic will release more trailers of Fenix Rising DLC maps over the next couple of days. Gears of War 3 is a sci-fi shooter developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Thanks ign.