Gears of War 3 casual mode revealed

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 25 July, 2011

Get your aim assist on in multiplayer.

Gears of War 3 features a casual mode designed to help newcomers ease into the third-person shooter's multiplayer portion.

Casual mode players will benefit from an aim assist, designer Cliffy B said during a panel discussion at Comic-Con.

If you're an experienced player, casual mode is locked off. To gain access you must be free from Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 2 achievements, and can't have played the Gears of War 3 beta.

Dedicated casual multiplayer channels will remain free of experienced players. This is in addition to the game's casual mode for the campaign.

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About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 10 months ago

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  • coolbritannia #1 10 months ago

    Um, what? Does casual mode auto disable after the first hour or so?

  • PixelPirate #2 10 months ago

    sooo who thinks they saw the dara o briain sketch about Gears ? lolz

  • metalangel #3 10 months ago

    Everyone Gets A Trophy Day!

  • Phantom_Dynamite #4 10 months ago

    Yeah I'm sure I have heard of this I'm sure it locks people out after a certain play time or a 100 kills so they can't hang around.

  • Skooch #5 10 months ago

    Nice idea. Nothing worse than getting continuously pwnd game after game when all you really want to do is run around a bit and get a feel for the game and the weapons.

    Gears obviously hasn't revolutionised console FPSs but they bring in some neat ideas from time to time. Active reload is cool, the original warzone and execution gametypes where you only have one life per round was pretty brutal but made your life really count and I like the Gears beta setup of having a pool of lives for your team so that helping out teammates benefits everyone.

    Maybe these things exist in other games I haven't played so if they aren't as new as I thought then don't neg me death for it. I just like the way Gears brings things that are slightly different to the table......and popping someone's head in Gears is one of the most satisfying things in gaming!! :-D

  • karooo #6 10 months ago

    They are going all the way to appeal casual gamers. This gen is ruined because of them.

  • homerramone #7 10 months ago

    So we can expect a wave of people using one month trials to be able to play this then. (Which is already a common thing on a well know first person shooter)

  • jetsetwillie #8 10 months ago

    @Karooo

    exactly.

    how dare those so called 'casual gamers' play the games that were designed for US hardcore gamers. don't they understand that gaming is for hardcore gamers, it was created for US and WE should be the only ones who get to play this kind of game. even if it means them not making any money on the game the devs should just be grateful that WE the truly hardcore gamer have decided to play their games.

  • the_dudefather #9 10 months ago

    "A locust has wandered onto your page from Jim's ruined city battlefield, help him turn it into bloody chunks in Gearsville"

  • karooo #10 10 months ago

    @jetsetwillie

    That's cute.

    Casual gamers will play once and leave, but it's the long time fans that stick around!

  • rotmm #11 10 months ago

    @PixelPirate, "sooo who thinks they saw the dara o briain sketch about Gears ?"

    No, I've seen the one about MGS4 (crouch, crouch, up, crouch, bump, bump) whioh is hilarious. Got a link to the Gears one?

  • FireMonkey #12 10 months ago

    Would have been better to word it 'Noob Mode' rather than 'Casual Mode'.
    When I think of Casual gamers now, I think of people who want to play AngryBirds and Zuma.

  • irrelevanthuman #13 10 months ago

    Hmm. I thought the bot mode in Gears 2 was an excellent training ground, and it would surely negate the need for this.

  • fizzyfish #14 10 months ago

    Will it actually be called "Casual Mode"? I think "Beginners Mode" would be a better name because at least that would imply that the standard mode is something that newcomers to the series should aspire to.

  • The-Bodybuilder #15 10 months ago

    Makes little difference, the hardcore will just pwn them up online anyways.
    PS: Can people please stop calling gears an FPS pls?

  • jetsetwillie #16 10 months ago

    @Karooo

    They shouldn't even be allowed to play it once. gaming is for the hardcore.

  • logan78 #17 10 months ago

    @rotmm Dara's Gears, GTA IV and Rock Band bit here: [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3aHvPG6H8
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3aHvPG6H8
    [/link]

    (Some NSFW Language)

  • RedSparrows #18 10 months ago

    Yay for knee jerks!

  • AcidSnake #19 10 months ago

    To piss off the hardcore they should have a "My first achievement! - 5G" in the casual mode...See how many will delete all their Gears 1 & 2 data...

    Anyway, good news, online MP experiences can be quite intimidating otherwise...

  • mukki #20 10 months ago

    Really??
    maybe decent match making would be better...

    Mahh

  • geeza2020 #21 10 months ago

    FluffyTucker - And PC fps' are all set on "lets suck each others dicks and get an inflated sense of self worth for buying a more expensive platform" mode. Or at least they would be if the PC community was made up of frankly tedious dickheads like yourself :)

  • jetsetwillie #22 10 months ago

    @geeza2020

    fact is PC gamers are WAY more hardcore than ANY console playing casual gamers.

    i would rate myself a 9/10 what it comes to hardcoreness. im sure you'd be maybe a 5 or 6/10 if you just play console games. lol

  • frunk #23 10 months ago

    Good idea - other developers should take note.

    Nothing more intimidating than a first step into online and being "totally pwnd" - kinda takes the shine off and a good way to never go back in.

    I have finished 1 & 2... but never stepped foot into the online. So I guess I would not be allowed access to "noobville" - which tbh - I would like the opportunity to hone some skills... learn the maps, etc

    I think you should be allowed in as long as you have no online achievements... or...

    Perhaps a better system may be to have "casual mode" enabled for the first half dozen goes on a map... and if you hit top of the leaderboard you are turfed out for the "big boys games"

  • CamoChris #24 10 months ago

    Is Gears 3 an FPS now? I must have missed that bombshell.

  • fiery_jackass #25 10 months ago

    the ludicrously over-powered sawn-off/retro lancer combination already eases new players into the game: it's just a shame that you're still allowed to use them after the acclimatisation period, made the beta a bit painful at times.

  • geeza2020 #26 10 months ago

    jetsetwillie - well, congratulations on your "hardcoreness" score :/ whatever gets you out of bed in the morning

    freak

  • addugg #27 10 months ago

    What a great idea!

  • Mik3yB #28 10 months ago

    It makes sense, good call Epic.
    New players won't be put off the game. The people who already play Gears games are completely unaffected.

    More people to play with/shoot at.

  • rojjer #29 10 months ago

    its a great idea - but nothing can prepare you for the jobless fuck-tards that rodie-roll into you and insta-gib you with their shotguns.

    slack-jawed fagots turned me off Gears 2, fastest tradein I've ever made, less than 24 hrs. Tried the Beta for 3 in hope too - vain hope, those douchebags are still in there doing the exact same thing. Not for me.

  • SteveHolt #30 10 months ago

    @rojjer: except that you can now easily solve them with the retro lancer.

  • Kaonazhie #31 10 months ago

    As somebody who's logged 482 hours into Gears 2's multiplayer, I was worried about how EPIC would cater to casuals. I'm pleased to say that I think they've done a good job of it:

    When you put in Gears of War 3, the game scans to see if you've achievements in Gears 1 or 2, or if you played the beta. If you haven't, then you can enter casual mode (which includes COD style aim assist) and if you have, it unlocks an achievement that also locks you out of casual mode.

    I am assuming that once you hit level 5 or get a certain number of kills, you are graduated from casual mode. The logic behind all this is that when you first play Gears of War, you WILL be destroyed and probably go an entire match without a single kill. Sadly, for a lot of people, this just discourages them. For people like me, it enrages them and makes them play so much that they become good. Adding in casual mode levels the playing field, because Gears is a tough game to get into for many; lacking aim-assist as it does. Once you do get into it however, you have the absolute best console shooter in your hands. There's no perks or armour abilities to muck around with - just you, a shotgun, a rifle, and a body that heals from bullet wounds by standing still.

  • Shotofen #32 10 months ago

    You know, I suck at Gears multiplayer and would love to play casual mode but I can't because I played the first two games a bit?! What the f*&k?

  • PsandovalG #33 10 months ago

    I dont' care what mode it's in, that game looks amazing. One of the guns looks like the one I found here: http://www.airsplat.com/Items/AC-UPE-ICS... Oh man, I can't wait.