Gears 3 has burrowing-grenade launcher

By Tom Bramwell Published 7 May, 2010

Plus more fatalities, dynamic environments.

Details on Gears of War 3's weapons, dynamic environments and additional combat systems have tumbled out in a new translation of the Russian preview that Cliff Bleszinski was grumpy about the other day.

Thanks to a Russian friend of Digital Foundry editor Rich Leadbetter, we know a number of additional details. For example, Gears 3 features a new grenade launcher with grenades that burrow underground and emerge on the other side of cover to strike enemies even when they're protected.

There's also a double-barrel shotgun that fires both shells simultaneously, and a single-shot rifle that does increasing damage when you achieve consecutive hits on the same target.

More weapons than before allow you to perform melee fatalities, too. Traditionally the Lancer could be used to chainsaw enemies, but now the knife can slice throats, while other weapons can break necks, and the flamethrower can be used to torch someone from within (use your imagination, I guess).

While it was possible to grab somebody as a "meat shield" in Gears of War 2, the third game will also allow you to strap a grenade to a meat shield and then kick him towards his friends. Boom. There are three grenades types, as well - smoke, explosive and napalm.

The game has previously been confirmed as four-player co-op, but now we also know that it will be possible to swap weapons with your friends while playing together, so if you're more of a Lancer man than shotty, do a deal.

The preview also revealed Lost Planet-style exoskeletal suits, in this case called Silverbacks. They have miniguns with unlimited ammo along with a limited-ammunition grenade launcher. Apparently they're well-armoured at the front but not so much from behind, and can also be used in stationary mode as a turret.

On the technological side, Epic has made it possible for environments to change more dramatically as you move through them. An example given is a street that suffers an earthquake as you move down it, altering the geology and bringing water cascading down from a nearby river. We should also see things like wind simulation (or at least feel their presence).

Gears of War 3 is due out on 8th April 2011 in Europe and we're expecting to learn more about it at E3 next month. In the meantime, check out the announcement trailer again to whet your appetite.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • doragor #1 2 years ago

    Only, er, a year to go!

    Edit: still looking forward to it. Love Gears but the length of time from previewing videogames to the final product astounds me.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 15:12

  • Negotiator #2 2 years ago

    Another amazing game for xbox 360, E3 is gonna kick ass.

  • EraSerX #3 2 years ago

    So it confirms everything Cliffy B denied 2 days ago?
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 15:49

  • Moonprince #4 2 years ago

    Negotiator -

    Sucks to be you bro.

  • mega7ech #5 2 years ago

    "burrowing-grenade"

    When I read that I it reminded me, for some reason, of the Cerebral Bore from Turok 2, lol! Anyone remember that? What a awesome weapon! :)

  • azix2 #6 2 years ago

    Gears... mediocre. I never liked Cliffy B. He just seems like a kid who loves burly characters (action figures). Gears has never been anything worthy of much note. Anyway, did anyone notice how much like the akrid in lost planet 2 the monster in this vid looks like?

  • MiniAmin #7 2 years ago

    Suppose a burrowing-grenade launcher makes it easier to harvest tomatoes.

  • LazyNinjaUk #8 2 years ago

    Loving the new features, but what will really make me happy is a longer campaign, as both GoW games felt like they were over all too soon.

    You can put as many enemies on screen at once as you like to make it look epic, but it just doesn't feel epic when its already over in six hours.

  • muscleblade #9 2 years ago

    @LazyNinjaUk

    Play it on insane and it wont take 6 hours.

  • chessboxer #10 2 years ago

    I like Cliffy B. I feel his absence and missing input from the Unreal series was one of the reasons why UT3 is nowhere near as good as UT2004.

    I've got Gears on PC and the campaign was ok, and played in DX10 on max settings, it's quite a visually appealing game but the MP suffered greatly from the lack of dedicated servers, especiaslly when you look at what Epic have achieved with the Unreal franchise over the years.

  • VicViper #11 2 years ago

    A burrowing-grenade that hits behind cover sounds like the most broken multiplayer weapon in the history of Gears mp, unless theres a bit of a warning before it surfaces/detonates.

    Otherwise sounding good so far but I read that Mr Cliffly B said not to take these leaks as wrote.

  • metalangel #12 2 years ago

    "Russian friend" = mail order bride? "Please not send back to Siberia. Look, I am translating computering game writing for you! Simples!" ... While the Screamers-style burrowing grenade is cool, surely an airburst would be simpler (as in the real world OICW project)

  • Dreddnaught #13 2 years ago

    @mega7ech

    Totally !! Nothing was worth more that putting that great big bloody code in to unlock it with unlimited ammo, it never got boring.

    Altogether now, "NDNTHGHTDYGDCRTDTRK"

  • FladgeMangle #14 2 years ago

    The burrowing grenade sounds like the Mole Mortar from WH40K.

    ........

    Which is not to say that it's bad.

  • Instinct #15 2 years ago

    Fracture did the burrowing grenade launcher quite well in their game. Cool weapon.

  • d00dl #16 2 years ago

    We should also see things like wind simulation (or at least feel their presence).

    The idiot in me giggled. Looks like COGs have a secret weapon in their arsenals ;)

    In other news can somebody tell me if Dark Corners is worth getting? Do many people still play Gears 1/2 MP as I can't ever seem to find a game :(

    Yeah the cerebral bore was awesome! I especially liked the way that brains were sprayed out the top of it! That and the raptors made Turok 2 MP so hilarious.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 17:28

  • sfp_noodle #17 2 years ago

    This all sounds pretty epic (see what I did there, hehe) but I'm more interested in the online component. I hearted the original Gears online but didn't even manage level 50 in Gears 2 thanks to the god awful matchmaking system. If they use the same system again and refuse to switch to dedicated servers, I refuse to buy until it is cheap.

  • Skurmedel #18 2 years ago

    sfp_noodle: Don't hold your breath, I think they use the XBL-framework for their matchmaking so it's bound to be somewhat rubbish. It can't be more rubbish than the one in CoD 4 though? Can it?
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 19:20

  • JahB #19 2 years ago

    okay, day 1 sale no matter what, BUT: could we please have a beta this time? all the multiplayer issues on GoW2 could have been sorted by a beta, and we wouldn't have had to wait for 3 separate patches before it was somewhat usable.

  • Dylbot #20 2 years ago

    Three whole types of grenade? Innovation at its very finest.

  • Starkillah_79 #21 2 years ago

    Guess Marcus Fenix would say NICE! ^^ i can't wait for E3 & ingame footage ...Gears (3) will rule The TPS, again!!!

  • RocKtheCasbaH #22 2 years ago

    Sounds good but I hope Cliffy isn't claiming credit for the idea. Warhammer 40k has had this in the table-top game since the 1980's...

  • SwitchBladeUK #23 2 years ago

    I wish they wouldn't keep announcing details of the game.

    There's like a year to go, I don't want to board the hype train just yet :(

  • richyroo #24 2 years ago

    "Gears 3 has burrowing-grenade launcher".....and still host advantage and terrible lag. They promised to fix host advantage before Gears2 came out but never did. I dont expect Gears3 to be any better, so a no buy from me unless they prove me wrong (which Im hoping they do!)