Final Gears of War 3 DLC ‘Forces of Nature’ Announced for March, Detailed
Epic has announced the latest, and supposedly last, DLC for Gears of War 3 called the Forces of Nature map pack. The pack will feature five maps, three of which are new (Artillery, Aftermath, and Cove), with two revamped re-releases (Raven Down and Jacinto). Keeping with the forces of nature theme, each map will feature Mother Nature’s presence in some capacity. In addition to the maps, you’ll get new weapons, weapon skins, and three new limited edition character skins (Commando Dom, Mechanic Baird, Savage Grenadier), plus a never-before-seen Savage Hunter to call your own.
The real highlight here is the return of the fan-favorite Guardian mode, which is similar to Assassination’s Kill-the-Leader gameplay, except that leader-less teams can still fight. Headless forces lose the ability to respawn, giving one last chance for a comeback. Forces of Nature adds ten additional achievements as well, and that adds up to 250 Gamerpoints. More details below.
New Maps:
Aftermath – Aftermath is a government park after a tsunami. There is seaweed and wreckage everywhere, and the main play space sits under a huge cargo ship which was deposited on top of a building during the storm. The area floods and quakes during gameplay, as the whole thing is teetering on the edge of falling into the water below. This has gameplay implications as it is difficult to aim during the quakes, and difficult to be stealthy while splashing through the water.
Artillery – Artillery starts out looking like an ordinary military base, but during gameplay a storm kicks up. Lightning begins to flash on the horizon and eventually a tornado develops and sweeps near the play space. Dust and debris are kicked up making it difficult to see, and the buffeting winds can mask your approach.
Cove – Cove is a small port that the Stranded have taken over and turned into a little village. The map is very open with long lines of sight, but there is a really, really heavy layer of fog that masks just about everything. There’s a really nice sniper nest inside a central ship, but the sniper’s form is silhouetted by the low angle light shining through the fog.
Returning Revised Maps:
Jacinto – Jacinto was a beautiful city, but huge stalks have popped up through the buildings and flooded the entire area with emulsion. Half of the map is dead and crumbling, with emulsion fumes hanging in the air. To make matters worse, the drizzle that is present when a match begins quickly develops into a heavy rain storm that impedes visibility and lines of sight as water starts sheeting off the buildings.
Raven Down – Raven Down is a very small crossroads that is blanketed in a blinding snow storm. A Raven helicopter has crashed in the storm, and crashed through an elevated train on its way down, so there’s train wreckage to deal with as well. The snowstorm ebbs occasionally, but is more often so heavy that it’s difficult to see more than a few meters ahead at any given time.
New Characters:
- Limited Edition Mechanic Baird
- Limited Edition Savage Grenadier
- Limited Edition Commando Dom
- (New) Savage Hunter
New Weapons:
- Elemental Cleavers – Horde Easter Eggs
- Snow Cleaver – Can gust an icy breeze at an enemy and stun them from a distance.
- Emulsion Cleaver – Explodes on impact and does a small amount of AoE burning damage to nearby enemies in addition to the normal cleaver damage.
New Weapon Skins - 5 new weapon skins for immediate use, and 2 additional weapon skins that were designed based on community feedback that can only be unlocked through gameplay in the ‘Forces of Nature’ DLC.
The Forces of Nature DLC for Gears of War 3 is coming on March 27. No price has been announced just yet, but Season Pass holders will get it as a part of their prepaid plan. The rest of us can only guess and assume that it will, at the very least, be in line with the previous DLC which rang in at 800MS Points ($10).
Source: GTTV, Epic Games Forum, and Side Mission
