Gears of War 3 Beta

The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer Beta is on for those who pre-ordered Bulletstorm Epic Edition.  Week 1, reserved for those with Epic Edition, is almost up.  There are to be 4 weeks of the Beta available.

So far, I'm loving the game.  The game handles a bit nicer then Gears 2, the new weapons are nice, and all the new additional features are great.

The new weapons include:

• the Sawed-off Shotgun, a shotgun with one shot and a long reload time and a shorter range but is even more powerful than the normal shotgun, the Gnasher.
• the Retro Lancer, also known by some as the Pendulum Lancer, which is the most powerful of the three main rifles (the Lancer and the Hammerburst being the other two) but the least accurate and slowest firing, and allows the wielder to roadie run into an opponent with the bayonet leading to an instant kill.

Additionally, there are more new map-based weapons:

• the Digger Launcher, which replaces a primary weapon, which fires a projectile than can arch over objects then digs into the ground burrowing below obstacles and can explode enemies behind cover. 
  
• Incendiary Grenades which kill an opponent on direct impact but also set fire to a small area within the radius of the explosion, dealing damage to any opponent standing in the flames over time.
• and the Oneshot, a new heavy weapon that is a super high-powered sniper rifle that requires a charge-up time in the zoomed scope in order to fire which has a small red laser indicating it's target much like the Halo series' Spartan Laser but more versatile.

A new feature added are Weapon Skins, alternate skins for each of the primary starting weapons (the three rifles and the two shotguns).  The Chrome Hammerburst skin is available if you have the "Rookie Gear" achievement from Gears of War 2.  All three rifles and two shotguns have Urban skins which are unlocked through playing each of the gametypes a certain number of times.  Flame skins are unlocked through playing during each week of the beta.  The Golden Retro Lancer skin is available through playing 90 matches in the beta; the Golden Retro Lancer can be unlocked for Retail by getting 100 kills with it in the beta.

The stages are simple in concept but very well designed and are highly enjoyable.  All the maps are symmetrical to an extent.  The maps available so far are:

• Thrashball, a devastated sports arena dome.
• Checkout, a war-torn shopping mall.
• Old Town, a decaying town square.
• Trenches, an abandoned mining facility.

The characters available from the start are Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago for the Cogs, and a Drone and a Savage Grenadier for the Locust.  Playing 10 games of TDM unlocks Anya, the first female character, for the Cog.  Playing 40 games of TDM unlocks Savage Theron for Locust.  50 games unlocks Cole Train, which is Augustus Cole in football gear, and playing as Cole Train 10 times unlocks him for Retail.
There are more characters that are still unobtainable (except through modding/hacking):  Flame Grenadier, play 10 matches of Capture the Leader (CTL); Damon Baird, play 20 CTL matches; Kantus, play 10 matches of King of the Hill (KOTH); and Augustus Cole, play 20 KOTH matches.