Gears of War 3 - DLC

The recent release of Gears of War 3 has been a worldwide success with over 3 million units being sold in the first week alone. Epic Games have again brought us a high octane action shooter pitting Marcus Fenix against the locust horde. I love the series for it’s brutal and unforgiving approach. I’ve purchased both the previous versions on midnight releases and love playing them both on and offline. The one thing that doesn’t sit easily with me is EPIC’s pathetic approach to DLC. In fact as a fan I’m totally disgusted in the way they have decided to handle the Gears 3 content.

Normally when a company chooses to provide DLC that’s a total rip off I just ignore it completely. In fact I usually make jokes about it and shun the developers for the ways they line their pockets. The difference this time is that it’s a AAA development house that’s doing it and a studio that usually listens closely to fan reaction. EPIC have been known for giving fans exactly what they want and keep them as loyal as possible. This decision to make their fans pay to unlock content already on the disc is a complete disgrace to their fans. Obviously this concept isn’t new but EPIC games have taken this to a whole new level.

In the multiplayer beta earlier this year players got to run around in several of the DLC skins for character. At that time did you realise you were going to have to pay even more money to run around in this again? That’s right you were testing the multiplayer game and also the paid DLC too.

Another point I’d like to raise is the length of time this DLC has been in production. The pink lancer that EPIC have mention before was first shown to us nearly a whole year ago and is another example of the paid skins available on release day.

It goes from bad to worse too as the bot characters in multplayer can also spawn using DLC creations. When you marvel at a bot characters design you might find yourself having to put in even more money to play as the character yourself. The worse part by far though is the fact that the accumulated total of DLC on offer exceeds the original price of purchasing the game.

The principle of this issue is not that I dislike paying for DLC; it’s actually the way EPIC have handled this particular release. I’ve very surprised to see a studio with such a good reputation tarnish themselves for the sake of a few extra pounds. It’s disappointing in itself to find DLC locked into the retail disk. If this content had been on XBL only then I don’t think I’d have had quite the amount of anger inside me. I’m more then a little disappointed – when exactly did Microsoft or EPIC decide Gears of War didn’t make enough money?

I’ll finish by saying that the game itself is great and should make fans of the series very happy. The graphics are very clear and the gameplay elements have all been tweaked in the right sort of ways.  The game has actually averaged a 9/10 on most of the reviews I’ve read but this DLC would be luck to get any points at all.