from what ive seent he game looks good. but i hate the character models and how they move and interact. i love watching gameplay when people zoom in and shoot others. but i hate it when they role and shoot blindly with a shotgun.

anyway ign posted about 1 hour of footage, where they asnwer questions and call cliffy b.

ok, I'm in the early beta as well, and I actually have some pretty big complaints about it so far.  The biggest problem I have with it is the balancing.  Shotguns are freaking insanely overpowered.  So much so that most people don't even bother using any different weapons.  I have guys downing me from like 20 feat away with a shotgun.  They need to tone those suckers down.

And then there is the sawed off.  This should not be a starting weapon.  Sure you have to get in close, but getting close is not hard on gears.  There is cover EVERYWHERE.   This needs to a map pick up.  

I like the addition of the retro lancer, kind of fun to play with, but difficult to master.  Hammerburst also got a much needed increase in power.  Overall, I think the lancers are just about right.

The pistols have been nerfed for some reason.  There is absolutely no reason to ever pull one out now.  Stupid waste of weapon space.  They need to be beefed up.

Then as far as map pick ups, the digger gun is awesome, works awesome.  The oneshot is a kind of lame, you have to be pretty much on the opposite end of the map to even be able to use it effectively.  Boom, bow, and sniper work the same.  The flame thrower is worthless, but it was worthless in 2 as well.  That is one that I would probably beef up.

The maps are pretty cool, graphics about the same as 2.  If they fix some of the balancing issues then this could easily be the best multiplayer experience out there.  As it is though, it is pretty lame.  Just a mad rush to wherever with shotguns blowing the crap out of people.  That is the only tactic people use, get close, shotgun.  Because it so OVERPOWERED!

Well luckily that's why their doing a beta so this kind of stuff can be adressed, if they see people are getting a rediculous amount of kills with shotguns compared to other weapon types they have more than enough time to correct it by launch in September.

Quicker? I like the heaviness, though I much prefer horde to actual multiplayer from Gears 2

But hopefully the beta will ensure that there is actually a smooth game when it comes out in September

Played the beta today, not faster than Gears 1, felt slower than Gears 2 at first, but once i got a hang of it, it felt a bit faster (still slower than Gears 1). Was dope though, hardly noticed any lag, host advantage is gone.

It also has better weapon balance although i still think the gnasher is op, the new shotgun is so so, but not as good as the gnasher, chainsaw is back to gears 1 glory. But i still think it comes short of the retro launcher, hammerburst is no longer op, great improvemetns across the board, except for that gnasher is still the best weapon in the game since you spawn with it, sigh. Think veterans of both games (like me) is gonna like this game very much once it hits.

It was nerfed, Hammerburst in Gears 2 was overpowered, there was litterally no reason to pick Lancer ever in Gears 2. Typically in matches if you saw Lancer you knew the guy was a noob, since nobody that was decent picked it. Now all 3 weapons looks good although i think the Retro Lancer looks to be the best.

Unless you were playing against a laggy host then it was acceptable to go Lancer and chainsaw the opposition to the point they got fed up and left the laggy host to himself.

If you lag the chainsaw got worse, unless you where that laggy host yourself then it was godlike, but so is hammerburst. And every weapon in the game (especially Hammerburst).

If anyone's still interested in getting a Gears Of War 3 beta key, I found some being handed out on a blog. It was free, too.

I don't know if any of the keys are left, but you can try here:

http://freegearsofwar3beta.blogspot.com

I got a early beta code from a friend and all I can say is that the game is freaking awesome. The Graphics are a lot better than the first two and I love how much more color there is in the game. The gameplay is perfect and it's faster paced than gears 2 for sure. The nasher is so much better than gears 2 and the weapons are pretty well balanced. The only complaint I have is that I wish there were more than two maps to play on and only one game mode to play, but more will come later on.