The funny Cole Train quote goes here.

There's nothing quite like a good ending. And I don't mean good in the sense that everything turns up roses, because that's certainly not the case for Gears Of War 3's cast of motley characters. What I mean is that things get resolved, have a sense of closure, and you feel like you're not left hanging by the time the credits role. There's no spinning top before the screen turns black, you have a pretty good idea of where everyone is, what state the world of Sera is left in, and how these characters will move forward without you, the player, guiding their steps. Also, Gears Of War 3 is just fun as hell to play.

Since introducing the series in 2006, Epic has created what few other franchises have been able to do, make a series built from the ground up for the Xbox 360 that begins and ends a story arc on the system it started with. Its use of third person cover has been copied time and time again. Even some of the lesser mechanics, like the roadie run, have been seen in a variety of console shooters since its introduction. Other concepts, like the active reload system, might not have caught on quite as much, but are still a core part of what makes the series so much fun to play. And none of that is forgotten in the third iteration. Everything that makes Gears of War so identifiable is still present here. If you liked the last two, well yes indeed, you'll still like this one.

But that's not really a surprise, is it?

Long-time fans already have a good idea of what to expect. Big action, big guns, big guys carrying those guns, and so on. The gunplay feels just as vicious as ever. Squibs cover the screen in red goo, and in the case of the Lambent creatures that fill the first half or so of the game, greenish yellow goo. Heads explode; chainsaws rip into torsos, grenades stick with the familiar beep-beep-beep of impending doom. You can still curb stomp the unfortunate foe that tries to crawl their way to safety. In fact, you can execute enemies in a ridiculous number of ways this time out. There are little things in gaming I find more embarrassing than being beaten to death with your own arm as the final kill of a TDM round. It almost makes you prefer the old-school teabag of humiliation.

Epic doesn't drop the ball on any of this. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the overall pacing of the campaign, the sheer number of weapons, enemies, and set pieces are far better than what was in the previous two entries. Sera actually feels like a world instead of a series of caves or run down interiors. You get to see an awful lot of the planet this time out, with a variety of locales, some of which contain a surprising number of non-friendly survivors. Being able to get a glimpse at the state of the world outside of the immediate view of the COG's is a welcome sight, and helps give the player a reason for wanting to save the planet in the first place. There's some beautiful shots spread across the game that seem to hammer home the fact that it's not all gray skies and brown walls within the Gears universe, much to the chagrin of the not-another-shooter cynics.

Even the story fares much better this time around. Gears 2 tried a little too much with its tale of Dom searching for his wife, to the point that the culmination felt humorous for all the wrong reasons. I'm not going to fly off my rocker and spout off about Oscar scripts and Hollywood comparisons, but the story of Gears 3 is certainly more heartfelt than the series has ever seen. Maybe we can chalk that up to some continuity between the game and the books that writer Karen Traviss has made, or that having someone with a large background in sci-fi fiction can make a difference between middling and entertaining dialogue. Of course there's ample fan service present too, if you have a favorite Gears character that you're hoping to see, chances are you will. Reunion finales are never a bad thing.

On the multiplayer side of things, it's a bit of the more things change, the more they stay the same. Team Deathmatch, Warzone, King of the Hill, Execution, Capture the Leader and Wingman compose the vs. modes of the game. Some of these are returners; some are bastardized versions of previous modes in the series. TDM is obviously the most basic and easy to understand, and by default is the mode most people will flock to in droves. One thing worth noting is that TDM uses a system that's essentially a life pool for both sides. Every time you die you take the opportunity of death away from another teammate, which is pretty much the same as being a tally mark for the other team's score in other shooters, but it kind of makes you feel more responsible for being an awful player.

Another big thing is that the game incorporates dedicated servers. So no more bitching about how you lost due to host advantage. Now you just suck and have one less excuse as to why.

Multiplayer as a whole feels like a much larger component in the game this time around. From the menu screen onwards you're constantly inundated with pop up text about different game modes, and you'll see little things unlock during campaign and vs. modes. There's a ton of levels to earn through experience that's gained online and off, and a whole lot of character skin unlocks and weapon skins that you'll eventually get access to. It feels like a game meant to last, instead of just something to hold you over for a year until the next big release. Also present is an events calendar to give you a heads up for stuff like double xp weekends, or in the case of what it says currently, Big Head matches or some other nonsense. I do like having this stuff up front, instead of missing out on half of it by the time I see it mentioned on a message board, so kudos to Epic for having much better integration for all the online aspects this time around.

Finally, Horde mode returns, and in a strange Shyamalanic like twist, it's actually borrowing ideas found in Call of Duty's zombie mode, which was pretty much copying Horde mode to begin with. This time out you can earn currency for kills, and in between waves spend that money on weapons and building defensive structures on the battlefield. Instead of holing up in a corner, you're focusing more on covering and protecting an entire area. It promotes teamwork a little more, and overall it's a better Horde mode than the original.

Along with that you've got a mode called Beast, which is almost Horde in reverse. You take on the role of the Locust, and constantly attack the COG soldiers that are fortified on the map. You start off with smaller creatures, like Tickers, and attempt to smash away defenses before unleashing the big guns. Every attack earns you more time on the limited clock, so it pays to rush and assault instead of hanging back to take pot shots and stay safe. Its concept is similar to Horde and will feel familiar, but the way you actually end up playing Beast is remarkably different. It's a great counter-mode to Horde, and for the short amount of time that I played it I found myself looking forward to launch day and more players being present to try it out with.

So basically, I like Gears Of War 3. It's a great shooter and a great video game in general. It caps off the trilogy extremely well, perhaps better than any recent video game trilogy that I can think of. I'm nearly positive somewhere down the line you'll get another Gears game of some kind, but I do have my doubts that it will feature anyone present here. Sure, a big enough check can wipe out all sorts of continuity, but it's nice to think that even a franchise knows when to call it quits. If the series ends on this point, at least it picked on hell of a high to go out on.