One of these new maps will look familiar to Gears Veterans. Blood Drive returns in all its glory. This is a very symmetrical map with a lot of small nooks and crannies that make sniper rifles a powerful tool for friend or foe. In Rustlung, an intense battle rages in the middle of a storm on the lower deck of Sovereign (the ship from the opening of the campaign). In the middle of the level, walls can be lowered or raised using buttons on both sides to help protect teammates or expose enemy forces. Azura is set in the final chapter of Gears of War 3, so if you still haven’t beaten it, get on that (Secondly, if you still haven’t beaten it, why are you looking at DLC to extend the gameplay?). It’s the biggest level in the pack and might just give Sandbar a run for its money. I played about an hour on that map and still felt like I haven’t seen all of it.
The upgrades and new fortifications came just in time for me. I spent hours in Horde trying to level up all my fortifications so I would be ready for this map pack. Some people may not have everything upgraded yet, and that’s ok, but you wont see the pay off these new fortifications give you right away. The new fortification, the Command Center, is a nice addition. It makes you feel less like a trapped soldier trying to survive and more like a solider trying to complete a mission. The ability to call in snipers or mortars helps when you’re playing by yourself. The sad part is, you can only call in for support once and then you have to rebuy the Command Center at the end of the wave.
The new characters are nothing too great. It’s just different people to stare at while killing things. I wish it had more female characters (not like that, Dante). Due to the medal for playing as a female character, I find everyone is playing as one of the three females. They only added one, so when you get a full team of five, some people are naturally the same character. It’s hard to know who you’re fighting next to without pressing LB. New weapon skins also came out with the pack but again that’s just for looks.
The new achievements will be fun to get, but seem really easy if you have friends. If you don’t have friends, then I’m sorry. Send me a friend request and I will try to be your friend, but no promises. All the maps, characters, and gun skins can be used in Versus and Beast so it gives them all more screen time. The Horde Command Pack is fun but not enough. With the next DLC pack announced (and coming just a month) this will keep you busy, but it won’t last.