Sera has changed, and humanity has had to step it up just to survive. It's all hands on deck and everyone now has to be a soldier, so Delta Squad has new recruits. Additionally, the state of the world and the on-going fight have had a major effect of the Squad's pre-existing crew.
Jace Stretton - Introduced in the Gears comics, Jace is making his official game debut in Gears 3. He's the youngest member of Delta Squad, and was brought up in an orphanage after he witnessed the Locust slaughter his parents on E-Day. He's a determined but sensitive soul, having known death his entire life, and he takes tragedy harder than anyone.
Anya Stroud - Delta's old handler and the potential love interest for Marcus has now joined the boys proper. From what we hear, she's become just as badass as the rest of them, but expect some tension and sparks between her and Marcus.
Marcus Fenix - Marcus is holding together, but he's going to have a hard time in Gears 3. The continued war and ever-escalating decay around him are taking their toll on his psyche, and he's now plagued with worsened nightmares about the things he's witnessed and the father he lost. But given the reveal at the end of the second game,expect that father to have a much greater impact as Gears 3 continues.
Adam Fenix - We don't have any more details on Marcus' father, but we know he's in Gears 3 because we've seen concept art of him. Revealed to still be alive in Gears 2, we suspect his scientific background, combined with the unexplained Sire lab, indicate a messy history mixed up in the Human-Locust war. Current theory? The Locust were genetically engineered by humanity, and Adam was one of the men in charge of the project.
Dominic Santiago - We speculated it after watching the Gears of War 3 debut trailer and we were right. Dom is an absolute mess now. After finding and euthanising his lost wife Maria in Gears of War 2, he's now completely unstable. He's modified his tatoo of her name into a memorial, but closure seems still well beyond him. His only priorities are keeping best friend Marcus alive and cultivating food for the COG on its new floating battleship home, the Raven's Nest. Surely though, that does mean there's at least some hope left in him.
Miscellaneous coolness
And a few other things we've noticed that don't fit into any other category.
White hair - This only occurs in one screenshot, but it's very bloody interesting. Gears 3 is bset just 18 months after Gears 2, but you'll notice that Marcus and Dom both have white hair. Unless it's a really sloppy rendering error (which we seriously doubt) something is going on here. But what's caused the folicular change? Our only thought is some kind of Lambent infection, possibly even as a human-engineered chemical power-up. If our theories about Marcus' father are correct, it's entirely plausible. What do you think?
A Thrashball stadium - Before he was a Gear, Cole Train was a star of Sera's biggest team sport. This looks very much like a multiplayer level set in a delapidated arena for said game. A new Thrashball multiplayer mode, using a Locust head as a ball? Doubtful, but we'd love it if there was one.
The Raven's Nest - With Jacinto flooded and the blasted earth of Sera unihabitable, this battleship/aircraft carrier hybrid is the COG's new home. We tend to suspect it will travel the Seran oceans to new environments as Gears 3 takes Delta Squad on a varied journey for survival. And definitely expect at least one huge siege on it. We've already seen that Lambent Stalks can burst out of the sea bed as well as dry land. It'll probably turn up as a multiplayer arena as well.
New environmental kills? Or at least new melee moves, we think. Because we have a screenshot of Marcus kicking a Locust down a pit. THIS IS SERA!?
So, a lot to take in then, but what do you think? Are you as screamingly excited as we are now? What's your favourite bit of what you've seen, and what do you hope for? Or are you not bothered at all and think Gears is a bit pump? Whatever your thoughts, jettison them into our comments section, or paste them liberally over our portals onFacebookandTwitter.
