All throughout, the level design is great, peppered with nooks and crannies with a good use of verticality, too. You’re not going to be way up above the fray but a few spots let you plan strategically how to engage your foes. There’s a few new weapons in the beta, including the retro Pendulum Wars Lancer (the bayonet-like precursor to the iconic Lancer chainsaw rifle) and a sawed-off shotgun. The Pendulum Lancer’s a nasty weapon that put me down in as little as two shots sometimes. The sawed-off will be your best option in close-quarters combat, which will happen a lot. (More on TIME.com: The Techland Interview: Cliff Bleszinski, Part 2)
So far, these multiplayer modes in the beta come across as faster and more chaotic than the Horde Mode that was introduced in Gears 2. Where Horde Mode was more strategic and created escalating tension, these modes that are going in Gears 3 are more manic. There’ll be little camping out behind cover as your opponents aggressively seek you out in a Capture the Leader match.
The beta includes collectible medals and ribbons that you earn for in-game feats like dying the least in a round, racking up the most kills or assisting your teammates more than anyone else. As in loads of other shooters, all these go towards your experience points and let you unlock new looks for your weapons.
When I spoke to Cliff Bleszinski a month back at GDC, I asked him how he felt about Gears 3‘s move to a fall release date and doing a beta for the first time. “It’s actually advantageous,” he said. “We can do a beta and we can do a demo. If we screwed up a launch of Gears 3 online, we would sink the franchise.” From the looks of what I’ve played of the Gears of War 3 demo so far, the men and women at Epic Games don’t need to worry. (More on TIME.com: “Bulletstorm” Review: A Rain of Pain That Feels Pretty Good)
If you’ve pre-ordered the game or got the Bulletstorm: Epic Edition, then you can access the beta starting on April 18th. Otherwise, the beta opens on April 25th and closes on May 15th.