Gears of War 3 rings in new year with 'Fenix Rising' DLC

Epic Games announced today the next Gears of War 3 downloadable content offering, the "Fenix Rising" map pack, which will be available for download on Jan. 17, 2012 via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Epic Games announced today the next Gears of War 3 downloadable content offering, the "Fenix Rising" map pack, which will be available for download on Jan. 17, 2012 via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The "Rising" (not to be confused with that Rising) map pack will add five new multiplayer levels to the game, as well as four character skins and the ability for players to "Re-up" their multiplayer rankings (think Call of Duty's prestige mode).

The five new maps are: Academy, the old training ground for Fenix family soldiers; Anvil, the "once mighty fortress" of Avegad, also known as Anvil's Gate; Depths, an underwater processing center where Adam Fenix was held captive by the Locust; Escalation, the Fenix estate that the Locust destroyed while attempting to kidnap Adam Fenix; and The Slab, which is Jacinto's maximum security prison, where Marcus was incarcerated due to insubordination and treason.

The four skins will be split up in twos: two COG and two Locust skins. On the COG side, "Fenix Rising" will add Recruit Clayton and Thrashball Cole, while the Locust will get a Savage Marauder and Savage Kantus added to their roster.

And what of this "Re-up" feature? Like I said, think of it like Gears of War 3's version of Call of Duty's prestige mode. Players who reach level 100 can "Re-up" their rank, thus losing all experience and rank (though all progression will still be tracked, including a player's true skill rank). Players will be able to "Re-up" a total of three times, earning a new rank icon color each time (starting at bronze, moving to red and green, and finally, gold). Each "Re-up" will also award the player with custom weapon skins that are unattainable via any other means.

The "Fenix Rising" map pack will cost gamers 800 Microsoft Points if they haven't already purchased the 2,400-Microsoft Point Gears of War 3 Season Pass, which grants players the first four DLC packs at a 33 percent discount.

Staff article by Jonathan Davila (December 21, 2011) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this news article, you can update your bio from the Settings page.