Release Date – March 27th, 2012

Jacinto Revamp

Epic Games has done it again with the release of Forces of Nature, the fourth and final downloadable content (DLC) included with the Season Pass. This DLC has a little bit of everything from new weapons skins to brand new maps as well as remakes of some of the Gears of War 1 and 2 classics such as Raven Down and my personal favorite, Jacinto. Epic has really stepped up the map layouts this time around by adding new map interactions that have added depth to the multiplayer experience. Many changes have been made to these maps that have improved their overall appearance while still keeping the familiar aspects that fans of the past Gears of War games will remember.

Two notable changes to the Forces of Nature maps are the addition of weather effects, such as sporadic snowstorms in Raven Down (map comparison can be seen here), as well as elemental cleavers. One example of an elemental cleaver is the Imulsion Cleaver located in the remake of Jacinto. In order to obtain this cleaver, you need to follow five steps, which can be seen in this video. This isn’t the only change to this popular Gears 2 map. Instead of it being sunny, the sky is dark and the ocean that was usually surrounding the mortar spawn in the original Gears of War 2 version has been replaced with large Imulsion fields (see screenshot above) . Another map that stood out the most in my opinion besides Jacinto was Artillery because of one very special weather effect (spoiler alert!) a huge tornado! After hearing a loud tornado siren go off, a large twister sweeps in from behind the map and circles around causing a crazy lightning storm in the process. Even though this weather effect temporarily hindered my view while playing Horde, it’s still one of the best experiences I’ve ever had while playing on a Gears of War map to date. Since I don’t want to spoil too much more, you will just have to find the rest out for yourself now that the Forces of Nature DLC is available to download on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points or free for those with the Season Pass.

Midnight Skin

In addition to the incredible new maps, the new weapon skins that have been added are sure to not disappoint. From the liquid orange Hype skin to the sleek Ivory skins, Forces of Nature is not lacking when it comes to awesome new weapon skins to slap on those gnashers, lancers, sawed-offs and retros. After trying each skin out, I would have to say my two favorites were the Hype and Midnight skins. Which one is your favorite? Make sure to leave a comment below! To see the full list of Forces of Nature skins, head over to http://epicgames.com/community/2012/03/forces-of-nature-weapon-skins-sneak-peek/ .

Forces of Nature DLC score: 9/10

The Good: Improved weather effects and hidden elemental cleavers are excellent additions to the new maps. There are more, cooler-looking skins included in this DLC than any other previous DLC release. Also, the reintroduction of Guardian, a popular online Versus multiplayer mode from Gears of War 2, was an excellent move by Epic. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it.

The Bad: Some Gears fans might not like how the old Gears 1 and 2 maps have been changed. The Ultra Violet skin would have been better if it was animated. The weather effects on Artillery are exciting but they may make the map unsuitable for competitive play.