The final Gears of War 3 map pack entitled "Forces of Nature" will feature 5 maps, each map is set either in the middle of, or amidst the aftermath of, a natural disaster. It has 3 brand-new maps (Aftermath, Artillery, and Cove) and 2 remakes (Jacinto and Raven Down) that will be included in the DLC, which is coming on March 27, 2012.



• AFTERMATH – Aftermath is a government park after a tsunami. There is seaweed and wreckage everywhere, and the main play space sits under a huge cargo ship which was deposited on top of a building during the storm. The area floods and quakes during gameplay, as the whole thing is teetering on the edge of falling into the water below. This has gameplay implications as it is difficult to aim during the quakes, and difficult to be stealthy while splashing through the water.



• ARTILLERY – Artillery starts out looking like an ordinary military base, but during gameplay a storm kicks up. Lightning begins to flash on the horizon and eventually a tornado develops and sweeps near the play space. Dust and debris are kicked up making it difficult to see, and the buffeting winds can mask your approach.



• COVE – Cove is a small port that the Stranded have taken over and turned into a little village. The map is very open with long lines of sight, but there is a really, really heavy layer of fog that masks just about everything. There’s a really nice sniper nest inside a central ship, but the sniper’s form is silhouetted by the low angle light shining through the fog.



• JACINTO – Jacinto was a beautiful city, but huge stalks have popped up through the buildings and flooded the entire area with imulsion. Half of the map is dead and crumbling, with imulsion fumes hanging in the air. To make matters worse, the drizzle that is present when a match begins quickly develops into a heavy rain storm that impedes visibility and lines of sight as water starts sheeting off the buildings.



• RAVEN DOWN – Raven Down is a very small crossroads that is blanketed in a blinding snow storm. A Raven helicopter has crashed in the storm, and crashed through an elevated train on its way down, so there’s train wreckage to deal with as well. The snowstorm ebbs occasionally, but is more often so heavy that it’s difficult to see more than a few meters ahead at any given time.


In addition to the maps, the DLC will include a few Easter Eggs of sorts – four special weapons hidden in the maps called “Elemental Cleavers”. As an example of what you can expect, you'll be able to locate a “snow cleaver” that can gust an icy breeze at an enemy and stun them from a distance or an “emulsion cleaver” that explodes on impact and does a small amount of AOE burning damage to nearby enemies (in addition to the normal cleaver damage). Also, there are Achievements tied to these weapons for anyone that can find these cleavers and get 25 kills with them in Horde or Beast mode.



Lastly, Epic let us know that those of you who purchase this DLC will get 4 new character models (pictured above – including the "Savage Hunter" which was mixed up with the Marauder in the last DLC - pictured below) and 5 new weapon skins for immediate use, and 2 additional weapon skins (that were designed based on community feedback) that can only be unlocked through gameplay in the 'Forces of Nature' DLC which, again, is scheduled to land on Xbox Live in late March.



Announcement Video.....
http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/gametrailers-tv/146?ch=4

sounds good, i was kinda hoping for day 1 map tho.
can link the site pls, wanna see the new skins

I was really hoping for a Beast upgrade. Unfortunately all of my predictions came true.

yeah, ive been saying all along it wont be beast orientated. but we cud still hope.

the SGE is all red. skins look kool tho

AWESOME!

The "Elemental Cleavers" sound kinda cool....should be interesting!!!

as long as there are new maps and weapon skins im happy soo,,,, im happpy

Very nice, i was hoping Jacinto would be back

Wait, does someone have the link for the skins?

Well at least there will be a few new achievements to work on.

Surprised not to see any Beast extras in this DLC!

And Epic as usual giving limited edition characters away with DLC again that are already limited. Makes em not so limited anymore if you get what I mean.

Raven Down will be a great map for boosting towards Seriously 3.0

Quite a wait until 27 March though...

They've just announced that Guardian will return also.