Beast mode in Gears of War 3 is best described as "inverse Horde." It has you playing as the Locust while you go after waves of CPU-controlled human enemies, who pack Lancers, auto-turrets and even the Hammer of Dawn. As you progress through each wave, the humans become tougher -- both through their tactics and arsenal of weaponry at their disposal, not to mention the ticking of the clock menacingly counting down to zero in the background throughout each wave. And after my time playing this new mode, it's a brilliant fit for Gears of War.

Beast runs on a currency system -- the points you get for killing enemies and assisting your teammates is effectively what you use to buy different Locust units to play as. In the beginning, you only have access to Tickers and Wretches, but as the waves progress and you earn more, you can spawn as Grenadiers or Berserkers or even the Armored Kantus. It should be noted that in the demo we played only certain Locust units were selectable during certain waves. I liked using the Grenadier, but wasn't able to select that unit on each and every wave once I accrued enough tokens to buy him.