Gears of War 3 got some time in the spotlight at Microsoft's press conference today. The demo was preceded by Cliff Bleszinski stating that Gears is better with a friend before he invited none other than Ice-T onstage to take control. Cliff set the stage for what we were about to see by explaining that the human stronghold of Jacinto had fallen, and Marcus, Dom and friends were on a ship at sea that had just fallen under attack by a sea monster.

　　The demo began with Marcus, Dom, Anya, and some other members of Delta Squad on the lower decks of a ship as the tentacles of the massive sea monster, called a Leviathan, tore effortlessly through the floors of the vessel. Marcus communicated with Cole, who was elsewhere, asking if he could kill the monster from his position. The team pumped plenty of bullets into the beast, at which point it retreated, but not before leaving a few crablike creatures behind, which scurried toward Marcus.

　　After making short work of these, the Delta Squad hustled up the decks of the ship, as Cole replied to Marcus telling him that "the blond genius" (presumably Baird) had an idea about how to deal with the Leviathan. Upon arriving on the top deck, Marcus stated that they would need "a bigger cattle prod" to deal with the sea monster, and the team headed toward a maintenance bay that contained two mechanical suits called silverbacks. A squad member climbed into one of these suits while Marcus and Dom stayed on foot to deal with its attacks. The monster was back, chomping down on the deck with its huge, hideous maw, giving Marcus a perfect chance to shoot at its glowing eyes. After a bit of this, the creature retreated briefly, but it left behind more of the crablike creatures as well as what appeared to be a few Locust warriors for the team to fight off. No sooner did the squad finish off these threats than the Leviathan returned, seemingly more angry than before. It didn't get a chance to wreak much more havoc, though, as Cole and Baird, positioned on a bridge above, opened a container full of tickers (the small, explosive enemies introduced in Gears 2) onto the creature. Fenix and friends leapt off the ship just as it was engulfed in a massive explosion, bringing the demo to a close.

　　It's clear that Gears 3's campaign is striving to deliver more of the same huge set-piece moments that helped make the first two Gears games such huge successes. Be sure to check out GameSpot's live stage show on Wednesday morning for more on Gears of War 3.