If our recent game night didn't clue you in, we've been rocking a lot of Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta 'round Bitmob way of late, and it's been sweet, sweet carnage so far. Why, I'm even considering a preorder...something Gears of War 2 didn't inspire.

World's best gardening tool.

But nothing's perfect. Hell, that's why we have betas: to make things perfect. So while the happy maniacs at Epic Games pore over reams of data, I've got some suggestions of my own. Stuff that doesn't come down to mere bullet counts, high-death areas, or weapon balancing. No, I'm talking about how the game feels as you play it, where it feels wrong, and how to make it right.

Here's how you make the bloodbath better.

1. My house

Nothing beats a solid King of the Hill mode. It's my favorite flavor of multiplayer, just as it is in real life, and GOW 3 puts down a fairly decent Crazy Kings version. Nothing fancy, not messing with the basic formula...except for two things. First, that hill? It's small. Like, maybe half the size of a Halo hill.

And it should be smaller. Hula-hoop sized.

Hey, I'm not here to make your life easier. Smaller hills mean insanity during captures and breaks, and I like insanity. Don't worry about five beefy, sweaty men all rubbing together while holding chainsaw bayonets; GOW's hill locks after a capture, so you don't actually have to stay inside the ropes to keep scoring. You just have to stand still to start the fun. Nothing dangerous about that, right?

Smaller hill. You'll thank me later.

Hey...somebody unlocked his Tier 1 beard!

2. Points where points are due

Right around the two-week mark, Epic unlocked the Capture the Leader mode. Despite the subtle clues in its title, I had no trouble finding an unprotected leader, taking him hostage, and holding him for the entire 30-second countdown while everyone else fought on the other side of the map. I won the round for my team singlehandedly...and ranked bottom of the pile for experience points earned. Why? Because I did it without killing anybody.

Similarly, you get a pittance for reviving a downed teammate. I routinely find myself ignoring those fools in order to finish off a distant enemy, and by the time that's done...whoops. Dead teammate. Oh well.

Wrong and wrong. Experience points let a developer influence player actions, passing out cool rewards for doing what the developer wants. So maybe we should actually do that. Make captures, breaks, revives, and anything else vital to success pay out more than simply shooting up baddies. Otherwise I'll ignore the objectives and just go around capping folks. I might lose the game, but if I still walk away with all the XP, a winner is me.

This is the part where I drop a mortar on them and win the war.

3. Shotgun divorce

I've heard people complain the Lancer assault rifle's overpowered now, and they're on drugs. It's more powerful, but make no mistake...Gears multiplayer is still a shotgun game. Jump close, blow person in half. The new sawed-off shotgun just punctuates this point. Rifles close the distance, but shotties finish the job.

So I want a mode (or mode variant) that limits available weapons. Specifically, no shotguns. It'll be the most unpopular game ever, but I'm OK with that. Learn to use the Boltok pistol, which is just as deadly. Halo's weapon-specific games (like Swords) add a nice twist to a standard kill-em-all romp, and limiting Gears' already-limited arsenal mixes things up even more. Any time you take players out of their comfort zone, you're doing God's work, and paring down to a Torque Bows-only match or a Hammerburst-fest would narrow your tactical focus to an entertaining degree.

Plus, I want to see all those shotgun messiahs cry true tears because they don't know where the melee button is. Don't you?