Gears of War: Judgment

Welcome to my Gears of War Judgment review, before proceeding with the pros and cons of Epic and People Can Fly’s latest shooter let us begin with a brief overview of the title. Set before the events of Gears of War this title follows familiar faces Damon Baird and Augustus Cole as they work to stop the Emergence Day invasion of the locust horde. Though they may break a few coalition ordered rules as they seek salvation they believe this is more than worth what they plan to do.

As always we will start with the gameplay elements of Gears Judgment to work our way into the title itself. If you have played a Gears of War title, or any recent third person shooter for that matter, you will find the controls to be easy to get familiar with. 

Following the traditional left trigger aim right trigger shoot will make the game easy to work with even for first time Gears players out there.  Judgment does introduce a few ‘hotkey’ elements that previous Gears of war titles do not have available. The ability to quickly throw grenades or simply press one key to instantly swap between the two available weapons in your inventory will allow you to easily take control of some of the most difficult situations.

With the control scheme out of the way there is one additional change to the game previous titles have not seen before. These missions labeled “declassified missions” allow you to undertake challenges as you progress through the main storyline. This also adds an element of realism and depth to the main storyline. By performing these missions you will find yourself tested by proceeding through sections of the game as you would not normally proceed. For example one section has players mowing through hordes of enemies with only pistols as opposed to the traditional method of blazing with higher powered weapons. As stated prior these missions are designed for players to proceed as Baird’s team actually experienced the events, making the story a little more in depth.

With the gameplay portion complete we now move to the general storyline of Gears of War Judgment. In an attempt to prevent spoilers from this portion of the review we will be keeping it short and sweet.  At the beginning of the game you find your squad on trial in the middle of a war, basically by this setting you can bet that Baird and company did something pretty bad since their hearing is equally as important as the war raging around them. The campaign revolves around the events leading up to the hearing, allowing players to recount all of the squad’s conflicts including what they are on trial for. Being that this story is set long before the original Gears of War title it allows players to appreciate the two comic relief characters in a more serious setting as well as prepare them for the Gears of War trilogy.

The final portion of this review will be covering the multiplayer playlists and elements Gears of War Judgment has to offer. Apart from the usual deathmatch playlists the new Gears title introduces “Overrun” mode, which has human players defending an emergence hole cover trying to prevent the locust invasion. On the other side of the field the locust team have many available characters in which to send to kill the human team. Overrun is a very balanced and class based playlist, with players having the option of medic, soldier, engineer, and scouting classes on the human side. With a team comprised of these four classes you have a very strong offense and defense available to you. The locust forces obviously follow a more offensive path, starting as weak wretches or tickers to soften up barriers but then working up to maulers or cerapedes to put the heat on the opposing team.

All in all Gears of War Judgment earns a well warranted seven out of ten from me. This grade is given since the game is very enjoyable and will have play value through the multiplayer options and the declassified missions. However it is also a Gears game that can be missed as the game experience does not offer anything exceptional that previous Gears titles have not offered prior to this point.