Gears of War: Judgment Review - 49 Shades of Gray

[Uriain]

Exactly. The Gears games have always been high up there when it comes to quality; I'd even go so far as to say they're an example of near perfection when it comes to how gameplay in shooters should "feel". But they've always lacked something, something I can't quite quantify.

Is it soul? Personality? Colour?

Who knows. Either way, this is a series that just hasn't clicked with me and probably never will. A shame.

Immersion. It's impossible to relate to any of the angry hatemongers that make up the cast. And the fact that the developers really suck at exposition and suffer from total lack of any new ideas also isn't helping. So the GoW after this will have even more armor-suited space marines, slightly better graphics, lots of garish explosions and gun-toting pew pew, that really don't cover up the fact that there's nothing new underneath. To the critical gamer, that is. Oh well, at least GoW won't feel lonely now, the Crysis series have also set foot on Planet Unimaginative with their 3rd installment.

Never change a winning team, I guess. As long as the hive-minded casual gamers outnumber the quality demanding seasoned gamers, we will always draw the shortest straw.

On a different note, I don't really get the 'Declassified' mode. Sure, some extra challenge could help prevent falling asleep mid gun-battle, but how does it fit in the context? I imagine big chief of operations going "Well, we didn't think total annihilation of the human race and destruction of earth are that much of a biggie, so we downgraded your armor, made your guns less effective and will blow your Battle Royale collar when the arbitrary time limit runs out!" Yeah, makes perfect sense.

Two quick points I want to contend here.

1) Immersion of the character I can see, its hard to feel like your a 280lbs linebacker unless you ARE a 280lbs linebacker, but the "nothing new underneath" is (imo) a fairly weak argument. They are altering weapons and load outs, bringing back weapons from previous games and introducing new weapons. New enemies also make the list, with new tactics in both the single and multiplayer. Speaking of multiplayer, their class system for overrun is new, as well as a FFA death match mode (new to the series) and a larger variance on level design vs previous installments.

While true, not everything is new and heck maybe not even half is new, they are still putting out refinements and changes to the series which has been built around certain aspects.

2) The declassified mode (as far as I can see it) is 1 part time lengthen-er 1 part variation and 2 parts "incremental difficult raise". A neat concept, and helps give people something new to do, but its like turning on skulls in Halo (again imo)

 

[TRex22]

Remember Jimquisition! Innovation is not always a good thing.

 

[deadpoolhulk]

Remember Jimquisition! Innovation is not always a good thing.

true. however Gears seems to think that after the innovention of game 1. (because honestly they really do a lot well.) they don't have to try at all. and that's terrible.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I read on a review somewhere else that the game launches with FOUR multiplayer maps. FOUR. That sting from the Gears 3 season pass is saving me money yet again, I can't wait to see how many maps are in the pipeline as $15 packs.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Oh God. So, much, grey, and, brown... It looks like my screen threw up. I just want to point at the game box, stand on a mountain top and shout "YOU CALL THIS PROGRESS?!"

 

[duchaked]

I'm a fan of the series, but I felt Judgment came out too quickly for me to consider it a serious sequel (4 years between 2 and 3, guys). They did manage to pique my interest right before release, so I'll definitely give the game a go...just not yet :/