Preview - Gears of War: Judgment
When Gears of War first burst onto the scene in 2006 it was one of the first glimpses of next-generation gaming for that time. Not only was it visually superb, it also inspired a host of other cover-based shooters and was one of the first titles to provide hours of entertainment online on the Xbox 360. Fast-forward nearly seven years and the franchise is still going strong, with legions of fans eager to get their hands on the latest in the series, Gears of War: Judgment. Beware, though, as Judgment might not be the fully-fledged Gears experience that you were hoping for.
We start our hands-on watching the opening moments of the game's intro. Judgment is a prequel to the previous three games, so we get to see the story of fan favourites Damon Baird and Augustus Cole as they go about their business 14 years before the events of the original Gears of War. It turns out that Baird is on trial for apparent war crimes and to prove his innocence he has to tell the court about dealings from his point of view. It's then up to the player to pick up the game and play through his flashbacks.
What follows is a lot of shooting, shouting and explosions while Baird, Cole and Kilo Squad defend the streets from a horde of attacking Locust. Shooting and snapping into cover is as familiar as ever and the weapons feel powerful to fire as you bring down a high number of enemies. There's nothing new to see here but long-time fans should find plenty to smile about.
One unique new feature is the addition of 'Declassified' missions. These are optional objectives you can choose to add on to your current task to make the gameplay that bit harder. Declassified missions are unlocked by finding a bright red mark on a wall and choosing whether to tackle a level a little bit differently. For example you might be challenged to defeat enemies using only a specific gun, or have to get rid of a certain type of object that's lying around before progressing.
Your reward for accepting these small missions is a little boost when it comes to being graded with three stars at the end of a level, although it's not guaranteed and you'll still have to show off your skills to get the maximum grade. Beginners to Gears of War might prefer to play through the main campaign first without activating the Declassified missions, then going back and trying the harder challenges on a second play through.
One particular highlight was defending a section of a war museum from waves of Locust. Before the waves start you get to place turrets wherever you think they'll be most effective, then it's up to you to do the rest. Of course the Locust managed to trample through our initial blockades pretty easily before surrounding us, but with some help from teammates we just about managed to survive and move on. We came across two of these wave sections during our session and, while fun, there is a worry that they could become tiresome if they occur too regularly.
Luckily we also had some time with a multiplayer wave-based mode called Survival, which allows us to choose different classes for our COG soldiers. The classes add a new dimension to the gameplay as they allow players to adapt to their own strengths and weaknesses. So players who prefer to run around the battlefield and take on the enemy head-on can choose the regular Soldier class. They'll be better at close quarters combat and also get to replenish allies with extra ammo from time to time. If you're one of those who likes to make sure the members of your team are fit and healthy then you can choose to be the Medic, healing others when needed. Keeping in communication with teammates and telling them which side of the battlefield is under attack is also helpful.
It certainly is fun, but is there enough here to make Judgment feel like a complete Gears game? In truth it feels a bit more like Gears of War 3.5 instead of a whole new title, a taste of better things to come in the future perhaps. That doesn't make Judgment a bad game by any means, and we're certain they'll be plenty to shout about by the time it releases to the public.