Review - Gears of War: Judgment [Xbox 360]

The result is a prequel, set in the immediate aftermath of Emergence Day, a pivotal event in the Gears universe. But, don’t worry if you don’t understand the significance of that, or the back-story – the whole game is as no-frills and purely focussed on gameplay as can be.

There’s less of a reliance on a melodramatic, cinematic story-telling here and far more emphasis placed on straightforward shooting enjoyment. What brief story there is, is told in flashbacks, so there are many, many stages – all broken up into bite-sized battles. Before each battle starts, there is the option to Declassify it – basically to add some form of spice, be it limited ammo, reduced visibility due to smoke, only one type of weapon etc.

So, in the campaign, the emphasis is playing through these as best possible and quickly moving on to the next. If you can’t beat the level on Declassified mode, no problem – just play through normally and move on. The game has a guilt-free, no worries feel that really does remind me of Bulletstorm.

And the game is free from other distractions, such as unlocking types of weapons, or attachments to weapons, or perks, or abilities – you just pick up guns as you find them and use them. All you get at the end of each level is a score – a number of stars are awarded. The incentive is to go back and beat your best score again.

How long has it been since we had a triple-A release like that? A game that just encourages high-score runs in the traditional sense of the word? It’s such a refreshing change to have a game with such a familiar setting, with all of the controls and visuals we expect from our old friend Gears, but so significantly updated.

Granted, there are a few unlocks – badges, ribbons and different skins for your characters. But this is purely for show – it isn’t important to the gameplay experience. And yet, this can make it the most compelling reason to re-play of all, for sheer bloody-mindedness…

The campaign has co-op too, up to four players online, with drop in/out play – this is also one of the greatest reasons to re-visit a campaign and it’s seamlessly implemented.

So far, so good – but Gears has always been one of the franchises where the multiplayer experience is as equally important as the campaign. And the multiplayer mode doesn’t disappoint. Many familiar modes are back, such as Free-For-All, Team Deathmatch etc. For these modes the game only ships with four maps – not many, even though they are huge, refined and visually sumptuous.

However, the real highlight is the new OverRun mode. This plays similarly to the Rush mode in Battlefield 3 – only players take turns to fight as humans or the Locusts. The humans defend tactical positions against an attacking team of Locusts, holding out as long as they can until a Hammer of Dawn strike takes the Locusts out. The Locusts attempt to destroy these points one at a time – if the Humans lose three, then it’s all over.

And it plays very well. There’s a decent blend of hair-trigger action and strategic thinking required, also playing as the Locusts is fun, especially to the number of different breeds of creature you can control, from the little Tickers, to some of the larger lumbering brutes in the species.

Also, OverRun mode provides a further four multiplayer maps, bringing the total up to eight. That’s a more acceptable total – but there are plenty more on the way as DLC, along with further game modes.

The graphics too have been updated and polished further – familiar and yet refined compared to the previous games. The campaign is a decent length – around 10 hours should be enough to play through it the first time.

So it’s a familiar old friend, re-invented and upgraded with significant new appeal and long-term replay value. It’s Gears, minus the baggage and it’s great. My favourite in the series so far – by some way.

9/10

Gears of War: Judgment is out now for Xbox 360.