Judgment is the fourth installment in the Gears of War series, the very successful franchise by Epic Games which first arrived on our screens in 2005 and has continued to entertain millions. While the first three focus on Markus Fenix and run in chronological order, Judgment is set before the first game and follows Damion Baird – a popular character who also frequently appears in the first three games. It is also made by a different group – People Can Fly – and a lot has changed.
We are shown, through flashbacks, how Baird came to loose his title of Lieutenant and was put on trial for not following orders, along with his Kilo squad made up of old favourite Augustus Cole and newcomers Sofia Hendrik (a novice cadet) and Garron Paduk (previously a Major in the Union of Independent Republics). You join them at the beginning of their trial, and play through their memories as they’re retold. We learn that, while out investigating a convoy, Kilo came across Locust General Karn and decided to use a weapon similar to the Hammer of Dawn to destroy him.
So the plot is pretty far removed from the mass destruction of the previous three games, but instead gives the player an insight into why Baird was stripped of his rank and put on trial (something hinted at frequently in the other games).
You can tell right from the off that different people have been involved in creating this game – the controls are different, the play is different, the scoring is different. At first it actually made me feel quite uncomfortable – this wasn’t the Gears that I had come to know and love, but instead an impostor. Once you get to grips with it, you can begin to delight in the new weapons and new enemies, but I still miss the D-pad way of changing weapons and also being able to carry 3 weapons at once. It’s the feeling of being ridiculously overpowered (both physically and weapon-wise) that makes Gears, and this is lessened in the newest installment. They have even slimmed down the characters a bit, you no longer take up half the screen with your own bulging mass, more like a third of it instead.
A friend and I decided, in our infinite wisdom, to sit and play through the entire campaign in one go, and we managed it in about six hours. This isn’t bad when compared to a lot of modern campaign times, but is a bit short in comparison to the seemingly never-ending Gears 3. There are some interesting new add-ons, for example the ‘declassified’ option at the being of each mission which make it a bit more difficult. This can range from environmental factors (such as limited visibility, or very strong winds) to being given a time limit. While some of these make a level very interesting, I found the timed ones to just be very difficult and it takes away from the fun. The best course is probably to play it through normally on hard-core, and then complete all the declassified missions on insane difficulty. Two birds with one stone and all that.
So in general the story is okay, a bit weak in comparison with the other games, 
but decent enough as a standalone plot. I think the reason this game was a bit lack luster for me personally was simply because it had to contend with the other games, and simply didn’t stand up. Gears of War as a trilogy has done very well to mix a classic shoot ’em up with a plot, resulting in characters and a story as a whole that you as a player really care about. The end of 3 was pretty tough going for most fans, and then this game is just a bit naff as a follow on. It also suffers from the exclusion of some very popular characters – Markus and Dizzy to mention only two. The comedy of the other games provides a little relief from the general horror that you have to fight through, but in Judgment both aspects are lacking.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the new characters are fantastic – Paduk being a favourite of mine – but they simple can’t contend against the long established characters of the first three. I was also disappointed with the big bad of the game, General Karn. He doesn’t have a backstory, doesn’t seem evil or desperate, he is just a Locust with a name.
Away from the campaign you still have the multiplayers, though some of the game modes have changed slightly. You don’t have 50 waves of Horde, but instead only 10. They have introduced some new ones which are quite entertaining, but you don’t play against Locust but instead other Gears, which I find a little odd. The amount of customisation you can have has lessened in some respects but increased in others, though this isn’t enough to make up for the lacking multiplayer aspects.
I would say that if you’ve played the other three games and enjoyed them, I would have a go at Judgment more for the sake of completeness rather than anything else. If you’re looking to get into Gears then please play the main trilogy before picking this up, because it will probably put you off wanting to get the previous games.
northernfool 