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Back in 2006 the original Gears Of War was generally considered ground breaking, I still recall seeing it running for the first time and being wowed by how amazing it looked. But that was 6 1/2 years ago and by today's standards I have to say it just looks rather average. Gears Of War Judgment however looks and sounds as good as anything I have seen on the aging Xbox 360 and whilst it may not bowl people over in the way the original game may have done there is certainly nothing to complain about here.
When I first began playing this game I must admit I was far from impressed, I struggled to re-programme my brain for the all new button layout and did not do very well at it at all. The main difference is with the weapon switching, this is now carried out by means of the 'Y' button, whilst throwing the likes of grenades is now done by pressing 'LB'. After a few games something clicked, these are pretty much Call Of Duty controls. Forget the fiddling about on the D-Pad from the previous Gears Of War titles, this just needs to be played like Call Of Duty! Once I did this I started to not only play better but actually enjoy the game quite a bit more than I had initially. The other really noticeable difference is with the games speed, it's just so much faster than previous Gears Of War titles. It's basically still the same old run, get to cover, shoot... mechanics that I expected it just felt rather strange playing this at what initially felt like warp speed. Again after around half an hours gameplay it actually started to feel normal and this definitely increased my enjoyment of playing this title. One change I felt was definitely for the better is that the resupplying of ammo is now done by simply running through any deployed boxes. No longer do you have to hold down the 'X' button to restock, this just seems to slot in really nicely with the new super speedy gameplay.
There are a selection of classes available when playing this game and you do get the opportunity to change every time you respawn. This can be incredibly useful as each class has different strengths and weaknesses and depending on how the game is going you may wish to switch. For example Engineers can repair damaged barricades and deploy automatic Sentry Guns, Scouts can access high observation points (inaccessible to other class players) and deploy beacons which give away enemy positions while Soldiers have increased firepower and the ability to deploy ammo boxes to teammates. This in theory works very well but more often than not I found myself on teams where everyone was off doing their own thing and we usually ended up getting thrashed by a more organised team. Perhaps when the full game is released and you can hook up with players you know this may become less of an issue? The other thing I felt was that the game is generally more fun to play as a locust than as a COG. As you rack up points playing as a locust you get the opportunity to upgrade to more powerful creatures, most of which are a real blast. The Serapede in particular is awesome, you get to control a massive electrifying, acid spewing centipede thing which really is a tremendous amount of fun. In the Overrun mode playable in this multiplayer demo you do get to play on both sides in any one match so in that respect I suppose that aspect is fairly balanced.
There are weapons new to the series which is nothing less than I expected to be honest. For example the Markza is a semi automatic sniper rifle which is very effective at long distances while the Booshka is a 3 round firing grenade launcher capable of inflicting a serious amount of damage in a short space of time. Each class of player is given a designated loadout which prevents any particular players selecting armoury which could give them something of an unfair advantage. On the locust side each creature also has different strengths and weakness, for example The Rager has spikes which shoot out from its body before charging at high speed while The Wretch can leap over barricades and climb certain buildings to take out COG Scouts. There is probably nothing here that you haven't already seen somewhere else before but it all seems to be reasonably well thought out and it did make me start to think strategically about my choice of player depending on what was going on in the match. This is not something that I had ever found myself doing in any previous Gears Of War title.
So is Gears Of War Judgment going to be worth £40 of your hard earned cash? Well, at first I was far from convinced but after a couple of hours gameplay I have to say that it has grown on me immensely. Although I tend to think the new ideas introduced here could possibly split the Gears Of War fanbase in a similar way that Treyarch's Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 seems to have done with fans of that series. Yes, it's still the same old Gears Of War to a very large degree and watching this game in action it would appear like simply like being more of the same, however I have to say it just feels quite different to play. I would imagine that whether or not you like this difference will be purely down to personal preference. Apparently the finished game will have Call Of Duty favourites Free For All, Team Deathmatch & Domination modes to fit in nicely with the games Call Of Duty like control system, think we can guess which market that Epic Games think this game is going to be squarely aimed at! I would not blindly recommend this game to anyone, unless of course that they are such a die hard Gears Of War fan that there's simply no way they are not going to love it. What I would suggest is that anyone remotely interested in this title should check out this multiplayer demo when it goes public at the beginning of this week and give it a good hour or so before jumping to any conclusions. After giving this Gears Of War Judgment demo something of a decent testing I am happy to say that I am more than pleasantly surprised with the job People Can Fly have done. Hopefully this opportunity will put this somewhat underrated developer firmly on the gaming map and then one day we may just get another Bulletstorm game?
EDIT: Just been watching some You Tube clips, it looks like Bulletstorm in hell....sold! :)
Decided to post my thoughts on the new Gears Of War demo as there is currently discussion about it on just about every gaming site, forum, blog etc. out there (shame it's still so dead on here). I was initially pretty uninterested in Gears Of War Judgment, that only really changed when I found out who had developed it. I am personally really pleased that our favourite Poles have got to put their creatively bonkers touch to it. As for those who won't care for what they've done there is always the first 3 Gears Of War games for them to play.
Anyone else tried the Gears Of War Judgment multiplayer demo yet? I think it goes public tomorrow, be interested to know what other people thought of it. One more point, apparently any XP earned in the demo carries over to the finished game.
I keep trying to get dean5 to give it a go, but I don't think he's fully convinced yet.
Right ... mission on ... Dean to do Painkiller, the Original!
Battle Out of Hell was the 1st expansion pack and included the FairGround level ... well hard that one :¬)
@Dean ... you'll love the game ... give it a shot! Make sure you gain 'enough souls' and you'll be flying
Painkiller ... (I still have the original 'boxed' version)...
Yup, me too! Complete with a soundtrack CD...
I actually own all of the expansions for this (there were three!), but i couldn't tell you what they were called. Buried somewhere in my collection, I'm sure.
I keep trying to get dean5 to give it a go, but I don't think he's fully convinced yet.
People Can Fly not to be confused with Running With Scissors ;¬)
I thought they were already firmly on the map. They made one of my all time favourite games back in 2004, namely "Painkiller".. If that didn't set their pedigree for shooters, then there's no hope! Manic shooting, crazily good graphics for the time, awesomely interesting environments, some of the biggest, baddest bosses you've ever seen and some stupid, stupid physics made for an experience you'd never forget.
My personal favourite trick was to pin witches to ceilings with a stake gun:-)
Back in 2006 the original Gears Of War was generally considered ground breaking, I still recall seeing it running for the first time and being wowed by how amazing it looked. But that was 6 1/2 years ago and by today's standards I have to say it just looks rather average. Gears Of War Judgment however looks and sounds as good as anything I have seen on the aging Xbox 360 and whilst it may not bowl people over in the way the original game may have done there is certainly nothing to complain about here.
When I first began playing this game I must admit I was far from impressed, I struggled to re-programme my brain for the all new button layout and did not do very well at it at all. The main difference is with the weapon switching, this is now carried out by means of the 'Y' button, whilst throwing the likes of grenades is now done by pressing 'LB'. After a few games something clicked, these are pretty much Call Of Duty controls. Forget the fiddling about on the D-Pad from the previous Gears Of War titles, this just needs to be played like Call Of Duty! Once I did this I started to not only play better but actually enjoy the game quite a bit more than I had initially. The other really noticeable difference is with the games speed, it's just so much faster than previous Gears Of War titles. It's basically still the same old run, get to cover, shoot... mechanics that I expected it just felt rather strange playing this at what initially felt like warp speed. Again after around half an hours gameplay it actually started to feel normal and this definitely increased my enjoyment of playing this title. One change I felt was definitely for the better is that the resupplying of ammo is now done by simply running through any deployed boxes. No longer do you have to hold down the 'X' button to restock, this just seems to slot in really nicely with the new super speedy gameplay.
There are a selection of classes available when playing this game and you do get the opportunity to change every time you respawn. This can be incredibly useful as each class has different strengths and weaknesses and depending on how the game is going you may wish to switch. For example Engineers can repair damaged barricades and deploy automatic Sentry Guns, Scouts can access high observation points (inaccessible to other class players) and deploy beacons which give away enemy positions while Soldiers have increased firepower and the ability to deploy ammo boxes to teammates. This in theory works very well but more often than not I found myself on teams where everyone was off doing their own thing and we usually ended up getting thrashed by a more organised team. Perhaps when the full game is released and you can hook up with players you know this may become less of an issue? The other thing I felt was that the game is generally more fun to play as a locust than as a COG. As you rack up points playing as a locust you get the opportunity to upgrade to more powerful creatures, most of which are a real blast. The Serapede in particular is awesome, you get to control a massive electrifying, acid spewing centipede thing which really is a tremendous amount of fun. In the Overrun mode playable in this multiplayer demo you do get to play on both sides in any one match so in that respect I suppose that aspect is fairly balanced.
There are weapons new to the series which is nothing less than I expected to be honest. For example the Markza is a semi automatic sniper rifle which is very effective at long distances while the Booshka is a 3 round firing grenade launcher capable of inflicting a serious amount of damage in a short space of time. Each class of player is given a designated loadout which prevents any particular players selecting armoury which could give them something of an unfair advantage. On the locust side each creature also has different strengths and weakness, for example The Rager has spikes which shoot out from its body before charging at high speed while The Wretch can leap over barricades and climb certain buildings to take out COG Scouts. There is probably nothing here that you haven't already seen somewhere else before but it all seems to be reasonably well thought out and it did make me start to think strategically about my choice of player depending on what was going on in the match. This is not something that I had ever found myself doing in any previous Gears Of War title.
So is Gears Of War Judgment going to be worth £40 of your hard earned cash? Well, at first I was far from convinced but after a couple of hours gameplay I have to say that it has grown on me immensely. Although I tend to think the new ideas introduced here could possibly split the Gears Of War fanbase in a similar way that Treyarch's Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 seems to have done with fans of that series. Yes, it's still the same old Gears Of War to a very large degree and watching this game in action it would appear like simply like being more of the same, however I have to say it just feels quite different to play. I would imagine that whether or not you like this difference will be purely down to personal preference. Apparently the finished game will have Call Of Duty favourites Free For All, Team Deathmatch & Domination modes to fit in nicely with the games Call Of Duty like control system, think we can guess which market that Epic Games think this game is going to be squarely aimed at! I would not blindly recommend this game to anyone, unless of course that they are such a die hard Gears Of War fan that there's simply no way they are not going to love it. What I would suggest is that anyone remotely interested in this title should check out this multiplayer demo when it goes public at the beginning of this week and give it a good hour or so before jumping to any conclusions. After giving this Gears Of War Judgment demo something of a decent testing I am happy to say that I am more than pleasantly surprised with the job People Can Fly have done. Hopefully this opportunity will put this somewhat underrated developer firmly on the gaming map and then one day we may just get another Bulletstorm game?