During this Gears of War 3 gameplay, I express my thoughts on Gears of War Judgment based on all of the information we have received so far and my playtest from back in October. You can read my thoughts below:
Gameplay
I think Epic is moving in the right direction with the overall pace of Judgment. The removal of Stopping Power and the ability to now fall off of ledges seemed to increase mobility while the removal of active reload damage boost made things more consistent. I felt like the movement has improved from Gears of War 3, but I should note that this was over a LAN network not online. I’m sure there may be inconsistencies online.
Weapon Balance
I can’t directly speak on the weapon balance because the game I played won’t be the same one I play at launch. I will add however, that I am concerned that Epic will not continue to support Judgment long term. Ultimately making any issues that will arise 8 – 12 months post release a lingering nuisance — I’m hoping they prove me wrong. They will have a tough job balancing out the new loadout system and I’m sure that regardless of what changes are made players will continue to gripe about specific weapons.
Content
I’ll be all inclusive here; content includes:
- Maps
- Gametypes
- Weapons
- Characters
Content for Gears of War Judgment is by far my biggest concern. I’m sure most of us handed over an additional $50 for a Season Pass on Gears of War 3 and Epic delivered four content packages in a span of six months. That blistering pace halted after the March 2012 DLC release and there hasn’t been any inclination that new content will surface on Gears of War 3 and instead we’re given a brand new game. If that same approach is taken with Judgment, we’ll receive a bunch of DLC in the first six months and then for years afterwards (presumably) we may not receive anything else.
Gears of War 3 Content Release
Horde Command Pack (Nov. 1st, 2011)
- 3 new maps
- 2 weapon skin sets
- 3 characters
- Added Spectator Mode (around that timeframe) wasn’t part of DLC
Raam’s Shadow
- New campaign content
- 6 character skins
- 1 weapon skin set
Fenix Rising (Jan. 17th, 2012)
- 5 New Maps
- 3 unlockable weapon skin sets
- 4 character skins
- Re-Up system introduced (equivalent of Call of Duty “Prestige”)
Forces of Nature (Mar. 27th, 2012)
- 5 New Maps
- 7 unlockable weapon sets
- 4 characters
- Elemental Cleavers
- Guardian Mode re-introduced
That definitely is a lot of content crammed into six months, but that’s it and now we’re looking at Judgment. Is Judgment going to get the same type of treatment, considering it could be the last Gears of War title on the Xbox 360? If it is the last Gears title on 360 there may be a 3-4 year development cycle before we see a new Gears of War title on next gen systems. Not that I don’t mind waiting that long for some new Gears sexiness, but six months of support isn’t going to hold me over.
Are we going to see new gametypes?
- OverRun
- FFA
- TDM
- Domination
Those four gametypes aren’t enough and I think we all realize that — so I’m sure Epic does too…at least I hope. Gears of War 3 had too many playlists, but geesh.
Are we going to see new characters introduced in OverRun?
It seems like a tough task to introduce new “classes” on the COG side, but I’ll be damned if I can’t get a baby Reaver at some point in time in OverRun. Hell, I wouldn’t mind having a baby Brumak either.
Are we going to see continual weapon tweaks? A *few* Gears 3 issues:
- Mantle Kick
- Retro Melee + 1 Shot
- Hammerburst spammage
- Lancer Stopping Power + Active Damage Boost + Huge Magazine
I’m sure there are way more issues that people have brought to light that will never be fixed in Gears of War 3. After that six month period are there going to be any balance adjustments made to Gears of War Judgment?
These are all lingering concerns and questions that I have about a game that feels more like an “ODST” rather than a full fledged game, yet we’ll be paying full price. I certainly hope I get the bang for my buck.
