Fans of the series and newcomers looking for a shooter challenge should flock to this prequel immediately.
Luckily, multiplayer more than makes up for this. You can play through the game in co-op, with up to three people online (or two people locally) to drive your team to victory. And each soldier feels perfectly balanced, as there isn't any sort of unfair advantage playing an older character or anything like that.
If you prefer fighting your friends, People Can Fly has you covered as well. Horde Mode is missing, but the new Survival and OverRun Modes fill in wonderfully, with plenty of waves of enemies to defeat and points to overtake. The new Free-For-All Mode is interesting, if only to watch humans saw other humans in half – a first for the series. And of course, Team Deathmatch is back, so you can enjoy the new maps that are offered here in traditional play. It's a lot of fun, with only some minor server issues getting in the way. (Epic will probably address those by the time you hop on this week, though.)
Judgment doesn't move the series forward that much in terms of presentation, but it's still quite good. The new areas you run through are excellent, and the animations are smooth as ever, particularly when you're gutting a Locust with your Lancer and watching blood fly everywhere. There are occasional problems with the camera, as you can't see an enemy pounce from behind every once in a while, but otherwise, this is nothing short of dazzling to watch. The audio is strong too, with great music throughout and solid voice acting. And yes, it's fun to hear "Cole Train" back in action again. "WHOO!"
Though Gears of War: Judgment can't be considered the best in the series, it's far better than we thought it would be, surprising us with gameplay touch-ups, strong multiplayer additions and a campaign that keeps moving forward with new challenges. It's nice to see People Can Fly take the ball and run all the way into the end zone with it. Can't wait to see how the victory dance fares…
Score: 9 / 10
