Gears of War: Judgment

The strong multiplayer component makes up for the oddly paced and disappointing campaign, and the Declassified options do stand out as a strength. There are a lot of good ideas presented in Judgment, even if they aren’t all fully realized. Whatever Epic does next with the franchise, they would do well to build on what People Can Fly did with this entry.

Gears of War: Judgment is the period at the end of the Gears of War sentence, and in creating it, Epic Games, People Can Fly, and Tom Bissell have created a masterpiece in video game punctuation. Personally, I look forward to their next sentence, when dust-choked, declassified chaos is the default, not the option, and Bissell’s huge talent is deployed in favor of something truly innovative. Until then, though, Judgment will do fine.

These two modes replace the Horde and Beast modes of Gears games past, but they scratch the same itches and add a few new twists. These changes, along with the structural differences in the campaign, make Judgment feel like its own game, worthwhile and exciting in its own right. Yet it still stands in the shadow of those that came before it, and little flaws like loading hiccups and soft textures underscore the fact that Judgment feels like a lesser achievement. Still, it's a heck of a lot of fun, and if you still enjoy utterly destroying hulking monstrosities with one blast of the sawed-off shotgun, you'll find a lot to like in Gears of War: Judgment.

Gears of War: Judgment remains a polished, replayable experience. Even if you never touch any future DLC, the game disc has enough content to keep you busy for the better part of 2013. Judgment is likely the final Gears game in this console generation, and the timing couldn’t be more fitting. As a franchise whose debut helped establish the Xbox 360’s identity, it bids farewell to this generation with an installment that benefits from the iteration and improvement that its predecessors provided.

Gears of War: Judgment is a solid effort from People Can Fly that makes interesting changes to the Gears of War formula that we’ve come to love over the years. These changes aren’t groundbreaking, but natural progressions that one would expect from the fourth installment of the franchise. The core of Gears of War is still very much intact with its shocking brutality and solid shooting and cover mechanics; this permeates across a number of interesting new modes to play the game in, as well as fan-favorites.

Gears of War: judgment is a solid effort that, in some ways, changes the Gears formula for the better.