GameInformer Article Summary

Monday for a lot of us can not come soon enough. It’s the start of E3 and is Christmas in the middle of the year for gamers world wide. This year is no different. Starting the fireworks early though is Epic Games, debuting a new Gears of War Prequel title via Gameinformer titled Gears of War: Judgment. Hit the break to get a glimpse into this new installment to the Gears franchise.

The setting of Judgment takes place at Halvo Bay, home to the Onyx Guard Academy, and 15 years before the original setting of Gears of War. You will be following the adventures of Kilo Squad as they stand trial in front of Colonel Loomis for transgressions against the Coalitions of Governments on charges of desertion, cowardice, trespassing, theft of experimental military tech, and treason.

Kilo Squad consists of

Damon Baird:

Before this sarcastic, genius mechanic went on to help Marcus Fenix save the world, Baird worked his way through the Gears ranks. He’s always quick to joke, but Judgment suggests there’s more to his character than being a comedian.

Augustus Cole:

A former Thrash Ball player turned soldier, the “Cole Train” became famous in Sera for his on-feild performance and boisterous demeanor. Cole met Baird soon after enlisting, and the two quickly became best friends.

Garron Paduk:

A militia refuge from the Union of Independent Republics. Garron comes from the other side of The Pendulum Wars. He brings a new perspective and brush personality to Kilo. Garron is the devil on Baird’s shoulder that say’s “Let’s blow stuff up.”

Sophia Hendricks:

A cadet from the onyx guard academy, she is more in line with Colonel Loomis by the book approach to combat. E-day halted her path to graduation from the academy, but she is still worth the soldier. She is the opposite of Garron, ready to suggest informing superior officers of every deviation from protocol.

Epic has stated that they are looking forward to bringing back the scare of the locust. There is also a new control set up. The changes are LB to throw a grenade, Y to change your primary weapons and hold in Y to get your pistol out. This is all thanks to the games new first-person shooter style control scheme. This may seem extreme to most, but it gets rid of the “clumsy” d-pad control.

There are also various “declassified testimonies” streamed thru out the campaign such as “clearing out droves of Locust in front of the museum in 4 minutes,” “protecting a set of historic COG tags,” or “find and destroy 10 egg clusters laid by the Locust’s Serapedes.” Pile that with the palm sweaty tactics of enemies from before, an entirely new “Smart Spawn System” (or S3 as Rod states) that changes the way the locust will fight in the heat of battle, as well as a new “big bad” enemy that is being kept secret for right now and Gears of War is shaping up to be a whole new experience entirely.

But, what Gears of War game would be complete without a new twist on its multiplayer experience? In Judgment, this is no different with the addition of OverRun. OverRun is a class based, Horde and Beast mode fusion game type that consists of 2 timed five vs five rounds with each team taking a stab at each side of the respective COG and Locust. The COGs must defend 3 key locations, 2 E-holes and 1 Generator. Epic says it plans on replacing the Generator with a Hammer of Dawn beacon in the final game, which if defended successfully, will wipe the Locust off the map. Each time the Locust successfully take control of a sealed E-hole, Kryll will wipe the COG from that point and it will open up a new spawn point for the Locust. If both teams successfully run over the COG defenses and break the Generator, then the team who completed the task the fastest wins. Also, class based abilities will have a 5-15 second cool down after use. On top of that, there will be a leveling system so that you can start out as a better Ticker, Medic, Engineer, etc. More details to come on that as it becomes available.

The classes for this new OverRun game type look to break down like so;

COG Classes

Engineer

Load-out: Gnasher and Blowtorch

Ability: Sentry Turret

Tip: The blowtorch repairs damaged fortifications

Soldier

Load-out: Lancer and Boomshot.

Ability: Deploy ammo crates

Tip: Toss amo to engineer to give him infinite blowtorch ammo

Medic

Load-out: Lancer and Snub Pistol.

Ability: Stim Gas Grenade.

Toss grenade at downed allies to revive them or replenish health

 

Scout

Load-out: Longshot and Snub.

Ability: Beacon Grenade. A grenade that will give you an X-Ray field of vision for a short amount of time.

Tip: Climb perches for better sniping leverage

Lower Tier Locust Classes

Wretch

Role: Leap over hazards, clim perches.

Special Ability: Stunning scream.

Tip: Travel in packs and stagger screams for maximum stunnig power.

Ticker

Role: Eat fortifications, eat grenades, detonate.

Special Ability: Speed boost.

Tip: Can be kicked over barriers by grenadiers.

Kantus

Role: Hammerburst rifle, heal friendly units, ride bloodmounts.

Special Ability: Chain heal.

Tip: Support valuable units like Corpser and Mauler with healing.

Grenadier

Role: Lancer rifle, ride Bloodmounts.

Special Ability: Frag Grenade.

Tip: Throw grenade at COG turret to cause deadly explosion near enemies.

Champion Tier (Just like in Beast Mode, players can spend points to unlock these higher tier characters)

Bloodmount

Role: Melee enemies/fortifications, be ridden by Grenadier and Kantus.

Special Ability: Halve the cool-down time on rider’s special ability (passive)

Tip: Carry a mounted Kantus behind cover while his heal recharges or carry a grenadier to the front lines for battle.

Mauler

Role: Devastate fortifications and COG soldiers with flail and shield.

Special Ability: Spinning spike shield.

Tip: Aim the reticle at enemies while shield spins to deflect bullets back at COGs.

Serapede

Role: Eat through barriers, destory COGs, ranged support.

Special Ability: Spit poison.

Tip: Have two Serapedes overlap to protect one another’s vulnerable rears.

Corpser

Role: Demolish fortifications and COGs with heavy melee.

Special Ability: Burrow and move underground.

Tip: Armored legs reduce damage from the front.

Be sure to stay tuned to GCON all next week as we bring you all the E3 news about Gears of War Judgment as we get it ready for you over the next few days.