Numbers are kind of important.
I mean, they say everything is numbers.
I'm not sure about that, I'm not a math guy.
But I do know this...when it comes to gaming, numbers are everything.
They drive this industry, and at times, they also drive our expectations.
I mean, which game were you more excited for?
Resident Evil 6...or Resident Evil: Revelations?
Mega Man 9...or Mega Man ZX Advent?
Gears of War 3...or Gears of War: Judgment?
See, there's a kind of inferiority that's almost inherent to a spinoff, to a video game
within a series that just...sort of bridges the ones with numbers.
Fair or not, they're often viewed as the stopgaps, right?
The snack between meals.
The gas station on the way to the beach.
Even though sometimes, they have everything the main event has, with the lone exception...of
a number.
Sometimes, numbers are everything.
That's because...sometimes?
The stop gaps are gas stations.
Gears of War 3 wrapped up the original trilogy in a way most people seemed to be happy with.
But with the next proper, numbered Gears of War release still over the horizon, that meant
the Xbox 360 might not even get another Gears of War game.
Since money drives the industry just as much as numbers do, well...that simply would not
suffice.
Er go, detour.
Bag of chips.
Gas station...Gears of War: Judgment.
Actually, it's more like a gas station with a sweet ball pit.
That's because Judgment is actually an interesting concept.
It's a prequel, but...it focuses on secondary characters, rather than doing the obvious
and delving into the Marcus Phoenix backstory.
Events unfold via flashbacks, and we're allowed to play out some of the major moments in these
characters' histories.
In fact, there's also an additional campaign that runs simultaneously to the events of
Gears of War 3.
Of course, the issue there is that...if you make a game with secondary characters, you're
making a game with secondary character appeal.
It's like playing a Mario game as Toad, you know?
There's a reason that only happens in multiplayer.
And for a game that's entire concept is story driven, that's sort of an inherent problem.
Unless you're a hardcore fan, it's hard to really care all that much.
Of course, once you get to the gameplay, the interesting basically gives way to the established.
And you start to see what Judgment really is...just a subtle tweaking of a great formula.
Start with the same Resident Evil 4 derived cover-and-shoot gameplay, only this time,
let people swap weapons with Y and throw grenades with a shoulder button.
Seriously, that's about the only mechanical changes that were made for Judgment.
It's just more Gears of War, and really...that's all it needs to be.
Fortunately, there are a few structural changes.
Uh, for example, there are these glowing logos in each level.
And they basically give you the option of playing through the level differently, either
by changing the objective or the rules.
Those are a really clever way of adding variety to a game that can certainly get repetitive.
And there's also new multiplayer modes to complement the favorites.
Still, the whole time you're playing, you can't help shake the feeling that...this is
just Gears of War 3.5.
The whole experience has this feeling that, much like its characters, feels secondary.
And hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
If all you're looking for is more Gears, Judgment is just that.
And it's a really good Gears game, too.
But you know...sometimes, numbers are everything.
And Gears of War: Judgment doesn't have any.