Gears of War: Judgment for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

I have been a huge fan of the Gears series, but I hate to admit I was incredibly let down with this one. The campaign was short, and multiplayer is lacking. So let's get it over with...

The Good
- The joy of chainsawing enemies is still here

The Meh:
- Short, half-hearted campaign
- Declassified missions took away from the storyline

The Bad:
- Feels like a money grab
- Multiplayer isn't worth the time

Long Story Short:
This is the first Gears game I was disappointed in and wished I didn't spend the money on. Adding on to what was a great trilogy should have been the first red flag to stay away. Like I said, it just feels like an attempt to make more money using Gears good name.
If you are a hardcore Gears fan, go ahead and rent it and run it through, but don't expect too much. If you are new to the Gears series, stay far far away from this one, go back and start with the original.

If ain't broke...don't fix it.

Same mechanics, same weapons, same enemies, same cover system.

The uniqueness is few and far in between, Aside from the tower defense missions thrown into the campaign there really isn't anything else exciting. And don't expect the story to blow you away either. This is purely a mindless 3rd person shooter. If you have spare time to waste then this is a great rental choice. Other than that save your money.

Gears of War 3 was the official decline of the series. Creating Judgement was unnecessary and more of a last ditch money effort to squeeze moisture out of a dry sponge.

Do not go into this game expecting Gears of War 4 or you will be disappointed. The game is all fire fights, there are no moments like fighting the Brumak or Corpsers from other games.

The story is pretty short but unlike the other Gears game they actually tried to put plot into this one. Baird is a terrible front line character but it is pretty interesting seeing what got him to where he is.

The star rating system and declassified missions add a cool element to the game that I've thoroughly enjoyed. When you do a run through on insane prepare to reload alot, some of the situations are basically impossible to run through on the first try with insane difficulty and the declassified missions.

The new(old? haha prequel joke) weapons are pretty cool and I hope some of them will make their way into future Gears installments.

The multiplayer is pretty much copy/paste of other Gears but why fix it if it isn't broken. OverRun mode is AWESOME even for players who normally don't enjoy PvP. The lack of Horde mode is a terrible atrocity.

love gears of war great game i will buy it

The game had a great main story and a great addition to Gears 3. The controls threw me off a little for about a minute, going to a more CoD style of controls, but it was easy to adapt to. One of the better games I've played in the last year or two. This is a must have!!!

GoW Judgment is the most underrated game I have ever played. Initially I was angry that my favorite mode, Horde, was removed as well as the departure of stereoscopic 3D. Then I played Overrun. Overrun is the most fun I have had with a video game this console generation. Each match is like a game of Chess except it is isn't boring. Survival doesn't make up for the lack of Horde but it is fun too. The additions of Overrun, the class system, declassified missions, and ditching D pad system for guns and grenades are the 4 best additions to Gears since Horde.

I do agree that cog vs cog is dumb and I wish there were a couple more maps and more customization/depth and I of course wish there was Horde 3.0 but this will probably go down as my favorite game this console generation, Crazy considering this game only has a 79% on Metacritic.

This game is not a gears game. I say this because much of what fans have liked about the series has been changed. First the creators have changed the control scheme and any hard core gears fans are going to find themselves maniacally pressing the d-pad to no effect. They do this after asking if you are a fan and do not need a tutorial in the controls since you have played previous games, not cool. The overall dark theme of the gears series has been completely lost in the bright color scheme, boring monologue driven story, and campaign point system. I felt no connection to the characters like I have in recent games with Coles PTSD and Doms tragic story, they added to the darkness of the world, and Judgment just doesn't spend any time developing these characters. Really, the campaigne feels more like it should have been DLC and called Arcade in the main menu of gears 3 since that is how it feels. Multiplayer is also vastly different in many ways with the removal of meat shields, grenade planting, and the three weapon system. It is faster paced but this type of pacing means that everyone is just running and gunning and no strategy. I did enjoy several of the maps and it felt as though more thought went into these maps than the rest of the game. Overall, if you are unfamiliar with the franchise you will enjoy the game even with its poor story. However, any fans of the series will be disappointed with the changes, poor story, and handicapped multiplayer.

the games campaign felt like an add on campaign. the stroy was good at best but not new it really hit hard on online. it felt like they took gears and turned it upside down, only 4 maps, no horde mode, and weapons kill faster a lot faster. they maid the online more fast paced like a cod gears of war if your a gears fan don't get this it sucks.....

Before I write my review let me say I am a big fan of the series and have been since the first one. I also own 3 of the books. That being said, this game is a rip off and seems like it just exists to take advantage of the fans and their money while Epic experiments with a series that after this one, will be run into the ground.

Campaign: I have only played about a hour and a half of the campaign but so far it has not grabbed my attention like the others. This one is more arcade-y and goes off of a point system so you can can unlock another campaign that takes place during Gears 3 but from what I heard, it seems like that "campaign" feels more like a lost DLC that was meant to be in Gears 3.

Survival/ Overrun: These two modes are pretty much the same but in survival you only play as COG and have to survive 10 waves. Pretty much there is a E Hole that the COG have to protect and the locust try to destroy. If the E Hole is destroyed, you have to protect another one further into the map until you run out and either the COG successfully hold off the locust until time runs out or the locust take over. The COG are divided into 4 groups, engineer, soldier, healer and scout. All have their own rechargeable ability that can be activated with the left bumper.

In Overrun mode you also play as locust and switch sides with COG when the round is up. The locust also have a special ability that can be activated with LB. Overall, these two modes are the funniest but without a good team, you may not have too much fun.

Multiplayer: This is where I have to scratch my head the most with this game. They decided to take out downs, meatshields,executions, active reloads and wall tagging frags. Apparently, for a faster mp experience. They also took out the ability to have two big weapons with a pistol. Now you can only have one big weapon and a pistol plus grenades to start the match. Basically they made MP more arcade-y and less team strategy. A disappointment for Gears fans.

Im about 2 hours into the campaign, and its pretty bland. I don't have much to say about it.

But Multiplayer is really where im upset. THERE ARE ONLY 4 MAPS TO PLAY IN TDM,FFA and DOMINATION. FOUR MAPS!? That is ridiculous to me...its like a dlc pack. There are 4 different maps just for overrun mode. But if you're like me and don't enjoy the horde/survival type game mode, then the multiplayer will get old pretty quick(ONLY 4 MAPS!!?) If you are looking for a classic hardcore Gears game, you wont find it here. Its a lot more arcadey, with only one primary w/ pistol.(No more Retro Lancer with a Gnasher and pistol!). Also the reticle is always shown, so you can hip fire really easily. The game changed, so more people can play it with ease. Its upsetting if you really loved Gears from the start.

But that being said, I am still getting some enjoyment out of it. But I wouldn't put 60 bucks down on it. Wait until it gets down to atleast 40 before you buy it.

The Fact that they change 70% of the online play to make it more fast paced hurts me being a huge GOW Fan.I played gears for every aspect but what keeps me going is the online. Taking out dual starting weapons, letting everyone spawn with grenades is iffy, spawning with a sniper rifle? really?... How About Only giving us 4 game modes to play online. taking out the core of the game (war zone and execution) That is what started this game. Kinda seems like epic sold out and just over watched as another company made the game... They did a few things right by auto picking up ammo and the grenade sticking is pretty cool even though i think you shouldn't spawn with them. Play online and you will hear everyone saying how bad the game is and you get the others saying give it a chance i did trust me its not Gears..
The Campaign was OK kinda dry on the lore of the gears as they just had me killing locust wave after wave, like they reworked survival mode with (its just like overrun) throughout the whole game.. Speaking of which WHY TAKE OUT HORDE....

Overrun is definitively good addition to the franchise, also is the declassified missions i enjoyed doing those when beating the campaign.

It just seemed like they put all this attention to selling the game (hype) advertising everywhere and didn't put even half into the actual game. Theres so little content online what happened to my 50 different playable characters and the weapon skins that were given FREE monthly.

Yeah about all the marketplace dlc i know this is a business but don't starve us just to make even more money.. if they do make another GOW (i am sure this one isn't going to make enough revenue) They better rework everything back to normal. Sadly i am afraid its already too late.. Should of just made this a DLC add-on for gears 3 and called it a day i would still have respect for this franchise.

I like this game but it feels like this story could have not be told really the story isn't that strong. The story is basically how Baird got demoted from Lieutenant to Private there that's the story it feels like dlc right? the other characters Paduk and Sofia I liked them but wished they were flushed out more especially Sofia.
Now the multiplayer dear god this is the problem the multiplayer is no longer Locust vs. Cog it's Cog vs. Cog what the heck also there are least multiplayer characters only 9 characters and they make no sense why is Tai in here also no executions okay what the heck you just took the best and coolest part in the gears games and you throw it out for fastest multiplayer well screw that but I think it may be fixed in a update god I hope so.
But despite all I said I still liked it I really did maybe because I'm a Baird fan I don't know but the story despite how basic is enjoyable through less dramatic really their are no dramatic moments in this just action, action, action no Dom's epic and sad sacrifice here or something like it. Ignore the people that say this game is horrible it's okay but not the best story and overhyped.

the lack of hoard mode makes this game almost not worth playing. hoard mode was one of the best things about the GoW. this may be the end of GoW for me

I am a die hard gears fan but was unsure of this one so rented it ......meh glad i did because its basically gears 3 with different characters, i don't even really see any graphic or game play improvements they even use some sound clips from gears 3 , i played online for an hour and just felt like i was trying to rank up gears 3 again and lost interest even with the new game modes ,so i guess i will play it complete it and send it back and move on ...maybe as a big fan i expected to much maybe not, this should of been a gears 3 add on DLC thats all !!

The control's have changed, you can only carry two weapons at at time, and the multiplayer has changed. There is no Horde, and you can only choose classes when you are on survival mode. You also can not pick up enemy weapons on survival. They tried to make Gears into call of duty or battlefield. For someone who has played all of the other Gears, it is a let down. They kinda messed this one up. Not sure it was worth buying, but put it in your Q and see what you think.

...and reboots. Because this current generation of consoles is coming to a close, developers are reluctant to introduce many new IP's or advance the story of existing ones. So, as a result we get 'fill in the blanks' prequels, or stylized revisions.

Obviously, Gears of War Judgement is a 'fill in the blanks prequel' that I don't believe very many people were asking for, but we got it whether we wanted it or not. Personally, I hadn't followed what this game was going to be about. I knew I was a prequel and it starred Baird, but that was about it. I've played a few hours of the campaign with a few random people and it was enjoyable; far more fast paced and chaotic than previous Gears. It's interesting how they worked aspects of the "horde" mode from the previous games into the campaign were you have to hold your ground against a specific numbered waves of enemies, all with the aid of barricades and turrets.

I found it strange and annoying that they removed weapon selection via the d-pad, and that they decided to remove the concept of a side-arm and just simply made all the weapons equal; meaning if you want to carry a pistol you'll only be able to carry a single big gun like the "lancer", "boomshot", "longshot", etc. That's right, no more "longshot", "torque bow", "boltok pistol" loadouts my friends. Why Epic decided to do this is beyond me but apparently somebody felt that aspect of the game needed changing, and that's what they did. Was this for better or for worse? Well, it will be up to you to pass "Judgement" on their decision. Rent it and then deliver your verdict.

I am not a gears head. i enjoy the games but i am not seriously into them. this game is the only one i have played for more than one playthrough. I know a lot of people on these reviews on Gamefly don't like this game that much and i can't fault them for that. It is different that the other games to an extent. But thats what i like about it. This game rewards you for everything you do. It is a reinforcer to play it. I also like pure action that is happening around every corner. I didn't care much for the horde mode but i don't ever like those but it is cool that it is there if you want to play it. overall good game and great rental.

Where are the big big boss fights the great story plus action, What did they do> This game is ok but its not gears, Some Arcade style shooter after earning stars and ribbions,, Is this serious!! Big Let down,, sorry

The campaign is very fun with its new fast-paced game play involving large hordes of enemies rushing you all at once. The campaign will provide about 8-10 hours of enjoyment, longer if you do all of the declassified missions, which add a very fun, unique twist on the tried and true Gears of War 3 formula. The multiplayer modes are decently fun, but they could be a bit better, and survival is a bit bland, but relatively enjoyable to play, especially with friends. Bottom line is, don't write this game off, give it a fair chance, it is Gears of War after all. If nothing else, at least rent this game to play through the campaign, it's worth it, although the other modes will entertain most Gears players enough to keep playing for a few weeks at least.

What The.......did they do to this franchise SMH a 2 for letting me down

Is the game fun? Yes. Will you enjoy it as a gears of war fan? No. The game is striped of virtually all unique and iconic gears of war features. It is your standard first person shooter, in third person, basically. The cover system is the same shockingly, however you can now jump from ledges, a new feature i hate. Also, the new weapons are pretty lame/stupid, and the classics seem to take a back seat. Below is a list of things NOT IN JUDGMENT...

-HORDE
-EXECUTIONS
-DOWNS
-LOCUST v. COG MULTIPLAYER (its cog v. cog...... seriously)
-PLANTING GRENADES
-MEATSHIELDS
-CLASSIC WEAPON LOADOUT (now its just 1 weapon and a pistol, Y to switch, not D-Pad)

Theres more but honestly I don't care this game is no Gears of War. So if you're a fan of the series don't buy the game, it will only disappoint.

See all the real fans back on GoW 3.

This is by far the worst game I have ever played. It's times like these that I am thankful for Game Fly because I didn't have to spend 60 dollars to find out how horrible it is. The campaign story is a comical joke and multiplayer outside of overrun is not worth playing. So if you want to rent it to experience overrun (key word there is rent) then do so. Other than that don't waste your time on this disgrace to the Gears of War franchise.

great game gotta play on hardcore kicks behind big time

it is an ok game, and because it going back in time you can pretend all the stuff removed was not known/tech in the game's world.
But you have to accept FACT they wanted to end the game, but wanted more $ So they quickly threw this togethor and said buy it we got a dog that goes boom (commercial)