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Since 2006, the Gears of War series has been one of the strongest titles exclusive for Microsoft products, following a close second to the Halo franchise. For those who have never played Gears of War, it is a notorious third-person shooter with a military grade and science fiction theme throughout the series. Gears of War takes place on the Planet Sera, a planet that has been in conflict to the brink of destruction for years. When a new species called the Locust Horde wipe the bulk of the population off of the planet (Also known as Emergence Day), The The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) evacuates the remaining survivors to Jancito Plateau, and orders the troops Delta Squad "Gears" to continue to protect the Plateau while finding ways to rid of the Locust threat entirely. With each game continuing the storyline and following a corresponding plot unique to each game, the series has been quite successful, but since the new addition to the franchise has been announced last year, many questions have been thrown in the air: How will this tie into the series successfuly, and will it live up to expectations?


In 2012, Gears of War Judgement was confirmed that it will be a prequel to the previous game, taking place 14 years before the first Gears of War, showing the series' main characters entering war. It shows the setting taking place at Halvo Bay, which was overrun by the Locust. The setting also seems to be pointing at San Francisco for the inspiration. Baird and his Kilo squad stand trial for transgression against the COG. Testimonies are heard by COG leader Colonel Loomis, who accuses Kilo of desertion, cowardice, trespassing, theft of military tech and treason. The gameplay shown in trailers has shown an almost entirely different setting, where the settings in the games following show what seems to be post-apocalyptic. During the Campaign and the storyline of the game, you seem to find many signs showing the celebration of the end of the Pendulum Wars, which has ended prior to this.

At the end of 2012, Microsoft announced that the games will have a Free-For-All mode, which is basically what it's describing. With this new multiplayer mode, it's asking for each soldier to take on one another. Basically, it's every man for himself. It's also introducing a class-based multiplayer, which is new for the series. For COG, the classes are the Engineer, Soldier, Medic and Scout. With the Locust Horde, the classes are the Wretch, Ticker, Kantus, Grenadier, Bloodmount, Mauler, Serapede, and the Corpser. The new Overrun Mode consists of two timed five versus five rounds where one troop defends a pair of objectives from the opposing players. As the COG, you protect two sealed Emergence Holes and a Hammer of Dawn beacon. There is progression for the player as well as levelling up of single characters.

With these new features, and the unvieling of some riviting and important information regarding the storyline of the series, Gears of War judgement should live up to its expectations. Judgement is expected to be released on March 19th. My name is Nikki Mills, and I am a Fangirl.