Gears of War Judgement: A Review & Why You Should Play It (or not)

After a good run of the main trilogy of the Gears of War franchise, Gears of War Judgement is released to offer a new take on the story from Baird's point of view. Serving as a prequel, this game takes us to the first days of the Locust War after E-Day (emergence for those unfamiliar with the term).

The game starts off with Baird and his members of Kilo Squad being brought in for a COG military tribunal, where Colonel Ezra Loomis is the judge, jury, and possible executioner. The story proceeds by having each member of Kilo Squad recall the events that led them to use a Lightmass Missile without authorization. Through this narrative, the player is put in control of Baird, Gears veteran Augustus Cole AKA the Cole Train, Onyx Guard cadet Sofia Hendrick, and UIR ex Major Garron Paduk. Each character tells a bit of their back story as you progress through the level, and offers some side narrative on the war.

 Unlike the larger, open levels of the previous Gears entries, Judgement has a tight and fairly linear map design for its campaign. Also new to the campaign, Judgement includes a scoring system based on stars, you get more stars by clearing the level faster, getting more kills and executions, as well as not going into a downed state. As an extra incentive to getting stars, you can get more unlockable content like weapon and character skins for multiplayer. As a way to get more stars, the player is given the choice to go on a declassified mission, which adds more of a challenge to the campaign by adding extra objectives. These objectives range from clearing a section within a time limit, only using specific weapons, and conditional modifiers like low visibility. This adds a bit of replay value to the campaign, although the declassified missions can be skipped and add little to the story. 

Also new to Judgement is the new game mechanics, such as a new control scheme which is reminiscent of first-person shooters like the Call of Duty franchise. Although an awkward fit at first, the new controls allow for an increase in speed, leading into a much more fast paced action that remains fluid throughout. Another change to the old system, you can now roll down from any open space in the map. Although this does not seem like a big change, it completely changes engages by not hindering player movement as much. In previous Gears games, you had to stop your fast roadie run/roll, and walk to hop down from any small ledge. This tended to disrupt the flow of battle and often resulted in a death or two, as well as some players using the ledge hop to camp out their opponents. These changes do not really affect the campaign, but instead brings some wanted changes to the aging multiplayer portion.

Multiplayer in Gears of War Judgement is a new beast to for those veteran Gears players, with some new modes and variations of classics, as well as making the multiplayer COG vs COG teams instead of Locust enemies. Starting out, some players may want to visit the single player of this game to get used to the new controls, as hopping straight into the battlefield may result in some humiliating deaths. The new modes, like Free For All, add a bit of strategy as some modes only let you use one main weapon, a pistol, and 2 grenades. With this change, the player is made to choose if they want the safety of the Gnasher and Sawed-Off shotguns for those close encounters, or if they want to be more of a ranged attacker with the Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, and the new semi-automatic rifle, the UIR Markza. Other modes like Team Deathmatch or Domination still have the standard rifle+shotgun loadout. This run of the Gears multiplayer also got rid of Horde and Beast mode, and instead combined them into Over Run. Over Run is the new Horde/Beast mode in which teams of 4 COG players defend 3 objectives and 4 Locust players try to take them. COG players can still set up defenses like in Horde mode, while Locust members can set up their attack with different combinations of Locust creatures like the Mauler, Ticker, Grenadier, and Kantus.

Overall I enjoyed the multiplayer much more than the campaign, which is saying a lot since I equally enjoyed the Single/Multiplayer of Gears of War 1, 2, & 3. The campaign really made the entire game seem like it could have been a single disk expansion or upgrade, although the graphics were improved over Gears 3. For full price, this game is definitely not worth the money, as I actually borrowed this game after careful consideration of buying. The multiplayer is pretty fun, but at the same time it feels like it needed more maps, since the standard rotation gets boring quickly. I would say borrow the game, rent, or get it a cheap price if you must play the newest Gears entry, otherwise, this game can be easily overlooked. 

Final Score: 2.5/5

Bouncing Beauties and Dead or Alive 5

Dead or Alive 5 is back with even more brawn, brass and bounce....well, actually the bounce has been toned down, but there's still plenty of it.

This isn't your grandma's fighter!

First thing players may notice  are the overhauled graphics. Dead or Alive 5 drops the cartoony, anime-style character designs of past games and introduces a rougher, realistic look to DOA 5's colorful cast.

Character faces are sharper and no longer doll-like. Environments look dazzling and very crisp. Fighters also suffer the wear and tear of combat and, like Mortal Kombat, players are able to finally see that grime within the fight. Patches of dirt collect and spread as characters are beaten down on dingy streets and rough dirt, blotches of snow stick to clothes for ground fighters and characters even sweat ( sweat equaling a total plus considering one of Hitomi's costumes consist of jeans and a thin tank top!)

Yup...

Among the new content, several new faces high-kick  their way into Dead or Alive 5. This contemporary cast of 24 characters include Akira, Pai Chan, and Sarah Bryant, all three guest-starring from the Virtua Fighter series, and two new characters exclusive to the DOA franchise.

The first new DOA character is Rig, the foreman on an offshore DOATEC oil-rig whose fighting style harnesses raw elements of Taekwondo. He favors strong kicks that seamlessly stream from one combo to another. While the second new face, and my personal favorite and main character now, is Mila, a mixed martial artist whose moves transcend the kick and punch game into grabs that bring her opponents to the mat and delivers a flurry of knee strikes and holds. And even though Rig and Sarah Bryant essentially share the same fighting style as one another, just like Akira and Kokoro do, these new additions to the DOA roster are welcomed. They add a greater variety of character selection and help expand the DOA universe.  

Mila! Mila! 

Though new characters are introduced and graphics were upgraded, the triangle-system combat basically remains the same. This "triangle" form of combat is broken down into strikes, holds/counters, and grabs. Like rock, paper, scissors, DOA 5 follows a similar guessing game style. Strikes beat grabs, grabs beat holds, and holds beat strikes. It's a very simple system. Of course, this is a good thing because DOA 5 remains a methodical, albeit a slower-paced, fighter that can cater to casual, button-mashing players, but still have enough depth for the hardcore audience.

As always, and like the lovey ladies of this series, the environments are as beautiful and as destructive. DOA relishes in the infamy of its stages and their exploits. An endless, white arctic mountain, a New York rooftop adjacent to runaway trains and an unfinished skyscraper are just some of the dangerous playgrounds fighters can punch, throw or crash each other into. These moments are not just action sequences tacked on, as any DOA veteran knows, but the control of environment is pivotal for strategy as it can be the source of a comeback for the losing player or the pitfall for the winning fighter. (Check  out the mayhem and destruction for yourself in the video below beginning around 1:25)

The biggest difference in combat this time around revolves around the addition of critical bursts and power blows. Each character has at least one critical burst and one power blow. A critical burst is essentially a charge move, used after a combo, that will stun an opponent, rendering them completely defenseless and open to a second combo. A power blow, like the name implies, is a power attack that can only be executed when a player's health bar has been diminished in half. What separates this move from any other strike is the attacker who lands a power blow delivers a cinematic onslaught. (Think super moves in the Marvel vs. Capcom and the Street Fighter games)

Dead or Alive 5 is packed with content. Players have the laughable story-mode, that amazingly clocks in around two or three hours, survival mode, arcade mode, time attack mode, offline versus mode and, the caveat of any fighting games in this generation, online mode. Unfortunately, the latter is where DOA is marred as "could have been" fighting game. Players who can connect to others using decent internet will find no fault in its online aspects, save for the frustration of losing battles you know you could have won. However, that is not the case. 

Hadouken!

Lag seems very frequent in Dead or Alive 5. I have had many matches where bouts ran as smooth as butter on a marble floor, but if you are unlucky enough to run into another player with lag, matches can jitter so slowy, a ninety-second round may last as long two or even three minutes because the game fails to catch up. During these moments, DOA 5 feels completely unplayable. The controls during lag are unresponsive, jagged, and outright frustrating.

Nonetheless, I still have to give my hats off to Dead or Alive 5. It's a fun fighter with deep mechanics that's still as accessible as the previous entries.Team Ninja delivers a solid game with its fifth rendition of the fighting series. But however strong Dead or Alive 5 may come across as a fighter, the lag issues of online play leave a blemish nastier than the perverts who play this game only to ogle digital women.

Dead or Alive 5 gets 3.5/5!

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