14 DAY TRIAL // What we know:
The main Gears of War trilogy may have ended in 2011, but this means that the series has come to a conclusion, as Epic Games, together with its People Can Fly subsidiary, are now working on Gears of War: Judgment.
The upcoming game is a sort of prequel that's set right after Emergence Day, when the evil Locust forces emerged from the center of the planet Sera and started attacking the humans on the surface.
While most of the original cast is gone, like protagonist Marcus Fenix and his buddy Dom, two familiar faces take the center stage, in the form of Damon Baird and August "Cole Train" Cole.
As we saw in the first teaser shots for the game, they begin the game on trial for treason, as they led their Kilo Squad group in an attack against the Locust forces and, in the process, broke quite a few rules alongside their fellow comrades, Sofia Hendrik and Garron Paduk.
Besides the single-player campaign, which can once again be played cooperatively, there are also new multiplayer mechanics, including the Versus-style OverRun, in which players can control either the human COG soldiers or the Locust monsters and fight for supremacy, or, for the first time in the series, a Free-for-All mode.
Why it matters:
The Gears of War franchise has impressed through its universe, not to mention the graphics and the "destroyed beauty" aesthetic. Judgment promises to continue this trend and offer a look at the planet of Sera and its different cities right after the tragic Emergence Day.
The game not only promises to deliver more answers about that historic event and the events that precede the main trilogy, but it's also going to be interesting to see how Epic and People Can Fly will implement the new gameplay mechanics, like the Smart Spawn System (S3) that's set to offer different experiences every time a player goes through a level.
Gears of War: Judgment is out exclusively for the Xbox 360 on March 19.
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