14 DAY TRIAL // Gears of War: Judgment has fully embraced the cooperative world that we live in and allows two players to tackle the slim but, at times, innovative campaign, making it easy to coordinate with another human that’s sitting near you in order to clear out hordes of Locust.
But we, gamers, are busy beings with complex schedules and most of the time, I fail to get another player to share the burden of the new Gears of War with me, which means that I have to wade into the fight alongside the other three characters from Kilo Squad.
And I have to suffer the obvious problems of the Judgment Artificial Intelligence, which rarely understands that third-person-based cover shooters rely on players finding a place to shoot enemies as they approach.
My companions often wander into my line of fire and then loudly complain about getting hit.
Or, even worse, they sprint ahead to meet the enemy head on and force me to follow, which has often led to quick deaths and chapter restarts.
The level design does not help, with its mix of corridors and arenas, but the big problem is with the way A.I. teammates were programmed.
I sometimes wish that all video games that use companions would give me an option to eliminate them from levels, keeping them around when the narrative requires it and jettisoning them when it’s time to actually battle some enemies.
Other than the trouble with path finding and rushing ahead, Gears of War: Judgment can deliver some very solid battles, especially if the player chooses to activate one of the level modifiers.
I also like how the game scores the player on a variety of factors, instilling the idea that a level can be cleared faster or without so many deaths, which often leads to replays.