The Scourge Project: Episodes 1 and 2 Demo

Gears of War may not have been the perfect game, but it had enough redeeming qualities to make it popular with the crowds, as well as a sturdy marketing campaign. Not only that, but it also inspired a whole lot of other games too, thanks to the somewhat revolutionary gameplay mechanics and the attractive co-op mode that opened up a lot of possibilities.

The Scourge Project: Episodes 1 and 2 is basically Gears of War in a different set of clothes, hoping that no one would notice that it borrowed almost everything it has from Epic Games’ giant. However, borrowing gameplay mechanics is not unusual and it is even welcomed in most cases, especially when the said mechanics go well with the chosen theme and they manage to improve the experience in some way.

Story-wise, the game talks about an evil corporation that tries to take over the world and subjugate everyone else. A team of mercenaries forms to put an end to their plans, which is simply called Echo Squad. By using a combination of different skills and abilities, these mercenaries need to accomplish a variety of missions, most of which involve destroying something, killing enemies, and reliving events from the past, for some reason.

The selling point of the game is represented by the sturdy team-based action, which means that up to four players can play the scenarios at the same time and combine their forces to deal with the enemies. On the other hand, the sad part is that the main campaign is only about five hours long, which is definitely not enough to make some memories, nor get too involved in the atmosphere.

From a technical standpoint, the game proudly displays the third issue of the Unreal Engine, which means that it definitely looks nice. On the other hand, the environments are not as striking as they could have been, especially when you consider the capabilities of the engine. Not only that, but the audio part is sloppy as well, although that can pass by unnoticed as long as you are having fun with your friends.

Unfortunately, The Scourge Project: Episodes 1 and 2 is not exactly worthy of your money unless you really enjoy third-person shooters in a futuristic theme. Other than that, the game is nothing out of the ordinary and it certainly fails to deliver on most of its promises, while the gameplay is dull and lacking substance.