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[Mr Puggsly]

Gears of War: Judgement is often referred to as a low for the series, the black sheep, the bastard step child, the "n word" of the series, etc. But here's the thing... from a pure gameplay perspective, primarily the campaign, its the best paced, most enjoyable, and most replayable game in the series.

I completed my journey of replaying all the 360 era Gears games via Xbox BC. I took it slow, played periodically so it wouldn't feel like a grind. Just finished Gears Judgement today and it was actually the fastest game I played through. Its honestly the most fun I've had replaying a game in this series as well. It doesn't have the grittiness, story telling, or even feel as ambitious as numbered games in the series. But again, from a gameplay and pacing perspective its the best aspects of Gears gameplay with more action and minor tweaks that just make it more enjoyable. For example, you aren't limited to a pistol while using a shield or meat shield. Being able to use a shotgun with a shield is so much more satisfying while taking out a crowd of enemies. The controls are also designed to feel more like a traditional shooter which I like. There is a good variation of enemies not present in past games giving more variety in the challenges.

The game is literally just moving from a short moment of story telling to a wave of enemies for 6 chapters (about 42 sections so about 42 wave battles). To make the gameplay a little more interesting they have optional challenges for each wave mixing up your weapons, environment conditions, enemies, etc. Given it was the last Gears game for 360 its also the most visually refined so this is a last gen game that still manages to impress. The final battle is pretty nuts, so much happening at once with great visuals.

Gears always handled split screen well and this game is no exception. Its a fun single player experience and easy to recommend for couch co-op. In a nutshell, this under rated gem is what many modern games fail to do which is just be fun! Heil Xbox BC! Uncharted: Lost Legacy also deserves praise for being a fun fast paced game, while still managing to tell a good story. Gunplay is meh, but its one of my favorite games from Sony.

Just a shame this doesn't have a 4K patch for the X1X. Gears 2 and 3 look fantastic in spite of using the same old assets at a higher resolution, so much hidden detail. Unreal Engine did miracles with so little.