Gears of War: Judgment Message Board

Microsoft just bought the rights to Gears of War from Epic. With Fortnite in limbo, just what is Epic up to?

We analyze what Microsoft's big Gears of War news means for Xbox, for Black Tusk, and for the series.

Microsoft has bought the rights to the Gears of War franchise and is handing development of the series to Black Tusk Studios.

VIP members can access some new maps in Gears of War: Judgment today, available as part of the Lost Relics DLC pack. Headlining the pack is a new mode called Breakthrough, where one side attempts to move a flag from one point to another while the other team tries to stop them.

Lost Relics includes four multiplayer maps in total: Lost City, Museum, Ward (OverRun only) and Checkout, the same fan-favorite map featured in Gears of War 3. Rounding out the DLC pack are some new weapon and armor skins.

Hit the jump for some flythrough videos of each map - if you like your DLC tours a little more static, then feel free to peruse our gallery of screenshots below.

Epic lays down Gears of War: Judgment with new multiplayer DLC in June. The 'Lost Relics' pack a new gametype and four further maps, including the return of 'Checkout' from Gears of War 3. Also bundled in are new armor and weapon skins.

The gametype is called Breakthrough. It features one team trying to get a flag from A to B, and another trying to stop them. The attacking team has a limited pool of lives, while the defensive team has unlimited resources. Sounds like the attacking team's has their work cut out.

You can peruse layouts of the four maps - that's Checkout, Lost City, Museum, and Ward (for OverRun) - in the gallery just below these words. More details are due in the coming weeks. Finally, in case you missed it, Judgment received a free OverRun map earlier this week.

Through another partnership with Maxim, Gears of War: Judgment will offer a free OverRun-compatible map to all players next week, May 15, called Dreadnought. This new map is set on a derelict ship, used by the COG at the outset of the war to transport captured Berserkers.

This is the second free piece of DLC sponsored by Maxim. The first free map, Haven, arrived on April 2, when Execution mode was introduced to Gears of War: Judgment.

The tepid critical and commercial reaction to this year's God of War and Gears of War prequels will hopefully send a message that I've been wanting the powers that be in all of entertainment to receive for years: Many of us who like a thing don't care about what happened before whatever happend in the thing we liked. Prequels, who asked for them? For all the grumbling that sequels represent some sort of bankruptcy of imagination in video games, Hollywood and Presidential terms, I'll happily take a part two or even a part five over a part zero. I'll even take a remake if that can spare me the backfilling and shoehorning that is the seldom-entertaining prequel. It's not that I don't care why Kratos really is angry or how that guy got his scar or what her mom was like as a kid or who built C3PO, but, really, you could tell me in a Tweet and I would be A-OK. I don't need to see it. I have no desire to pay money for it. Sadly, we are living in an age of prequels that waste everyone's time and that seem drenched in desperation. We are in the time of The Hobbit, an old book turned into a new movie a decade after the books that followed it already were turned into movies. Surely, people who enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movies and who were dying to know the back-story had time in the last 10 years to just go read about it. Surely, the filmmaker behind the Rings movies didn't just want to return to his greatest success and stretch it into that second-shadiest of marketing gimmicks (after prequels): the trilogy. The prequels that aggravate are the ones answer the already-answered questions. We are in the age of Before Watchmen, the prequel to the most popular graphic novel of all time. This prequel, published over the objections of the original's author, is a sprawling mediocrity. It's also a prequel to a book that was itself a remix of earlier work, a testament to the triumph of a re-thinking over a re-milking. The talented creators DC Comics enlisted to create Before Watchmen bandied together to produce blandly-written if occasionally beautifully-drawn stories that fill in such irrelevant blanks as why Watchmen's smartest man in the world has a mutated cat and which sexual dysfunction plagued the second guy dressed as the owl. The Before Watchmen prequels are, collectively, three times as long as the better work they anticipate. I'm not sure if they're a third as good. In gaming, the prequels are coming fast, furious and mostly full of disappointment. God of War Ascension, which I played through in March, tells fans a little more about why Kratos is sad about his wife, but the very first God of War explained that quite well already. Gears of War Judgment fills in the back-story of Baird, a character whose background I never wondered about, despite having played all three previous Gears of War games. Was it you who demanded Baird back-story? Lego City Undercover on Wii U was neat. I played it in March. What did April bring? A 3DS prequel. No thanks. This fall, we get a new Batman game. Guess what? Prequel. We're getting a new Assassin's Creed in October. It's Assassin's Creed IV and it mostly takes place when? Before Assassin's Creed III, of course. There have been good prequels. My favorites: Metal Gear Solid 3, Metroid Prime, Halo Reach, Batman: Year One and the Robert DeNiro part of The Godfather Part Two. There have been works that I guess are technically prequels but mask it so well that I hardly notice: Knights of the Old Republic and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, to name a pair. Even this years's Tomb Raider prequel/reboot was enjoyable. These prequels manage to be good on their own by avoiding an obsession with fan service, by refraining from making constant references that demystify the work they precede. The prequels that aggravate are the ones that over-tell, the ones that reduce the magic of the work they precede by not just explaining how the trick was down but by showing us what the magician had for lunch when he was 14. The prequels that aggravate are the ones that follow a long line of sequels and seem designed to revive a franchise by making it safe for new fans to jump on board (you're starting at the beginning!) and for old fans to trudge back once again (we're going to make references only you, the loyal old-timers will get!). The prequels that aggravate are the ones answer the already-answered questions. Prequels didn't save the once-great Battlestar Galactica. They didn't resuscitate Star Trek. I enjoy the Clone Wars cartoon, but the net outcome of all the Star Wars prequel material sure feels like a loss. I don't need to see the X-Men young again. I need back-story on any of this stuff about as badly as I need to know what god said before "Let there be light." Actually… I would read a prequel to the Book of Genesis. The rest of the possible prequels out there? I could live without them. It's time to move on.

The ethereal Gears of War movie is back in the headlines, with Variety reporting that producer Scott Stuber has signed on with the project. There's still no writer or distributor attached, but Stuber will work with his own studio, called Bluegrass Films, and Epic Games to develop a script and finance the project. Universal Studios currently has first look rights to whatever he can come up with.

Stuber has produced a number of big-budget films, including Battleship, Ted, and the upcoming 47 Ronin. A movie based on Gears of War was originally set for a release in 2010, but that project allegedly fell apart due to "creative differences."

This probably isn't a fun place to be, unless you're murdering dudes in multiplayer, that is.

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What's a Blood Drive? Let Judgment's designers dive deep into this new multiplayer map.

New competitive environments will be coming to Epic Games’ latest Gears game when the Call to Arms map pack drops on April 23rd, It’ll include three new areas—Terminal, Blood Drive and Boneyard—and a new multiplayer mode called Master at Arms. The new mode tasks players with getting one kill with 20 weapons. The Call to Arms expansion adds 10 new achievements to Judgment, for those of you wanting to bump up your gamerscore.

The next Gears of War: Judgment map pack, entitled "Call to Arms," will launch on April 23.

The pack includes three new maps, a new multiplayer mode called "Master of Arms," and six armor and gun skins.

The pack will cost $12.50 (1000 Microsoft Points) on its own, but is included in the $20 (1600 MSP) season pass. The pass will also cover one more similarly sized pack.

This week, we cover Gears of War: Judgment, God of War: Ascension, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, & LEGO City Undercover!

#frankenreview Gears of War has been around for a while now—seven years, with Judgment being the fourth game in the series—and it seems the franchise is not ready to slow down just yet. Most reviewers agree that the gameplay is exhilarating, the story is tight, and the war-torn world is prettier than ever. More »

Gears of War: Judgment launches tomorrow and as become the norm, a variety of pre-order items and other unlockables are on offer - both in-game and through this summary video.

Judge not, Vinny, lest ye be judged by Jeff's sawed-off shotgun.

Today is Judgment Day for Gears of War - or at least it's the day when reviews of the series' latest entry start popping up online. Once you've read our findings on how People Can Fly fared with Gears, check out some other evaluations and what they had to say.

• Destructoid (90/100): "OverRun alone is worthy of praise, but there's just so much stuff going on in this package, there's something for all followers of the series. A few of Judgment's experiments may not be as fondly received as others, but overall it's hard to complain about a game that tries so much, and succeeds in almost all its endeavors...This is Gears of War back, unquestionably, on the winning path."
• EGM (80/100): "While the emphasis on fast-paced replayability and a more intimate, nuanced narrative do wonders for Judgment's single-player campaign, the game is ultimately held back by its surprisingly meager multiplayer offering."
• Eurogamer (80/100): "Even with the pall of over-familiarity lingering over it, Gears of War: Judgment is a timely reminder that ruthless focus on gameplay, generosity towards players and good old-fashioned design craft can still pay dividends at a time when big-budget action games are at risk of fragmenting into splinters of mindless busywork. Sometimes, being a bloody good shooter is all that's required."
• Giant Bomb (60/100): "There's just enough exposition there to keep things moving and just enough of a gameplay tweak to make you wish they had made these changes two games ago. It's a fun but feature-light shooter for people who already enjoy the basic style of Gears of War. Nothing more, nothing less."

#review A good soldier doesn't always follow orders—not if they want to get the job done. Gears of War: Judgment is about those types of choices, the ones we make despite knowing they'll get us in trouble. Only, instead of focusing mostly on Marcus and Dom—possibly the most famous bros this gen—this Gears of War taps into the past of smart-aleck Baird and the always-vibrant Cole, who are the other members of your squad in the main Gears games. More »

There is a parable at the heart of Gears of War: Judgment, a tale of many people affecting the one. Though the words "Horde mode" are not to be found on its main menu, it is this revelatory multiplayer invention of Gears of War 2 that makes Gears of War: Judgment such a success.

The guiding principles and universal value of its simple proposition - you and your pals fight back against ever-encroaching waves of enemies - have been so bluntly interwoven into the campaign and multiplayer components of Gears of War: Judgment that it's impossible to miss. Horde mode helped put the Gears of War series on the map and, while the mode itself is technically absent from Gears of War: Judgment, the entire game is a learned execution of its logic.

This is the brand-new Kilo squad in the very-nearly-here Gears of War: Judgment. Well, half brand-new. Joining Baird and the Cole Train are the seasoned Sofia Hendrick and youthful Garron Paduk - hey, did you know their roles were originally reversed? You do now.

Each week, one randomly-chosen member of the Gears of War: Judgment community will wear a special multiplayer skin called the Epic Reaper - yet the ghoul is more than just a skin. The Epic Reaper has "special abilities and physics" that will make him (her? it?) "not very easy to kill," this Epic blog post notes.

In addition to the skin and whatever these special properties are, selected Reapers will get custom dog tags - everyone who kills a Reaper will unlock a special medal and weapon skin. Epic employees will also have the skin in multiplayer after launch on March 19, so if you can take one of them down, you'll get the medal and skin.

The only thing Epic Games is willing to share about the process of choosing Epic Reapers is that it will be "based on their contributions to the community." If you want to nominate someone to be chosen, you can do it on Twitter just like every other contest nowadays.

To celebrate the upcoming release of God of War: Judgment, Epic Games has released a cinematic trailer showing off what's in store.

Since several of 2012's games were delayed into 2013, "the year of the bow" carries on with Tomb Raider, Crysis 3 ... and here we have Gears of War: Judgment with a fancy crossbow. (And let's not forget the wind-up fun of the original Torque Bow.)

As "one of many parents" on Gears of War: Judgment, obviously every buck doesn't stop with scribes writers Rob Auten and Tom Bissell, but they certainly take the task of penning a plot for the Baird vehicle seriously. During a preview event last week, I asked them about the gig and how they were going to instill some drama into a franchise whose calling card is killing underground-dwelling monster men.

I am an unabashed Gears of War multiplayer fanatic.

I was immediately hooked by Gears of War and its intoxicating blend of third-person cover-based shooting. I struggled through the muddled mess that was Gears of War 2's launch, yet kept playing regardless. Gears of War 3 made up for a lot of missteps with the most solid multiplayer offering yet, and found in me a stalwart soldier for over a year.

So when Epic Games announced not only a new control scheme in Gears of War: Judgment, but a smattering of new modes and changes, I was a bit worried - as I'm sure some of you were and perhaps still are. Taking off the press cap and putting on the fan hat, I found my few hours in Gears of War: Judgment's multiplayer suite a reassuring slice of grandma's apple pie - a comfort food not entirely as I remember it, but still as rich and full of empty calories as I could hope.

Gears of War: Judgment will have a special unlockable mini-campaign taking place during the events of Gears of War 3, called Aftermath. The Aftermath campaign is an epilogue to Judgment's main story, centering on Baird, Cole and Clayton Carmine's mission to track down reinforcements before the COG invade Azura during Gears of War 3.

Senior producer at Epic Games, Alan Van Slyke, says the choice to include Aftermath is two-fold. "Aftermath is two things. One, for the Gears 3 fans who wanted more traditional Gears 3 content, it's there to satisfy them," he said. "Two, I think it gives us a chance to bookend the trilogy, so we have Cole and Baird leaving to go get reinforcements at the end of Gears 3 and we're able to build upon that. So it gives Judgment this nice additional content to be able to bookend the trilogy with something that happened right after Emergence Day prior to Gears 1, and also plays off of the traditional Gears 3 content."

Aftermath will be unlocked after players compete the main campaign in Gears of War: Judgment.

Gears of War: Judgment gets two pieces of free, downloadable content a few weeks after the game launches on March 19: The Haven multiplayer map and Execution mode, both scheduled to hit Xbox Live on April 2.

Haven is a frozen, ancient monastery in the Azura mountains, featuring an asymmetrical, circular layout with all paths leading to the center. Lead level designer Jim Brown says "nowhere is really safe" in Haven. "It makes for especially hectic Domination games because the rings are easy to access and difficult to defend."

Execution mode has players attempt to kill every member of the opposing team before time runs out, though unless hit with a one-shot-kill weapon (see: Booshka) or a follow-up execution move, enemies will enter a "Down But Not Out" state, where they will revive after a period of time. Gotta get that doubletap.

Oh, and both of these pieces of DLC are sponsored by Maxim, for some reason.

Epic Games is following in the footsteps of Gears of War 3, offering up a season pass for proposed multiplayer maps and other content in Gears of War: Judgment.

The VIP Season Pass, available for 1600 Microsoft Points ($20) when Gears of War: Judgment launches, will include six multiplayer maps, two game modes and "nine exclusive unlocks," including a permanent double XP modifier, five weapon skins and four armor skins. VIPs also get early access to add-on multiplayer maps.

The Gears of War 3 Season Pass totaled $30 and covered four different DLC installments, running the gamut from multiplayer maps to singleplayer DLC campaigns. While the VIP pass for Gears of War: Judgment is cheaper, the reduced price seems to come at the cost of singleplayer DLC.

The newest gun in the COG arsenal is the Markza, a semi-automatic mid-range rifle that we like to imagine was named after a mid-'90s rapper who spits rhymes with an over-the-top italian accent.