Gears of War: Judgement – OverRun, Multiplayer Classes, Progression and More

Gears of War 2 introduced Horde Mode, Gears of War 3 introduced Beast Mode, and now Judgement, the latest in the series will introduce a combination of the two, Overrun. Overrun introduces a concept not yet seen in a Gears of War game. Class based combat, but OverRun will also offer players progression and impose a stronger emphasis on teamwork and strategy. The game mode consists of two timed five versus five rounds, where one side defends a pair of objectives from the opposing side. Obviously the two sides are the Locust and the COG. As the COG, you’ll be protecting two sealed Emergence Holes and a Hammer of Dawn beacon. If you successfully defend the Hammer of Dawn, the round will end, blowing the Locust to smithereens. If the Locust reach the Emergence Holes and uncover them however, the COG are ripped to shreds by a flood of Kryll.

For those of you who are confused by the change in developer, this is still the same Gears of War you know and love, it’s still a third person shooter, same cover mechanics and essentially the same gameplay. I say essentially because the game offers even more action than ever before. If you’re interested in story details, please check Only SP’s article for those.

The classes will be described below in bullet form so you can compare more easily.

Baird-Engineer           (Weapons: gnasher and blowtorch, Special abilities: sentry turret, blowtorch that repairs damaged fortifications)
Cole-Soldier                (Lancer and Boomshot, deploy ammo crates, share ammo with engineers)
Sofia-Medic                (Lancer and Snub pistol, stim gas grenade, revives fallen allies)
Garron-Scout             (Longshot and snub, beacon grenade, climb perches for better sniping position)

The article describes two of the maps from the hands-on demo the team at Gameinformer got to play OverRun on. One map is set atop city rooftops and the other on a militarized island. From the description of the map from the rooftops, it sounds like it may be similar to the Rooftops map from Gears of War 1, but obviously more complex in nature, offering ventilation shafts for Tickers and more chokepoints. The island map is described as being much more “open”, with a central battlefield in the middle of the map.

As we said earlier, OverRun will offer progression for yourself, but this progression system will also expand to leveling up single characters as well. The article explains that you can level up a Ticker, for example, to become a more powerful one, or level up the medic and so on. They did not go into specifics about this progression system just yet though.

There are plenty more details in the Gameinformer article for you to read when the issue lands on your doorstep/inbox. The full article describes part of a mission from their hands on time with the game, as well as their impressions from multiplayer. One quote we will share with you however, should give you more hope in the game and relax fans that are worried about the game.

With a high-tension campaign that aims to trim the narrative fat while funneling in tons of enemies and a multiplayer mode that combines the best part of past Gears titles, Epic is set to deliver the definitive entry in the Gears of War series. Giving players new innovative challenges means shaking off the thin layer of rust and dried blood that’s formed on the series over the last six years, and some fans may feel threatened by the change. We spent hours familiarizing ourselves with the series’ new overall direction, and Epic’s prequel is shaking up humanity’s fight against the Locust in great ways. – GI Article