Review: Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360)

Though a little on the lean side in terms of content, Gears of War: Judgment is pretty good... provided you like third-person Halo games.

Shooters are the video-game equivalent of jazz music. To some people they seem like so much chaos and noise, and many have trouble discerning the subtleties that distinguish one work from another. Through practiced appreciation, though, the connoisseur learns to identify tightly woven patterns of structure and balance, a framework that allows seemingly minor creative changes to have a massive impact on the mood and feel of the piece. This dichotomy of chaos and order is why two games like Halo and Call of Duty can seem like interchangeable murder simulators to the layperson, whilst the expert experiences them as differently as one would a Thai massage and a colonoscopy.

The narrow chasms that differentiate shooters are especially relevant when we consider franchises and sequels. For example, the Gears of War series sets itself apart with combat that is far more deliberate and strategic than that of "twitchier" shooters like Call of Duty, while still achieving the kind of high-octane arcade flair not present in tactical shooters like Rainbow Six. However, when designing a new entry for an established franchise, developers face a dilemma: how can the game evolve, without changing so much that it becomes an entirely different kind of shooter?

PAX East 2013: Day Three

8:09 AM - Day three. Last year the third day fell on Easter, while this year we have the Game Developers Conference (GDC) starting tomorrow. We'll see which one is better at thinning the crowd; I'm guessing the latter. Either way, I hope it doesn't have a negative impact on getting to see the games I'm interested in today.

8:46 PM - It's a good thing Boston is an amoral godless Hellscape, because it means there's no traffic this fine Sunday morning and parking is a snap. The methadone clinic is still jumpin', though.

Day three. Watch out for falling ice.

PAX East 2013: Day Two

8:23 AM - Thanks to help from my wife and my mom, I'm less encumbered by child care responsibilities this morning. However, I am encumbered by getting only four hours of sleep, so I still get a later start than I intended. Still, it looks like I'm going to make it to the 10:00 panel on JRPGs.

8:54 AM - On the Common, I walk past a church group feeding a line of bundled, freezing homeless people, which makes me feel just great about how I'm planning to contribute to society with my time today. Although, it's not like these games will play themselves.

Round two. Fight!

PAX East 2013: Day One

8:42 AM - This time last PAX, I was standing in the bowels of the Boston Convention Center waiting in a gigantic line full of bizarre people for no discernible reason. This time around, parental duties required that I drop my two beautiful, screaming children off at day care before I could embark on the pilgrimage to PAX East 2013. Heading out now.

10:54 AM - Two hours, two buses, one delayed subway train, and a brisk walk later, I made it to PAX. The expo floor is in full swing. I'd love to head straight to the indie games, but there's a game journalism panel I'd like to check out, so I trek the half mile down the BCEC to the Sphinx theater.

12:51 PM - The independent games journalism panel was decent, though largely the message could have been conveyed just as well by the immortal words of Fleetwood Mac: "Go Your Own Way". HipHopGamer was definitely a highlight of the talk, though. Now I'm finally down on the expo floor checking out the indie games.

PAX East's expo floor. If it looks overwhelming, that's because it is.

PAX East 2013 Starts Tomorrow!

I can't believe that nearly a year has passed since I abandoned my family for the Easter holiday to attend my first gaming expo, PAX East 2012. This time the good folks at Penny Arcade have taken the less blasphemous approach of not attempting to be "bigger than Jesus", which means that although I'll have a tougher time dodging the annual family ham-and-guilt session next week, the good news is that PAX East 2013 starts tomorrow!

If you've ever been to a Penny Arcade Expo before, you know what a great experience it is. Tomorrow morning I'm heading over to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for three intense days of impressive game demonstrations, informative and entertaining panels, and the friendliest bunch of weirdos you've ever met. I'll be live blogging all day every day, so keep coming back to the site to see what's going on at PAX!

You can check out the schedule of events for PAX East 2013 here. If you think there's something I should check out, note it in the comments, hit me up on Facebook, or send me a message on Twitter!