SDCC: More fun times with GoW: Judgment’s Overun mode

Gears of War: Judgment is bringing with it a new multiplayer mode called Overrun. It’s a first for Gears as the mode focuses on class-based gameplay, with a major focus on teamwork. While I dug what I played at E3, it turns out there’s a lot more to it than I previously thought.

Epic showed off a full version of the gametype during Comic-Con, which sees COG players defending multiple objective points against the Locust. We played on a new map called Island, and it looked to be at least three times the size of the Rooftop map we last saw. Both maps, by the way, are based on levels from the main campaign.

The Locust team needs to destroy an objective point defended by the COG team within a set amount of time. If they succeed, a new section of the map opens with a new objective on the line. There’s a total of three sections to the map, each with its own point that needs to be defended or destroyed. COG soldiers will get some minor assistance further into a level as more fortifications get put into place. Granted, fortification meant nothing to me as I wrecked things up with the Corpser on the Locust side.

The Locust players will get to use Tier 2 type characters once they’ve gotten enough points. They’re all basically overpowered and pretty awesome. I’m not the best Gears player, but when I realized I could just destroy everything with the Corpser, I ended up using him over and over.

The Corsper has a special ability where he can dig underground, letting him bypass fences and destroy obstacles directly above his path. Once above ground, the Corpser has these powerful claws that he can slam into opponents, usually killing them instantly.

Admittedly, it’s very overpowered and the other team was quick to abuse the Corpser themselves once we had to switch sides for the next round. Overall, the match took around 15 to 20 minutes on each side, with the game ending in a draw.

While I did like the Tier 2 Locust characters as they were, I do hope they get properly balanced in the final product. There needs to be some better limitations on how much players can use them. Otherwise, teams of Corpsers can easily dominate and destroy every time.

All in all, Overrun is simply a blast to play. Like Horde mode before it, I wonder how soon other games will try to mimic Overrun once they see the potential — it’s a great way to break up the monotony of traditional shooter games.