After youвЂ™ve done either one a single time, playing as the Locust begins to lose its allure. You can play as General RAAM himself during a few short sequences throughout the campaign, but his only two options are to stab and command Krill. Remember when Berserkers used to be a frightening spectacle? In RAAMвЂ™s Shadow you just hide behind a parked car and shoot them for 10 minutes until they die. Even the boss battles are poorly integrated. The five-chapter campaign will last roughly three hours, but I was repeatedly bludgeoned by dense boredom long before that. The emergence holes (from which waves of Locust enemies emerge), which had seen less and less usage as the Gears of War franchise pressed on, return with a vengeance here.

Rather than the relatively dynamic, glowie-filled battles in Gears of War 3, RAAMвЂ™s Shadow is comprised primarily of repetitive room-clearing and tedious, uninspired shootouts. Gameplay not only remains largely unchanged, it actually seems to have regressed a bit. Expanded universe scholars will likely be wondering what a woman is even doing on the battlefield rather than at a birthing creche at this point in the timeline, but donвЂ™t expect an answer within the game. Lastly, Alicia Valera is such an undeveloped throwaway character, she could literally be replaced by a cardboard cutout and no one would notice. If Epic was going for a sort of tribal, spiritual being that occasionally broadcasts his deep contemplation of the world, they missed their target by several miles. He doesnвЂ™t speak much, but when he does, itвЂ™s the most ignorant, nonsensical garbage imaginable. Worse yet, Tai has to be, hands-down, the most poorly written character in the entire Gears of War universe, which is saying a lot for a universe filled with poorly written everything.

It seems like an inexplicable blow to longtime fans looking forward to KimвЂ™s return.

For whatever reason, the balding, grumpy Barrick takes center stage, sidelining the more prominent (and decidedly less obnoxious) Lt. ItвЂ™s with the handling of these characters that the DLCвЂ™s issues begin. Minh Kim, Tai Kaliso, and two additional characters to round out the ill-fated Zeta Squad: Michael Barrick from the Gears of War comic books, and newcomer Alicia Valera. Occurring some time after Emergence DayвЂ“ the apocalyptic invasion of the subterranean Locust horde - and before the events of the first Gears title, RAAMвЂ™s Shadow sees the return of not only the locust general for which it was named, but also Lt. Three top investment pros open up about what it takes to get your video game funded.

Valera gears of war