Gears 3: RAAM’s Shadow Review

Posted By Micah C. about 5 months ago

Gears 3: RAAM’s Shadow Review

Despite the fact that the Gears of War series is at an end with the third installment, it doesn’t mean that there can’t be side stories told of the conflict on Sera. Released on December 13^th for the Xbox 360, RAAM’s Shadow is a story campaign that serves as a prequel to the original Gears of War. As per usual, it’s time to answer the questions that often arise with downloadable content like this: What is in it, how much does it cost, and is it worth the price of entry? Well, allow me to answer these questions for you before you spend your hard-earned cash.

The setting of RAAM’s Shadow is, as I said before, prior to the events of the first Gears of War game. You play as Michael Barrick and Zeta team, which is lead by Lt. Kim from the original Gears. The team consists of the aforementioned Kim, Barrick (a character from the Gears of War comics), a younger, slimmer Tai Kaliso from Gears 2, and a new character named Alicia Valera who is voiced by Alicia Tyler. The story tells two sides simultaneously though, as you also control General RAAM and some of his elite soldiers as they prepare the way for the mass genocide of an entire city.

The story’s quality is solid for an action title. Though it’s not exactly a character driven story, it does keep a basic idea of what it wants to tell, and then molds the action around it. The thing about Epic and the Gears series is that they’ve become masters at telling a good story that allows them to blow things up in the same way that other major shooter developers do without compromising the quality of the plot. Thus, we get an airtight narrative with some great storytelling moments that don’t often break for a cutscene and a bathroom break. I often use the Predator reference with Gears, and I think it still holds true. You’ve got some cool characters that are a little more than archetype that are fun to be around, and you see them in dark scenarios fighting monsters.

For those long-time Gears fans and/or those who follow the expanded universe, you'll see some familiar faces.

The main purpose of the story, however, is to flesh out the Gears universe. What we see here is the beginning of the Locust slaughter, and there’s a reason I use the word “genocide.” These creatures are the lizard version of Nazis. They kill indiscriminately, and thus the story is very dark throughout. If you don’t like an action plot with serious moments or dark moments, you’ll hate this DLC. At the same time, you probably hate Gears for those same reasons, and should probably just walk away now. For those who enjoy this type of narrative, you’ll love it, because all the dark moments make the heroic moments and moments of success that much brighter.

Going on about developing the Gears universe, the great dialog that the series has shown throughout still applies to this downloadable content. Through regular banter between the Gears, we learn exactly what the COG is, and what life is like on Sera for these people. It’s a harsh, bloody world where death seems to be around every corner because your enemies are relentless monsters, and the government you serve is comparable to Soviet Russia. Even cooler is the fact you get to play as those aforementioned monsters. Playing as RAAM serves a point within the story, because you get to see exactly how malicious and evil these beasts are, on top of the power that they wield. Since I don’t really want to spoil what’s going on, let’s just say through him you learn the Locust military method, and see exactly how cold the Locust war machine is.

Lunch Money. Now.

Now that I’ve got all the story bits out of the way, let’s talk about the content of the DLC, considering the gameplay and presentation really haven’t changed too much. Were you to read a press release, it would sound simplistic. RAAM’s Shadow contains three and a half hours of a new campaign, six more multiplayer skins, and a few new weapons skins. Doesn’t sound like much, right? Wrong. There is quite a bit to enjoy here. The extra skins and weapons looks really are just icing on the cake. The meat of the DLC, the campaign itself, is right on par with the rest of Gears of War 3’s disc based single player.

RAAM’s Shadow is three plus hours of intense combat that gives you quite a bit of bang for your buck. Aside from the fact that you get to play as some awesome Locust units to mix things up, the scenarios that the game throws at you within the DLC are fantastic. Each new section is an action packed romp that delivers every thrill that the series has been able to give up to this date. The firefights are excellent, it’s a great little time for you and up to three more friends, and it never disappoints. The only problem is that sometimes the AI has issues, but Yousif already covered that in his review of the full title, and I’d suggest you read that review. My British friend was right on the money with it.

To close this one out, I think that the last thing that needs to be said is RAAM’s Shadow follows what should be considered the legacy of Gears of War. Though pretentious folk will make brown jokes and portray masculinity as a negative, those who see the game for what it is will see the best shooter series of this generation. RAAM’s Shadow is an excellent piece of DLC that is worth the price of entry. Most shooter expansions are sold on discs for forty bucks or more and give the same amount of content. In fact, I’d argue that this game contains as much content as Halo 3: ODST, but it’s one quarter of the cost. If you enjoy Gears of War, you need to pick up RAAM’s Shadow the minute you have the time. Then again, if you got the season pass, you get one of the best pieces of DLC I’ve played this year for free.

Kicking myself for not buying the season pass.

-Micah C.

Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow was purchased by the reviewer for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). The campaign was completed in three hours and thirty minutes, give or take.

For more Gears goodness and other such stuffs, follow Micah C on Twitter!RAD episode 230-Raam’s Shadow, 4.8 out of 5 based on 5 ratings

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