14 DAY TRIAL // The team working on Gears of War: Judgment at Epic Games says that they were influenced by the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre in the creation of the OverRun mode and that they want to see the eSports community use the new multiplayer options.
Quinn DelHoyo, the multiplayer lead working on Gears of War: Judgment, is quoted by VG247 as saying that, “In our game, we decided to have two lanes on all the OverRun maps. You have a left and a right lane to make the combat focused and intense and fast paced. That was one of the influences we had in making the game.”
The third-person perspective used in Gears of War also makes it easy for gamers to act as spectators and simply observe how the game progresses.
DelHoyo adds, “with the monsters that are in OverRun with the Locusts and all the other classes that are easily defined, someone that’s commentating or casting could easily hypothesize, predict what is going to happen. And that builds the drama and the intensity that people that watch sports or eSports really enjoy.”
Simply creating mechanics that have been inspired by MOBA does not mean that a game will be adopted by the eSports community, although publisher Microsoft has the marketing muscle required to organize tournaments and promote Gears of War: Judgment in this new area.
The game is designed as a prequel, taking gamers back to the dark days when the Locusts first attacked humanity as they try, once more, to rally friendly forces and escape the onslaught.
Epic Games has promised a mix of solid third-person shooter mechanics and interesting narrative for the new Gears of War, as well as an expansion of multiplayer options.
Gears of War: Judgment is set to launch on March 19 exclusively on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.