E-Day. Any fan of the Gears of War series will know the meaning that word. For those who don't, that was the day the Locust declared war against humanity. The Pendulum Wars has barely ended and the world already had to head back into the fight to face a new, even deadlier threat they will ever meet. On Emergence Day (otherwise known as E-Day) 1/3 of Sera's population was already killed by the grubs, no one was safe.
This is the biggest expansion pack that Epic has made for the series and goes in a whole new direction that they have never done before. Instead of playing as series protagonist Marcus Fenix, we step into the role of Michael Barrick, a seasoned Gear and member of Zeta Squad, who's mission is two evacuate Illima City before the locust launch their Kryll Storm throughout the entire skyline.
Their biggest problem is that General RAAM, the biggest, baddest and most brutal Locust to ever live is the one coordinating the attack. For the first time in Gears of War, we spend time fighting as the grubs, and none other than the Locust General himself.
RAAM is definitely the highlight of this DLC. Standing at ten feet tall, this monster can summon his kryll shield to attack COG soldiers and have them torn to shreds, can charge at an enemy and impale him like the retro-lancer, only the execution will be almost instant and much more painful. He even has his own execution, grabbing a downed enemy by the head (with only one arm by the way), decapitates him and tosses his head over his shoulder for good luck.
However the campaign is still 4 player co-op. The second player will control the Theron Elite who is almost as fun as RAAM. While he carries a torque bow and gorgon pistol, he also has a special sawed off shotgun with a bayonet where he impales you, then blasts you in half with a shot from the gun. He also has his own special ink grenade that summons kryll to decimate enemies. The other two will control Elite Maulers, while slow and have no gun, carries a special boomshield that can reflect bullets and their mace has a huge area of effect. The Mauler is the least fun out of the three do to being ridiculously slow and lack of a gun, however watching a COG gib himself from his own shotgun shells is pretty damn funny.
The Campaign was fun in its entirety with the new weapons, characters, and even playing as a life sized RAAM for once, and is even funner with friends. The bosses were new and challenging and it was beautiful seeing Seran architecture before the gripes of war took toll. But it's not all just campaign. There are six new multiplayer skins including Zeta squad, RAAM and his Theron Elite, a chocolate weapon skin pack and ten new achievements. Which is a lot for only 15 dollars, definitely worth the purchase.
RAAM's Shadow Review: 9/10
