E3 2012 Gears of War: Judgment puts Baird in charge of your squad

Damon Baird is known as the jokester in Gears of War’s Delta Squad. Nobody survives as long as he has on Sera, going toe-to-toe with Locusts and Lambent, unless they’re a pretty tough SOB. Rod Fergusson, Epic Games’ Director of Production, told Spike TV that polls show Baird was the trilogy’s most popular male character. The first three games had done a good job fleshing out the backstories of Marcus Fenix, Augustus Cole and Dom Santiago. The next logical step was to give the people what they want: more Baird.

Gears of War: Judgment is a prequel, set 15 years before the events of the first game. Baird and his best friend Cole are members of Kilo Squad. They’re being tried for treason after Baird uses some desperation tactics to fend off the Locust Horde. Epic Games wants you to remember the first time you encountered the grubs, and be scared of them all over again.

They’ll be getting help from People Can Fly, the gang that brought us Bulletstorm. There are no more games planned for that series, but Epic wanted to keep using these talented people. People Can Fly are helping put together Overrun mode, a new take on multiplayer. Gears‘ Horde Mode, which pits a single group against a never-ending army of bad guys, has become an industry standard for shooters. Gears 3 introduced Beast Mode, which reversed the roles and put you in control of the Locusts. Overrun will combine the two, as teams alternate while defending and attacking objectives. It’s also class-based, allowing for an even greater level of strategy.

Gears of War: Judgment is coming in 2013.

Read [Game Informer]