OXM Review - RAAM's Shadow

Gears of War has always flirted with the status of a serious wartime drama, somersaulting around the edges of shell-shocked tragedy like a man trying to land a kill with a sawed-off shotgun.

Famously, that back-and-forth is built right into the aesthetic. Epic's characters are hulking, worn-edged slabs of shouty machismo, but the world they fight for is an evocative neo-classical ruin, all fluting iron and damaged marble.

The switch-ups in tone can be breath-taking. You'll be shaking your head dutifully at some or other outburst of testosterone, and then, without warning - a city full of ash corpses that flake away to nothing at the slightest touch. Or a man tortured to the point of suicide. It's troublesome yet oddly charming, as though the writers were falling under the art team's mournful spell.

Set during the initial Locust assault on Sera's humans, Gears of War 3 DLC pack RAAM's Shadow presents an opportunity to get to grips with these lingering ghosts, tracing the trilogy's sporadically manifest war trauma to its root. A three-hour jaunt through the beleagured city of Ilima, it features Gears of War 2's Tai and the original's Lieutenant Kim - characters responsible for some of the trilogy's darkest moments - along with a playable General RAAM. But it's an opportunity Epic squanders.

Also starring the cigar-chewing Barrick and new character Valeria, the pack's Zeta Squad is a joyless, depthless grab-bag of nods to games past. The humourless Kim's personal struggle with RAAM ought to be the lynchpin, building up to the events of Gears 1, but it's only really played upon in the final cutscene. Valeria is a cipher whose sole contribution to the plot is shoving somebody out of the way, and Tai is basically Legolas from Lord of the Rings, trotting out pseudo-spiritual one-liners in the blindingly obvious vein. (Epic does, in fairness, try to have fun with this, but too often there's a sense that you're meant to take him seriously.)

Next to this parade of non-entities, Delta Squad looks like something out of Mass Effect. Above all, you begin to realise just how much Gears needs Marcus Fenix to bring everything together, his scowling, cynical tenacity bridging the gap between pulp silliness and melancholy. Similarly out of love with the Coalition of Organised Governments, Barrick has a try at being surrogate Fenix, but fudges it by leering over Valera's arse.

None of this would matter hugely if the battling stood up to what's come before, but RAAM's Shadow feels watered-down here too. It dances to the same beat as the Gears 3 campaign - alternating interior with exterior play, corridor crawls with arena battles - but the components don't flow together convincingly, and the set pieces lack inspiration. Enemy and cover distribution rarely gets you thinking hard; most of the bigger battles can be won by peek-shooting, while confined brawls are a mess of repeat revivals and shotgun jousting.

Four player co-op is supported, but where the main campaign managed to make room without losing coherence and personality, RAAM's Shadow spreads its props too thin. The levels themselves feel like they're cobbled together from old parts (they probably are), though the school you visit an hour in has its moments. The pack's taste for grid-built layouts becomes an asset here, giving rise to some Escher-esque flourishes; at one point, discoloured ceiling tiles taper disconcertingly into the distance. Shame all this occurs in the context of another find-the-Wretch episode.

After mincing Grubs for a few in-game hours, it's refreshing to step into the shoes of the all-powerful RAAM - his quest to fill Ilima with Seeders and, thus, Kryll runs parallel to Zeta's refugee hunt, the perspective shifting from one to the other. Accompanied by a pair of souped-up Maulers and an Elite Theron Guard (controlled by co-op partners, should you have any), RAAM makes short work of COG resistance on anything below Insane difficulty.

It's a paper-thin gambit, however, a series of glorified Beast Mode matches without the fortifications or complex layouts. RAAM has two offensive abilities - a charging knife execution, and a Kryll shield that doubles as a remote-controlled missile - and they get old fast. By the third swipe at the idea, you're ready to let go.

A meaty final battle against Reavers in the heart of a Kryll swarm can't sponge away the blandness that soaks the whole. Nor can the token addition of some new multiplayer characters and weapon skins, or a top-down targeting mode for the Hammer of Dawn.

We can generally overlook a bit of going-through-the-motions in campaign add-ons, but not when the add-on in question mishandles the backstory of a trilogy that defined a genre. Though serviceable, RAAM's Shadow never does its own premise justice.

6/10

Hmmm, sounds like a missed opportunity. Can't say I am fussed, I am getting it as part of the season pass so will be giving this a blast regardless of opinion

supposed to be aronud 3gb to down this big sucker will have to delete something
the chievis are already on your stats page

I played this last night and enjoyed it - playing as RAAM was good fun as you can just walk through the COG with him.

Killswitchmad wrote:Barrick has a try at being surrogate Fenix, but fudges it by leering over Valera's arse.

I did notice this part last night and given that Barrick looks old enough to be her grandad, it seemed crude to me.

On the whole, it was a good piece of DLC but I don't think I would have been so happy with it if I had paid full price for it.

Im gonna be holding off on this until the price drops as I didnt get the season pass. I think Gears is gonna be in and out of mine and everyone else machine for some time to come yet so im in no rush but ill be getting it regardless even if only to expand on the gears story as a whole

Its definitely worth getting Steve but if you are happy to wait then I would keep an eye out for a price drop - they did it with the Gears 2 DLC so no reason why later down the line they do it with Gears 3