Sometimes superstar developers need a break. When a big-name franchise requires a breather (and ample development time) between numbered sequels but a publisher can’t wait three years to squeeze a little more lucre out of its cash cow, the offshoot side story is born. Most of the time, as with Gears of War: Judgment, development is handed off to a new studio (People Can Fly, in this case) to sink or swim on its own merits. It’s a hit-and-miss strategy: a success like Call of Duty: Black Ops can launch a new sub-franchise while a dud like Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City can weaken the brand.

Gears of War: Judgment ends up falling somewhere in-between. A prequel to the third-person-shooter series set right after Emergence Day (approximately 14 years before the events of the first Gears), Judgment isn’t about the initial attack by the Locust threat, which might’ve made for a more interesting story. Instead, it picks up a short time after the invasion. The plot centers on Kilo Squad, a COG troop led by the brash Damon Baird and former celebrity Thrashball player Augustus “Cole Train” Cole — two mainstays of Delta Team in the main series — and introduces two new soldiers: fresh-faced cadet Sofia Hendrik and grizzled soldier Garron Paduk.

In the opening cinematic, the members of Kilo Squad have been arrested by the COG military for doing something so horrendous, so unthinkable that commanding officer Colonel Ezra Loomis convenes a military tribunal immediately, even as the courthouse is being shelled and Locust hordes bang on the doors. What awful thing did they do to be tried for their crimes in the midst of all-out war? As each soldier testifies, you’ll play through six chapters told (and played) from their point of view of the events that led up to this point. While this storytelling approach is rife with possibilities — Do they disagree? Remember things differently? Commit war crimes? — the result is simply playing as a different character in each chapter.

The freshly devastated environments of Halvo Bay highlight how the Unreal Engine can still squeeze more power out of the Xbox 360.

Take out the Grub rider before concentrating fire on his Bloodmount. It’s still dangerous, but it can’t shoot a gun.

As it turns out, Colonel Loomis is a world-class jerk. The testimony (and gameplay) focuses on Kilo Squad’s pursuit of Locust uber-baddie General Karn, the commander of grub forces who orchestrated Emergence Day, before he can destroy Halvo Bay. But for all Loomis’ bravado in punishing Kilo Squad, their “crime” — disobeying orders and employing an experimental Lightmass missile — is as tepid as the action in most of the levels.

Judgment’s campaign offers a dutiful tour through the formerly beautiful, now ruined city: you take cover to fend off waves of the Horde, defend escorts (like a robot drone), pick off snipers wielding OneShot rifles, and essentially go through the paces of what you expect from a Gears of War game — without that extra burst of creativity, surprises, and multiple routes that made Gears of War 3’s campaign stand out. Judgment offers a linear, largely boss-less, by-the-numbers journey that, while fun, is surprising in how unsurprising it is.

A few new features separate Judgment from its predecessors, though, such as the star-based progress meter for each mission; it awards stars based on kills, executions, and completing mission objectives, encouraging you to replay missions to earn all the stars, which will unlock medals, ribbons, Achievements, and skins.

Shown here in the campaign, the Corpser’s thick hide and ability to tunnel underground for surprise attacks make it a nearly unstoppable Horde class in OverRun mode.