When a gaming franchise like Gears of War becomes a blockbuster, a lot of good can come from it; new mechanics, new standards, in short - the entire industry benefits. Of course, there are downsides, like the fact that every developer wants to create a clone. Most of these clones are bad, others are terrible - and then there's The Scourge Project episodes one and two. When you first hear about the European developed shooter, everything sounds impressive, but somewhere down the line, something goes wrong, very wrong.

In The Scourge Project, you take control of Echo Squad, which isn't like Delta Squad from Gears of War at all, no way. Echo Squad is essentially a group of hired mercenaries that's been paid to take out an evil corporation that's doing evil experiments. Just how do you know they're evil? Why, because the game says so of course. Little to no attention is paid to the story, and we never really find out why. As a result, you find yourself having a tough time to care about pretty much anything that happens in the game.

"...every action feels sluggish and harder than it should."

A terrible story with literally no progression is usually able to be swept under the rug for a game with high quality action. Too bad for The Scourge Project that this too is rather uninspired. Much like Epic Games blockbuster shooter, The Scourge Project is a third person, cover based shooter, but unlike Gears, it doesn't feature any of the polish or fun. One of the best parts of either of the Gears of War games is just how fun it is to do the game's most simple actions, like running, diving and shooting. In The Scourge Project all of these actions are clunky and not fun in the very least. Somehow, every action feels sluggish and harder than it should.

There is good news though, The Scourge Project features fully functional 4-player co-op support. Oh, don't get confused, it doesn't make the game any more fun; it just keeps some of the game's terrible AI at bay, at least a bit. It's not uncommon that you'll be trying to clear a section only to witness one of your computer controller squad-mates go running like an idiot through the line of fire - and guess who has to go out there and save them? Your squad mates have little intention to help your cause if they have to move more than fifty feet. What results is one really long babysitting experience. Yay.

"It's an un-fun and unbalanced mess."

There are a few other issues with the co-op, like the fact that even if you're playing with a full squad, you can only communicate with one other person at a time. Oh, and then there's the little fact that there's never enough people on line to do a full game. Of course, there are also 16 player competitive modes to be found in The Scourge Project - but they're just as bad as their cooperative brethren. Each match basically plays out like this: everyone races to get the best gun, and then consequently runs from the person who gets it. It's an un-fun and unbalanced mess. Surprised?

You know what my biggest complaint about The Scourge Project: Episodes 1 and 2 is? It's that last part. Episodes 1 and 2. The title suggests that if you wanted to only buy one episode, that's possible, it gives it an epic feeling, like the adventure within is too big for just one episode. But then you realize, you can't buy the episodes separately. What the hell.

Look, I'm going to come right out and say it - don't buy The Scourge Project. Don't even consider it. Epic Games just released the Gears of War triple pack, which features three (different) games that are all miles ahead of this clumsy disaster.