Xbox One S Gears of War Deep Blue Hardware

Game Info

Platform Xbox 1

Publisher Microsoft Studios

Developer The Coalition

Release Date Vacation 2016

Annotation: portions of this review previously appeared in our pre-review bank check-in with Gears of War 4 in September.

Gears of War 4 is about home and family unit.

That might sound weird. Gears of State of war every bit a series has dealt with accusations of hyper-masculine excess and an emphasis on gore and violence since it was commencement announced more than than 10 years ago. And it's not that those observations are incorrect, exactly — the characters have always been larger than life, the men in detail wide and heavy, and the violence of the series has always been extreme and enthusiastic. Simply beneath or even in parallel to that aspect, there's always been consistent themes of friendship, of relationships of support and camaraderie that would seem corny in virtually other games but, somehow, piece of work in Gears of War for a passionate fanbase.

New Gears developer The Coalition's job with Gears of State of war four is many-fold. To bring the series back to relevancy 5 years later on it final had an impact; to serve equally a standard-bearer for the Xbox platform; to legitimately lay claim to a holding started past another studio. And, perhaps, to do something fresh with a series that seemed to reach its logical endpoint.

Oh, and to make a great video game.

The Coalition doesn't succeed on all fronts. Gears of War four at times seems to have more than ideas than information technology has time or bandwidth to explore. This oftentimes results in a game that feels like a refined reboot rather than something truly new or different. Only Gears of War 4 serves as an effective statement of intent, bringing Gears frontwards and competing with the modern vanguard of competitive shooters.

It'due south also a hell of a lot of fun.

As Gears of War four begins, decades have passed since the human race narrowly survived the Locust War (with a tight, playable history lesson that gives a brief timeline of events). After the events of Gears of State of war 3, the Locust threat was over, and humanity began to rebuild.

The line running through Gears of War iv is family

The survivors of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or Cog, live in cities closely supervised by a regime with a tight grip in place. This is partly to ensure the survival of a human race almost snuffed out past the Locust War — the world is full of propaganda that tells its story, like books and posters espousing the heroism and service of convenance for the future of the species. Notwithstanding, some survivors alive outside the walls of big, robot-built cities at odds with the Cog, engaging in raids on sure Cog storehouses for supplies and living in a country of cold-ish war.

Sitting somewhere between these factions is J.D. Fenix and his best friend Del Walker, who have gone AWOL from the Cog and joined an outsider grouping with their friend Kait Diaz. But when a mysterious new threat invades their settlement and steals abroad their friends and family unit, J.D and his companions go to the merely neutral party they can think of to find help — J.D.'southward father and Gears of State of war protagonist Marcus Fenix.

Gears of State of war four is a more than focused, less sprawling story than the last few entries, following the three friends through the forests and ruins of Former Sera as they endeavor to discover their friends and family. Information technology feels more action-horror than activity sci-fi, and it can exist every bit enthusiastically violent as previous games — sometimes even more so, as there's fifty-fifty more combat chatter than before and J.D. is a less morose lead than Marcus ever was. But the line running through Gears 4 is, as I mentioned before, family. A lot of time is spent exploring the strained relationship between Marcus and his son, with a lot of perspective on both sides of the equation.

Meanwhile, Kait's relationship with her mother Reyna and uncle Oscar gets some infinite to grow and develop equally well. And J.D., Del and Kait'southward relationship likewise gets a lot of room to develop and grow — it's not a two-style street the way it ofttimes was in previous Gears games. If anything, my chief grapheme thwarting is Del, who gets piddling in the way of any character backstory or history, other than beingness childhood friends with J.D. and having a less contentious human relationship with Marcus.

The game's overarching story is more effective than its predecessors or fifty-fifty near other action games in recent memory, in office considering information technology's comparatively simple. J.D., Cait and Del want to get their friends dorsum, and they're following breadcrumbs to do it. I also appreciated modest touches elsewhere, similar small story moments that are optionally triggered that in turn bear on later conversations slightly. Information technology's not game-changing, merely it was a squeamish affect.

Gears of War four's story and character time works besides as information technology does for several reasons. The writing is matter-of-fact, fugitive over-stoicism and as well overwrought fluff for the nigh role. Information technology likewise helps that Gears of War four is stunning. It'southward easily the best looking game on Xbox 1, and a number of brightly lit daylight environments in addition to a flood of color everywhere else, particularly deep reds and greens, remove the "muddy" and "monochromatic" qualifiers that were often flung at the original Gears of State of war and its sequels. From kinetic setpieces that experience ripped from action adventure franchises similar Uncharted to quieter moments often pierced by brilliant storms in the distance, Gears of War 4 stands side by side to whatever other release this year.

But unlike many other action games, Gears of War 4 allows yous time to explore spaces without fighting. Encounters can often exist spaced autonomously by minutes, rather than seconds, and non unremarkably by cutscenes. The Gears of State of war series has always been good at this, but The Coalition takes things a step farther, often throwing red herrings your way about when a fight might break out. Previously, cover objects placed strategically always meant a fight was about to outset. In Gears of War 4, the game might just be fucking with your head. It leads to a more refined just clearly present sense of combat tension.

When that combat breaks out, Gears of War 4 strikes a strong balance of familiarity and experimentation. If yous've played other Gears of War games, then the basics should be piece of cake. Yous'll demand to rely on embrace-based gunplay and smart, strategic positioning throughout each combat scenario. Move is incredibly polish, and Gears of State of war 4 feels like a natural evolution of the series that began modern in-game cover systems every bit we know them — even if Gears of State of war four is a articulate step back from its immediate predecessor in ane notable regard, as campaign co-op play only supports two players.

It was easy to fall back into quondam musculus memory and capeesh how sophisticated Gears' combat is. The active reload system is a subtle but constant consideration in firefights with real furnishings in-game, for case. Companion AI is greatly improved from previous games — I rarely felt screwed or boxed in by my computer-controlled teammates, which is such a common problem in games with AI partners that its minimal presence here is worth noting.

Gears of War 4 also refines and expands on the sense of button, pull and defend at work in combat scenarios. I felt less prophylactic sitting in any ane spot for more than a few moments, considering there are so many enemies with means of overwhelming a position, whether through raw physical violence or weapons that circumvent any site-specific protection.

The new antagonists in Gears 4 underline this. DBs, automated robotic enforcers commanded past the COG government as a pacification force, are markedly different than previous Gears enemies. Their patterns of aggression are very different from the wilier Locust of previous games (and the time I spent shooting at the new monstrous antagonists the Swarm). They fight in waves and take piddling sense of self-preservation for the nigh part, which they make upwardly for by taking a lot of hits and, in the case of larger foes, suicidal rushes once they've striking a certain damage threshold.

The Swarm has their ain sense of give and have, and their biological science has interesting effects on the battlefield. Many are built-in from fleshy pods around the globe, which can be used equally embrace — only if the pod takes likewise much impairment, it volition outburst. If you're lucky, that pod will be empty. If you're not, things might go a lot more interesting in a hurry.

As a upshot of all of this, Gears of State of war iv feels more agile than other third-person shooters, including its predecessors. Ecology factors are also a much bigger element this time around. In the aftermath of the previous Gears games' campaign against the Locust and the near destruction of the planet of Sera, the atmosphere is in a state of revolt, resulting in powerful and destructive windstorms. In-game, this has various effects, from the corrective — i.e., lots of rustling of vegetation and foliage, which looks great, but doesn't do much — to the more than dramatic in terms of its effect on game mechanics. Wind tin grow violently strong, which in plough affects projectile weapons like Boomshots and grenades. In stronger weather, y'all tin can really destroy some support structures to trigger environmental violence on your enemies (or yourself, if yous're not careful).

All of these factors are woven together into a game that is, at a basic level, a joy to play. The guns are differentiated and interesting, each with its ain quirks and utilise cases, and the feedback loop of shooting and hitting your target and nailing an active reload and shooting more than is incredibly strong. Gears of War iv could be far less complex in its environment design and enemy behaviors and it would notwithstanding be fun to shoot things. There are even multiple dominate fights in the game that are not miserable guessing games punctuated by death, which nearly every other shooter beats its head against.

Just non every idea is successful. The huge battlefields that ofttimes defined Gears of State of war 3 are replaced by smaller arenas. This doesn't brand the Gears of War 4 less fun — at that place are a lot of bang-up firefights waiting to happen, and big, fun moments. But it can't help merely feel scaled back, which, in a sequel, can exist a hard thing to reconcile.

I could likewise encounter spots where The Coalition seemingly thought virtually adding major new mechanics and enemy dynamics but drew back. For example, subsequently in the game, there's one scene where DBs are fighting the Swarm, and when you become involved, it becomes a 3-fashion battle. Simply this never happens again. Similarly, a cutscene shows a baroque interaction between a item kind of Swarm beast and a certain type of DB, but the thread is dropped and never picked back up over again. And at a few points in the game, attempts are made to fold in elements of Horde mode, Gears of War's wave-based survival staple, but these are arguably just successful one-half the time, and business relationship for around 30-twoscore minutes of a game that took me eight-and-a-half hours to play to completion on the second-highest difficulty setting.

The Coalition/Microsoft Studios

The Horde hooks in question are directly related to the manner's movable construction unit, chosen the Fabricator. The fabricator is office of The Coalition's play to re-take the crown for best cooperative mode in an arena Gears franchise is arguably responsible for creating. The ability to build emplacements and a new economy attribute add a great opportunity for experimentation and improvisation by teams.

Horde 3.0 (because it's the third iteration) is nearly everything I could retrieve of wanting from this kind of manner by virtue of its economy and edifice. That said, I'thou non totally sold on Horde 3.0'southward new class system. It'south full of good ideas, but the dynamics feel off. Engineers are extremely useful, scouts (who get double points for free energy collected from fallen enemies when it's deposited before a wave is cleared) are required, and everyone else feels like a mishmash of overlapping roles with different weapon spawns. The absence of support classes outside of the engineer prevents other players from having a ways of success that isn't linked directly to the enemies they kill, and also an absence of variety of thespian adequacy in a style where a single session could final hours.

Hours long sessions aren't a bad matter. It's going to exist like shooting fish in a barrel to dump fourth dimension into Horde, both considering it'southward a naturally fun iteration of a game with actually strong mechanics and enemy design, and because of the role player progression systems in place. The card upgrades are also interesting, though I'm not sure how the interest of in-app purchases will effect them — The Coalition doesn't seem overly concerned, since Horde isn't a competitive mode.

But virtually importantly, Horde three.0 offers what so many cooperative modes in other games — and even the campaigns of many other shooters — often fail to provide: animate room. And not just the thirty seconds between waves, either. Horde three.0 escalates, but it also resets somewhat subsequently each boss wave, assuasive the game to ramp back upwardly after moments that experience particularly climactic. It takes a suspension from kicking the crap out of you, and that keeps Horde'southward tension from tipping into exhaustion, at least until you fail a moving ridge a few times.

As for competitive multiplayer, as e'er, information technology will take time for Gears of State of war 4 to show whether or non information technology has the legs to keep an audience and build a community. But the ingredients are there, and information technology feels similar The Coalition is off to a bang-up kickoff. The decision to bump Gears of War iv's frame rate in multiplayer to sixty frames per second, over the campaign'south 30 fps, offers specific improvements to the game's controls and responsiveness (which were already pretty slap-up). In return, Gears 4 is the best-playing multiplayer in the series. Twitch response is dramatically improved, and there are fewer moments where death feels similar information technology came because you couldn't plow in time.

The maps I've spent time with so far have a skillful mix of cover points and line of sight, and there nearly ever seems to be an opportunity for strategic movement and positioning. I'grand more concerned with the number of modes Gears of War 4'due south multiplayer is trying to focus on. It's non that anything in particular is badly implemented. Arms Race is a fun gimmick for people who liked Gun Game in the Call of Duty games. Dodgeball — where each player has a single life, but is "tagged" back into the friction match when a member of the other team dies — is inspired, and leads to some great back-and-forth stories. But I wonder how many of those modes volition be live a few months after the game launches, and whether that diverseness might injure the community's ability to coagulate effectually specific game types and grow from there.

Microsoft and The Coalition take also committed to an ambitious, if confusing, DLC plan where new maps volition be free of charge for all content in most circumstances — offline existence the exception. It would announced that Gears of War 4 and the Coalition are following Halo 5 and developer 343's atomic number 82 with an aggressive post-release update schedule of new content, which should bode well for the game's longer-term prospects.

Wrap Up:

Gears of War 4 is a remarkably complete package.

When I was finished with Gears of War four's campaign, I remember wondering why it didn't do more. The next morning, I was playing the game again, not out of obligation, but because I wanted to. Taken all together, Gears of War 4 doesn't completely reinvent the genre, and it's not ever "bigger." But it's a remarkably consistent, complete package with the kind of refinement and focus few other games can manage, providing excellent solo, cooperative, and competitive options that rank it equally one of the all-time activeness games of 2016.

Gears of War was reviewed in part at an event held at The Coalition'south Vancouver offices over the grade of three days in September, as well as time spent with a pre-release "retail" Xbox code provided by Microsoft. The game was played alternately on a Windows x PC and Xbox One S. Y'all can find additional information about Polygon's ethics policy hither.

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