Gears of War 4 Review

A different step in a familiar direction.
Gears of War 4, review

Every 10 waves, players will have to survive a Boss Wave which pits teams against the toughest enemies that both enemy factions have to offer. Some of the most entertaining moments in Gears 4’s Horde, these are where all of that Power you’ve accumulated, all of the defenses you’ve placed, and any tactics your team has schemed all (hopefully) pay off. If you do manage to make it through several Pouncers and a giant DeeBee warship, it starts all over again, but with your enemies benefiting from buffs that increase their numbers, health, and damage output.

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One of Horde’s biggest changes is its five classes, ranging from an Engineer with the ability to repair your defenses, to a Heavy focused on dealing huge damage to the enemy forces. While these archetypes certainly change Horde up from previous times around, most of them – excluding the aforementioned Engineer and the Scout who can pick up Double Energy during combat – felt too similar in terms of their significance to the team. In fact, their passive abilities, a slot typically used to fundamentally define the class, are simply the different weapons they start with. Considering you can pick weapons up off the floor or purchase news ones from the Fabricator at any point, it’s difficult to sell these three classes’ unique benefits. They may alter the way the first few waves play out, but when it all gets hectic, many will have long abandoned their starting weapons and wish they had opted for the Engineer or Scout classes and their more useful abilities. A class system works in some games, but it doesn’t feel like the right fit for Horde.

Each class also has a set number of Skills which you’ll unlock through Skill Cards found in Gear Packs. You’ve only got a limited number of slots for Skill Cards, so ensuring you pick the ones that compliment your style of play and those of your teammates is important when taking on the tougher rounds.

Despite the lackluster classes, if you get a group of friends together, Horde 3.0 is just as fun as ever. Building fortifications in perfect places, ensuring they don’t get destroyed, and taking down enemy forces makes for one lively experience, and one you’ll burn through hours at a time.

Rounding off the Gears of War 4 experience are the three modes of Versus multiplayer – Dodgeball, Arms Race, and Escalation. Dodgeball adopts the same kind of rules as the sport: you die, you’re out; if an ally takes down an enemy, they can bring you back in. This results in hectic flip-flopping of matches and the mode is one I can see becoming a fan favorite. Arms Race, on the other hand, is essentially Call of Duty’s Gun Game brought to the Gears of War world. When your team reaches three kills, the game will automatically put a new weapon in your hands and task you with grabbing another three. Victory goes to the first team to get three kills with all of the different weapons.

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Escalation is The Coalition’s game mode for competitive play. There are three rings on the map that award its controlling team with points. The first team to 210 points wins the round, and first to win seven rounds wins the match. The twist in the tail comes at the end of each round. The highest scoring player on the losing team gets to place a power weapon of their choice at a certain position on the map and forcing a choice. Do you go for the rings to get more points, or pick up the weapon and have more stopping power to take and defend them?

At the halfway point, the ring positions are moved and the power weapons are wiped from the map, ensuring the same tactics can’t be used to dominate an entire match. Out of all of the modes I played, Escalation was possibly my favorite and will most likely be the one that players spend most of their time in thanks to its potential to rack up huge scores and XP.

In order to keep you coming back, Gears 4 adopts the Re-Up system from its predecessor. Players will climb up 100 levels before Re-Up’ing to earn some unique rewards and starting again. You can Re-Up 10 times, and each time you’ll get better and rarer rewards for doing so. It’s a tried and tested formula for retaining a healthy player base, and one that’s likely to work well with the help of Bounties, which challenge you to complete additional multiplayer objectives in exchange for bonus XP. Again, a familiar mechanic considering Call of Duty’s ‘Challenges,’ but one that will help the slog of reaching level 100 feel far less daunting.

From the time I spent with the Versus multiplayer, Gears 4 was a smooth and enjoyable experience. Though performance may vary upon release, I didn’t come across any substantial lag or hiccups, and twitch response times certainly felt improved over even Gears of War: Ultimate Edition from last year. This all in part comes down to the dedicated servers The Coalition is using to host a majority of Gears 4’s online features. If the series is your online shooter of choice, then Gears 4 looks set to provide the smoothest and most comprehensive multiplayer experience to date.

As a complete package, Gears of War 4 is everything I could have asked for and more. Yes, I’ve got a few slight gripes with the lackluster final fight in the closing moments of the campaign and Horde 3.0’s class system, but as a whole, this is one game that every Gears fan needs to own. If Gears of War 4 is just the beginning of a new saga for the franchise, I am incredibly ready for what’s to come next.

Score: 5/5 – Exemplary


Pros

    • Smart AI makes for exciting and challenging battles.
    • Plenty of replayability.
    • J.D. and Co. are just as interesting as Delta squad.
    • Excellent start to a new saga.
    • Horde 3.0’s Fabricator is great, but…

Editor's Choice smallest

 

Cons

  • The class system is a bit meh.
  • Lackluster final battle.

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Author
Chris Jecks
Chris Jecks has been covering the games industry for over eight years. He typically covers new releases, FIFA, Fortnite, any good shooters, and loves nothing more than a good Pro Clubs session with the lads. Chris has a History degree from the University of Central Lancashire. He spends his days eagerly awaiting the release of BioShock 4.