3: Gears of War 4
The newest chapter in the Gears of War saga is a story about legacy, in more ways than one. Not only does it have new developer The Coalition at the helm, the protagonists have changed, putting players in the shoes of Marcus’ son JD in the 25 year aftermath of Gears 3. Instead of saving the world like the series gradually grew to be, it’s more personal, dealing with JD and friends Kait and Del on a quest to save Kait’s people from the new bad guys called the Swarm. Fortunately, the new cast has more than enough charisma and banter to make them worthy successors to that of Marcus and crew, and the cameos of previous franchise characters doesn’t feel forced.
The gameplay is still classic Gears: incredibly satisfying. The ebb and flow between combatants has been nicely tuned, and the improved enemy and teammate AI makes it so that the game feels like it’s challenging on difficulties beyond Insane. Slimming the co-op count back down to two ends up being a point in the series favor, making it so that firefights don’t become incredibly easy, but it’s rare that it feels like you’re being overwhelmed.
And when it comes to multiplayer, the game doesn’t disappoint there, either. The class-based system may not be much to write home about, but Horde 3.0 is a successful escalation of the now classic mode and stands as one of the best multiplayer modes in its own right. Competitive multiplayer is finely tuned and provides one of the smoothest experiences on the Xbox One and Windows 10 you could ask for. Gears of War 4 may just be nothing more than a soft reboot, and the final boss fight is a disappointment, but it’s good at what it does and is a fun step for the franchise.
