Gears of War 4 Review

Gears of War has been up there with the stand out titles on Xbox since its release on the Xbox 360 back in 2006 yes ten years ago…god I feel old. Well since then there has been a trilogy worthy of awards and a prequel which didn’t really wet the taste buds. Epic have parted ways with the franchise but now with The Coalition at the helm can they keep it fresh and knock the dust of the bad name they got with Gears Judgement? Well the Ultimate Edition of the original game did it some real justice and really brought the Gears fans out of hiding.

Now The Coalition have given us Gears of War 4…a totally new trilogy and with new enemies. Now for those that have not played it…where have you been? I joke, Gears may not be your cup of tea but it is the best cover shooter game out there in my opinion and visually is bloody awesome, even from the first game back in 2006. They used the unreal engine then and now that has also evolved into the unreal engine 4 which is remarkable and brings the game to life.

So spoilers for the original trilogy here:

You’re a COG Soldier in the Gears Dept and fight in the war against the Locust Controlling Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in their quest to end this war and save humanity.

Marcus is still a standpoint in GOW 4, but it is his son who is the forefront of the story here, J.D. Fenix.

The game begins really well in my opinion especially for those that want a back story, you take control of normal COG Soldiers as they aid main characters in events before the current timeline, So in the first prelude it’s Dom and Hoffman in the mission to get the plans for the Hammer of Dawn which is a satellite laser that shoots and destroys anything it is aimed at. Then you’re helping Kim after emergence day (E-Day) fighting against Corpsers and Boomers then helping Dizzy and Hoffman whilst Marcus and co destroy the Locust once and for all. Really interesting prologue and helps give players an insight into the story’s history and get them used to the controls.

Fast forward 25 years after the Imulsion Countermeasure weapon destroyed all Imulsion on the planet Sera, taking the Locust and the Lambent with them as well. Unfortunately, this also knocked out the use of fossil fuels, forcing humanity to adapt new ways for survival. The countermeasure also brought the advent of “Windflares”, powerful windstorms that have formed across the planet. Following the aftermath of the Lambent Epidemic, the reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments estimated that only hundreds of thousands of humans are left on Sera. To prevent the population from declining, walled-off cities were built to protect the citizens from the dangers outside. The COG also declared martial law, preventing any travel from outside of city walls. Some human survivors rejected the viewpoints of the COG and formed a group called the “Outsiders” that live outside of the COG jurisdiction, conducting raids on COG territory to gather resources and this is where we start.

The campaign is the same as the previous Gears split into Chapters and Acts and spread across four difficulties all giving a respective challenge, I played this on Hardcore as I was playing this alone and have never relied on the game’s A.I. controlled characters to help me. However, they seem to be more responsive and also helpful in battle by even killing enemies.

Visually the game is stunning, from the Windflares effect on the map to the details on the backdrops, Coalition has done amazing. At the start, I did find it slightly hard as not only was I rusty but the enemies that I was fighting were robots…so I go from fighting ugly beasts that sprout from massive holes in the ground to fighting a horde of C3-P0 wannabes. Who were built by the COG not only are they tough to kill but they’re really smart? This gives me the impression that the A.I. adjusts not only to the difficulty but to the format of the enemy.

The other enemy that will be in your way is the Swarm the swarm are very similar to the Locust in the original trilogy but are faster and more brutal, they also look meaner. They attack the same through Holes in the ground but they seem to evolve in the ground first then jump out looking like one mean MUTHA****!

During my playthrough I really enjoyed the back and forth banter between JD and Del they’re childhood friends and it shows, they always banter together but I found that when you die no one really bats an eyelid or shouts as if their best friend just died like? When you find Marcus and JD die’s you’d expect your father to really cry out but nope nothing…cheers Marcus, after all, we have been through! The A.I. in the other characters at times are really useful but in moments of big enemies they just don’t turn up, a number of times I’ve been on a boss and they have me bleeding out and I’m crawling around for help they may be right next to me but I have to wait for them to empty the clip and then reload until they help me up.

Controls are the same as the were in the original trilogy which I’m so happy with, although there are a few new moves this game, when in cover if you’re directly opposite an enemy you can glance up and press X to drag them over the cover. Here you have a small window to press Y and stab them for the kill. This is a cool motion however if done at the wrong time leaves you open to attack. I can count a number of times I died showing this off to my housemate if you attempt this in versus your opponent can also slam the B button to counter it and kick you in the face.

The other move is while sprinting if you press B as you get to cover you vault over the cover and kick your opponent away which again gives you a small window to attack. You don’t have to press Y to can blast them away with a Gnasher Shot (Shotgun) or Chainsaw them in half.

Who and what are the Swarm?

The swarm is said to be reborn locust as they didn’t really die in the previous trilogy and the COG couldn’t burn them as they had a crystallization forming on their skin which is indestructible so they buried them but over the years they seemed to evolve with that they’re more aggressive and stronger. You have the normal drones from your rushers with shotguns to the lads with hammer bursts and lancers then the special ones with torque bows and longshots. Boomers are no more here as are the berserkers but in replacement of them are Pouncers who normally come in pairs they aren’t too hard to kill but they do take some bullets, they pounce from cover to cover like frogs so when you’re in cover beware as they can push you away from that. Juvies are the new form of Wretches but the most disturbing fact is they seem to be human but not fully developed into drones yet. They sump about the map like an annoying free runner but when you catch them either with a chainsaw rev or the butt of your gun they go down sometimes after one blow max two blows.

There is also three other forms of the Swarm but I’ll leave that to you to uncover and deal with yourself.

DeeBees are the robot enemy that you face at the beginning of the story commanded by First Minister Jinn they are the Shepherd are normal mercs, Trackers are like Tickers, DR-1 are the heavies that have a beast of a shotgun and Guardians which are a drone like machine with a shield around them.

This year the season pass includes all the maps from release and also gives you loads of skins and paint for your guns but at a hefty price of £40 it is the most expensive season pass I’ve seen and you don’t really get much for your money. There is an in-game currency which you can achieve by playing online features, these unlock crates that have special gifts for you, from gun skins to XP boosts etc. when you first play you get like four but then the rest cost you credits. When I saw this I thought they have added microtransactions but having it as the in-game content is really good to the gears fans.

I did find the achievements in GOW 4 really lackluster coming from the days where you get 20G for completing chapters and nearly 100G for completing the game on Casual now I get them in dribs and drabs for only 5G. Back is Seriously 4.0 where you have to complete the campaign on insane, collect all ribbons, high-rank placements, completing horde maps, re-ups, classes and five skills 200G. Personally, I prefer killing crap loads of locust to get this achievement.

Horde mode 3.0

So it is back Horde mode, this time they have included a Fabricator which allows you create weapons and structures to build your base you have limited energy to use this and you get energy from killing the horde you face, as you kill them you collect energy and then you have to return it to your fabricator in the first few waves it is pretty easy but then you’re gifted challenges some require you to chainsaw 6 enemies to get a supply drop at your base which is all good but they only drop two creates and if there is a party of five it becomes a fight to get the ammo, in this five player co-op mode you can choose from five classes, Soldier, Sniper, Scout, Heavy, and Engineer. In this mode you have 50 waves of Swarm and DeeBees to go against and each milestone 10, 20 etc. you have a real heavy opponent. New to Horde mode is the use of gear cards that you get in Gear crates so you may have one that gives you double damage on melee shots and no damage from melee attacks or fortify your base 50 times for 20,000xp every little helps her guys.

On top of that, you have the regular versus mode but weekly maps are all you can have unless you purchase the season pass and then you can set up private games on any map you want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7SF0tlFT1s