varingblaarGears of War 4
Spoiler warning: If you haven't played Gears of War 4, I suggest you do so before going any further. If this spoils it for you, it's not my fault.You have been warned.
Part five of playing through the Gears of War series in co-op.
The first thing that struck me, is that we're back to how things used to be before Judgment. The controls are the same as Gears 3 (though I'll miss the grenade button) and the environments flow to each other along with the story. As it should be. I appreciate that the second player can pick which character they want to control. It doesn't change anything towards gameplay, but it allows my counterpart to identify with the character more.
The opening serves as a recap of the previous games, but from a different perspective than the games. It makes things feel bigger than our little group of soldiers running through the chaos, and reminds us that the actions from the previous games had an effect much larger than what was obvious.
When we are introduced to our main characters, I thought we might spend the game fighting as rag-tag rebels having to scrap our way through. This is definitely how it starts. After a bit of playing it becomes obvious that JD isn't any rebel, he's a Phoenix. More accurately, his dad is Marcus Phoenix. As cagey and sarcastic as the characters are about "asking him" the whole time, by the time we actually go meet Old Man Marcus it's pretty obvious that it's him.
As always there are new guns and new factions. The "Deebee" robots are a little easier to defeat than the now-evolved Locust. They have a few new weapons like the Enforcer and the EMBAR but they'r nothing special. The Overrkill is a personal favourite though; Basically an automatic shotgun. It's incredibly powerful but only if you're super up close, and has very limited ammo.
Oh I mentioned the Locust are more evolved? The Swarm. They're crystally now. But mainly what's bigger and better seems to be their health. They are absolute bullet spunges! In previous Gears games, part of the tactic was to just clip a guy so he breaks cover and you can mow him down. In this game you empty a magazine at a Drone and they don't even move. Besides being frustrating, it turns the game into a hunt for ammo. To help with the ammo shortage, you can now switch weapons with NPCs, no questions asked! And most of the time they have more ammo than you. If you accidentally equip something in place of your beloved Lancer, just take Marcus's custom lancer that does more damage and holds more ammo.
Tower defence sections are pretty common, with their new construction thing. Build defences, place them around, survive a wave. Do it a few times and you win. Basically a little game of Orcs Must Die in the middle of a Gears game. It's a nice change of pace, but doesn't add much to the gameplay. Maybe these features are more useful in multiplayer or Horde mode?
Another pointless on-rails segment. This time it's going up an elevator shaft by hanging onto the cable. It adds nothing to the game and is easy to beat first try.
Of course there's a new "ride the cool thing" segment. The mechs were actually fun though. First we get to see Old Man Cole, who still looks exactly the same just slightly grey, and then Old Man Baird who is bald now. Turns out the "Deebees" we've been fighting are his. DB. Damon Baird. His company designed them. So anyway, big blue Transformer-style mechs with an oversized staple gun on its arm, followed by a Raven that shoots missiles at whatever you point at. Power fantasy accomplished. This is pretty much the final playable part of the game before the story abruptly ends, so we went out on a good note.
The scene where Kait encounters he mother feels similar to Dom finding Maria in Gears of War 3. Considering that the build to this moment wasn't as explicit as the build to Maria's reveal, it didn't feel as impactful. It does give the character a bit more depth.
A good entry in the series. The writing style feels more natural, even if there's not as much character development. After a big gap since the previous instalment, it feels like the focus was to redeem rather than innovate. The few major changes are welcome additions.
