Gears of War 4 finds The Coalition officially entering their roles as series stewards following the passing of the torch from creator Epic Games. Transference is a prominent theme throughout the game, and is directly played out during the campaign as a new cast takes on an enemy that is set to provide mankind another three—or more—titles’ worth of troubles.
It’s been 25 years since Gears of War 3. Devastated by The Locust War, mankind finds itself struggling to survive in a world dotted by the ruins of their former prosperity. Those COG soldiers still alive are revered as heroes, while The Coalition of Ordered Governments has adopted increasingly authoritarian methods to shape society into an even more resilient force, capable of surviving and thriving during this turbulent era. Players will only catch a glimpse of that world, as they are no longer a part of the system but an ex-COG and recent Outsider named JD Fenix, son of the original trilogy’s Marcus Fenix. Together with two friends, fellow deserter Del and lifelong Outsider Kait, the trio takes on the government as well as a new and very familiar threat.
Before fighting for the future, players must first go back to the past. A short Prologue, played out as a memorial ceremony hosted by First Minister Jinn, sends players back in time to relive some of the series’ most famous moments, including the capture of the Hammer of Dawn during the Pendulum Wars’ Battle of Aspho Fields, Emergence Day, and the final moments at Anvil Gate. These vignettes serve as a fancy tutorial that re-acclimates players with the game’s core mechanics: active reloading, roadie running, and traversing cover. It’s all old hat to many by now, but nestling the how-to’s into moments pivotal to series lore is a nice touch. The first chapter of Act I jumps ahead to the game’s present day, with the trio raiding a newly established COG Settlement. The Outsiders are there to steal a weapon- and defense-generating machine called a fabricator, a handy device that players will become very familiar with later on.
First, however, they must deal with a massive storm called a Windflare. This eye-catching hazard does an excellent job of making a first impression, with its sizable scale, giant bolts of lightning, and whipping winds that send objects flying toward the screen. Shortly after this impressive set-piece, the campaign takes a bit of a dip as the government deploys their army of killer androids, Deebees. Their introduction makes for one of the more inventive sequences, as machines continue to methodically construct the settlement by moving material and bolting walls amidst the firefights. From there, players will venture to an Outsider village and further into the ruins of the old world. It’s at this stage that the game settles into a very familiar pattern of fighting to and then holding a location by blindfiring, shooting from cover, dashing between cover, and executing wounded enemies. It’s a time-tested setup that still delivers exciting firefights and controller-clenching encounters, but the robots prove to be underwhelming enemies that aren’t very interesting in design or behavior. They are more utilitarian than threatening in appearance, designed to keep order and placate rather than terrify the populace, which makes for a muted threat. That said, they do pack some fun weaponry, like a mounted chaingun that can be torn off of a downed floating sentry, and a quadruple-barreled multi-firing shotgun that makes short work of most enemies. They also enter areas with style by being dropped from planes while inside bouncing containers. The momentum of the fall combined with their weight causes the containers to crash through structures and level whatever objects they land on, causing some spectacular destruction. This is especially impressive during one of the defensive, Horde-style segments, where players use the Fabricator to construct turrets and barriers to protect an Outsider settlement as waves of bots rain down upon and rolling through the village. It’s the sort of entrance that perfectly fits the unsubtle world of Gears of War.
Soon afterwards, the gang faces off against the latest enemy, the Swarm. At this point, however, there has been little to distinguish this entry from its predecessors, despite it being something of a second wind for the franchise. Encounters and locations are modest in scale, with few that really ‘wow’ as in the original trilogy. And as it turns out, the new enemy is strikingly similar to the old one, with the Swarm and Locusts being interchangeable at just about every level, and so much so that Gears of War 4 feels like a futuristic Judgment rather than a fresh start. It doesn’t help that the cast pales in comparison to the original. While Marcus, Cole, and the rest were a ridiculously gruff bunch, their over-the-top personas and delivery ended up hitting that ‘1980s action movie’ sweet spot. JD, on the other hand, is unbelievably bland. He’s one t-shirt tucked behind his belt buckle away from being a watered down Nathan Drake, making him a distilled version of every semi-sarcastic adventurous rogue that’s ever existed. It could just be first-game wobbles, but I found his focused-group-tested likability grating. Del and Kait aren’t entirely fleshed out either but actually come off quite well being next to him. The trio is definitely stronger as a group, though, as they play well off one another and have decent chemistry. The writing also improves markedly when there’s a back-and-forth interaction, compared to the bland one-liners and by-the-numbers instructions. The best examples are a handful of running jokes and references that occasionally pop up throughout the 9- to 10-hour campaign. Moments like these do a good job of reinforcing a sense of continuity that establishes the group as actual friends with a real history. However, things begin to improve once the characters reunite. Maybe I’m just getting sentimental, but it was great seeing the old characters. Their appearances were inevitable, but I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed seeing them, especially given that I recently played through Ultimate Edition. There’s also the added contrast of an aging cast and an aging userbase, with many players going through some formidable years with the original crew. Seeing the wear of the intervening decades on the returning characters’ faces made for a nice touch and for a refreshing change from the industry’s typical stance of newer being better.
The game really picks up steam during the final third of the campaign. Areas open up, enemies become more varied, and the Xbox One’s technical chops are put on full display. A middling vehicle portion during the transition period hints at the impending change, and once it ends, the game hits its stride. The sort of memorable set pieces that are hinted at and glimpsed during the first two-thirds are regularly delivered, with some great escape sequences, defense portions, and tense firefights. The narrative begins to become more interesting as well, with each faction’s shoot-first policy finally giving way to a less abrasive approach as the realization sets in that there’s a dangerous threat on the horizon. Then it ends.
After a run-of-the-mill boss battle, the game has a short cutscene that finally advances the storyline in a significant way…and then the credits roll. Imagine my surprise when I realized that what I thought was the prelude to the big showdown was in fact the big showdown itself. Just as the player is about to be rewarded for patiently putting up with the game dragging its feet after having flipped all of the levers, pushed all of the buttons, and tracked down all of the random bits of equipment, it instead only offers a glimpse at the results of their hard work. At some point, writers and developers are going to have to come up with a way to introduce a new storyline in a self-contained narrative because the current method, as demonstrated here, leaves a lot to be desired.
Multiplayer has a uniformly much stronger showing, with several co-op and versus options, including the return of Horde mode. The campaign can be played together with friends online or locally via splitscreen mode. Splitscreen is only supported for the campaign, unfortunately, which is a shame considering the improvements made to Horde 3.0. Having a friend join in is always a good time, especially when they can help flip switches, heal, or stop some of the more difficult enemies. Solo players will find that the AI does a serviceable job, aside from the occasional hiccup, but sad to say that they don’t react the same to a loud “Cover me!”
There is also a full suite of versus modes. Social Quickplay allows players to jump into unranked matches, while ranked matches are available in Arms Race, Deathmatch, Dodgeball, Escalation, Execution, Guardian, King of the Hill, Team Deathmatch, and Warzone. Co-op versus is also available for up to five players against a squad of AI enemies across multiple difficulty levels. All of the modes deliver, as usual, but returning players might be disappointed that the Gnasher continues to dominate, despite the game’s wide array of weaponry. Rounds are fast, gory, and just as players remember them. Horde 3.0 brings the wave-based mode back, but now players use a mobile fabricator to construct automatic and manned turrets, barriers, dummies, and more to hold off increasingly difficult assaults. Power icons dropped by enemies is used to repair defenses and requisition additional weapons and defensive objects. Countdown rounds turn into frantic races to pick up and deposit energy, repair structures, and dig into supply drops to rearm before the next wave enters the area. A class system allows players to play as and level up an engineer, heavy, scout, sniper, and soldier, tailoring their skills to match each class’ unique abilities and starting loadout; for example, heavies start out with a retro lancer, boomshot, and boltok and receive a bonuses to turrets and explosives, while snipers get marking enhancements and scouts collect double Power.
Horde has yet another layer is with the introduction of a new card-based system. These are similar to Halo 5’s REQs in that they introduce a microtransaction element and bestow special items to players through booster packs. The five-card sets can be purchased with cash or earned in-game currency. Bounty cards can be attained for both versus and Horde, which offer an experience boost to players who kill a set number of enemies, achieve an amount of assists, win in specific modes, and clear a certain number of waves as a specific class, or meet other stated criteria. There are also emblem, character and weapon skin, and class-specific skill cards for Horde. Skill cards offer perks to improve a class’ performance, such as engineers receiving a boost when repairing items, reduced barrier costs, and additional ammo for their turrets. Additional skill card slots open as players rank up in level. Random unlocks work well when bestowing customization items, but the creeping in of microtransactions is unfortunate. Then again, purchasing is entirely optional, and if the excitement of opening virtual packs wears off as quickly for others as it did for me, then it’s likely to become an afterthought for most players. That’s a small matter, as Horde 3.0 easily delivers some of the best times that the game has to offer. It’s fast, addictive, and with the multiplayer maps being well designed throughout, a great time.
Overall: 8/10
Gears of War 4 begins a new era for the franchise with a slow-paced, uneven campaign but a robust, highly addictive multiplayer component. The campaign takes a while to find its footing, and while it offers enough elements for some exciting sequels, it’s ultimately more concerned with setting up a grand story rather than delivering a great one. Multiplayer, however, is absolutely packed with quality content, from strong maps to plenty of modes, online and local play, and the addictive Horde 3.0. Multiplayer gamers will be busy for months leveling up their classes and tackling all of the mode variants, but couch co-oppers will sorely miss teaming up for local Horde.
(This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher.)