Gears of War 4

We’ve never been so pleased to see peace die. 

-  Tom Stone

Everything we can see is trying to kill us. Drones are firing at us from higher ground, bullets are raining down, Juvies are running at us from all sides and even the sky is getting in on the fun, shooting lightning bolts at our feet while a furious wind rips structures from the ground and hurls them in our direction. But we keep running forward, returning fire, diving in and out of cover, chain sawing open Juvies, dodging lightning, shooting out support beams so the wind can send obstacles crushing into the enemy instead. We keep running, as the storm intensifies, the threats refuse to let up, the music swells at just the right moment and that’s when we realize... this might be the best Gears of War we’ve ever played.

With Gears of War 4, The Coalition have given us a sequel worthy of the original Gears of War (excellent), Gears 2 (also excellent), Gears 3 (er…) and Judgment (...let’s move on).

Swing into gear

The original was a third-person shooter with strict and clear rules. Get into cover, because bullets will rip you apart in seconds. Only take shots at the enemy when you get an opportunity (but never miss one of those opportunities) and don’t lose ground or get suppressed. Where you were on the battlefield was just as important as the weapon in your hands. It was a bloody, beautiful B-movie with real brains underneath, a game that looked like big dumb fun but where playing smart was the only way you’d survive. The Coalition talked a good game about getting Gears back to these core principles for this sequel. That confused us when we started the campaign properly, because we don’t recall Gears being a game about fighting robots on a nice sunny day.