![]() ![]() It’s a really smart way of taking some of the areas where the series is starting to show its age and finding a fresh way to come at them. And then, when you enter a room where you think you’re probably safe, that’s when they get you. ![]() in Gears 4, there are multiple room just like this but … no fight. You are always free to explore each area thoroughly before moving on (though you will get your companions trying to give you the hurry on, which can get annoying). In previous games it was often pretty easy to tell when a battle was about to break out because you’d walk into a room full of the Gears staple chest high walls. While the script is always moving forward, the game’s pace allows for breathing room. The script is fairl straightforward, but it adheres to the cardinal screenwriting rule of having everything advance the plot in some meaningful way. He never lets the story bog down, nor get caught up in the kind of chest-beating military bravado of the previous games. Karen Traviss did not return to write Gears of War 4, but new writer Tom Bissell does a bang-up job of keeping things moving. and Kait but virtually nothing about Del beyond his being friends with J.D. By the end of the campaign, we know quite a bit about both J.D. In fact, the only character in the game that seems to get short shrift is Del who just isn’t quite well-drawn enough for my liking. Everyone gets a moment in the spotlight, unlike the previous Gears titles which were little more than The Marcus and Dom Show feat. Kait gets time to establish her relationship with her mother and her uncle, and our three leads are given plenty of moments to draw a complete picture of their friendship. most reminds me of.įamily is the throughline here. Also, I think The Coalition were fans of Guardians of the Galaxy because its Star Lord that J.D. is also, for my money, a far more interesting and likable leading man than Marcus has ever been, and the game spends quite a bit of time exploring their bizarrely adversarial relationship. There’s a tinge of horror to the proceedings and the game benefits greatly from it, particularly its love of gore which now feels like it found its place through the application of the right genre. This is illustrated by the dizzying scale of the prologue/tutorial and the relative quiet of Act One. The thing I really like about the Gears 4 narrative is that it winds the scope back considerably, telling a more intimate story about three people who just want to know that their friends and families are okay. ![]() ![]() is forced to turn to the only person he knows who might be able to neutralise the threat - his father, Gears of War series protag Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio). When mystery enemy quickly invades the rebel camp and makes short work of everyone there, J.D. Fenix (Liam McIntyre) and his buddy Del Walker (Eugene Byrd), both of whom have joined one of the rebel groups alongside friend Kait Diaz (Laura Bailey). Poised rather smugly between the COG and the rebels is J.D. Order, however, tends to create resistance and there are some who now live beyond the COG’s control, instigating raids on robotocised cities for supplies and fencable items. Humanity, and the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) remnant now dwell within strictly governed cities designed to protect the fragile few human beings that remain. The campaign begins two decades after the conclusion of the Locust War, and the game’s tutorial provides a rapid fire history of that period. Even with this determination to kick it old school, Gears of War 4 proves it can hold its own against other, modern shooters. It adheres slavishly to the Gears formula and frequently feels like more of a reboot than a fully fledged sequel. The Coalition give it a red hot go, and there are areas where they absolutely stick the landing and others where they fall a bit short. Their job is a rather intimidating one - take a series that hasn’t seen a new title in almost five years, make it the new gold standard for Xbox exclusives, play a convincing cover of a classic tune and make it both fun and good in the bargain. Gears of War 4 is the first true title from new series dev The Coalition, who have been placed into very similar shoes as 343 Industries when they were tasked with making Halo 4 a reality. Nevertheless, the series has always had its rabid fans who were enamoured with its tough-guy stories and characters. The series also found its formula from the jump and didn’t deviate far from it over the course of its next two mainline titles (though the character work did improve, thanks to a stellar Gears of War 3 script by sci-fi novelist Karen Traviss). The Gears series is frequently everything that bores me in modern action games - template-like, gravel-voiced roid bros charging headfirst into military fist-bumps excessive chainsaw-related gore. I wasn’t really expecting to like Gears of War 4 as much as I did. ![]()
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