Date played: May 3rd
Platform: Xbox One
Having recently completed Horizon, I wanted to start a new game, and Gears of War 4 was staring at me on my shelf, so I booted it up and played the first few missions. I played the first 3 Gears games when they first came out, skipping only the coldly received Gears of War Judgement. The combat has always been the main appeal of Gears, in fact, it's pretty much the only thing that matters in this series. I chose to play on Hard, since it's "The way it's meant to be played" according to the developers. It's also how I played all other games in the series, so I hope I still have the chops to handle it!
The game opens in a kind of weird way... Set years after the events of Gears of War 3, a woman is giving a speech in front of a large crowd. As she explains some of the events prior to Emergence Day, the game cuts to the first mission, set in that era.
I played a faceless soldier and had to shoot my way through some soldiers, then blow up a communications tower. This first mission really didn't give a great first impression... All the characters that spoke were roughneck soldiers with giant faces and an unhealthy amount of anger... The environment was pretty boring looking, full of industrial structures. The enemies were as boring as could be, they are just armored soldiers.
There were a few cool sections where I had to take cover from turrets, showcasing the importance of flanking in the game. Basically, this mission sucked. It was a bit of a tutorial too, so I understand why it's there, it just felt uninspired. At least the explosion of the comm tower looked cool...
The lady continues her speech, and speaks of Marcus Fenix and his friends who eventually destroyed the Locust, during Gears of War 3. The game then cuts to a squad of soldiers fighting for their lives on Emergence day. The visuals are a lot more interesting here, with lots of great architecture and lots of cool looking creatures.
In fact, the enemies were probably the coolest thing about the game so far. I mean, even the simplest of enemy soldiers is a real challenge and a pain in the ass to kill, so when bigger monsters are introduced, it gets difficult and frenetic in an instant. When a Corpser showed up as a part of the tutorial, I knew this game wasn't fucking around. Corpsers are giant spider-like creatures that are insanely powerful. I was given access to the game's famous Hammer of Dawn weapon, a laser targeting system that shoots down laser beams from a satellite in space.
After killing the Corpser with the Hammer of Dawn, I thought I was safe, but it was just the beginning. The next segment was really difficult for me... Still equipped with the Hammer of Dawn, I had to hold a position, defending it against a swarm of enemy attackers. In addition to the normal Locust soldiers, there were half a dozen Boomers in there. These big guys take a lot of bullets to kill, but even worse, they have grenade launchers that hit real fucking hard, sometimes even killing instantly. At the end of the sequence, some large flying creatures attacked. These guys go down relatively fast with the Hammer of Dawn, but they shoot a powerful explosive that kills instantly.
I died during this sequence. I died a lot. Probably at least 5 or 6 times... In the end, I was able to succeed by just using cover a little better and being more aggressive with my weapons to avoid getting overwhelmed.
The final sequence in the prologue was a giant fucking battle where hundreds of Locust swarm a facility. They brought lots of firepower, including a pair of Brumaks, which are probably the most terrifying creatures of the Locust. These giant bipedal monsters are armed to the teeth and are very durable. I shot at the enemies with a turret to the best of my ability, but it was a losing battle. Just as I was about to be overwhelmed for good, the guys from the Gears 3 story deploy the neutron bomb that ended the war, saving the few remaining COG soldiers.
That's when the game finally starts for good, title screen and all. The story and the motivations of the characters are really unclear, but I don't really care, I'm here to shoot stuff! The main character, JD, is pretty generic, but it's super weird because he's voiced by Nolan North, who also plays Nathan Drake from Uncharted. While he voices the character differently, it's still really close and kind of odd.
There's a young woman named Kait, who is portrayed as a bit of a rebel. There's another guy, Del, who seems to be either our medic, or like a tech guy. Then there's the old man, Oscar, who has clearly seen a lot of shit. He's the most experienced of the crew, loves to drink and doesn't tolerate bullshit. He's also Kait's uncle. The characters aren't too bad, but they aren't great either. They are very predictable and cliché, but it's not as bad as the characters from the first 3 games.
It looks like their job is to get into a large facility and get some object. Just as they are about to enter the large structure, a solar wind storm begins. This was an moment since the wind is very powerful and would often send debris from the environment flying all around the place. It also looked really cool, with great lighting and solid sound effects. After the storm passes, the crew enters the facility and is immediately confronted by an army of humanoid robots.
These guys are a lot of fun to fight. They go down relatively quickly, but they come in large numbers. They also have little rolling EMP bombs that roam on their own. I shot my way through dozens of these bad guys using a variety of weapons. I've come to really like the little submachine guns that the robots use. We reached the building where we'll find the object, but I stopped playing as the second chapter of the first act began.
So far, Gears of War 4 is pretty cool, but it's not amazing. The combat, enemies and level design is top notch, but the characters and story haven't impressed me much so far. I'll stick with it because I really like the battles, but so far, I'm not invested in the story.
Platform: Xbox One
Having recently completed Horizon, I wanted to start a new game, and Gears of War 4 was staring at me on my shelf, so I booted it up and played the first few missions. I played the first 3 Gears games when they first came out, skipping only the coldly received Gears of War Judgement. The combat has always been the main appeal of Gears, in fact, it's pretty much the only thing that matters in this series. I chose to play on Hard, since it's "The way it's meant to be played" according to the developers. It's also how I played all other games in the series, so I hope I still have the chops to handle it!
The game opens in a kind of weird way... Set years after the events of Gears of War 3, a woman is giving a speech in front of a large crowd. As she explains some of the events prior to Emergence Day, the game cuts to the first mission, set in that era.
I played a faceless soldier and had to shoot my way through some soldiers, then blow up a communications tower. This first mission really didn't give a great first impression... All the characters that spoke were roughneck soldiers with giant faces and an unhealthy amount of anger... The environment was pretty boring looking, full of industrial structures. The enemies were as boring as could be, they are just armored soldiers.
There were a few cool sections where I had to take cover from turrets, showcasing the importance of flanking in the game. Basically, this mission sucked. It was a bit of a tutorial too, so I understand why it's there, it just felt uninspired. At least the explosion of the comm tower looked cool...
The lady continues her speech, and speaks of Marcus Fenix and his friends who eventually destroyed the Locust, during Gears of War 3. The game then cuts to a squad of soldiers fighting for their lives on Emergence day. The visuals are a lot more interesting here, with lots of great architecture and lots of cool looking creatures.
In fact, the enemies were probably the coolest thing about the game so far. I mean, even the simplest of enemy soldiers is a real challenge and a pain in the ass to kill, so when bigger monsters are introduced, it gets difficult and frenetic in an instant. When a Corpser showed up as a part of the tutorial, I knew this game wasn't fucking around. Corpsers are giant spider-like creatures that are insanely powerful. I was given access to the game's famous Hammer of Dawn weapon, a laser targeting system that shoots down laser beams from a satellite in space.
After killing the Corpser with the Hammer of Dawn, I thought I was safe, but it was just the beginning. The next segment was really difficult for me... Still equipped with the Hammer of Dawn, I had to hold a position, defending it against a swarm of enemy attackers. In addition to the normal Locust soldiers, there were half a dozen Boomers in there. These big guys take a lot of bullets to kill, but even worse, they have grenade launchers that hit real fucking hard, sometimes even killing instantly. At the end of the sequence, some large flying creatures attacked. These guys go down relatively fast with the Hammer of Dawn, but they shoot a powerful explosive that kills instantly.
I died during this sequence. I died a lot. Probably at least 5 or 6 times... In the end, I was able to succeed by just using cover a little better and being more aggressive with my weapons to avoid getting overwhelmed.
The final sequence in the prologue was a giant fucking battle where hundreds of Locust swarm a facility. They brought lots of firepower, including a pair of Brumaks, which are probably the most terrifying creatures of the Locust. These giant bipedal monsters are armed to the teeth and are very durable. I shot at the enemies with a turret to the best of my ability, but it was a losing battle. Just as I was about to be overwhelmed for good, the guys from the Gears 3 story deploy the neutron bomb that ended the war, saving the few remaining COG soldiers.
That's when the game finally starts for good, title screen and all. The story and the motivations of the characters are really unclear, but I don't really care, I'm here to shoot stuff! The main character, JD, is pretty generic, but it's super weird because he's voiced by Nolan North, who also plays Nathan Drake from Uncharted. While he voices the character differently, it's still really close and kind of odd.
There's a young woman named Kait, who is portrayed as a bit of a rebel. There's another guy, Del, who seems to be either our medic, or like a tech guy. Then there's the old man, Oscar, who has clearly seen a lot of shit. He's the most experienced of the crew, loves to drink and doesn't tolerate bullshit. He's also Kait's uncle. The characters aren't too bad, but they aren't great either. They are very predictable and cliché, but it's not as bad as the characters from the first 3 games.
It looks like their job is to get into a large facility and get some object. Just as they are about to enter the large structure, a solar wind storm begins. This was an moment since the wind is very powerful and would often send debris from the environment flying all around the place. It also looked really cool, with great lighting and solid sound effects. After the storm passes, the crew enters the facility and is immediately confronted by an army of humanoid robots.
These guys are a lot of fun to fight. They go down relatively quickly, but they come in large numbers. They also have little rolling EMP bombs that roam on their own. I shot my way through dozens of these bad guys using a variety of weapons. I've come to really like the little submachine guns that the robots use. We reached the building where we'll find the object, but I stopped playing as the second chapter of the first act began.
So far, Gears of War 4 is pretty cool, but it's not amazing. The combat, enemies and level design is top notch, but the characters and story haven't impressed me much so far. I'll stick with it because I really like the battles, but so far, I'm not invested in the story.
