Video Game Review: Gears of War 4 - Chainsawing Its Way To Perfection

Developer The Coalition
Publisher Microsoft
Distributor Xbox South Africa
Where we got our copy Xbox South Africa
Genre Third-Person Shooter
Game modes Single Player, Multiplayer, Co-op
Players 1-2
Reviewed on Xbox One

Available on PC

NiteFenix

Published October 7, 2016

We’re doing things a little differently for this review. We are in the very fortunate position that Uberutang, HavokZA and myself all managed to get our grubby little paws on this title, so we have decided to divide and conquer on this review. This is how it’s going to work. I will be providing the nitty gritty on the Single Player experience (coz that’s how I roll) and the multiplayer will be divided up between Uberutang and HavokZA (coz they love themselves some multiplayer). Let’s get to it then.

For several years, the Gears of War series has been one of Microsoft’s flagship action video games franchises. It has gone from strength to strength, boasting with one of the most powerful narrative driven experiences in the history of video games. From its light-hearted, humor-filled moments to its heart-wrenching, sad moments, Gears of War has never been known to be a franchise that pulls punches. Enter Gears of War 4, with it’s brand new story. Does it stack up to its predecessors? Let’s find out.

Church Swarm

SINGLE PLAYER

Developed by Coalition (who brought you the remastered version of the first Gears of War), and published by Microsoft. Gears of War 4, like it’s predecessors, is a third-person over the shoulder shooter. Player characters are able to use the advanced cover system to wage war against several different enemy types with a vast array of weapons. So pretty much exactly the same as the previous titles. With a few tweaks, of course.

New additions to the game are of course brand new weapons (some of which I thoroughly loved), new enemy types, ie. DBs or “deebees” as they are referred to by the heroes, and a whole new looming threat, which we’ll get to in a moment. Speaking of new, our protagonists too are brand new additions to the series as you will see in my story synopsis below.

The story of Gears of War 4 takes place about 25 years after the events depicted in Gears of War 3. Protagonists James Dominic “JD” Fenix, Delmont “Del” Walker as well as Kait Diaz are thrown headlong into a high-speed race against time to save Kait’s mother from a new threat to the planet Sera. Things escalate as environmental threats, the COG as well as a new threat called The Swarm starts causing trouble for our new heroes.

While trying not to go too much into spoiler territory, we will confirm that series regular Marcus Fenix (who just so happens to be JD’s dad) makes an appearance too, looking a bit worse for wear, but still the Gear we love. With many twists and turns and a young, naive generation being introduced to the series, you can’t help but learn to love the new characters. Coalition and Microsoft knows just how to do character development and you will most definitely come out at the end of the Gears of War 4 experience feeling like JD and friends belong in this series.

As can be expected, there are quite a few humorous segments in the game along with the extremely sad moments the Gears of War development teams are known for and none of it feels forced or tacked on. There is a natural flow to the game that is extremely warm and welcoming. The aforementioned action-packed fights are further enhanced by means of destructable environments, which is new to the series in this capacity, as well as environmental hazards known as Windflares. Dangerous and relentless high energy windstorms that can kill you near-instantly, if you’re not careful. Some fight sequences require that you fight through these storms with enemies not letting up in their hell-bent mission to kill you.

The single player experience of Gears of War has left me wanting more and I sincerely hope that this is not Coalition and Microsoft’s last forray into this fantastic action-packed world. Literally one of the only issues I had with the game was the utterly unreadable text in the co-op splitscreen mode. I had to replay a good portion of the first part of the game in my single player playthrough because I missed some of the tooltips during the small text size. Definitely something the guys at Coalition should look into fixing in a future patch.

But that’s it from me, I’ll hand over to Uberutang and HavokZA now for their impressions of the game.

HavokZA: The SP campaign feels and looks amazing. Gears of War 4 is tweaked just a little so it feels faster, a little bit lighter in movement and the characters feel a bit more agile than what could be experienced in previous games. This makes the game feel, different. It’s still Gears, but it’s a bit like Gears on steroids. It also seems like the palette has been given added vibrance and it all feels a little bit more fresh. This coming from a colorblind person. Luckily they have also added Welcome colorblind option. Very glad when a developer thought of that and added the option in the menus. The first part of the game acts kind of like an intro to the characters and the mentioned new agility options for grabbing enemies from cover or jumping over cover while “roady running”. You also get to build defenses and dispel incoming hoards ala mini horde mode, but in the single player campaign .

MULTIPLAYER

Uberutang: Gears of War is back and it is better than ever. Running on a very optimised Unreal 4 engine Gears of War 4 MP locks down at a solid 60fps and if it does drop a frame somewhere I have yet to notice it. The action is smoother and more fluid than ever before and button response times is by far the best in the series to date.

For those new to the series the multiplayer in Gears is all about movement, positioning and getting to that weapon spawn first. Map knowledge and team-work is absolutely key and even if you never want to use the Longshot sniper rifle, you definitely want to deny the enemy the use of it.

A moment’s hesitation will reward you with probably some of the ‘meatiest’ kill screens you will ever see outside of a Mortal Kombat game. It is glorious. Due to new ‘quick vault’ mechanic to move over cover the ‘new’ gears feel far less heavy and sluggish than in the previous games, yet is somehow manages to still convey the sense of weight and momentum you expect from a Gears of War title.

The satisfaction of roadie running / Gnasher (shotgun) blasting a friends head off in a shower of gooey bits is never going to get old and I am happy to say that this is easier in Gears 4 due to the smooth framerate and responsive controls. Gears 4 brings all the usual multiplayer modes (5 vs 5) and weapons (and bot backfilling) you would expect from a Gears game, but it also adds a few very fun new game modes and weapons. Gun master is probably my favourite new mode and it acts as a fantastic training tool to learn all the new weapons. You want to take your time to master the new DMR or Dropshot. Trust me.

The game supports split-screen, LAN and internet play on Xbox One and Windows 10 and you can even play private vs games with your mates on Windows 10, should you wish to. Simply put this is the best multiplayer game available on console at the moment. It delivers on every aspect of the genre and it will keep you coming back for more. It is (as with the 1st Gears of War game) a system seller and an absolute must play for any Xbox (and now Windows 10) gamer.

HavokZA: Horde mode is insane! It all starts of pretty innocently and you think…”I got this.” Playing this on even normal difficulty with 4 friends will have you shouting “I’m down, revive me please!” a TON of times. Trying to figure out when to buy defences for the next wave of attackers or when to spend money on getting another team member back in the fight if they managed to get themselves killed, will become crucial at later waves past say wave 20 – there are 50 waves.

At every kill you get money drops that you have to collect. The money drops are then used to bring friends back to life – if you picked up their COG tags where they died that is – as well as buy defences weapons ammo etc. This game mode almost feels as if its a whole other game in its own right.

Level design also feels fresh and different in Gears of War 4. Something I immediately picked up on as well is that there is a bit more humor and emotion in this game even though there are some serious stuff happening. When is the Gears movie coming out again? 😉 The game is beautiful and runs at a very steady framerate and it shows the Xbox One does have some tricks up it’s sleeve. The sound is awesome, from the familiar Hammer of Dawn to the splat noises when an enemy gets taken out with a Shotgun. It really feels solid and full of in your face effects.

Lots more weapon options have been added and it feels like its more important than before to choose the correct one to use esp since ammo in Hardcore or Insane modes are very sparse. Use it wisely! I am very happy to report that even Split-Screen Co-op runs well even though you lose a bit of screen real estate with the game seeming to run at a slightly smaller res “P” Think some screen borders.

This game, hell, all Gears of War games are tremendous fun to play together with a loved one or friend. It may sound funny but, It’s one of the few games where it almost feels like the days back in the arcade standing next to each other defeating enemies together. It is by far the most fun Gears MP for me and I’ve played all of them except Judgement…which brings me to the value proposition of Gears of War 4.

You not only get Gears of War 4 with , SP, CO-Op, Split Screen co-op, Horde Mode and a bunch of MP modes, you also get Gears of War 1, 2 3 and Judgement with the game. As well as the Windows 10 copy of the game with PlayAnyware from Microsoft. If you have never played the Gears games before, then this alone to me is worth getting an Xbox One for. With 2 Maps being released per month for 12 months the MP will not be played in a few maps only either. Really, get this game and join a online community and have a blast for a long long time. Gears of War 4 is back with a vengeance.

Gears of War 4 will receive free MP map and mode updates (like Halo 5) for ONLINE MP.

We're doing things a little differently for this review. We are in the very fortunate position that Uberutang, HavokZA and myself all managed to get our grubby little paws on this title, so we have decided to divide and conquer on this review. This is how it's going to work. I will be providing the nitty gritty on the Single Player experience (coz that's how I roll) and the multiplayer will be divided up between Uberutang and HavokZA (coz they love themselves some multiplayer). Let's get to it then. For several years, the Gears of War series has been one of Microsoft's flagship action video games franchises. It has gone from strength to strength, boasting with one of the most powerful narrative driven experiences in the history of video games. From its light-hearted, humor-filled moments to its heart-wrenching, sad moments, Gears of War has never been known to be a franchise that pulls punches. Enter Gears of War 4, with it's brand new story. Does it stack up to its predecessors? Let's find out. [caption id="attachment_141665" align="aligncenter" width="950"] Church Swarm[/caption] SINGLE PLAYER Developed by Coalition (who brought you the remastered version of the first Gears of War), and published by Microsoft. Gears of War 4, like it's predecessors, is a third-person over the shoulder shooter. Player characters are able to use the advanced cover system to wage war against several different enemy types with a vast array of weapons. So pretty much exactly the same as the previous titles. With a few tweaks, of course. New additions to the game are of course brand new weapons (some of which I thoroughly loved), new enemy types, ie. DBs or "deebees" as they are referred to by the heroes, and a whole new looming threat, which we'll get to in a moment. Speaking of new, our protagonists too are brand new additions to the series as you will see in my story synopsis below. The story of Gears of War 4 takes place about 25 years after the events depicted in Gears of War 3. Protagonists James Dominic "JD" Fenix, Delmont "Del" Walker as well as Kait Diaz are thrown headlong into a high-speed race against time to save Kait's mother from a new threat to the planet Sera. Things escalate as environmental threats, the COG as well as a new threat called The Swarm starts causing trouble for our new heroes. While trying not to go too much into spoiler territory, we will confirm that series regular Marcus Fenix (who just so happens to be JD's dad) makes an appearance too, looking a bit worse for wear, but still the Gear we love. With many twists and turns and a young, naive generation being introduced to the series, you can't help but learn to love the new characters. Coalition and Microsoft knows just how to do character development and you will most definitely come out at the end of the Gears of War 4 experience feeling like JD and friends belong…

Video Game Review: Gears of War 4 – Chainsawing Its Way To Perfection

2016-10-07

NiteFenix

Total - 9.5

95 9.5

Gears of War 4 is the quintessential Gears of War experience, jacked up to 10. If you're looking for a solid Single Player and Multiplayer experience, this is well worth your time and money. Replayability is a massive draw as well and Gears of War 4 will most certainly keep you busy for a good portion of time to come.

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NiteFenix

Editor-In-Chief / Entertainment Editor at Geek Node

Jonathan has been a journalist for several years. Writing primarily about video games, and occasionally films and television series.

He spends most of his time talking crap on Twitter and looking for the meaning of life in all the wrong places.