Gears of War 4 Review: A New E-Day

Gears of War 4 is a fantastic experience from The Coalition that follows the same example that Epic Games set with the first 3 games. From start to finish the campaign is excited and intriguing. The multiplayer modes have something for everyone, and of course, Horde Mode is back.

Just what exactly makes Gears of War 4 a good game? Well, you are about to find out.

What I Liked

The game. Seriously, I liked all aspects of the game. The campaign, multiplayer modes, and most of the customization. Not everything is perfect, but let me break it down for you.

Campaign

I was impressed with the campaign. It has that same Gears feel and the intro was a nice homage to the past games.

Things start off okay in the first Act, but then the game starts to pick up and doesn’t stop the rest of the way. I won’t give spoilers, but I found myself wondering what was going to happen and couldn’t wait to continue.

There were several unique experiences throughout the campaign that involved vehicles, or some other different way to play. This really made the campaign stand out.

Multiplayer Modes

The base of Gears for most people is playing matches against others. I’m happy to say that most of the past game modes are in, and they’re fun — though there’s sadly no Wingman currently.

There are 4 modes to play: Social, Core, Co-op, and Competitive.

Social just throws you into a random game, then continues to cycle you through them, allowing for votes at the end of every match for what the next match will be.

This is a great mode for casual play or for people that want to jump in and out at anytime.

Core modes are the main ranked modes. This where the majority of your games will be if you want more than what the social modes can give and still get a variety.

Competitive is also ranked, but there are only 2 modes and they use competitive weapon tuning.

Co-op lets you team up with other players to play again A.I. bots.

Bounties

A cool thing about Gears of War 4 is the Bounty system. You can set a Bounty, which is a challenge to get a certain score for a certain game mode, then get extra experience if you complete it.

This allows players to set specific goals and gives even more variety.

Horde Mode

I have mixed feelings about this mode. I do really enjoy Horde mode — I always have, and there is plenty to do in it. You can set up defenses, there are specific classes to play, and you take on a bunch of enemies with some friends.

The classes were one of my favorite parts. I love having a specific role and having everyone work together to complete a task. As you level up your class, you unlock more skills. This makes the game mode more dynamic and it is even better if you go in with people you know.

However, there are many waves and it can get tedious going through them all. After playing it for a while, I just need a break.

What I Didn’t Like

Swarm

The Swarm is a new faction that replaces the Locust. Both in the story and the multiplayer, they just seem bland.

It is better in the campaign because they have some unique Swarm to fight against, which is cool, but the humanoid Swarm are all way too similar.

The choices for multiplayer are pretty limited and they look identical. You can play as the robots you see in the campaign, but they are loud and not the best when thinking competitively.

I miss the variety the Locust brought, and they had more character than the Swarm. General Raam and the Queen were great characters, as well as some special Locust like the Kantus.

We don’t need to have them back, but we need something comparable to take their places.

The Verdict

Overall, Gears of War 4 is a great experience for new and veteran players alike. It is a unique shooter and I can’t wait to see more of what this game has to offer.