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[VanCityGamer]

The credits are rolling, as I just finished Gears of War 4....my first ever Gears game! No spoilers for the Xbox 360 games, please. I intend to play those soon and treat them like prequel games. Here are my thoughts (including spoilers) about Gears 4:
+ First and foremost, it's an excellent action game. I played on Hardcore difficulty (the game literally says that is how it is meant to be played lol). It had the perfect amount of challenge! The gunfights are intense and just plain fun! You can tell the developer is an expert of the third person cover-based shooter craft. Nothing on PS4 seems to scratch that action itch in the same way.
+ Fantastic enemy variety. I loved the balance between machines and monsters. Really cool and fun to take down both of those drastically different classes of enemies. And within those distinct classes, there were many different enemy sub-classes. They required different approaches to defeat them, and it kept me on my toes throughout. Very well done.
+ Great weapons. The shotgun (Gnasher) felt amazing. I also really enjoyed using the Dropshot and Buzzkill.
+ Excellent set piece moments. The game did a wonderful job of switching things up to keep it interesting. Early on, the battle against the big monster using the laser beam gun. Later, the vehicle sequence rushing through the insane storm. 'Flying' up the elevator. And coolest of all, the totally awesome Mech chapters at the end. That was so awesome!
+ Beautiful graphics. This game shows how much the Xbox One can shine. Not as pretty as some of the PS4's best, but still very nice. I enjoyed the outdoor daytime environments the most.
- I felt that the writing was weak. The lighthearted banter failed continually for me. I didn't even chuckle once. Just rolled my eyes. The characters were basically all just really annoying.
- Some of the underground sections dragged on a bit long and became somewhat repetitive with the waves of enemies. It didn't help that aesthetically it wasn't always too fun to be down there.
- I didn't really understand the necklace significance at the very end of the game so that part of the ending kind of whiffed for me.

*How is Horde mode? I don't subscribe to Xbox Live Gold (I'm primarily a single player gamer and already subscribe to PS+).
*Should I buy Gears Ultimate Edition or just go straight to the Xbox 360 version? How well do you guys think those games will hold up after this one?

 

[Jaguar Victory]

I'm waiting to pick this up once Scorpio drops. Wanna play it in 4k and I have too many games right now as is.

 

[Comrade Crunch]

I really liked the first half, but my interest really wained in the second, I think it was the horde sections, made the game feel too padded out to me. I also felt like the new characters, especially the main female came off way too much like petulant children, they've got potential though.

Great gameplay and graphics though, the multiplayer on PC was pretty fun while it was still active.

I highly recommend the first three, they're phenomenal games, 3 is still my favorite.

 

[PopcornMegaphone]

I really enjoyed the game, but the new crop of characters are pretty bland

 

[IanVanCheese]

Regarding the necklace: Spoilers obvs

Spoiler

It was a Locust symbol, implying that her family had ties to the locust/Queen Mira from the previous games

 

[U2NUMB]

Would be curious to hear what you think after playing Gears 1 2 and 3. Has always been a fantastic series that does something so well (third person action) that it makes you wish others games copied them.

Horde works best when you have a full team of friends who can communicate. When you get that its amazing.

 

[Ocarina_117]

Characters okay, not great.

Thought we were going to get a mission with the OG crew towards the end there.

Marcus stole the show, love the guy.

Fantastic campaign, underappreciated in the scheme of things last year imho.

Ending was great, excited for the direction in which they'll take the game.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

Horde is basically some of the most co-op fun you can have with a buddy. It's a good challenge and you really feel like you are having lighthearted fun, but simultaneously needing to try and help each other. It strikes a good balance, as long as you aren't playing on a ridiculous difficulty.

I like the cheezy writing, because it feels self aware. It's not great, but I enjoy it. The concept of the plot itself is silly, so I feel like a more serious tone would be off-putting. I think the first Gears did the best job at striking a serious, yet silly tone.

 

[BeforeU]

Story was average, but gameplay was solid gears gameplay. Horde is great, I such as MP so I don't play much. Also it looks dope on HDR. Specially those night sections

 

[Wedzi]

Writing in 3 is probably the best of the series so you have that to look forward to. Gears 1 will feel kind of like a relic, both in writing and game play, no matter if it's the Ultimate Edition or the regular one.

I think my order of Gears games is 3, 4, 2, 1.

Horde mode is awesome. If you really enjoy the combat.

Necklace significance

Spoiler

it's the evil queen of the horde's necklace from the original trilogy.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

Story was okay (if not dumb in places, especially the robot stuff and the comic villain COG leader) but man did they drop the ball on the multiplayer.

It had the same dawning problems as Halo 5: An obsession with chasing the esports marketshare, lootcrate focused content, and a stream of terrible, unoriginal maps filled with bland metal plating and pipes (The only decent maps that play well are the ones brought in and redone from older games).

All of my gears buddies from the early days were so disappointed by it.

 

[EBE]

Characters weren't great, story was mostly inconsequential, the Deebees are terrible enemies, and the middle section of the game just DRAGS ON. Horde is fine but is let down by the rather anemic enemy pool (again, the Deebees aren't fun to fight--id say even gears 2 does horde better).

Decent enough game though.

 

[JlNX]

Gears 4 definitely felt like the coalition trying to do a gears game right before changing it (mechanically.) I liked the fact they decided to introduce a new cast, tho underdeveloped that is expected from a game that takes place in 24 hours. I hope gears 5 has them aged and has more history to the characters. It seems gears 4 was made in a short amount of time as well which is probably why there is not all that much new. But one thing I think the coalition has brought to the series is a really well developed art style, you definitely can't call gears 4 brown. You can see the story is very much a look forward to the next game because that's when we are actually going to push the franchise forward deal. The whole story between the cog and the outsiders could be very interesting if developed further in gears 5. I'm interested in seeing politically were they will go with it, especially if we get to go into a populated installation or their government. But the set up of the necklace for the sequel is pretty cool.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

The necklace is

Spoiler

the Locust symbol. The Swarm took Kait's mother cuz she is possibly the daughter of Queen Myrrah, the main antagonist of Gears 1 - 3 and the original ruler of the Locust. They needed her to be their next queen.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

I really enjoyed it and thought the Coalition nailed what a Gears game is. A lot of fan service with just the right amount of introducing subtle changes to the gameplay. Really looking forward to seeing where they take the franchise next.

As for Horde, its my go to mode if I want to just lose a few hours having a blast with friends, its just such a great co op experience when you get a group of friends together and complete the 50 waves, unrivalled for me.

 

[Greatest Ever]

I imagine it's a lot better if you weren't already a fan, but my god, was it the most iterative, dull, and inconsequential campaign of the four mainline games. I thought the campaign, even in co-op, was pretty bad, relying on a lot of old hat (Locust again? Really?) while mixing it up with nothing of interest (the bike section was horrible, and the wave defense sections weren't nearly as cool as their potential made them be. The ending was just bigger Gears of War with a terrible final boss).

Add this with some OHKO enemies, vapid writing filled with the worst characters in the series that want to be Nathan Drake so badly, and the most hilariously worthless cameos and it's one of the worst AAA games I played last year. Ironically I did play a worse TPS from 2016, and that was Microsoft's other big TPS, Quantum Mistake.

The Coalition are a pretty bad tribute band in the campaign department. I thought I might just be over the series in the single player setting but I played Gears Ultimate and was surprised at how good it still is.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

I'm curious how you reacted to Marcus for the first time. You've never played past Gears games and so much of his appearance and dialogue, at least to me, hinges on you knowing what this character has gone through. The transformation from stern dudebro soldier to cranky old man is hilarious.

 

[AusRoachman]

Just finished this , was a huge fan of gears 1-3 but I think I am just bored of this universe .

I felt like the game just constantly dragged on . By the end of chapter 4 I was begging for it to end. Was surprised to see my final tally was only 9 hrs . Felt like I had been playing forever.

Whilst on paper it's a perfect gears game I think it just falls into the trap of repetitive gameplay (especially those mines)

It does pick back up again in the last chapter .

I was never a gears multi fan so I am not going to go into that area , my experience with all gears games was always from a campaign perspective .

Well done to them for churning out a game in such short notice (it's up there as one of the best looking xbox games) and I commend them for having split screen etc which even halo 5 couldn't manage .

I hope they change up the gameplay abit for there next one , or maybe I should just realise I am not into these games anymore .

 

[Dervius]

As a long running gears fan I thoroughly enjoyed 4, the banter and everything.

 

[blakep267]

I liked 4, but I think that there were way too many firefights. At times towards the middle and end I just wanted to have walking sections and dialogue. Not fights every 2 minutes.

 

[Greatest Ever]

Just finished this , was a huge fan of gears 1-3 but I think I am just bored of this universe .

I felt like the game just constantly dragged on . By the end of chapter 4 I was begging for it to end. Was surprised to see my final tally was only 9 hrs . Felt like I had been playing forever.

I'm with you. I was expecting it to get better after chapter 3 based on what everyone said. At least the shitty DeeBees are mostly gone by then.

 

[Goldboy]

Great game, but still falls just short of Gears 2 and 3 for me. My ranking goes 3 > 2 > 4 > 1.

 

[Electret]

A very solid game that, for me, failed to achieve greatness.

Production values and gameplay are rock solid. I enjoyed my 8 hour or so romp through the campaign. Weapons, enemies, and the cover system all combine to produce a satisfying linear, cover-shooting experience.

But that's just the problem - being largely unfamiliar with any of the prior Gears titles, I found myself wanting more than its predictable encounter design, exclusively linear structure, basic, ground-bound traversal mechanics, and cover placement. Coming from other TPS franchises, I'd like to see them expand in Gears 5 beyond what might be considered a 'classical' Gears game. There of course is the dilemma in risking alienating core fans in trying to broaden the franchise's appeal. Regarding traversal and gameplay style, one idea might be to make JD, Kat, and Del each playable characters with their own traversal mechanics and perhaps weapons and abilities. Maybe one could retain the same characteristics from Gears 4, with the others offering a new spin on things. Level design and balancing would obviously be a challenge.

Gears 4 does what it does very well. It's also the only franchise to offer its particular brand of gameplay. That's no sin, and it can certainly coexist with all the other shooter games. And massive props to The Coalition - they did an outstanding job with their first game and creating a new entry into an established and loved franchise. I just want more.

 

[Outrun]

I loved the story.

I loved how JD is not a clone of Marcus.

I loved how the two characters love each other without saying shit.

 

[AgentP]

I thought the game dragged on and got boring. Gunplay was... sloppy. I'm T felt off. Not a bad Gears, but it was trying to hard to be TLoU and UC. They should just let the dev make a new IP like they wanted.

 

[Sydle]

OP, get Gears Ultimate. It's cheap to get now and much better looking.

I liked Gears 4 a lot and it proved The Coalition is a talented group who can use the tried and true Gears mechanics to great effect (

Spoiler

Gears 3 is still the best though

). The only negatives for me were that I didn't really connect with the characters like I did in the previous games and the game felt a bit too short.

I hope TC takes some risks with the next game and works on the writing a bit.

 

[Steel]

Well, it was a better gears game than judgement, but definitely go back and play 1-3, much better campaigns.

Gears 4 has problems with the DeeBees being boring to fight and a lack of variety in the locust. That, and the plot doesn't really go anywhere at all. The event of the ending could be seen from a mile away, the reasons for the fighting between the main characters and the cog makes no sense once the locust reappear, and nothing is resolved.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

On paper it was a great all around game but for as big of a Gears fan that I am it was my least played. Multiplayer got old after only a few short months and I only went through the campaign once. I think I'm just tired of the formula. I'm jealous of the OP getting to experience the series for the first time.

 

[Arkage]

I recently played this as well, though I played the previous games. Not sure what it is but I feel like this game had the worst story of any of them by far. Spending an entire Act to chase a monster around to rescue Dad was horribly uninspired. "Look there it is! Oh darn it got away!" x50. Ugh.

I agree with your other negatives as well, especially the completely braindead bro-banter throughout. I laughed at nothing, nothing was funny.

And also way too many enemy waves. About 2/3rd through I changed the difficulty back to normal because I was getting so bored and thinking of quitting due to feeling like I was wasting my time when I had other games in the backlog.

But the gameplay was super smooth and pretty great.

 

[yyr]

I don't subscribe to Xbox Live Gold (I'm primarily a single player gamer and already subscribe to PS+).

So here's the thing. My first time playing through Gears 1-3, I played in co-op with my best friend. I'll be playing Gears 4 this way too as he recently got an XB1. I honestly believe this is the best way to play these games. It is just not the same experience when playing by yourself.

You may want to subscribe for just a month or two, find a buddy who is interested in or has played the trilogy, and jump in with them. If you do, trust me, you won't regret it.

Horde mode is something to do with the same buddy once you're done with the campaign. A fun diversion in the 2nd game that grew into something more in the later sequels. With a full 5-player team, it's pretty awesome.

 

[professor denim]

Ultimate Edition is 10x better. Give it a go.

 

[rokkerkory]

Was a super fun game but kinda short.

 

[farisr]

Just finished this , was a huge fan of gears 1-3 but I think I am just bored of this universe .

I felt like the game just constantly dragged on . By the end of chapter 4 I was begging for it to end. Was surprised to see my final tally was only 9 hrs . Felt like I had been playing forever.

Whilst on paper it's a perfect gears game I think it just falls into the trap of repetitive gameplay (especially those mines)

It does pick back up again in the last chapter .

I was never a gears multi fan so I am not going to go into that area , my experience with all gears games was always from a campaign perspective .

Pretty much me, except I couldn't force myself to finish the game. I sold it off. (this was actually the game that started up my new rule to help with my backlog/unplayed games situation) Both me and my friend who were playing through it together lost interest, despite being super hyped early on in the game that Gears was finally back. He went from "omg I played Gears like crazy on the 360, especially the MP, it feels so good to have this movement/style of gameplay back, I may just buy an xbox again just for this game" to "yeah, I'm over it" after a few hours.

I think for people looking for the exact same experience as the last few games, this is a safe bet.

But yeah, I seemed to have moved past it. Last gen, this series was the top of the top in regards to third person shooter gameplay, it basically cemented the cover mechanics and what not, and even by the end of the gen it still belonged at the top for me (other games in the genre were taking cues from it). But since this gen started, other more dynamic third person shooters have shown up to take the crown by a big margin for me, and on top of that a lot of other other third person shooters now are trying to take cues from them. So I seemed to have moved past it without really noticing until I had this game in my hands for a few hours.

But yeah, I'm sure just like how I personally still really enjoy the way the original Crash trilogy or DKC trilogy feels/controls and can keep on playing that over and over, there are lots of people who still enjoy the way Gears feels and are really glad they have more to play with this game.

Anyways, OP. Since you enjoyed this, get Ultimate Edition. Also, did you get one of those copies of Gears 4 that came with digital codes for the first 4 games? or no? Also, I think UE, 2 and 3 will hold up just fine honestly. No idea about Judgement.

 

[Orca]

I've been playing through it again with the new HDR TV and man it's a pretty game.

 

[Hypertrooper]

A great debut by the Coalition. I like the setup for the future games, but have to agree with people, that the mines section felt too long and dragged out. Enjoyed the story tho. Unfortunately I have not spent much time with Horde.