With the launch of the Xbox Series X and S, Microsoft has released the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions of Gears Tactics. Though connections to the overarching Gears saga, particularly Gears 5, abound--your unit is led by Gabe Diaz, Kait's dad--Gears Tactics' story is simple and mostly detached from the larger franchise. In the updated campaign, Jack, the cloaking, door-ripping robot from the core Gears of War series, joins your team. © 2021 GAMESPOT, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. … Each character can "act"--move, shoot, or use a class-specific ability--three times per turn. Every successful plan, even a last-ditch effort, feels like a small stroke of genius. Spin-offs can be a … Mike Epstein has outflanked, outgunned, and out-chainsawed the Locust Horde of Gears Tactics for over 40 hours. Stacking together gear bonuses produces some amazing results. You may only ever have four troops at once, but they can feel like an army. Given the life-or-death dependency on taking cover in the Gears (of War) games, I can’t think of another long-running series better suited to sidestep from third-person shooter into XCOM-style turn-based tactics than this one. Gears Tactics Review If you're a fan of Gears of War and XCOM then Gears Tactics is here to blow your socks off with its intense strategic turn-based battles. Each Gear falls into one of five classes corresponding to a specific weapon: Support fighters get the Lancer, the more aggressive Vanguard gets the Retro Lancer, Scouts get a Gnasher shotgun, and so on. 8.0. Gears Tactics Review | Be aggressive. Editor's note: Below are our impressions of how the Gears Tactics runs on Xbox Series X, also by Gears Tactics reviewer Mike Epstein. Jack and the deviant enemies theoretically add a new layer of challenge. Gears Tactics Review — Time to Switch Gears. In addition to the boss monsters, who have large sweeping attacks that force you out of cover, you'll have to fight waves of standard enemies, who aren't exactly easy to handle. Gears Tactics lacks the broader strategic layer of games such as XCOM, featuring instead a linear story campaign. It’s one intense and satisfying tactical battle after another, and it looks absolutely fantastic doing it. Gears Tactics Video Review 11 months ago. You can also read our full Series X review for an in-depth breakdown of the next-gen console. It's pure Gears: so violent it doesn't seem remotely upsetting. on November 5, 2020 at 9:54AM PST. At the same time, though, that specificity intensifies how repetitive the game starts to feel. I specced out Gabe Diaz, a support unit, as a healer, but I also made sure to grab all the abilities that enhanced his Chainsaw attack. As a tactics game employing a pulled-back, RTS-style camera, the increased fidelity doesn't make as big of an impact as it does in other games where you can look closely at every detail. https://www.patreon.com/worthabuyGreenman Gaming Link - http://www.greenmangaming.com/?tap_a=2283-5d2ea6&tap_s=6586-4b38deIf the … IGN Store: We got Tees for Spider-Man, Star Wars, and more! They all have distinctive and interesting abilities to counter, including some that automatically attack if you get too close (countering the insta-kill Lancer chainsaws) and some who explode in a cloud of debilitating poison gas on death to discourage executing them when they’re downed. Gabe leads a squad of up to four Gears into battle against a substantial lineup of recognizable Locust enemies (introduced at a steady clip throughout with a gruesome close-up and a couple of tactical tips) that range from basic grunts and exploding Tickers to buffing Kantuses and tricky Theron Guards. Gears Tactics goes 100% all-in on tactical battles. Sliding into cover for a movement bonus is a great nod to classic Gears moves. Top New Video Games Releasing On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Month -- April 2020 Apr 3, 2020 8:10am. Gears Tactics carefully recreates the chaotic excitement of a Gears of War firefight in turn-based strategy form. On top of that, specialized perks and gear often give you plenty of opportunities to earn extra health or moves. Gears Tactics is a spin-off with a more focused approach to the genre, ditching the larger strategy layer side of the XCOM formula in favor of pitched tactical battle after tactical battle. Mike Epstein Liked: Feels every bit a Gears of War game Turn-based tactical gameplay suits the series well Disliked: Cumbersome menus between missions With the console release of the game, there's a new update for all platforms, including PC. Rushing in with the Lancer chainsaw is an aggressive way to clear a path through an enemy, but only if you can reach them without taking overwatch fire. It adds an updated version of the campaign, which includes a new character, enemies, and more loot. Metacritic Game Reviews, Gears Tactics for PC, Gears Tactics is the fast-paced, turn-based strategy game from one of the most-acclaimed video game franchises – Gears of War. Genre: Turn-based Tactics Gears’ enemies and weapons translate surprisingly well to the tactics genre, too. Technically, Tactics is a prequel, as it takes place before the events of the original series, but it really feels like a throwaway story from the expanded canon. Developer Splash Damage The Coalition. By Andrew Jordan Published May 03, 2020 Though the situation never adds up in your favor, there's almost always a solution to the threat you're facing. Gears Tactics is a stellar tactics game that still manages to feel like the Gears you know and love. When it works, and that one cautious shot turns into a 20-move assault, it feels like you cobbled together one of those reactionary hail-mary schemes Marcus Fenix seems to pull off in every Gears set-piece. A rough-hewn, challenging game with a long campaign and lots of options to customize your characters, along with a whole new game-mode, means that Gears Tactics is a must play game for any fans of the Gears universe, turn-based strategy titles or squad tactics games. If Gabe or Sid or Mikayla gets their head caved in by a Locust thug that’s the ball game. Gears Tactics captures the chaotic, gory roller coaster energy generated by the shooters, even as your focus turns from playing a cog to maintaining the machine. More hardcore gamers will find it a little lightweight to be considered an XCOM rival. So while the plot takes a back seat, Gears Tactics cleverly twists the formula of the modern strategy RPG, creating scenarios that fit the Gears mold. If he were a Gear, he'd probably be a heavy. Gears Tactics is a fantastic strategy game. That comes at the cost of some replayability, but most of those fights are rewarding puzzles with fantastically polished graphical payoff. Gears Tactics on Xbox is one of the best attempts to craft a new turn-based squad shooter game. Though the campaign took over 35 hours to complete, there are only a handful of mission types, including a King of the Hill-style point control, a turn-limited character rescue, and myriad excuses to kill every Locust in sight. Really, they're too much of a "good" thing. The story takes place twelve years before the first Gears of War and one year after Emergence Day, the day the Locust hordes emerged from beneath the surface of the planet Sera and coordinated a worldwide ground assault on humanity. Missions in this game are … Review. Gears Tactics Review: 83% XCOM, But Still Totally Gears Strap on that chainsaw bayonet in this strategy-themed spin-off of the Gears franchise. You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos. Gears Tactics Review. Gears Tactics is an excellent turn-based tactics game that does a superb job of melding Gears’ famous style and action with the mechanics laid down by XCOM. Images. And even within those sub-classes, there are interesting thematic variations. The beauty of Gears Tactics is that those maneuvers are entirely contingent on how you develop your characters. Because it was shown immediately after the reveal trailer for Gears POP, a free-to-play mobile game that crosses Gears with Funko Pop figures, I immediately wrote Gears Tactics off as an unnecessary spinoff. By Like many cross-gen games so far, Gears Tactics gets scaling technical benefits, depending on the console on which you play it. Complex and … Customizing each character, both through leveling them up and furnishing them with weapon mods and armor, not only makes them more powerful, but more specifically useful. New Path Of Exile Expansion, Ultimatum, Adds A Hardcore Gauntlet Mode, Footage Of Canceled Castlevania Game Shows Up On YouTube, Abandoned Developer Insists He's Not Hideo Kojima. At a glance, you could argue that these fights are the epitome of the Gears Tactics format: Every turn requires you to react to new, potentially game-ending circumstances while also moving towards your objective and planning for what your opponents will do next. Effectively blending the Gears of War universe with strategy gameplay, Gears Tactics is a fast-paced experience that succeeds on both fronts. Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos. His review code was provided by the publisher. Gears Tactics is a great game that is sure to delight fans of the series. Each corner of the tree, which is actually square and not very tree-like, gives you different abilities and grants bonuses to a character's unique skill-set that encourage you to use them in specific ways. However, there's no replacement for actual objective and level variety over the long haul. 0. When the two identities merge, you get scenarios that mimic the flow and intensity of the combat arenas in Gears shooters, even as they play out in a more controlled, formulaic way. Publisher Xbox Game Studios. Though I'm still working through the new campaign, I'd argue that the original is a tighter, more satisfying experience. As we explained in our original Gears Tactics review: Gears Tactics is the lovechild of Gears of War and XCOM. Each wave of enemies carries a certain momentum, which evokes a moment of doubt as to whether or not you even have a chance to survive. On the Xbox Series X, the game runs in 4K resolution and at 60fps. This 90% doesn't miss. These fights are demanding, long-winded endurance runs. By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's When Gears Tactics was announced at E3 2018, I was skeptical. Successfully translates the aesthetic, mechanics, and feelings of the Gears franchise into a strategy game, Meaningful progression leads to strong character customization, Interesting, innovative tweaks to the modern strategy RPG formula, Lack of mission diversity over a very long campaign. Sorry, but you can't access this content! We encourage you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY. Continue after the break for the original Gears Tactics review. The Support is the healer, and you can enhance those abilities, but you can also build around finding ways to give the other three characters extra moves every turn. Downing enemies (then executing them) becomes vital, as it awards your squaddies extra actions. Gears Tactics is a turn-based tactics video game developed by Splash Damage in conjunction with The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios. Gears Tactics does an excellent job of grafting Gears' signature look and feel onto XCOM's turn-based battle format and looks great doing it. Still, it's surprising just how well the series translates to a turn-based strategy RPG. The only truly novel missions are a trio of boss battles where you square off against some of the series' biggest, baddest enemies. Even when you feel like you've been backed into a corner, there's always a move that will give you a small chance of doing something to turn the tide, crack the mission wide-open, and shift the momentum back your way. Gears Tactics review – terrific combat, stretched thin | PCGamesN Gears Tactics review – terrific combat, stretched thin This PC-focused extension of an … Gears Tactics is an industry changing realisation that marks an illustrious movement in gaming development. At the same time, all of the extra stuff--more moves to make, more enemies to fight--makes each level drag on longer than it needs to. With the downfall of Master Chief since the flat-to-negative response to Halo 5, Microsoft has seemingly pivoted its focus on the Gears franchise. Some of the more advanced enemies, like Boomers, will drop their powerful explosive weapons, creating an opportunity for you to turn the enemy's heavy firepower back on them. Strategy games like Gears Tactics do not automatically translate well to consoles, where good gamepad controls are a must, but Gears Tactics lands the jump to consoles gracefully. With a solid story, addictive RPG systems, and dozens of hours of gameplay, this is a must-play for any fans of turn-based strategy games or the Gears franchise in general. Gears Tactics review by Mick Fraser on . Not only do the mechanics and stylistic flourishes of the Gears series make sense in a turn-based environment, but you can build strategies around them. Even so, it’s a strong campaign that leaves a great impression with some clever, Gears-appropriate original ideas. – Mike Epstein, 5 November 2020. Gears Tactics reviews, pros and cons. Creating a team that complements each other and how you approach situations tactically not only feels like "progress," but growth. You’ll be leading a small fire squad … Geek Culture - Jake Su - 8.8 / 10 Review by Mike Williams, Reviews Editor Using Jack effectively requires careful coordination; on a good turn, it can clear the path for you to kill more enemies and build even more momentum. Understanding how to read a battlefield to find ideal cover and a path to outflanking your opponent is just as essential as your trusty Lancer assault rifle. 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