3/25/2023 0 Comments Gears tactics review![]() ![]() Gears Tactics loses some of that charm, as I tended to stick with the preset heroes who are just customizable enough to make the fail state attached to them bearable. One of the best parts of games like XCOM is creating a squad based on your friends and trying to see how long you can keep them all alive. That’s standard for this kind of strategy game, but Gears Tactics also introduces “heroes,” less-customizable characters who cause a game over if they die, like some characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. (I customized one to look like the villain from Megamind just for fun.) You can give them unique armor, weapon upgrades, and skill specializations within their class. Gears Tactics also foregrounds the franchise’s emphasis on character, giving full customization options for recruitable soldiers. Gears’ flagship chainsaws, bayonets, and gore are all on full display here. You can jump into any mission with four characters and must move them in and out of cover, completing objectives and killing enemies. The game mostly manages to pull this off and delivers the exhilarating oomph and thoughtful gameplay that you would expect of a Gears game. The developers’ biggest task with Gears Tactics was to capture the magic of genre stalwarts, specifically Firaxis’ XCOM, while still adding some unique flair. The game’s plot doesn’t capitalize on its full potential, which is unfortunate considering that it’s more character-focused, but it adds some nice connective tissue to the earliest parts of the Gears timeline and is littered with references that fans will appreciate. There’s still a lot of story left to be told from the end of Gears Tactics to the beginning of Gears of War, so don’t be surprised to see The Coalition explore this part of the timeline more in the future. More time in the second act could’ve been spent developing the villain, but instead, the pacing is bogged down by repetitive side missions that feel disconnected from the main story. Despite an engaging first and third act, Gears Tactics drags in the middle until a big twist kicks the plot back into high gear. Ukkon is a pivotal new character to Gears canon, though he winds up feeling a bit underdeveloped. At the same time, enough is left unexplored to leave the door open for future installments. Leading with the COG’s destruction of cities was an interesting cold open that kept me engaged, and the main characters are all charming in their own thick-necked ways. Prequels always have to justify their existence without changing too much, and Gears Tactics pulls off this balancing act pretty well, adding some nice context to the earliest Gears games. The game follows the father of Gears 5star Kait Diaz, Gabe, as he works to take down a Locust baddie named Ukkon, who is supposedly the source of all the Locust. Ukkon is the main villain of 'Gears Tactics'. It’s a solid first attempt at a strategy game with a few niggles that falls somewhere around "pretty good" but doesn't quite achieve greatness. ![]() Gears 5's open-world segments, the mobile game Gears Pop!, and now Splash Damage’s PC-exclusive Gears Tactics are all testaments to that.ĭeveloped by Brink creators Splash Damage and Microsoft’s in-house studio The Coalition, Gears Tactics is a prequel that explores a mostly uncharted part of the series’ timeline. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one, and The Coalition and Microsoft have started to experiment more with the series’ latest entries. That’s one of the reasons why I fell off the series after Gears of War 2. Gears is one of Microsoft’s flagship properties, but the developers rarely take risks with the series. It’s an enjoyable romp, but one glaring flaw prevents it from reaching the lofty heights achieved by some of its peers. Gears Tactics takes notes from strategy genre giants like XCOM and Fire Emblem: Three Houses but still manages to establish identity to entice both Gears and a broader audience of strategy fans. Can the Gears series manage the transition from a third-person shooter to a strategy game? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |