Honestly, once I found myself not so frustrated by the difficulty, I was able to actually enjoy the game for what it is and what’s here is really well polished, unique, and enjoyable. Eventually, I had to concede and drop it to the easiest difficulty – the second time I’ve had to do that this year with DOOM Eternal’s unrelenting hordes of anguish. Wretches were tearing me to shreds, overwhelming me with numbers, Hammerburst drones kept interrupting my turns, and Snipers pinned me down.
But sooner rather than later, I found my whole team getting chewed up and spat out within a full turn. I had the game on Normal for a good while and started out ok. There’s even a key relationship in Gears Tactics that we believe could play a major role in Gears of War 6 if Xbox Games Studios wanted it to. There’s some major revelations in here that don’t just relate to the cast we’ve known and loved all these years, but also explain a lot about the Locust and their unearthly qualities. Splash Damage and The Coalition have worked tirelessly to not only make an entertaining excursion in Gears Tactics, but also one that has a significant impact on the Gears of War franchise as a whole. The cut-scenes are mainline quality and Gears Tactics is a single player experience, through and through. The same applies, of course, to the Locust you’re fighting against.īut the difference between this and XCOM is the real cinematic focus and narrative development at the core of the game. Obviously, as well, if you end a turn in cover, you’ll not only be harder to hit, but you’ll also get a reduction against damage. Action points can also be consumed by reloading, firing, performing executions, and special traits you earn as you develop each character. There’s the Overwatch tactic that means your Gear can cover an area with gunfire during enemy turns so they can’t sneak up on you, and there’s skill trees for each character, letting you grow and develop your own team of Gears.Įach member of the team gets action points per turn, so you’ll only be able to move so far. XCOM fans will adore this as you can rename your squad mates, adding that personal touch to them before – well, you know what – stylise them with cornbeads and facial hair. Halo Wars has more of an OG Warcraft / Command & Conquer style to it – focused on base building and zerg rushing Covenant, whereas Gears Tactics is turn-based, almost wave shooter esque, tasking you with rescue and capture the flag style hold missions. I’m not entirely sure why Microsoft like to turn their hottest properties into top-down games, but Gears Tactics has the feeling, tone, style, and finesse down so appropriately, you almost wonder whether this is actually the genre the franchise resonates with most of all.
There’s even epic boss battles that make full use of the battlefield rather than confining you to small spaces. Smartly, it’s all been brought across so that it feels distinctly Gears of War – taking care of Emergence Holes by dumping grenades in them, chainsawing Drones in half.
It all fits the Gears of War franchise like a glove. XCOM has always been about hunkering down, finding the best angles to pepper aliens with bullets, and managing your squad at base camp. I think the use of cover-based shooting makes the genres a natural match. And guess what, it, too, also makes that jump across genres seamlessly. So it seems Microsoft are taking that gamble again with another of their poster franchises, bringing us Gears Tactics, an XCOM inspired, cinematic prequel to Marcus and Dom’s bloodthirsty romps. Halo Wars was a surprisingly great game, converting one of the most popular online shooters of all time into an engaging, well oiled RTS.