Multiplayer | Gears of War Wiki
| This article is about the Real World |
|---|
The Multiplayer component of the Gears of War games involve teams competing to accomplish certain goals, determined by what mode is being played. Players can connect with each other to play multiplayer through Xbox Live, System Link, or Local play. Each team will consist of five players. If any player drops out before or during the match, or not enough players are found, AI controlled bots will take their places.
Contents
- 1 Modes
- 1.1 Gears of War
- 1.2 Gears of War 2
- 1.3 Gears of War 3
- 1.4 Gears of War: Judgment
- 1.5 Gears of War 4
- 1.6 Gears 5
- 2 Maps
Modes[]
- See also Horde, Beast and OverRun.
Gears of War[]
- Warzone
- Execution
- Assassination (modified to become Guardian in Gears of War 2)
- Annex
Gears of War 2[]
- Guardian
- Wingman
- Submission (modified along with Guardian into Capture the Leader in Gears of War 3)
- King of the Hill
- Warzone
- Execution
Gears of War 3[]
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the Leader
- Execution
- King of the Hill
- Wingman
- Warzone
Gears of War: Judgment[]
- Breakthrough
- Domination
- Master at Arms
- Free-For-All
- Team Deathmatch
- Execution
Gears of War 4[]
- Arms Race
- Dodgeball
- Escalation
- Team Deathmatch
- King of the Hill
- Guardian
- Warzone
- Execution
Gears 5[]
- Arms Race
- Team Deathmatch
- Arcade
- Gridiron
- Free-For-All
- King of the Hill
- Escalation
- Execution
- Guardian
- Dodgeball
- 2v2 Gnasher
Maps[]
| Multiplayer Maps | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Why Gears 5 Does Not Have 4-Player Co-op
By
Rory Young
Gears 5 campaign design director Matt Searcy explains why The Coalition chose to implement 2-player co-op, rather than full 4-player co-op.
Gears 5 will be the first game in the franchise to feature 3-player co-op in its story campaign. Despite that, it remains 2-player co-op focused, like Gears of War, Gears of War 2, and Gears of War 4 before it. The third player will take on the role of Jack the robot as a compromise between The Coalition and fans who want to co-op with more than 2 players. It’s shy of the 4-player co-op found in Gears of War 3 and Gears of War Judgment, but The Coalition has good reasons for Gears 5‘s co-op limitations.
Speaking with Screen Rant, Gears 5 campaign design director Matt Searcy explained the studio’s decision to focus on 3-player co-op.
Or more specifically, co-op focusing on 2 main characters instead of 3 or 4. Storytelling is one of the primary issues. Searcy agrees that 2-player co-op allows for more intimate, character-driven storytelling. «And because four-player co-op means you have at least four characters in every single cinematic and every single story beat at all times.»
RELATED: Gears 5 Has 3-Player Co-Op for the Campaign, But There’s A Catch
Searcy also describes how gameplay changes significantly in Gears going from 2-player co-op to 4-player co-op. With 4 players, «a game that’s based very clearly on fronts and enemies and cover and ammo scarcity can devolve pretty quickly into a bit of a free-for-all.» A 2-player focus allows The Coalition to focus in both narratively and gameplay-wise, with tighter and more intensely structured action.
Story and character development is where Searcy feels Gears 5 is making steps forward, naturally. They describe how Gears 5 is built around a war, but is also driven by the main protagonist Kait.
2-player co-op allows The Coalition to focus on Kait while also rotating through other characters, which allows the narrative to push and pull Kait between the war and her personal journey. And there’s room for telling intimate stories about Kait’s squadmates through that.
In many ways, Searcy’s comments mirror those of The Coalition studio head Rod Fergusson. Speaking during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Fergusson was much more blunt about the troubles caused by 4-player co-op. «It’s chaos.» He’d go on to describe how 4-player co-op leads to much bigger levels and frustrations in storytelling. He notes how in Gears of War 3 you might recognize how many scenes force the full squad to have at least one line of dialogue. He agrees that a 2-player focus makes for better storytelling, with a third character fit in as a compromise.
Co-op fans will, of course, have other opportunities in Gears 5. Escape is a 3-player cooperative mode. Horde mode is a 5-player cooperative option.
There are no 4-player co-op options, but The Coalition has hopefully made up for that fact with its alternatives. And the reason behind them, too.
Gears 5 releases September 10 on PC and Xbox One.
MORE: GameStop Reveals 10 Most Pre-Ordered Games of E3 2019
Gears of war 2: TPS shooter review | igrasan
- Full name: Gears of War 2
- Release date: 2008
- Localization: Text
- Genre: Action Shooter
- What you can play: xbox 360
- Multiplayer: Yes
- Cooperative: Yes
Gears of War 2 is the continuation of the famous cooperative shooter about big and brutal guys slicing with their saws, and now with their own hands, disgusting underground monsters that threaten human civilization …
After the forces of the detachment of crazy fighters (from the previous part) bosketballed the train with the resonator-bomb straight to the locust home, the war did not end.
Then it banged well and laid down thousands of these underground creatures that encroached on the human race. Naturally, it did not work out to destroy all the freaks. As the saying goes: “Winning the battle does not mean winning the war,” so six months later, the locust army returns with renewed vigor to get even with the people for that Hiroshima.
Gears of war 2 in detail
The Horde’s target is the last stronghold of humanity — Jacinto. This is the largest city of surviving people, the only one under complete control. But the little people did not kick the bulldozer all this time. They diligently «sharpened their knives» and prepared the final attack on the main stronghold of the locust — Nexis. In the second part, we will see precisely these events, again from the perspective of the famous detachment led by Marcus Fenix.
The plot in the «two» has clearly become stronger and from the very beginning the game throws you into such a whirlpool of events that it becomes simply unrealistic to tear yourself away from what is happening.
Together with the legions of coalition soldiers, we go to the front and beat the creatures everywhere, even underground. Of course, it’s damn beautiful and on the right scale. The plot without looking back drags us along the most significant places of the battle, and then immediately breaks off and winds up a standard footcloth for “weights”, which, by the way, cannot but rejoice. Even a little snot will be added to this peasant story, having worked on the characters in a completely uncharacteristic manner.
The mechanism of war and YOU are its indispensable part
The developers tirelessly continue to bend their line, adhering to their plans, so the “second weight” is just as cool, but already much “heavier” and cooler, although it does not differ in any way from the first in mechanics. But bring plenty of micro-changes and improvements, which would be enough for two reviews, but in the format of this article I will try to shorten the text a little.
Let’s start with the background: Gears of War 2 is another positional co-op TPS shooter.
The game has an active dynamic cover system, which allows you not to be too distracted by control during combat. GoW2 is also focused on very bloody, brutal gunfights and melee fights. The gameplay is replete with chases, skirmishes on vehicles, battles with giants, assaults on fortresses and outposts. The second game in the series is even crazier and more driving in this regard, but more on that later.
Like the previous part, the «deuce» is charged to the very tomatoes with cooperative and without it loses the lion’s share of its charm. With a partner, you are like two angels of death arranging bloody battles in their favorite game — war.
There is a «split-screen» and finally a full-fledged multiplayer with a bunch of game modes and all sorts of fucking chips, such as character customization, etc. The main goodies of the series have not gone anywhere, and I would even say they have multiplied. Fast reloading, saw fight, dynamic cover change — it’s all there.
We can still almost with our bare hands dig into the throat of the enemy, arrange duels with Lancers, crushing skulls and interrupting the spine. Blood will splatter in all directions, and well-detailed remnants of enemies will surely cover the entire battlefield. The second weight became even more brutal and bloody. Therefore, if you are afraid of blood, then this game is clearly not for you.
— I have a present for you! Come freak! (c) House
It was logical to assume that the requests of the fans to bring melee combat to the required quality did not go unnoticed by the developers. Finishing moves have been introduced into the game, which one would like to call “Fatality”. As a result of the battle, the enemy can, like you, fall to his knee, waiting for a strong hand from a comrade. What should be done with such a freak? That’s right — get it! He can be trampled on, smearing his head on the floor, beaten to death with fists and even twist his neck. If you wish, you can close yourself with a wallowing underdog, like a shield.
Note: In order to finish off the enemy or take hostage, you need to approach the freak crawling on all fours and press and hold any button (X, Y.A, B)
and beautiful as ever. Look at what is left of the enemy who let you in with a saw. Now these are not just red lumps of poorly traced mutilated locust bodies. These are full-fledged parts of the body with protruding entrails and bone bites. (In GoW3, even protruding intestines and parts of the spine will be drawn) By the way, success in « duels on saws» again depends on the speed of pressing the attack button 😀
The arsenal has been significantly replenished and, in addition to the barrels already familiar to us, exotic guns and devices will appear, a new class of weapons will open — heavy. Trunks also differ in characteristics and types. In general, the arsenal fits well with the advanced combat mechanics. And it was in this part that the developers began experimenting with purely melee weapons and grenades.
Big guns for big bastards
There will be a little less simple corridor firefights, but they will obviously be better worked out with new features such as shelters behind a crawling worm, moving plates, etc. More battles of medium and large scales will be added, and the war will finally take on its true face and scale. This is generally a feature of the second part. It is directly saturated with chic large-scale battles, with tanks and hundreds of enemies on the attack, giant creatures, where brand new heavy weapons come in handy. Opened a new hole? And so, a whole tape of multi-barreled cartridges goes into a greenish fog, grinding into minced meat everyone who did not understand that they were crawling out under the fire of a heavy machine gun.
Even ordinary skirmishes with enemy units very often turn into something more, and here you are, under the roar of anti-aircraft guns or mortars, watering enemy units running out without stopping. Two-five-ten-twenty! At such moments, the hero himself begins to zealously comment on what is happening, sometimes counting the dead by ear.
The developers did their best to recreate the feeling of a full-scale war, such a direct total clash, and not local skirmishes. Which they did with flying colors. This, by the way, helps the players themselves, who fight in co-op, to engage in more tactics, and not just shoot at everything that moves, although … I do not deny the effectiveness of this tactic.
Even some of the locations are designed specifically for such mechanics, which is good news. Of course, there is one problem: all the enemies of the previous part, such as Brumak, have been reduced to a number of simple and not so dangerous creatures. Already at the beginning of the game, we are invited to break through the skull of a couple of such freaks, and from a simple heavy machine gun. While in the first one we were running from Brumak for half the game. A mismatch, however.
Also, now the «two» can boast of good missions on heavy vehicles and this is not just a piece of indistinct chase, as in the first one, but real tasks with checkpoints and phased skirmishes.
At the very beginning of the game, we will shoot from the drilling platform, then we will drive the Centaur light tank (full control, no scripts), we will fly the River, and at the end we will ride a live Brumak. Wow, and a chic episode turned out to be, I’ll tell you, after each such walk, my hands are shaking for a long time. Adrenaline…
Bestiary
The standard set of freaks has been diluted with several new types. Already familiar to us «larvae» acquired new skills, weapons and even battle tactics. In the first part, there were quite a lot of all sorts of, ahem, animals, but the deuce again brings surprises.
- Tickers are mindless inhabitants of underground tunnels, adapted by locusts for mobile land mines. Blow them up from a distance.
- Butchers — heavy and large species of locusts, work with meat in underground cities of larvae. They go on the attack with a large cleaver, do not hide behind shelters, stupid like boomers.
- Machine gunners and grenade launchers — like boomers, they are controlled by heavy weapons.
Do not hide and do not hide — stupid. - Flamethrowers are desperate grub warriors. Why desperate? Yes, because one shot in the fuel tank ends his life quickly and with a twinkle.
- Skorzh — apparently the most powerful and titled warrior. Protects the queen, very strong in battle.
- Locust queen. For some reason it has a female human face. And she is well acquainted with Adam Phoenix (Father of Marcus).
- «Male» — found in the research center. Apparently a mutated larval warrior. Throws like crazy, knows how to recover. (Chop it with a saw to be sure).
- Shield Warriors are a type of locust designed specifically for close combat. A large-sized warrior in armor closes himself with a shield, after which he approaches the enemy. Shortening the distance, he strikes with his mace, at the end of which is an explosive mechanism. If it hits, it will kill 100%, it also knows how to close itself from hail.
There will also be new equipment.
For example, a flying barge is an organic vehicle, why the hell is it only for larvae underground? In general, this is just a transport with machine guns and cannons on board. A boat is a technique for moving on water. On each side are fixed two creatures playing the role of riding horses. At the stern there is a tripod and protection. Locust Rider — A warrior riding a medium-sized bipedal monster. His creature has a very painful melee attack. Therefore, as a rule, they shoot at it first.
I will find you, you hear, I will find you!
To work on the story part, Josh Wareth (comic writer) was invited to the team. From under his masterful pen, a little drama was brought into the game, which will stretch into three parts. I don’t dare to say more, unless they trample the story not only next to Marcus’s partner and his relatives.
I don’t know about you, but I liked his way of thinking. Creating such «subplots» helps to feel sympathy for the main characters of the series.
For the first time we see that Marcus and Dominik are not so stone and that these muscular men, jumping without fear under bullets, also have feelings. Do not think that the famous «weights» will slide into a snotty series about love. No, this is just a story about the motives of the soldiers fighting in this war and their loved ones, who also fell under the rink of terrible events. We will get the denouement of what happened in the third part.
Network game
The multiplayer has been improved, and quite well. The break clearly benefited not only the stronger single company, but the bloody battles over the network. Now there are a lot of modes, and the new mechanics makes the gears thresh even more efficiently. Absolutely everyone will find their favorite mode. And even if you do not have the Internet, then spleetscreen will help you! We put the bots into teams, go to different sides and voila — gorgeous PvP is ready. It’s just some kind of holiday!
- A military zone is a «counterstrike» in Girsovvar.
Team to team. To win, you need to kill all the enemies on the map, no respawn. - Human shield — a team fight where you need to capture a civilian and move him to a specified location. Rebirth is endless.
- Partner — fight in pairs. You only have one life. Played for points (kills/executions)
- Horde — cooperative game mode against hordes of locusts. A very interesting option for survival, the most it is for playing for two on a «split-screen».
- Execution — team fight. In which you need to execute or demolish the head of the enemy.
- Guardian — to win, you need to kill the enemy commander and eliminate his team. As long as the commander is alive, his subordinates have endless respawns.
- Anexia is a game to hold positions. Naturally for glasses. Respawn is infinite.
- King of the Hill — you need to capture and hold only one position on the map. The best game mode in my opinion.
I would like to add that the locations are not just a bunch of static fortifications without features, local arenas have something to stand out.
For example, on a map with tram tracks, there will sometimes be hail, grinding to pieces anyone who did not hide. This topic was better developed already in the Troika.
Visually, the game is not as prettier as it has become more alive, although the celestuha bounces off the graphon at times. The engine has been updated to UE3.5, so the picture has become more beautiful, and there are only more high-quality physics.
Destructible environments and covers can now be seen. — «Squeeze, so to the fullest!» Apparently these mottos were used by the developers when they created this game. Stable fps and a nice, highly detailed picture make GoW2 almost the most beautiful game on the box, not counting Forza, of course.
Gears of war 2 on PC
Alas, this part has not yet appeared on a personal computer. She came out in 2008 and still does not hear a single spirit about porting. I would not despair, perhaps Microsoft will change its policy in the future, and we will be able to shoot the «weight» normally.
Total…
In my opinion, this is the best part of the series, at least after passing quadrology, that’s exactly the feeling. Not only the stronger plot has become stronger, with attempts to open the soul of these brutal men, but also the gameplay part, which is no less important. I really liked the scale and presentation of the fighting, it’s really cool and looks damn beautiful. In short: in the second part, we were shown the best ideas of the developers. Technique, finishing moves, new enemies, a bunch of huge creatures that still need to be figured out how to kill. Undoubtedly, co-op is also dragging, without which I can’t imagine this game at all.
This is just the perfect TPS shooter on a 360 box, it’s not better for sure, and maybe not only on it. Literally every piece of Gears of war 2 breathes flawless game mechanics and dozens of mind-blowing gameplay solutions. In my memory, there is not a single dull or uninteresting fight, there is not a single boring or poorly choreographed cutscene.
I want to record every moment, replay every fight, and learn more about the heroes. This is the best thing that could happen to the weights.
Clattering with unstained gears, the mechanism of war started working again. Friends, we are again offered to become an indispensable part of it, and I do not recommend anyone to refuse this. If you have a 360th box, then you have probably already wiped it to holes, well, if not, for the sake of such a game it’s not a sin to fork out.
Game series navigation:
- Gears of war
- Gears of war 2
- Gears of war 3
- Gears of war Judgment
A little about the game ↓
Haven’t played anything for a whole month except Gears of War — impressions of the most iconic series of shooters with rolls and covers — DTF games
In a nutshell, I liked it.
17,355
views
It just so happens that after purchasing the Xbox Series X in May 2022, I decided to dive straight into one of the most important Microsoft exclusives, which is not really presented on other platforms.
At one time, I only had a chance to familiarize myself with the first Gears of War on PC, and thanks to Series X and backward compatibility, I could finally cover the entire series at once.
I planned this text back in June, right after Gears 5, but it kept getting delayed. It seemed to me that people would not be very interested in reading about Gears. In August, I stumbled upon some good material from Rendz, which in a similar way, without being distracted by other games, went through six parts of God of War. As a result, I realized that it was time to try to write something about Gears of War.
Initially, I generally thought that my text would successfully complement the announcement of the GoW remaster collection, but Nick Baker’s insiders once again turned out to be erroneous. Not a big loss, given that shooters already play well and look good on modern hardware.
It is worth mentioning that this text is not a detailed analysis of the Gears of War series and its rare metamorphoses, but rather just the impressions of a player who first got acquainted with a new franchise in detail.
There are no plot spoilers in the text — in a couple of moments I talk about some important scenes, but without context, only those who have already completed the game will understand them.
How I played all the main parts of Gears of War
- Only completed story campaigns solo in release order. In some parts (including 2 and 3) I managed to try out the multiplayer and the wave mode.
- I didn’t try to «rush» all the parts at once — I spent about 3-6 evenings after work on one game. All games of the franchise can be easily played in 9-10 hours.
- I did not take breaks between games — for example, after completing the Ultimate Edition, I immediately launched the second part on the same night.
- For stats lovers: I completed Gears of War 1 on May 4th, Gears of War 2 on May 7th, Gears of War 3 on May 8th, Judgment on May 14th, Gears of War 4 on May 19thMay, and Gears 5 on May 25th.
I started playing Gears Tactics, but put it aside for now, as I was busy with other Xbox exclusives. - I used four Duracell batteries.
Franchise in a nutshell
- The events of all parts of Gears of War take place on the fictional planet Sera — outwardly, it slightly resembles the Earth, but it still has suitable conditions for the existence of people. Among the distinguishing features — the day on the planet lasts 26 hours, and it itself is surrounded by two moons.
- Gameplay All major Gears of War are linear third-person shooters with an emphasis on slowly shooting enemies from cover. In some parts, they allow the use of the environment, but mostly these are standard firefights inside arenas. All Gears can be played alone or with a friend — for this, in some places there are even forks, so that some episodes are different for each player. Before Gears 5, the series remained practically unchanged, and in the fifth part, a semi-open world with unique vehicles appeared for the first time.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
- On Series X, I decided to try the remaster from The Coalition, although the Game Pass also features the 2006 original from Epic Games itself. However, I still went through it on a PC, so it was interesting to compare the sensations from different versions.
- In the Ultimate Edition, the gameplay was kept in its original form, so the shooter is played in the same way. The Coalition did not touch animations, TTK and did not change the behavior of weapons. In this regard, I consider the first part to be one of the best in the series — enemies in GoW die a little longer than in other shooters, but they cannot be called “sponges”. You rather understand that these are massive monsters that are not so easy to knock down. Because of this TTK, the moments are especially pleasant when one successful shot from a revolver or shotgun manages to kill a locust.
- In Gears of War, we watch the adventures of the Delta Squad.
By tradition, the group has its own merry fellow (Cole), an experienced bully fighter (Bird), a cold-blooded and reasonable leader (Phoenix) and a calm guy, the soul of the company (Santiago). The characters are well developed — there is chemistry between them and there is no feeling that they are just soulless warriors who just happened to be on the same mission. The characters constantly argue with each other, make stupid jokes, and at the right time always rush to help. In general, the perfect game about brotherly friendship. - In the first Gears of War, we are practically not introduced to the universe, they do not explain where the locusts came from at all and, in general, give out a minimum of unnecessary information. And this approach really works, since you learn everything together with the characters themselves, who themselves don’t really know anything.
Marcus and Dominic run away from Brumak
- The original Gears of War is a very dark game, almost completely devoid of bright colors.
This works well for the atmosphere and setting of the ongoing war with a much stronger enemy. Epic Games is already telling us through the gray filter that there is almost no hope for a brighter future. However, with each part the game will become brighter. Perhaps there is some hidden meaning in this, but most likely the developers just wanted to start making more mainstream shooters for a diverse audience. - Many fans feel that the daytime levels in the remaster were made too bright, which lost the atmosphere of the original. I didn’t get that feeling, and rather, on the contrary, it seemed that The Coalition was able to successfully recreate the spirit of the first Gears of War using modern technology.
Result: Gears of War remaster I went through with great pleasure almost in one breath. The shooter is full of memorable moments, and the gameplay itself every second is addictive enough to keep interest until the very end.
Gears of War 2
- In the second part, Epic Games expanded the combat system — for example, interactive shelters appeared at the levels, and fallen enemies can be grabbed like a shield and at the same time continue to shoot back. These improvements turned out to be just right — the already good shooting in GoW has become even more fun. And there were also small QTE duels on Lancers, those same assault rifles with chainsaws.
- We are still told little about the universe and the origin of the Locusts, but the story itself has become deeper and more serious. The sequel is full of dramatic scenes with new characters, and I did not expect such a dark episode with Dominic towards the end at all.
- Levels in Gears of War 2 got more varied, but I didn’t really like that most of the game takes place inside the gray caves where the locusts hide. I would like more levels in open spaces, but the developers decided to save the exotic locations of the planet Sera for the triquel.
- Gears of War 2 introduces the first ever «living cover» in the form of long, armored tracks. Subsequently, Epic Games will try to freshen up this cover mechanic a few more times.
- A lot more cinematic scenes and segments where you have to shoot from turrets for a long time appeared. There is also a traditional level where they let you drive a tank. In general, they do everything possible so that the player does not get tired of the shootings.
- Epic Games has slightly rebalanced guns and added new weapons, such as the local version of the Gorgon submachine gun used by the Locust.
Total: is a great story campaign that develops familiar characters and gradually introduces new people. Epic Games clearly wanted to make Gears of War 2 bigger than its predecessor in every way. And this is felt everywhere — from a more mature story to improved gameplay and a different approach to the levels themselves.
Gears of War 3
- Part 3 kicks off 17 months after the finale of Gears of War 2, and Epic Games tells us right off the bat that it’s «an epic conclusion to the entire trilogy.» Yes, the scale has grown again and humanity is now threatened by the Lambents, new mutants that have evolved from the Locusts.
- Most of the time in Gears of War 3 you have to fight with lambenths — yellow monsters that look like locusts, but their fighting style is different. These creatures like to go out into the open and shoot from afar. Another important difference between lambenths is that after death they always explode, so it is better not to let these enemies get close to you.
- Fortunately, the Locusts have not been eliminated and there are also enough battles with them. Closer to the finale, you can even observe the clashes of three different sides at all — sometimes locusts and lambenths will fight with each other, and the player can carefully intervene.
- Gears of War 3 has gone even further from grays and muted colors in favor of a brighter palette with juicy hues — now even levels in ruined cities look light. And there are a lot more exotic locations in the triquel: there are deserts, and islands with beaches, and a small town filled with mutant people. In terms of level variety, Gears of War 3 can be called the best in the trilogy — locations change so often that none of them have time to get bored.
- The shooter part has not been changed much since the second part, but the shooting impact itself has become better — it’s most pleasant to kill locusts. As before, gunfights in GoW take up a large part of the game, but I didn’t have time to get bored of them, considering that I didn’t play anything else besides Gears of War. It seems that Epic Games still knew what to do to make the combat system “click”.
- A separate chapter in Gears of War 3 was dedicated to Augustus Cole, one of the fan favorites.
It cannot be said that it was his story that needed additional disclosure, but the levels for him look quite organic and they have enough of their memorable episodes.
Bottom line: is a worthy conclusion to the trilogy, in which many questions from fans are answered and the Marcus Fenix arc successfully ends. Shooting is just as interesting as listening to the conversations of partners. In general, on this part it would be possible to calmly end the franchise, but this did not happen.
Gears of War: Judgment
- A prequel to the entire series, primarily handled by People Can Fly of Bulletstorm fame. In Judgment, we are told the story of the Kilo squad, which includes Damon Baird and Augustus Cole already familiar to fans, as well as two new characters.
- The whole Judgment takes place in the form of a series of flashbacks, while the characters themselves are under interrogation — hence, in fact, the subtitle of the spin-off.
Due to this approach, in Judgment it is possible to play for all members of the Kilo squad — including a cadet girl named Sofia. However, there are no differences in the gameplay, and this is rather an exclusively narrative device, since everyone is interrogated in turn, which means that everyone must tell their version of events. - Judgment is a small spin-off with a much lower budget than the rest of Gears of War. There are no large-scale battles with monsters and unique gameplay segments, and the levels are a series of closed arenas in which you have to defeat all the enemies and sometimes complete some tasks. In Judgment, shooting waves of opponents from the popular Horde mode has even migrated.
- As in the case of Bulletstorm, People Can Fly has created another arcade shooter with a system of points and rewards for completing special levels. Added to this is the mechanics of modifiers with skulls, which can complicate or simply change the conditions of battles.
For example, in one case, the player will be left with only one revolver, in the second, the number of opponents may increase, and in the third, the entire arena may be covered with fog, reducing visibility. The modifiers were even substantiated by the plot — these are allegedly «forgotten» secret data that became known during interrogation. - People Can Fly successfully expanded the existing arsenal — they added, for example, a single-shot rifle and a semi-automatic sniper rifle, which was so lacking in previous parts.
Result: Judgment can be called a good spin-off that does not move the franchise forward, but rather tries something different within the genre. Such an arcade is very suitable for the series, given the increased arsenal.
Gears of War 4
- The fourth part was made by The Coalition under the direction of Rod Fergusson, who is now in charge of Diablo IV. GoW 4 was kind of a soft restart, but not as bold as God of War (2018) — the changes here are mostly tonal and story.
- The main roles were given to the young detachment, which includes the son of Marcus Fenix. I must say right away that I could not feel the new characters and it seemed to me that the chemistry in the spirit of The Coalition trilogy was still not achieved. And attempts to return the old line-up looked more like ridiculous fan service. Although the developers still have to give credit for how they continued the Damon Byrd arc.
- Gears of War 4’s storytelling is not very smooth, and this is especially noticeable in the second half, when the heroes are marking time and taking too long to solve important problems. The story is worse perceived, among other things, because of the dialogues, where everyone considers it necessary to let go of some kind of joke. It seems that the developers were inspired by Uncharted, only such a tone does not fit Gears of War at all. Yes, there was humor in the Epic Games trilogy, but there it was always out of place and rather emphasized the character of a certain hero.
In the fourth part, almost everyone wants to joke.
Here they are — from left to right
- I also consider the gameplay of Gears of War 4 a step backwards. The developers tried to diversify the shooting, but not all innovations were successful. Most of the game we have to fight with robots, which, in my opinion, is not so fun. The problem with robots is that they react poorly to shots and do not come from the proper impact. The studio could have come up with a more detailed destruction system so that the robots literally fell apart after being hit, but instead they limited themselves to the standard shooting of limbs. As a good example, I would like to recall Binary Domain — a shooter from the authors of Yakuza, in which it is a pleasure to shoot robots. By the way, this game came out in 2012.
- In Gears of War 4, they still return the usual (not quite) locusts, but fighting them is still not so interesting — it seemed to me that the matter was in the TTK, which became a little higher.
The developers could not find that golden mean between weak opponents and the “sponges” from the trilogy, and therefore the battles feel artificially prolonged. And in the fourth part, there were too many moments with the reflection of waves — moreover, the construction of traps and turrets directly migrated from the Horde mode. In a single player campaign, this seemed strange to me.
Bottom line: is the weakest part of the series with a boring plot and uninteresting characters. The game is only saved by a picture that is pleasant to this day, an unusual prologue and the epic appearance of Marcus Fenix. Mastered this game with difficulty.
Gears 5
- A direct continuation of the fourth part, where the story of the girl Kate Diaz comes to the fore. The rest of the squad from the last game is also returned, which, in general, is expected, but not very desirable. However, in the fifth part, old-timers like Marcus Fenix and Augustus Cole were given much more screen time, which is good news.
The Coalition even brought back Garron Paduc from Judgment, which was a big surprise for me. In general, with fan service in the fifth part, everything is much better.
None of the newcomers approached Marcus Fenix
- The story in Gears 5 turned out a little better, but I still couldn’t fully feel the characters, and the new main character seemed to me not interesting enough to somehow strongly empathize with her. Yes, as the game progresses, it becomes clear that her role is very important, but The Coalition seems to just put the fans before the fact, without leading to it properly.
- Gears 5 introduces wide areas for the first time, which can be explored in a kind of hybrid boat and paraglider. This is a good innovation, as the series has long been closely within the hallway shooter genre. This, of course, is not a full-fledged open world, but at least they give us a choice of tasks and allow us to be distracted by side missions.
Not much, but honest work. - There aren’t many gameplay changes, but The Coalition feels like it’s tweaked the balance a bit so the combat is much better, but I personally liked the gunplay in the original trilogy the best. Robots, fortunately, have become much smaller, but they did not completely remove them. A drone was added to the usual arsenal, which, for example, can make the heroine invisible. However, this still does not fundamentally change the gameplay.
- I also liked the Hivebusters add-on — it’s a good story expansion with new characters. The DLC is much less serious and more like the adventures of the local analogue of the Suicide Squad, but it works, since the characters and the atmosphere are completely different. The only thing, I would still like the expansion to end after the main task, and not before it.
Bottom line: is a good storyline campaign in which the developers took into account many of the fans’ claims.
