We reviewed Gears of War 4

Driftwood
Thursday, October 6, 2016 | 4:01 PM
19 comments

GSY Review PC Xbox One

Now that you've had time to check out most reviews everywhere on the web, we give you our verdict on the Gears of War 4 campaign. We had plans to talk about the multiplayer too, but Davton was supposed to take care of it and he ran into a series of technical issues and was unable to play the game. To make it up for you guys, we waited until the Australian launch of the Ultimate Edition to share some PC and Xbox One gameplay of the main campaign. If you've been waiting for some high quality footage of the game, look no further. As usual, the full review is only available in French, but the verdict and +/- section have been translated into English.

Verdict

Our first impression of the campaign was not particularly great, mainly because we didn't think the prologue was powerful enough, but also because Act 1 was not that interesting. Then when Act 2 kicked in, we simply could not stop playing to see the end of it. It is obviously too similar to the previous games, we would have wanted something bolder on The Coalition's part, but there is something in the series that makes it really enjoyable despite its flaws. The environments could have been more memorable, sometimes gameplay could have been a bit less redondant, but in the end, we had a lot of fun completing the campaign in 11 hours (Hardcore mode). Being the first game in a new series of Gears of War titles, it feels a bit like a big introduction to what's to come, but it's hard to be mad at the developers as the content is pretty generous. If you were worried after the release of Judgment, then you should be relieved to know that the Fenix has risen from its ashes.

On the plus side
Ratchets up in intensity from the beginning to the final bullet
The last 2 chapters are cool
The new enemies
Can't get any smoother without being a liquid (PC)
PC version runs like clockwork
Brutal, animal, bestial, Gears is back
Marcus
The short cutscene after the ending credits

On the downside
More of the same
Classic level design
We could have used more time in broad daylight
Less destroyed beauty than in the past
Nothing too crazy in the graphics department
Character movement is still pretty stiff
To be continued...

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2016-10-06 16:43:33

How is the companion AI while playing solo? I stopped playing the gears 1 ultimate edition because i got so frustrated with the ai and didn't want to play coop

In reply to

Driftwood

Commented on 2016-10-06 16:54:22 In reply to AndreasZ94

They're pretty good when it comes to reviving you. Almost never died when I was down. Actually, usually when I died, it was a one shot kill.

Now in combat, they help a bit, but you're still the hero. It only bothered me once, against a specific boss. During the second phase, I had to aim at some precise parts of the boss, and I was clealry the only one doing it. There were so many other enemies around that it became tedious and I had to retry several times (thankfully, the game saves after the first phase).

Commented on 2016-10-06 16:54:54

Was the story/acting good?

Commented on 2016-10-06 16:56:31 In reply to Driftwood

Ok, thanks. Sounds much better than the remaster which im glad to hear that's the case

Commented on 2016-10-06 16:57:17 In reply to AndreasZ94

Story is ok, nothing mindblowing, but it's engaging enough. Acting is pretty good as far as I can tell, but it's still Gears of War.

yippee123

Commented on 2016-10-06 18:34:06

My FHD monitor is outdated

Wheat_Thins

Commented on 2016-10-06 21:26:31

So gears used to be the unreal engine poster child. I don't get that vibe at all from Gears 4 even on these ultra settings. It just seems like textures are kind of 'meh' compared to what I was expecting. The effects occurring are great in the background are great, but after experiencing the dust storms in the BF1 beta and such it doesn't seem to put unreal engine up on the pedestal like previous gears used to?

Commented on 2016-10-06 22:52:03 In reply to Wheat_Thins

It's not Epic Games developing anymore, that's why I think.

userxyz

Commented on 2016-10-07 00:39:20

Can you possibly release a video with anti-aliasing entirely disabled?

The Temporal AA and FXAA of Unreal Engine 4 is incredibly blurry.

In Unreal Tournament 4, it's possible to disable the anti-aliasing entirely, which makes the image a lot lot clearer.

Any chance you could do a Gears of War 4 PC video with anti-aliasing turned off completely?

GunsnSwords

Commented on 2016-10-07 01:21:43

"On the downside

- More of the same
- Classic level design"

Gears of war has always been and will always be Gears of war, both artistically and gameplay wise. So this new installment was clearly made for the fans and love the series as is. at least it's classic nature wasn't destroyed or the Gears image of years past.

I would have liked to seen the series embrace more changes in gameplay but as cliff bleszinski said with Gears 2, they already reinvented their wheel with the original Gears Of War. so now it's just about delivering the content. many franchises are on the same boat - Halo, Forza, Uncharted, Call Of Duty. supplying more content will be the usual with these franchises.

Moonwalker

Commented on 2016-10-07 03:34:06

More of the same is good if you ask me. Judgment tried things differently and well........ yeah. This is the developers first Gears, so I can understand them playing it safe for now. It sounds like they delivered overall and for that I give two thumbs up. I reckon it's not easy for this developer and such a beloved franchise. Kudos.

Two questions

Resolution for SP is 1080p/30fps and 60fps for MP, right?
In terms of graphics, especially anti aliasing. Is it done well?

Commented on 2016-10-07 07:28:05 In reply to userxyz

No, I have made more than enough videos for our servers. Sorry.

Moonwalker: on Xbox One yes, as far as I know (not sure if there's dynamic resolution though). Anti-aliasing seems to work ok from what I've seen, but I haven't played the game much on Xbox One. Check out our 2 videos.

Riven326

Commented on 2016-10-07 19:21:08

Great review. Have you guys considered doing video reviews?

Commented on 2016-10-07 19:37:59 In reply to Riven326

It would take us too much time sadly. :(

Commented on 2016-10-07 19:52:21 In reply to Moonwalker

Posted by Moonwalker

Sometimes change isn't good. However, I am a little disappointed that it seems to look and play like a better-looking Gears of War 3. I was hoping for a little more than that given the jump to new hardware.

infamouz956

Commented on 2016-10-08 10:01:52

i was going to get it but i've never gotten into gear s of war, it feels like its dying like halo has been

TesticleTickle

Commented on 2016-10-08 15:52:05

did you guys really expect ultra improvements from a console port? First gears game on ue4 engine too, so the devs probably spent more time making things fluid rather than pushing the engine.

Commented on 2016-10-08 23:12:18

Even If Gears were to play on 10 Tflops hardware it'll still look artistically the same as the other games. Because that is the way Chris Perna draws the characters.
https://pixologic.com/interview/epic/2/

the 2 million polygon version of Marcus Fenix sits in The PCs at The Coalition HQ.

Marcus Fenix CGI model
http://i.imgur.com/TIjsvRp.jpg
http://thisgengaming.com/2016/07/13/new-gears-of-w...

just putting that info out there.

Edit- It's no different with Metal Gear as well. Chris Perna is to Gear of war as Yoji shinkawa was to Metal Gear.

eternaldragonx

Commented on 2016-10-23 03:47:59

I actually thought they did a lot to vary the gameplay from the originals.
1. Wind flare gameplay
2. Motorbike Gameplay
3. Mech gameplay
4. A few new mechanics and guns. Not sure what else you wanted really. GOW4 is everything I wanted and more from a reboot.