This game opens in a way I wasn't expecting, with an interesting reintroduction to the Gears story, as the COG commemorate the 25th anniversary of the end of the war, and you play through a few battles from the Pendulum Wars and the Locust war, aided by a myriad of old heroes like Dom and Kim. While only brief, it's fun to see these old faces and to throw down against a thought to be defeated foe. Then comes an introduction to our new trio of heroes as they fuck up a raid on a COG settlement. JD serves as the game's new main protagonist, replacing Marcus from the first games, and as a protagonist, he gets the job done. His quest to find the truth is motivated more by altruistic than personal reasons, as he strives to save his friends from the Swarm. And with Marcus thrown into the mix, and the strained relationship they have, it's fun to see the pair clash and gradually learn to respect each other more as the game progresses. Del isn't as interesting as JD, he lacks the personal motivation to stop the Swarm that JD and Kait have, and while their families are a significant part of the story, Del doesn't have that. What Del does have is a very well developed sense of history with JD, and a believable friendship with both JD and Kait, and while he's the least interesting character of the 3, he's probably the funniest, as all 3 of them talk shit and throw jokes at each other, both in cutscenes and in casual banter during gameplay. Kait is an interesting character in a different way, her motivation to stop the Swarm is more personal than JD's, as she aims to save her mother from the Swarm, but while her character doesn't really go anywhere over the course of the game, something JD's and Marcus' does very well, by the end of the game she really shines and becomes a much more interesting character. Marcus Fenix is the same battle hardened badass he's been since the first Gears, just older, and more developed, having lost many of the things he's loved in his life, either to the Locust or simply to time, and again, the relationship between him and JD serves as both of their development in this game. The game isn't lacking in returning old heroes as well, with brief appearances by Dom, Hoffman, Cole, Baird, and a few others who are all a pleasure to see. What Gears of War is good at lacking is a compelling villain, and Gears 4 is no different; First Minister Jinn, being the closest thing to a villain this game has, really doesn't do much for the story, in fact usually her appearances are laughably stupid, as the robot with her face projected onto it dies from being hit by a tram, having its neck sliced, being ripped to bits with a Lancer, and quilled to death by the swarm. Gear of War 4 provides a very straight forward story; as the heroes try to solve the mystery of the Swarm, while fighting the Swarm, and the COG with their army of DeeBee robots. But what's interesting to me is seeing how Sera has changed since Gears 3, seeing how people remember the Locust war, what happened in the aftermath of the war, finding out what happened to the Locust, and it's interesting to see the COG grow into a regime, one that keeps all of its citizens behind walls and stomps anyone who defies them with their robot army, it's cool that the good guys from Gears 1 and 2 are now one of the bad guys in Gears 4, and it's something that would be cool to see developed in the next game.
Gears of War 4 is the first new game in the series to run on Unreal engine 4, and it should go without saying that this game is gorgeous, it's a joy to behold, the character models look brilliant, as do a majority of the environments, the weather effects are good, and the guns look and sound awesome. There's a point in the game when a character is crying, and it's easily the most convincing crying I've seen in a game, and it shows how such a tiny detail can make so much difference, Gears of War 4 is a very, very pretty game, that is undeniable. What's a bit lacking however is the soundtrack, while some audio cues from the first games are back, a lot of the great music from those games isn't, and what is here is somewhat lacklustre by comparison, the game's main theme is good, but nothing else is really that memorable. What you will remember however is the crunching and splattering of enemies and crackling and banging of guns, which is, as ever, a splendid cacophony with great sound effects. Gameplay wise this is Gears 101, you have 2 primary weapons, 1 side arm, and grenades, shooting is standard 3rd person cover shooting at its best, the Lancer's bayonet is a vicious and deadly as ever, as is the Gnasher shotgun, and grenades still turn enemies into red puddles. One of the game's new enemies; the DeeBees, aren't as fleshy as the Locust or Swarm, but some of the jargon they spew is pretty funny. Their new guns are a mixed bag, the Enforcer is dinky, while the Overkill is death incarnate, and the EMBAR railgun is jolly fun to play with. The DeeBees come in a few shapes and sizes, including a soldier class, a flying class that can pop shields, and really annoying little kamikaze balls. The Swarm on the other hand his a mixed bag in general, the smaller Swarm types function exactly the same as the Locust, with Juvies that fill the slot the Wretch previously filled of fast, weak melee enemy, Scions replace Boomers, and Drones replace, well, Drones. Then there are the new monsters, which I like 2 of, the Pouncers and the Carriers are actually good, heavy enemies that can take a lot of hits and dish out some mean damage. Then there's the Snatchers, which I have a deep rooted fear of, but not for the right reasons. Having taken them on in Horde mode, I can say they're not as big of an annoyance when playing with people, but when you're palling with bots, they are infuriating, armed with a barb attack and a slam attack, both of which can down you in 1 hit, after which it will dart right for you and eat you, before awkwardly walking away, with you inside it, if a team mate shoots its weak stop it spits you out, if they don't, you're screwed, obviously this is more reliable with people than with bots, and it makes every encounter with snatchers really annoying. Gears 4 also adds some new guns, as well as oddly taking a few out. The DeeBee weapons are so-so, and a lot of guns from past Gears return, even the Markza from Gears: Judgement makes a return, it's odd then that guns like the double barrelled shotgun and flamethrower are absent, especially the flame thrower, a weapon that could have been a huge amount of fun given the context, and could have added interesting gameplay options to the already solid formula, really the only new gun that stood out to me, besides the railgun, was a weapon called the Buzzkill, which fires saw blades that bounce around and shred anything they touch, that was a lot of fun.
I had a lot of fun with Gears of War 4, it's inedible to look at, has a lacklustre soundtrack but overall pretty good sound, the characters are serviceable and the story is a straight forward romp with an interesting mystery and some good character development. Gameplay is refined and fun, and the returning guns are still huge fun to shoot, even if some of the new guns and new enemies are a bit poor. It's fun to play from beginning to end, for the most part, ignoring those god forsaken snatchers, and it's all round a good game, definitely worth playing.
No comments:
Post a Comment