The Kids Are Alright: Gears of War 4 Review

Hello, gamers. We recently set out to play Gears of War 4 and enjoy the poetic gore and fun destruction that every Gears promises. Did we get it? Indeed we did. The game is a fantastic success, but not everything about this new and exciting title is perfect. We have so much to discuss! The guns are back, the bad guys are back and old man Marcus Fenix isn't going to wait around. Let's begin.

Lo and behold, the planet Sera is finally at peace. The New Coalition of Governments has risen from the ashes of humanity during the 25 years following the end of the struggle against the subterranean monsters, the Locust Horde. The COG now builds habitats and settlements across the ruined land, protected by peacekeeping robots called DeeBees. While the new COG promotes order and repopulation, the Outsiders remain in villages away from heavily settled areas. We play as a young AWOL soldier named JD Fenix, son of former Gears of War protagonist Marcus Fenix. JD is accompanied by former Gear and best friend Del and a spirited Outsider named Kait. The premise? The COG is suffering mysterious disappearances, and Kait's Outsider village is attacked and her family and friends taken by a new enemy. Players control JD as he and his friends investigate and try to stop whatever is coming next.

This game surprised us here at Game Chop. It's not perfect, but it is a wonderful tapestry of gut busting gore and heavily dramatic plot. It manages the fun and frolic of the original Gears of War, and it creates a craving for more. More story, more action, more everything! As we mentioned already it is not without kinks, but new managing studio the Coalition has done a great job bringing Gears to a new generation. And that's exactly what this game is - a new generation and a new threat.

The beginning of this game may be our favorite introductory chapter. A brief but playable history puts gamers in the boots of different Gears at important times in the game's history. We were introduced to combat, cover and movement while fighting in the Pendulum Wars, at the arrival of the Locust Horde on Emergence Day, and at the moment of the Horde's death with the detonation of the countermeasure which killed off all Locust creatures. It's a start that refreshes each player's knowledge of Gears of War, and gets them so excited for the game to come.

Gears of War 4's story is what you desperately want, but is it everything you need? The answer: very close! The narrative of the game is rock solid, everything makes sense and acts as an excellent reset to the world of the game (imagine Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a little more knowledge of the what the state of the world is). It's less mysterious than the debut Gears of War, which was positively vague in its approach to backstory and plot. Interestingly enough, that made Gears of War so fascinating. In this Gears The Coalition took a slightly different route - rather than having players be the ones with questions, they let the game's characters ask questions. The lore of the planet Sera has always been enticing, but it took three games (and a plethora of books and comics) to finally get a good grasp on it. JD, Kait and Del are constantly asking each other questions that brings the nature of the story to light. While it's a wonderful treat for those of us who have dealt with cryptic storylines before, it's a blessing and a curse. The game answers so many of the questions that the team asks, but it still ignores many. Normally this would be fine and acceptable behavior of a Gears of War game, but this time around it becomes a bit frustrating. As Does the game want to give us a mystery, or immediate answers? It manages both, but it's a bit scrambled. It's not a significant issue with the game, but a notable one.

Speaking of notable issues, one more does come to mind. JD, Kait and Del are compelling and likable characters, JD most of all due to his colorful history and relation to Marcus. However, these three twenty-somethings exhibit a certain behavior that's unusual for a Gears of War game - they joke all the time. Del often cracks a dad joke, and JD usually responds in suite as does Kait. While this bothered us a bit, we believe it's a strong literary tool to communicate some pretty important details about the trio. Our heroes from the first three titles had grown up in a world torn apart by humanity, then genocidal monsters. In direct contrast to Marcus' original Delta Squad, our characters have grown up over the past 25 years in peace on Sera. JD, Kait and Del's generally optimistic and upbeat (relatively upbeat) outlook on life is actually expected, but it's just difficult to get used to. While they embraced the dire nature of the situation, we're hoping to see them take it more seriously in the coming trilogy. We can't really blame them for cracking wise considering the fact that even big, bad Marcus even had some chuckled one liners. Their travels over the night the games takes place during gives them time to nurture their relationship, and their less gloomy personalities are just a part of it.

What exactly did we need from Gears of War 4's story then? The game's plot is good, but it lacks some of the emotion that the first three games inspired, especially the second and third. Gears of War has been able to emote incredible moments of agony and sorrow. Don't get us wrong, emotions run deep in Gears of War whether its Kait's hope to find her mother or the strained relationship between Marcus and JD. It's not solid enough, but it is damn close. In fact, due to the joking nature of the characters, the emotions sometimes struggle to overcome the jest and become the center of gravity for some sequences. A little nit picky, but it is most certainly something for the writers to address. Overall, and we know it took a while to get to this conclusion, this game's story is great. It's a simple formulaic plot, but that formula works well as a singularly focused, well written adventure.

The new enemy of humanity are the heirs to the Locust Horde, to say the least. They're called the Swarm, and they've been harvesting humans, having creatures place them in pods which kills them and transforms the remains into Locust-like enemies. Popping out of the pods, Juvies act like monkeys as they bounce around dodging shots as they approach for a kill. The more mature creatures called Drones make up the Swarm army. While these enemies are very similar to the Locust soldiers, they're accompanied by a number of new vicious monsters. Pouncers jump from cover to cover, flinging quills and attacking JD and the team with every chance they get. Gears of War did an excellent job introducing enemies that the player really needs to work at killing. Taking out a Pouncer, Snatcher or Carrier takes time and a lot of coordination.

While it's a gameplay system that works, and hasn't changed much since 2006, we expected a bit more than just extra polish. There are indeed new interactions and visualized aspects of your control over the character, but it's generally more of the same. Gears of War 4 does finally solve the formally ever-present problem of vaulting over cover. Previously, players would have Marcus plant his back against a low wall, then initiate a mantle over that cover, regardless of being in or out of combat. Now, players press the mantle button during their volley into cover, and they vault over it in one fluid motion. It's great thinking on The Coalition's part, and does give way to new execution types. We would love to see a little more of this style of change - Gears of War's gameplay maybe something you don't to "fix," but some more changes are necessary for a game that's over ten years old.

There were several other small changes we did enjoy. The windflares are raging storms of massive proportions that have been caused by Sera's dramatic changes. They pick up debris and projectiles, push JD in different directions and reveal new ways to cause havoc. We found ourselves crouching behind cover from bullets and storm, but then we saw a damaged fence and a load of fuel tanks. We shot it and the tanks went flying into the Swarm combatants roaring in a vicious explosion. The Swarm pods are also a dynamic changes ushered by The Coalition. Taking cover against these fleshy ovals is a risk, as if they pop a raving Juvie could jump out. It's the risk you take if you're in desperate need of cover.

The game's engine runs beautifully. The early years of Gears of War were littered with criticisms in regards to lack of color and variety. No more. The Xbox One manages to present a colorful and vibrant world with this new title. JD's surroundings are diverse and reflective of current generation gaming. While it's nothing too special, it's great to see a Gears game with incredibly responsive environments. The blue light from the signature COG armor that JD wears shines well on the many metallic surfaces. Hell, even rain from encroaching windflares shows on our weapons and armor. The detail is simply spectacular.

Speaking of weapons (we're so good at segways), Gears of War 4 has an interesting approach to reigniting players' arsenals. We don't see a lot of changes to weapons, except for the Lancer which is now "custom." A pretty wooden stock and a flashlight are the only notable changes. We do however see some new weapons courtesy of the DeeBee robots. Energy-based weapons like the EMBAR rail gun tip the odds against DeeBees and Swarm alike. We also have some industrial weapons like the Buzzkill which fires ricocheting blades. It's not a lot of new destructive goodies, but we were very pleased with how they function.

Overall, our young new heroes are most certainly up to the task of facing a new threat. With great company and returning characters like Marcus, we can only hope that this new Gears of War saga will exceed our expectations. We find ourselves fascinated by the state our favorite characters, and the origins of this new threat. While it's imperfect, Gears of War 4 brings us back to the start of a terrifying and thrilling new story. Players and fans of the original Gears of War will find great pleasure in JD Fenix's adventure, which is hopefully the first of many.

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