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LTTP: Gears of War 4

So yesterday I finished Gears of War 4 on my new Xbox Series X. I never owned an Xbox One because Microsoft has no gamez but this generation they seem to have a lot of things done right.

Anyway, back in the X360 days I was a big Gears of War fan. The first one was the only game I played online for about 1.5 years, the second one had a terrible netcode which never really got fixed but I still put a good amount of time into it, third one was perfect and it took me 2 years to get into another online shooter. I had a ton of merchandise, my room as a tween was obviously a room of a big fan of the franchise. I even had the Lancer Replica from Gears of War 2 hanging from the ceiling and last but not least I even haf all Seriously…. achievements.

Fast forward to yesterday, I hate what they made out of the series. The campaign is super repetitive, boring, the characters are cringeworthy unfunny, the story is dull and Marcus was put in just to grab some fans from the original trilogy and get them to buy the new game. It’s become a tedious cover based shooter with a ratchet&clank color palette and cyborgs (I was really pissed off in that chapter) as new enemies. Even the boss fights were boring. And the cheap Horde sections were the tip of the iceberg.

And the multiplayer? Dead. Just as dead as the multiplayer in Gears of War Ultimate Edition or Gears of War 5. I know Sony sold more consoles than Microsoft, but I didn‘t know that there are zero (in numbers: 0) people playing online from time to time. I remember when Gears of War 3 released, there were still a lot of people playing Gears 1 whereas the new games are just empty. I‘d have liked to try the multiplayer, unfortunately (or not) I can‘t.

Overall I finished the story just to have it done, just out of nostalgic feelings for Gears 1,2 and 3, but I‘d have been better off with watching a story recap on youtube. So far I got the feeling Gears died with Dom.

BTW if games like this were the triple As of last generations xbox I‘m shocked that they sold about 50 million consoles
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
Gears kinda died with 3 like halo died with osdt or arguably reach, they need an heavy re-haul even if the core gameplay still works great.

I barely completed 4 and bailed out from 5 in the middle of act2, the change in protagonist was also bullshit.
 
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JimmyRustler

Gold Member
Thought Gears 4 was super average. The defence building stuff was horrible and the story was basically none existent. Still gave 5 a shot after that and ended up REALLY enjoying it. Take that as you will OP.
 

Riky

$MSFT
Gears 5 is pretty good campaign wise and the multiplayer is far from dead. It was given away with Gold and is on Gamepass so there is plenty of players.
As for Gears 4 I quite enjoyed it but it was mainly for the technical side on X1X which was amazing for the time.
Multiplayer was reasonably enjoyable back in the day.
 

jigglet

Banned
I wish they spin this franchise out into a dedicated GaaS multiplayer game. I love the mechanics and gameplay but just don't give 2 shits about the story.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
I never had a Xbox360 but I was a huge GoW fan on PC.

If you have played single player campaign of Gears5, how does that compared to Gears4 ?
I ask because I liked 5 and the direction they were moving story and exploration wise, even when the gameplay is still the same.
 

BigLee74

Member
Gears 4 campaign was fine, although fair to say it got much better as it progressed.

MP being dead? To be expected these days I would think. There are just so many games out there it’s hard for any MP game to sustain a player base, let alone a 5 year old one.

Gears 5 was a far superior game in my opinion.
 
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mxbison

Member
I never had a Xbox360 but I was a huge GoW fan on PC.

If you have played single player campaign of Gears5, how does that compared to Gears4 ?
I ask because I liked 5 and the direction they were moving story and exploration wise, even when the gameplay is still the same.

Gears 4 doesn't have those open segments.

Apart from that it plays the same:
  • Enter location with waist high cover walls
  • Music starts
  • Team mate goes "Awww shit, here they come"
  • You shoot everything until the music stops
  • Go to next location
 
Gears 5 online is very active. And it's a lot of fun as well.

Personally preferred it to original trilogy, because of new controllers on series consoles. Gameplay is super responsive on those. Compared to massive dead zones on 360 controllers.
 

Goalus

Member
I never had a Xbox360 but I was a huge GoW fan on PC.

If you have played single player campaign of Gears5, how does that compared to Gears4 ?
I ask because I liked 5 and the direction they were moving story and exploration wise, even when the gameplay is still the same.
Gears 5 is a lot better than 4, but story-wise 4 is essential because you are introduced to a new generation of characters and learn piece by piece what has happened during the time after Locust and Lambent were defeated in 3. You also get to play a brief section of an iconic battle of the Pendulum Wars in the prologue which really proves the dedication of the developers.

I love that they let so many years pass in-universe because it gives me that epic feeling of accompanying a big family of interconnected characters during their struggles against various threats over several generations (three generations actually if you count NPCs like Adam Fenix and Helena Stroud).

You can't have that and the rich lore of the Gears universe if you give in to those pathological whiners who cry for "new IP" or want to turn the game into a multiplayer GAAS platform. Each to his own, but I think the negativity in the OP is completely unfounded, and nobody who claims to be a fan of the first trilogy can tell me they didn't play the sequels with excitement when some of the open questions are finally answered. Maybe you aren't a fan then after all. (Edit - this last paragraph is a general rant and not addressed at you Shubh_C63 Shubh_C63 )
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
Gears 4 is the worst out of the 5 main games, 5 (online anyway) is one of the best. Not sure about the online for 5 being dead, I play all the time in ranked and it’s always heaving no matter the time of day.
 

skneogaf

Member
I hated the attempt at open world, I want huge set pieces and I want it to be horror based like 1 tried to be at the beginning at least.
 

Lupin3

Targeting terrorists with a D-Pad
Gears 4 campaign is complete garbage. MP did shape up, though. Sunk plenty of hours into it, but it's no Gears 2 or 3, that's for damn fucking sure!
 

TheGrat1

Member
The only thing that sucked about Gears 4 was the stupid random number generator system for acquiring skins. It took forever to get to play as the characters you want unless you just got lucky. Progression was a lot more straightforward and fair in previous games.

Great game. Gears' gameplay just...speaks...to me so it is pretty hard for someone to screw up a Gears game for me. I feel like Gears shines best in co-op and 4 and 5 were no exception. Maybe play with a friend and see how you like it?
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I played 4 and 5 the first time almost back to back and while I thought 4 was mediocre at best, 5 was a great improvement and I liked it so much more.
Guns felt heavier, somehow smoother more responsive controls as if they put a lot of extra polish into all core mechanics.
Very impressive environment asset detail density, definitely a looker. Made me stop amazed at how many polygons can there be used for a pile of debris. And then there is Hivebusters DLC for 5, at the moment probably the best looking game on the XsX.
 
Horde Mode in Gears 5 is great and still has plenty of players. The dlc campaign is great, especially if your tv has hdr.
Gears 4 had great weather effects during some of the campaign levels.

The plots were garbage.
 

Iced Arcade

Member
And the multiplayer? Dead. Just as dead as the multiplayer in Gears of War Ultimate Edition or Gears of War 5. I know Sony sold more consoles than Microsoft, but I didn‘t know that there are zero (in numbers: 0) people playing online from time to time. I remember when Gears of War 3 released, there were still a lot of people playing Gears 1 whereas the new games are just empty. I‘d have liked to try the multiplayer, unfortunately (or not) I can‘t.
I can agree 4 was the worse of the series but you are just making shit up now lol
 

The Alien

Banned
I prefer Gears 5 over 4 myself...but agree the series peak has past

Gears 4 multiplayer is dead. Try playing the most recent sequel...not the one that's 5 years old. Gears 5 is actually quite lively for a 2 year old, 1st party game.

Like most Gears games, the population counts suffer from their own doing. Co-op and versus modes split the population and then further split it by the many, many modes offered in each.
 

Skifi28

Member
The visuals were good and the combat was fine, but they couldn't carry the game which was the worst in the series.

JD was the most generic protagonist they could have made and I didn't feel any chemistry between the characters, most of the banter fell flat. You spend 1/3 of the game fighting robots, great idea. Everyone seems completely stupid, the plot is basically: "What are these things that look identical to locust? They can't be locust". Just when things are getting somewhat interesting, it ends.
 
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chriskun

Member
I agree with all the criticisms of the game, especially the plot, characters, and the boring ass robots, but the AI of the locusts was a step above the previous games. Enemies actually flank you, and even try to grenade tag you, which was way more engaging than the combat in the previous series.
 

Havoc2049

Member
It only gets worse OP. Once you finish Gears 5, you'll look back on Gears of War 4 with fondness and realize it wasn't that bad.

Gears 5 is still fairly high on the Live charts, so there is still a healthy multiplayer community out there.
 

Fbh

Member
Never played the MP but the campaign was just ok.

The robot enemies just aren't as fun to fight, most of the new weapons suck and the story replaced the fun cheesy action movie tone with something that was a couple of cringy romance scenes away from feeling like one of these terrible "young adult novel" movies of the past few years.

It was still fun enough as a non shitty loot based coop shooter. And the visuals were nice and really well optimized on PC
 
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GoW4's single player was okay, but not particularly exciting. This is consistent with my experience with GoW1, 2 and 3 as well.
Multiplayer was great, but I got burned out on it eventually.
 

Graciaus

Member
nonsense, 5 is better than 4 (although will depend on how you feel about open world sections)

gears 5 hivebusters DLC also had some of the best campaign segments ever
The open world is garbage and so were the boss fights. The final act was pretty good and felt like Gears. The rest of the game was terrible. Never played or care to try the dlc.
 

Unk Adams

Banned
I can agree 4 was the worse of the series but you are just making shit up now lol
Yeah, that is just false information. There are still plenty of people playing both Gears 4 and 5 online. You can get matches immediately in both games and the lobbies are always full no matter what time of the day.
 

ManaByte

Member
Yeah, that is just false information. There are still plenty of people playing both Gears 4 and 5 online. You can get matches immediately in both games and the lobbies are always full no matter what time of the day.

I still play Gears 5 MP all the time. Never have a problem getting into a game.
 
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