Gears of War 4 is an excellent addition to the Gears of War series. It is a third person action based video game which can be played on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. The game was developed by The Coalition and was published by Microsoft Studios. Released on October 11, 2016, Gears of War 4 is an action game that has become the second best selling retail game in the UK the week it was released.
Gears of War 4 allows you to play not only in the single-player mode but also in the multiplayer mode and the fan favorite Horde mode. The game has also been acclaimed by many experts and has been nominated for few awards for being the best action game in 2016. In this article, we will bring you Gears of War 4 Reviews and Hidden features.
Gears of War 4 is full of so much intense action and gore that players often forget that the game packs lots of easter eggs and hidden components. The game does offer you many incentives to go and find these hidden gems.
Gears of War 4: Gameplay
Most of the gameplay elements of Gears of War 4 are same as those in the previous games. There are also some new introductions such as:
- Dropshot weapon – The Dropshot weapon fires explosive drills at the enemy.
- Buzzkill – Buzzkill fires ricocheting sawblades at your enemies.
- Shoulder Charge – The player can now perform shoulder charges in a short distance. This knocks the enemies off balance.
- Enemies – The enemies can now pull you out of cover and perform a takedown move on you.
Gears of War 4: Features
Gears of War 4 takes places approximately 25 years from Gears of War 3. The use of Imulsion countermeasure weapon has now destroyed all the Imulsion on planet Sera. This has killed the Locust and the Lambent on the planet. Humanity has now been forced to adapt after knocking out fossil fuel usage. The whole planet suffers from powerful windstorms known as ‘Windflares’. Human population is on a decline and is at a few hundreds of thousands only.
Because of the dangers of living outside, the government (Reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments or COG) has walled off many cities. COG has also declared martial law in order to prevent travel by citizens outside the cities.
But, there are a few survivors who don’t agree with what COG wants to do with the world. They have formed a different group for themselves and are called the “Outsiders”. These outsiders do not live under the jurisdiction of COG and keep conducting raids on COG territory to gather resources.
In this scenario, our lead character, J.D. Fenix, has to deal with a new threat to the survival of humanity on the planet. J.D. Fenix is the son of Marcus Fenix.
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A new threat emerges
This new threat emerges in the form of ‘the swarm’. This is a new race of monstrous creatures who come in waves after waves as the hero tries to defend his home.
Gears of War 4 also gives you a wider variety of enemies to fight. For example, COG Robots are not like Locusts. They will keep marching on in the face of danger as the other bots fire on your flanks and front to keep your suppressed. There are also many heavy units who will run towards you at breakneck speeds. They will also self-destruct when you are finally able to defeat them. There also are flying Sentinels who have force fields which need to be disabled even before you can harm them in any way.
But, the main gun fodder is the zombie-like swath of creatures known as The Swarm. They attack you in huge numbers and are among the fastest and probably the agilest enemies to ever appear in any kind of Gears of War game in my opinion.
The game also features many new kinds of weapons including the Dropshot and the Buzzkill. Then there also is the Mulcher, which is sort of a mini-gun that quickly kills through simply hordes of enemies.
Gears of War 4: Horde 3.0
Horde mode of Gears of War is a co-operative mode where the players fight together against hordes of attackers. Up to give gamers can band together in this mode and defend themselves against increasingly difficult wave after wave of enemies.
After each wave, the players gain access to defense fortifications of increasing power level. These include weapons like rocket turrets and defensive barriers to stop enemies in their tracks. The character also grows after each encounter.
The Horde Mode in all the previous games have been among the most fun parts of the game Horde Mode 3.0 doesn’t disappoint either. The Horde mode in Gears of War 4 gives you credits to spend on Horde packs after every 10 waves. These Horde skill cards are permanent unlocks and they can be selected and taken into a battle to improve damage, speed, health, etc.
Class-based action
A major change in Horde 3.0 is that it is class based. The team of 5 players has to choose either to be an Engineer, a scout, a Heavy, a sniper and a soldier. This encourages team play instead of one player trying to play all roles or everyone acting in the same way. This is not mandatory though. You are not required to select a class. If you want to be a general character from Gears of War 4, you can do so.
As the Horde mode allows you to place fortifications, turrets, and decoys ANYWHERE in the battle area, the game opens you up to so many possibilities.
Gears of War 4: User Reviews
Review 1
User NotHim starts by saying that the game is neither so good to receive a rating of 10 or so bad that it should get a rating of 0. The user feels that the game is great at what it does and finds it to be worth every penny spent. However, he also feels that it is not a masterpiece of gaming to deserve a rating of 10/10. According to the user, the pros of Gears of War 4 are its great graphics and great gameplay, along with lots of replay value and a lot of items to unlock. He also finds the Horde Mode 3.0 to be a beast and counts it among the pros of the game.
Review 2
User The_BlueRose finds the game to be fanservice and doesn’t get what The Coalition tried to do with the game. The user finds the main characters to be empty and hollow. He feels that there’s no emotional link between the characters and the player. The user feels that the game mechanics are similar to the other games in the series. He feels that the games forces combat situations on the player and makes the scenes artificial enough to make the players constantly keep shooting at something. The user also feels that the ending of the game doesn’t add anything to the series or the story. He finds the story to be bland and observes that the game is fanservice to the fans and not meant to be for everyone.
Review 3
The user moolymangler gives Gears of War 4 a rating of 10 and finds the game to be amazing. The user finds the storyline and graphics to be great and also states that the multiplayer mode of the game brings hours of fun to the player. The player feels that the users can keep playing horde mode continuously and use hours as it is fun to play.
Review 4
User PlanetCrusher also gives the game a rating of 10 and states that he really enjoyed the game after playing it on the Hardcore mode. The user finds the combat in the Gears of War 4 game to the very best in any Gears of War campaign. He finds the game to be very polished and modern.
Review 5
User Lujh gives the game the below scores:
Graphics: 8
Story: 5
Gameplay: 10
Music and sounds: 8/9
Multiplayer: 9
Microtransactions : 0
Fun level in the first 60 mins: 10
Fun level after 30 hours: 8,5
Overall, the user gives the game a rating of 8.
Review 6
User Gamer12345 finds Gears of War 4 to be the best game of the year and states that this is the best game in the Gears of War franchise. He finds the game story to be top notch. The user also finds that the graphics of the game are the best and the most vivid in this console generation. He also finds that the new weapons like the Dropshot add a lot of variety to the game.
The user finds that the multiplayer mode takes the game to a new level above and beyond the other games in the Franchise. New modes like Arms Race are a welcome addition according to this gamer. The user also notes that new features like the ability to stun an opponent by grabbing them over barriers are a really cool addition.
All user reviews were found at this Metacritic link.
Gears of War 4 Reviews: Conclusion
Gears of War 4 is an amazing game with great gameplay, great combat and a good enough storyline The multiplayer mode has lots to add to the game and keeps you engaged. In addition to the new features and new weapons, the new enemies make the combat interesting. But, to add to it all, Horde 3.0 mode gives you wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies to kill. And you can lose hours upon hours in this mode trying to survive. It is the ultimate fun for any Gears of War fan.
We hope this article was useful for you and that you learned something from the many user reviews that we have linked here. If you have had fun playing the game or found some problems with the game, do tell us below in the comments section.
