Thursday, April 28, 2016

Gears of War 4 Beta Impressions

I'm sprinting, hunched over, either as a beefy barrel chested human or a snarling scaly monstrosity trying to blast other players into tiny chunks - this is definitely another Gears of War game. 

This week, Xbox One gamers got a chance to check out a multiplayer beta for the next installment of one of Microsoft's flagship franchises. During the 360 generation, a Gears of War release was a big deal (except for that Judgement game), but does the name carry weight anymore? As of now - not so much.

You can see gameplay at our Youtube channel, where we played some team deathmatch and the new dodgeball mode.


Unfortunately, with The Coalition making a statement about the direction of the title earlier this month, I was going into this beta with negative thoughts. You can hear our feelings about this 'direction' in episode 68. So how was the actual gameplay?

I actually struggled with what to say while playing because Gears of War 4 seems to bring nothing new to the table. This was only a slice of multiplayer, but it felt like I had stepped back into 2011 when Gears of War 3 released. The only noticeable difference was the 60fps, which, yet again, comes at the cost of low resolution textures (I'm looking at you Halo 5). I guess the addition of the card system (that is too prevalent in multiplayer games anymore) is something new, but does it add any value to the actual gameplay? No. I personally had a lot of fun with the campaigns of the original trilogy because they were bombastic and silly, so maybe we'll see a return to form in that area. But right now, I'm very cold on this game.

If you want more Gears of War, you can check out the open beta until May 1st on Xbox One, with the full release slated for October 11th. Let us know what you think, @2v1Podcast - is this beta exactly what you wanted?

Nick
@_nickhead_

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