Gears Tactics

Decent game, but unless you're a die-hard Gears fan, there are other games worth your time. If you've played a tactics-style game, you kinda know what to expect with things being turn-based and using action points. The gameplay loop consists of a story mission then 1 to 3 side missions, and you repeat this around 4 times until you fight a boss. You repeat this overall loop 3 times to complete the campaign which unlocks Veteran Mode, which are just more sidequests to obtain better loot. This sounds fine until you realize outside of story and boss missions there are only 4 mission types across 5 maps, making the entire experience feel super repetitive. They made some weird gameplay decisions too. You're only able to control a maximum of 4 units (excluding Jack, the support robot) for each mission. Story missions force you to use certain hero characters, which makes sense. However, for each grouping of side missions, you're only allowed to use each unit once per grouping. This forces you to have a roster of side units, but since you rarely use them your side units never level up fast enough to keep up with your heroes. This then encourages you to dismiss your under-leveled units and replace them with new recruits because they're higher level. It seems like Veteran Mode is where the real game begins, but because of how repetitive the side quests are, you really need to love the game to continue playing.

What a pleasant surprise and a great find. I know it's an Xbox Studios game with a AAA moniker but never did I expect such immersive Gears of War type detail in a non FPS Gears of War game. Chain saw kills and awesome executions never ever get old. I haven't played much XCOM but I've just come off Mutant Year Zero, another turn based tactics title which I found enjoyable and thought provoking once I was able to get over the learning curve. I view Gears Tactics as a cross of XCOM and Mutant Year Zero. Like MYZ, Gears Tactics has heroes whom you encounter though-out the narrative and like XCOM, Gears has soldiers whom can be saved and customized through cosmetics and skill trees. Gears Tactics has side quests or missions though after a while repetitive mission types eventually dominate story missions. The side missions do present specific optional challenges in an attempt to foster uniqueness. Skill trees for the various classes are interesting and the game does provide respec tokens which you'll invariably need but save a couple for the finale. Presentation, sound, everything is top notch and what you would expect from a AAA franchise. The base difficulty is challenging though experienced players in the genre will want to bump the difficulty. Forum posts reveal even experienced difficulty to be very accessible though insane is as intended meant for players who understand the game at a master level and all of it's idiosyncrasies. I would like to see other FPS franchises bridge to the turn based tactics genre. Gears Tactics works very well in this context.

i have never seen a game start great and slowly destroy itself by the last act what starts as a enjoyable tactics twist on gears of war turns into a bloated down mess filled with mandatory repeating side missions that blur together into a fog of godawful game design the ♥♥♥♥ cherry on top is the absolutely attrocious final boss fight that sucked the life out of me and has me demanding the last 5 hours i've spent on it back and makes me wish i just spent the last 5 hours playing X-Com the worst thing too is how good and strong the game starts what an absolute shame

Negative reviews for this game are absolutely ridiculous! 80% people crying about the fact that you need xbox account (which is the case for many games these days, including Gears 5 or Halo and Im pretty sure you will need it to play E-Day as well) and the rest is crying that the game gets repetitive. Well what did you expect from turn-based tactical game??? Anyway.... Im gonna keep this review quite simple - do you like Gears of War? And do you like X-COM games? Because this is exactly that. X-COM-like game (more precisely X-COM 2: War of the Chosen) set in Gears of War universe. If you like this combo you should definitely enjoy this just like I do. Visuals are great, works well without any bugs, story is enjoyable, killing grubs is just as fun as in third person shooter counterpart and gameplay works exactly as you would expect from game of this type. Playing on difficulty this game recommended for the first playthrough and it is not difficult at all. So please give this game a chance cause it's hugely underrated!

[h1][b]Вступ[/b][/h1] Другий експеримент в шутер-франшизі, але сильно радикальніший геймплейно і значно важливіший сюжетно. [h1]🎮 Геймплей – 7/10[/h1] М'ясиста тактика, в яку перенесли найкращі елементи серії. Грати цікаво, бо механіки працюють – кидають виклик та змушують планувати в адекватних розмірах. Проблема в обов'язкових додаткових завданнях, яких багато і вони однакові – просто повторюють сюжетні місії в менших масштабах. Ліниве розтягування часу. Ще є криві «найманці»-напарники – піклуватися про них нуль сенсу, гра постійно дає безкоштовних сильних героїв. [h1]📖 Сюжет – 7/10[/h1] Приквел франшизи з темами 4-ї та 5-ї частин. Нормально, але затягнуто і маловажливо. Зате крутий твіст є, що прикольно прив'язує цей спін-оф до інших ігор. Персонажі – щось середнє між крутою старою трилогією та нудною «новою». Головний злодій має прикольні здібності, але виглядає нудно – просто пофарбована версія одного з елітних ворогів, яких ти вбиваєш десятки за гру. [h1]🛋️ Атмосфера – 7/10[/h1] Найприкольніше – величезні монстри в тактичному жанрі набагато страшніші, ніж в оригінальному шутерному. Загально – у відчай героїв віриш, а завдання намагаються побудувати «побут» з пошуком припасів, ремонту техніки тощо. Гра більше концентрується на ігроладу, тому про занурення сильно не думає і повторює, наприклад, кат-сцени «входу/виходу» з локацій. [h1]👀 Вигляд – 7/10[/h1] Серія завжди була красивою, а в цій частині найінформативніші налаштування графіки. Все псує лише дивний реґдол; Вороги вмирають більше як ляльки, ніж накачані мутанти – можуть на місті «підстрибнути» на метр. [h1]🔊 Звук – 7/10[/h1] Зброя смачно стріляє. Головні герої нормально озвучені, але додатковим персонажам не заводили б коментарі проходження завдання тощо. Музика – нормальна, без сюрпризів. [h1][b]Висновок[/b][/h1] «Бюджетний» XCOM в дорогому сетингу. Гарна тактична гра, де плюси сильно вибалансують мінуси. Грається весело, поки не зустрічаєш додаткові завдання. Вони «дешеві» репетативністю та обов'язковістю, що ліниво затягують час до крутого фіналу, який оцінять лише гравці серії. ⭐⭐⭐🌑🌑 Картинка-відгук: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3313284472

Despite leaving a positive review for Gears Tactics, I *cautiously* recommend this title and suggest buying it with a discount. While its tactical combat has a solid and technologically advanced structure, it is the lack of diverse tactics that limit the game's potential. [list] [*]The combat is mostly resolved with guaranteed damage caused by Frag Grenades, Power Weapons, Chainsaws, and Bayonet Rush abilities. Frag Grenades are especially too strong since they deal extreme damage, can't miss, has AoE, and can be re-used between cooldowns. Might as well change the name of the game to "Frag Tactics". [*]When above methods are unavailable, Overwatch is preferred to (potentially) interrupt enemy actions instead of direct attacks. Combined with the guaranteed damage aspect, Gears Tactics feel like an 'ability puzzle' where you throw out surefire attacks whenever you can and you play defense when those are on cooldown, instead of choosing between uncertain odds, taking risks, and experiencing excitement or despair based on the outcome. [*]Enemy archetype isn't diverse enough, which also exacerbates the monotonous gameplay. Specifically, there should have been units that directly counter explosive damage and overwatch, and the concept of 'armor piercing' and armored enemies should have existed so critical damage isn't the only thing shooter classes pursue. [*]The highest difficulty is balanced poorly, and further necessitates the need of already-overpowered tactics. Enemies equipped with power weapons can consistently one-shot you, and the only way of surviving is not taking high cover inside their vision range, but breaking line-of-sight and completely running away from them. Revival options are completely pointless since your units instantly die when HP is at 0 instead of bleeding out like in lower difficulties. Healing is almost useless since one-shots are prevalent, and tanks (Vanguards) can't do their role until they reach Level 5. The way they handled the hardest difficulty is basically introducing bullet sponges and instant-kills, which feels cheap, and thus I also have to play cheap (I did complete Experienced and Insane, the two hardest options). [*]Basic kill-them-all mission types such as Incursion and Sabotage are boring since there is no turn limit, while Rescue and Control are significantly more difficult than the others since time is finite. It feels like there is no middle ground when it comes to the sense of difficulty between mission types. And despite the increased challenge, I still find myself taking Rescue, Control, and Scavenger Runs more often just to avoid the boredom that the first two missions provide. [/list] Gears Tactics is a game with solid bones and refined mechanics. As a XCOM maniac, Gears Tactics has (or had) potential to be the greatest turn-based tactics game that could surpass XCOM: Enemy Within and even Long War, but unfortunately it is hamstrung by its lack of tactical depth. This feeling I got from GT is similar to other Gears title in general, where the game is supported by the strongest game engine and the smartest engineers in the game industry, but the designers who create content and establish the depth of combat are not pulling their weight. I still recommend Gears Tactics since it is a good take on the traditional genre that has been stale since the release of XCOM, but due to its flaws, I also suggest not buying it at a full price. Get at least 25% discount for the purchase.

It's actually a fun game, but the forced xbox login can bug out and you won't be able to play.