Gears Tactics

forced login even for offline play

nah. The game isn't worth the tedium of having to sign into Microsoft... and have the log-in page not remember your credentials...

It's like Xcom but somehow lacking something. The maps are very repetitive, you feel like you go to the same gate, open and kill all. Story was OK, good graphics, good cinematics. Progress of your chars is lackluster, many times feels better to just recruit a new guy with +1level than do missions with your old roster. It's still fun to play if you like Xcom type of games. It's a 7/10 but makes no sense to play it after you finish the SP story line (around 27hours).

Can not play offline

So far this isn't a tactics game...100% luck-based success or failure. Doesn't matter how well you set up or execute a good plan. Too many of these games rely entirely on having random chance be the reason you lose rather than a failed strategy--because the enemy in this game doesn't seem to have any tactic except rush and swarm, and waves can happen randomly. There's no way to plan after a failed attempt because the next time you try you might be facing 10 new enemies 2 turns sooner.

Fun xcom clone with a gears of war skin, does get a bit stale later in the game though. Microsoft need to release a Gears 1-3 collection on PC soon. 6.5/10

I am moving into chapter 3 and I am ready for the game to end. I am not a big first person shooter enjoyer so I had hoped to enjoy the gears franchise in a different format. However the game isn't really designed for that and centres around tracking down one antagonist to kill over a few story missions and fills out the game with tedious side missions. There is nothing here that resembles an interesting campaign or offers any lore to help introduce players into the gears universe. The tactical combat is good but the rest of the game is bare bones and uninteresting. The bad: Mikayla is an annoying hard ass girl boss trope who ruins the story missions. Side missions lack variety and become tedious after chapter 1. The mission modifiers and additional objectives get in the way of the enjoyment of the game. Managing gear and armour upgrades isn't enjoyable due to the UI. The UI needs improved. Collecting loot boxes during missions is busy work. Not enough deployable gears which means you cant bring one gear of each class on missions. Need to sign into Microsoft account to play. The Good: The combat is good. Character building is decent. Boss missions are cool (but they have questionable mechanics). Decent enemy variety and threats. Overwatch is done really well. Performance is good and the game looks good. Voice acting and cinematics are good.