#Gears tactics chapter list full#
#Gears tactics chapter list series#

It’s a ‘smart risk vs reward’ approach, and in a strategy setting, that often leads players to turtle and be too conservative with their actions. It’s got that wonderfully gritty Starcraft 2 marine feel to the way the Gears will risk life and limb to pound their enemies into a fine mist.

#Gears tactics chapter list series#

If you work to down multiple enemies and string together a series of curb stomps, you’ll have tons of actions to use to gain a tactical advantage. When their HP reaches 0, enemies can be downed just like in Gears Of War, but if you double up and sprint out of cover for a gruesome execution, you’ll receive an additional action in battle. The variety of weapons that players can use is also perfect for crafting tactical lockdowns where you can trap and unravel a fortified formation.Īnd that’s not mentioning the pièce de résistance: Gears Tactic’s execution system. The Overwatch system allows you to cover a flanking position by aiming your weapon in a cone to catch the enemy off guard if they foolishly move into your eye line, and catching Wretches – creatures that the Locust Horde use as cannon fodder – out as they barrel towards your squad is profoundly satisfying.

As if these moments couldn’t feel any better, Tactics also grafts those wonderful audio stings from the original that ring out at the end of a battle to recognise a job well done.

The release I got from finally figuring it out was sweeter than sugar. In one situation, I spent nearly an hour reloading a single checkpoint to extract the soldiers I’d fought so hard for who were mere steps away from the extraction point. Combat can be calculated at times, but it is always brutal, and when I’m surrounded by drones threatening to gnash at my defenceless teammates, it’s hard not to buy into the experience. The beauty of Gears Tactics is in how it refuses to put you on the front foot. Tactics is just as exciting as any of the console games that precede it, perhaps even more so with the adrenaline-pumping introduction of procedurally generated permadeath troops who can quite easily be executed in the heat of battle – after you’ve spent half an hour liberating them. The way fights pulse with crunchy back-and-forth gunplay and the trepidation that surrounds close-quarters combat worked to give me the impression that the developers took a Gears Of War prototype but swapped out the perspective – and honestly, I thank them for the ingenuity.

Enemies flop to the ground convincingly, with short, fluid cutscenes interjecting when you fire on a Locust and explode its fleshy cranium, colouring each combat engagement with Gears Of War’s unmistakably gory flair. Gears Tactics is refined in a way that strategy games usually aren’t – environments are lovingly detailed with patches of grit and metal, and the tightly woven arenas feel alive with danger. Still, it never feels too derivative of its influences, flattering the player with plenty of the charm that has made the franchise a mainstay for Microsoft across console generations.

#Gears tactics chapter list full#

I never expected a tactics tie-in game to be so full of innovation and passionate franchise charm, yet I’ve been surprised and hooked on Gears Tactics for the past week.ĭesigned by the fine folks at Splash Damage and The Coalition, Tactics coaxes out the same kind of carefully crafted, addictive gameplay that has kept legions of XCOM players up at night for the past two decades. The ease with which the Gears Of War franchise manages to transpose itself into the strategy genre is genuinely mind-boggling.