Tactics has a linear campaign, told
with very pretty Unreal Engine
cutscenes. It’s easily the best-looking
tactics game I’ve played, and it’s hard
to oversell how precisely this game
translates Gears into an overhead
turn-based perspective.
Gears Tactics is an
aggressive strategy
game that throws piles
of enemies at you,
because it knows
you’ve got frag
grenades that can turn
a pack of scurrying
wretches into chicken
nuggets, or a chainsaw gun that has a
100-percent chance to slice even a
full-health Locust in half.XCOG
While it first looks an awful lot like
XCOM, Gears Tactics plays
differently. Every turn in XCOM is
about the tension of how few moves
you can make. Gears is more
freeform, giving each of the four
soldiers you take into a mission three
actions per turn. And every time one
performs an execution move on a
near-death enemy, the rest of thesquad gets an extra action point for
the turn, the design equivalent of a
platoon shouting “Hoo-ah!”.
You’re not trying to make the best
of your meagre options each turn.
You’re trying to extend your turn for
as long as possible,
every kill offering up
the opportunity to earn
more actions, until
everything lies dead at
your feet. I love how
every turn pushes me
to be creative with
how I combine my
squad’s abilities.
The support class can gift an
action point to a squadmate, and you
can pair that with another ability that
earns the support soldier an action
back each time that squadmate gets a
kill. It’s like placing a bet on them
and then trying to follow up.
Each of the five classes have skills
that combine in clever ways. The
heavy, who carries a chain gun, can
earn an extra action point for going
into overwatch, making it the perfect
defensive class. The vanguard can
knock enemies out of cover, enabling
you to keep pushing forward.Where Gears Tactics diverges
most from XCOM is its linear
campaign, with no ‘meta’ strategy
layer to manage. This is not a
sandbox experience, which largely
works for Gears Tactics thanks to the
depth of its combat, but it
unfortunately means repeat
playthroughs will present a mostly
identical challenge. And I found that
without some of that meta strategy to
change up how I was spending my
time, the campaign started to drag by
the time I was nearing the end.
There are boss battles (good!) that
use mostly the same mechanics and
change little throughout long fights
(bad!). Side missions pad out the
campaign, but they’re repetitive and
end up feeling like roadblocks to
progress. Already I’m hoping for a
Gears Tactics 2, because the combat,
skill system, and top-notch
presentation are all so promising.
The skill trees for each class
branch into four specialities, and you
can freely choose how to mix those
skills. Most of my characters ended
up maxing out only one skill path,
and as I recruited new soldiers that
were specced differently I kept
finding fun combos I hadn’t used yet.
Weapon customization ties nicely
into skills, buffing stats, and even
adding special effects like knockback.
‘Legendary’ rarity parts are typically
rewards for difficult optional
objectives and they’re satisfying to
earn, because you know they’ll come
with some big stat perks.
I got tired of the chase for more
loot late in the game, but slap Gears
Tactics’ combat into a sequel with a
couple more strategic systems that
balance out the variety and pacing,
and I’d honestly rather play it over
XCOM, a recommendation I never
expected I’d make.NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
Turn-based strategy,
with chainsaw guns
EXPECT TO PAY
$60
DEVELOPER
The Coalition / Spash
Damage
PUBLISHER
Xbox Game Studios
REVIEWED ON
GTX 1080, Intel
i7-6700K, 16GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
gearstactics.com83
Clever combat abilities
and brutal executions
translate Gears of War
into a deep, fast-paced
strategy game.VERDICTEach of the five
classes have
skills that
combine in
clever waysG
ears Tactics and I share the belief that a sniper rifle should
practically be an extension of the hand of god, so mighty it
feels almost unfair. Late in my campaign I could fire off
seven rounds in a single turn, chaining together shots that
gave me free actions for every kill. This is the power fantasy
version of a tactics game, and pitch-perfect Gears of War, down to the
cranial pop of a Longshot’s bullet landing a critical headshot.CHAINSAW CHESS
Fantastic combat makes GEARS TACTICS a
strategy game worthy of the PC. By Wes Fenlon
GEARS OF GORE
Gears Tactics zooms in to give you a close look at its grisly executions
DECAPITATED
Vanguards can use a
bayonet like a sword. Off
with his head!IMPALED
A bayonet charge covers
ground fast and lifts ‘em
right off the ground.FRAGGED
Grenades blast enemies
into a shower of the tiniest
chunks. Lovely.CHAINSAWED
The Lancer’s chainsaw is
as powerful as ever,
reducing Locust to jam.REVIEW
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