The “Gears of War” franchise is one of the most iconic series on Microsoft’s Xbox platform, and it’s understandable why so many people were excited to see the newest “Gears of War 4”. It was much more than a new entry in the series, as it also broke new grounds in terms of availability. Not only did the studio release it on the new Xbox One, but they also decided to make the game available on the PC for the first time in the history of the franchise since the original first game.
So far, reviews have been very positive on both editions, and it looks like the series still has a lot of potential for the future, especially if the developers keep bringing out solid releases like this one on a regular basis. A lot has been said about “Gears of War 4” over the last few days, from praises towards its graphics, to great impressions from the smooth gameplay.
One of the factors that very positively affected the opinions of reviewers was the quality of the PC port. It’s clear that this is not a hastily produced clone of the game for the PC, but the developers have actually put a lot of effort into utilizing the platform to its full potential.
There are tons of settings to be tweaked in the menus, and the game also gives a very detailed overview of its current performance so that players can know what kind of impact their changes are having. Not only that, but it reportedly runs extremely smoothly on most platforms that cover its system requirements, and all in all it looks like the hard work that has gone into porting this game to the PC will not go unnoticed.
That’s about the technical side of things though – how is the gameplay? Some gamers were afraid that the core style of the franchise has gotten stale over the years, especially nowadays when we’ve seen so many cover shooters that the genre has become a cliché.
And while the basic combat mechanics have been preserved, a lot has been done to modernize the experience and give gamers more freedom in honing their skills and truly getting the most out of their playtime.
Those who want to face an actual challenge will have a great opportunity for that in “Gears of War 4”, while those who just want to go through the campaign as a cinematic experience will not face any issues with that either.
The concept artists on the developer team have obviously not lost their edge, as the new game features some quite interesting additions to the arsenal, including a sawblade launcher. It seems like the people behind this franchise simply have a thing for things with lots of sharp edges, and after they immortalized the concept of a “chainsaw rifle”, we’re likely going to get some more iconic names added to the history of gaming.
As some critics have pointed out, one of the factors that work strongly in favor of “Gears of War 4” is the timing of its release. It came out at just the right moment, as the market simply needed a game like it right now.
As we said above, the market for cover shooters had become a bit overcrowded lately. This led to many developers pulling out of it for the time being, and it looks like “Gears of War 4” came just in time to capitalize on that vacuum and establish itself in a solid position.