Defining A Generation

Gears of War is a series that has spanned over a decade. What Halo was to the original Xbox is what Gears of War was to the Xbox 360. The series was a driving force in selling the console and displayed the Xbox 360’s graphical might. The series invested you in its characters while putting you in their shoes. Here we are, a new console and a new adventure. Gears of War 4 looks to extend that magic into a new generation. The game has been out since October 11th, 2016, but there are those of you who have not gotten to play it yet. Here are 5 facts that you should know about the game.

5) It’s a New Adventure

This brand-new adventure takes place 25 years in the future after the Locust/Lambent War. It takes place in a future where humans are almost extinct on Sera. A new Coalition of Ordered Governments(COG) keeps the remaining humans behind walls from the after effects of the Imulsion Countermeasure, which are wind flares, etc. The focus of the story is taken of Delta Squad and follows Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud’s son, J.D. Fenix and his friends Kait Diaz and Del Walker. In the story, they take on a new enemy that goes by the “Swarm”. Along the way, we do have some appearances of characters from the previous games. The campaign is about 10 hours and includes hidden collectables that you can search for. This looks to be a start of a new trilogy to add on to the series. If you were looking for a refreshing change in characters along with the addition of old ones, then this game is for you.

Gears of War 4: Launch Trailer

4) Epic No More

For those of you who absolutely love the series as I do, then I’m pretty sure that you know that Epic Games develops them. Well, this isn’t the case for Gears of War 4. It was in development by Epic early on until it was handed over to a company called The Coalition. The Coalition also worked on the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, which was an upgraded version of the original Gears of War.  If you are a diehard Epic fan, still give this game a chance. The Coalition has made refreshing changes to the series that I believe that fans new and old can appreciate.

Epic’s move to abandon Gears of War 4

3) Strong Focus on Multiplayer

The Coalition put a lot of work into the multiplayer for this game. Don’t get me wrong, the campaign is fantastic, but the multiplayer is well polished too. The Coalition wants you to get the most out of this game. There are elements of the multiplayer from the games along with their own spin on it. There is older game modes along with some new games modes added, such as Dodgeball. The Coalition took Horde and made a 3.0 version that is better than ever. Building fortifications is better and 5 class types were introduced to the mode. The Soldier, Sniper, Scout, Heavy, and Engineer classes all have different and important abilities that must be utilized if you want to survive all 50 waves. The higher you go in waves, the crazier and more difficult it gets.

Kait curb stomping an enemy Swarm as J.D. provides covering fire.

2) Gear Packs Are In

Gears of War 4 has its own version of a supply drop and they’re called gear packs. These have unlockable characters, skins and weapon skins. Thanks to Call of Duty’s success in duping the masses into buying into a supply drop system, Gears of War has jumped on the bandwagon. You earn credits in game by playing multiplayer matches and completing bounties. Bounties are challenges you have the option to complete to earn extra credits. You use these credits to buy gear boxes or use real money to buy gear packs.

1) Xbox Play Anywhere

Great news to those of us who like to dabble in both PC and console gaming. This game is part of a program called “Xbox Play Anywhere”. You can own the game on PC and Xbox by only buying it once! That’s right, no need to shell out $120 dollars to play with both PC and Xbox friends. Another amazing quality of this program is its cloud-based saving feature. Say you started the game and got to chapter 3 in the story playing on PC, you can go right to your Xbox and start right where you stopped.  

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