#Gears tactics review series

Again, if you plan your turn right, you can wipe out an enemy squad by just camping, baiting, and securing perimiters-slash-corners. Without bullets, you cannot use Overwatch or certain skills that require more than a single shot.

If you run out of ammo, you need to spend one Action Point to reload. Yes, you also need to keep check on your gun magazine for each unit. Overwatch shots are determined by how many Action Points you have left and how many bullets your gun contains. If any enemy runs into that zone, your unit will fire automatically. The wider the cone, the less accurate your shots will be. Overwatching enables units to drag out a cone representing the zone overwatch will trigger in. Plus, it’s fun to just watch one of your guys smash a bad guy’s head with a butt of their rifle. It’s possible to even eradicate a squad of Locusts in a single turn if you plan accordingly and create setups. This means that if you play your cards right, you can have your other pals pull off extra moves consecutively. If you execute a downed Locust unit, you give every other squad member an extra Action Point. While pulling off executions in past Gears shooters gives you bragging rights, it’s an essential gamechanger in Gears Tactics.

At that point is where Gears Tactics’ gameplay features come into play: executions, its version of overwatch, and weapon-reloading. With all the enemies being adept at firing at you, you’ll need to scan the area and find the best spots to park your units while also counter-attacking. The movement system is pretty generous and flexible it minimizes Action Point usage provided you’re getting to cover. Turning on the TAC-COM lets you see what kind of buffs & skills your foes have, as well as remind you what your team is capable of.Ĭoupled with an intuitive control scheme and a non-grid system that uses Action Points (with all the movement and calculation done off-screen), you can focus on the action & your movement. Luckily, you have a lot of information on display to help you make informed decisions and weighting the risks/rewards in doing them. But generally, the gameplay flow is structured so that you think and commit to your decisions on the field. Gears Tactics offers a checkpoint system halfway in lengthy story & side missions. First thing first: you can’t quick save and quick load your way out of trouble. There are a few tidbits and nods for fans of Gears 4 and Gears 5, but generally it’s what you would expect from a mass market action title. Narrative-wise, you play as Gabe Diaz who is tasked with leading a convoy squad of Gears to combat a Locust mad scientist named Ukkon.

All while wearing its gib-tastic coat of paint loud and proud. Gears Tactics not only is a fresh new squad-based tactics spin, but it takes a lot from past high-level combat-savvy strategy titles and introduces a number of novel concepts that improve the genre. After all, it’s entrenched in military and sci-fi tropes and knowhow strategic combat and squad management is part and parcel of the experience.

#Gears tactics review series

Wouldn’t you know it, these two elements are what an Xbox-exclusive series like Gears needed to jump-start the franchise in a logical direction. In fact, the furthest thing from my mind is a turn-based strategic Gears game that somehow does things better than 2012’s de facto strategy title XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The last thing that pops to mind is “RPG elements” and “turn-based combat”. Oh, and real-time cover-based shooting with some semblance of tactics. When you think Gears of War, you think “chest-high walls”, “brick s***house armor”, “guns with chainsaw attachments”, “emergence holes”, and explosions. Genre: Turn-Based Strategy Game With Chainsaw Guns & Terrifying Mole Men