Gears Tactics - Coming April 28th.

[Hatredsheart]

[Sly Boots]

Posted in the Game Pass thread, but to add here that this is hitting the service on launch day, which is pretty cool.

[Mantis]

It looks like a really solid XCOM clone too.

[Sly Boots]

Yeah, it seems the journos who have played it have all reported that it's (surprisingly) excellent, so think I'll definitely be checking it out on GP when it launches.

[Sly Boots]

This is garnering some excellent reviews. RPS says it's the best squad-based tactics game in the genre

Available on Game Pass, remember

[Medicine Man]

Some reviews...

https://www.pcgamer.com/gears-tactics-review/

83

https://www.ign.com/articles/gears-tactics-review

8

https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/gears- ... 0-6417455/

8

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/0 ... cs-review/

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020 ... turn-based

[Sly Boots]

Preloading now

[Sly Boots]

Played the first level, first impressions pretty positive. I will say the production values are through the roof, very impressive. Recent efforts like Phoenix Point look pretty rough in comparison.

[DjchunKfunK]

I think the combat is pretty good, definitely some stuff Firaxis could learn from. The problem is I don't care about the Gears world and that means despite having fun with the combat I don't have anything pulling me back in.

[Sly Boots]

Yeah... I must admit to playing this in short bursts, basically one mission a session, rather than the time-sink that XCOM is for me even on second or third playthroughs.

It feels good to play, but at the same time isn't amazingly compelling. I've not played any other Gears games though so I don't know if my lack of familiarity with the world/lore is a factor there.

I shall complete it I'm sure as like I said it is fun to play in the moment, but I'm also glad I'm playing this on Game Pass and didn't pay £50 for it.

[Sly Boots]

It's starting to get its hooks into me a little more.

Finished the first Act, and there was a big boss fight at the end that was pretty fun and quite challenging/stressful, and finally taking it down felt really good.

I still play just 1-2 missions per session, but finding within an hour or two of closing it down my brain is going 'hey, wouldn't it be fun to do another mission right about now?', and sure enough I'm loading it up again.

It really is very different to XCOM, and actually it's nice to play something in the same genre that brings some fresh ideas to the table, when a lot of other games seem to be aping what XCOM does much more closely.

[Sly Boots]

So just finished my second run through the campaign. When I finished the first time, I started another immediately.

It really gets its hooks into you, this game. It just feels really good to play. Where XCOM feels almost like a board/puzzle game at times, it's interesting to play something that instead says 'you know what, let's throw a fuck-ton of enemies at them, and see how they get on'. It also strikes the fine balance between making your units feel powerful, giving you the tools you need to turn most things to paste, but also vulnerable so that if you get too casual or play sub-optimally things can get out of control quite quickly. It's a cerebral macho power-fantasy, if that makes sense.

The loot system was really nice - on each mission there are a few crates you can collect that you open between missions to find new weapon and armour mods, meaning there's a little dopamine hit before you gear up again, and an immediacy in seeing your troops improve. The levels themselves come quite slowly, particularly from the mid-point on - despite really trying to hit another level the second time, both times my soldiers were at level 6 of a maximum 10 - but the skills and the way the builds come together if you consciously push your soldiers towards one of four class archetypes (which you should, as the higher level skills on each tree are quite powerful) feels really good as well. Personally I found my favourite skill tree for each class and stuck with it, but I can see how each one would play quite differently for people that like to experiment a bit more. And it's nice that you get a few respec tokens throughout if you really mess a build up.

It's not perfect and there are a few areas I would like a sequel to improve upon - chiefly more variety in the mission types, map variety and more of a strategic layer outside of the tactical missions - but this is a very solid foundation for what I hope is a new franchise offshoot. I'd not played a Gears game before, and I'm not sure still if I'd play one of the shooter titles, but I would definitely play a Gears Tactics sequel.

[Snowy]

I am playing this on Gamepass at the moment (also known as "Mmm this might be interesting, install and play for 10 mins, it's shit uninstall-pass" for many titles ).

Agree with all Sly says above, cracking little game that really gets its hooks into you. I am just at the boss fight he mentions above, interested to see how it plays out.

Gears 5 is also on Mmm this might be interesting, install and play for 10 mins, it's shit uninstall-pass - I am tempted to give it a try on the back of tactics. Any takers for a co-op playthrough?

[Snowy]

Anyone with Gamepass, I started playing Gears 5 on my tod and it is actually a lot of fun - well worth your time I would suggest.

[Animalmother]

It's something I'd like to have a go at but I always bounce very hard off turn based games. Couldn't get into XCom either despite trying a couple of times.