Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Hands on: ‘Gears of War 4’

'Gears of War 4' has a new breed of evil, but it's the same old fight

gears of war 4 hands on screenshot 6
Image used with permission by copyright holder

“Why you can trust Digital Trends – We have a 20-year history of testing, reviewing, and rating products, services and apps to help you make a sound buying decision. Find out more about how we test and score products.“

What are we supposed to expect of a sequel that jumps the console generation gap? Based on Gears of War 4, the first game in the franchise made for Xbox One, the answer is to “stay the course.” Coming this fall, the first Gears of War game made for the Xbox One will offer a new narrative, but cling to the gameplay that brought fans to it, even with a new studio at the helm.

Recommended Videos

E3 2016: ReCore may be the game Zelda fans should play this fall

As you may or may not have heard, Gears of War 4 follows series protagonist Marcus Fenix’ son, JD, and his squadmates, Del and Kait, who have deserted the COG military. In the demo, the trio are trying to save their comrade, Oscar, who has been taken by a bug-like creature that may try to transform him into a new, mysterious kind of Locust. On the way, they encounter resistance strange, bone-white Locust-like creatures that hatch out cocoons of pink goo, which seem to be everywhere.

The series basics feel as tight and responsive as they ever have.

The new cast is critical for setting the game’s new tone, which feels darker and more frantic. In the original trilogy, one of the characters always had a sense of what was happening, whether or not you, the player, had any idea. The new team, either because they’re younger or confronted with new horrors, seem less sure. While it’s never exactly hard to figure out the way, that sense of insecurity informs the game’s overall tone, which feels dark and horrifying.

Though the characters and tone are different, the vast majority of the Gears of War franchise remains mechanically in place for Gears 4. Players, flanked by their allies, will shoot, chainsaw, and active-reload their way through scrambling, ape-like wretches and Locust soldiers. Developer The Coalition, Microsoft’s studio built to take over the franchise from creator Epic Games, has retained its predecessor’s attention to technical detail. The series basics — shooting, running, and snapping in and out cover — feel as tight and responsive as they ever have. Similarly, the enemy AI is impressively surprising. The Locust are capable of using many of the same tricks you can, including mantling over cover to kick and stun you.

Gears-of-War-4-screenshot-8
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are a few new wrinkles, of course. At one point, JD picks up a new weapon, the saw-spewing ‘Buzzkill’ launcher, which fires spinning blades that ricochet, potentially opening the door for skilled players to angle shots around cover. The demo also introduces a new enemy — a giant bug called a “pouncer,” which hops on top of cover and then leaps on you or your allies, pinning you down until someone shoots them off … or they eat you.

Gears 4 also brings back a mechanical concept from the original Gears, the enemy-generating “emergence” hole. Rather than a literal hole, the new locust creatures grow out of nests, which look like giant craters in the ground. As in the original Gears of War, you can lob a grenade in the nest, which also doubles as natural cover, to “kill” the nest and stop it from spawning more creatures.

Developer The Coalition hasn’t given up on playing with the series’ standardized rules, as well. JD can shoot Locust cocoons down from the ceiling to use as make-shift cover to avoid fire. Using them that way can be a risky proposition: The cocoons explode after taking enough damage, hurting and stunning you. Of course, you can also try to time it so you drop the cocoon on an enemy’s head.

Gears of War 4 offers less innovation than we hoped for, but it is a testament to the series’ staying power. After a decade of Gears, this new adventure is still set to be one of 2016’s best shooters.

Gears of War 4 will hit Xbox One and Windows 10 October 11.

Pre-Order on Amazon

Mike Epstein
Former Associate Editor, Gaming
Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is alive and it’s coming this summer
Tony Hawk jumps over a park in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 will launch on July 11 (or July 8 if you pre-order its deluxe editions) for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It will be available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass PC at launch. The remake package will include new skate parks for the first time in 10 years.

The five year road to the release has been long. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 launched in 2020 to critical acclaim, immediately fueling speculation for more remakes. Those dreams were squashed when developed Vicarious Visions was merged into Blizzard in 2021 and converted into a support studio. The next year, Tony Hawk himself claimed that remakes of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 were planned, but halted after the move.

Read more
Something Tony Hawk Pro Skater-related is coming March 4
Skater in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater fans have longed for a remaster of the third and fourth games ever since the success of the first two, but hopes were dashed in 2022 when the game was supposedly canceled — but now a countdown has appeared on the website that ends on March 4.

While the countdown could end with an announcement of the next game in the series, fans theorize it's actually the long-awaited remaster. The text "thps-3-4-countdown" was reportedly found in the website's backend code, but has since been removed according to VGC. The website lists Iron Galaxy as one of the developers — the same studio responsible for the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 remaster — furthering the evidence that the announcement will be a remaster instead of a sequel.

Read more
Bulletstorm studio is co-developing Gears of War: E-Day
gears of war e day everything we know melee

Gears of War: E-Day | Official Announce Trailer (In-Engine)

We now know just a bit more about Gears of War: E-Day. Developer People Can Fly just revealed that it is co-developing the game alongside The Coalition. The studio previously worked as a partner on Gears of War 1-3 and as lead developer of Gears of War: Judgement.

Read more