Gears of War 4 pre-orders open, Season Pass detailed

By Danny Cowan Published April 25, 2016

Microsoft has opened pre-orders for its Xbox One-exclusive third-person shooter Gears of War 4, revealing the contents of the game’s Season Pass and bonus-bundled Ultimate Edition.

Available digitally and via retail outlets in October, Gears of War 4: Ultimate Edition includes a copy of the game in a SteelBook case, a Season Pass normally priced at $50, and a digital code that grants pre-order buyers early access to Gears of War 4‘s campaign and multiplayer modes four days in advance of its retail launch.

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The Gears of War 4 Season Pass includes all 24 multiplayer maps slated for release throughout the next year, and gives buyers access to a Developer Playlist that will serve as a testbed for upcoming modes and other gameplay features.

According to Microsoft, the Gears of War 4 Season Pass includes “[an] exclusive Vintage VIP Pack featuring Vintage JD and two Vintage weapon skins, permanent access to 24 additional DLC maps (two per month for a year) for private play on dedicated servers, an exclusive Developer Playlist that grants access to new maps, modes, and features that can be tested prior to broad release, and six Gear Packs (which unlock character and weapon skins, emblems, equipment, and boosts).”

Players who pre-order any edition of Gears of War 4 will also receive “[an] exclusive Vintage Del Gear Pack featuring a Vintage Del character model, emblem, two Vintage weapon skins, and a special Vintage Del bounty as an added bonus.”

Gears of War fanatics looking forward to the latest series entry can also pre-order the Gears of War 4 Collector’s Edition for $250. The package features all Ultimate Edition content including the Gears of War 4 Season Pass, along with an exclusive statue, frag-grenade keychain, and in-game bonuses.

Gears of War 4 premieres exclusively for the Xbox One on October 11.

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Gaming

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga isn’t just for kids

Promotional art of Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga.

Before Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, I had fallen out of love with TT Games and WB Games' Lego titles. The Lego Star Wars, Batman, and Indiana Jones series helped make me passionate about video games as a kid as I spent endless fun (and sometimes frustrating) hours playing them with my brother.
Over time though, I aged out of the series and grew more disappointed with the basic open-world formula the series settled on after great games like Lego City Undercover. I was no longer smitten with one of the series that helped cement my love of video games. That’s why The Skywalker Saga’s bold new direction excites me.
It not only revisits the films behind some of my favorite Lego games, but builds on top of them with more expansive hub worlds, mission variety, and deeper gameplay than previous Lego action games. While The Skywalker Saga’s multiple delays and development issues concerned me, my hands-on with an early build of the game managed to engross me just like the original Lego Star Wars did 17 years ago.
A New Hope for the series
My demo took me through the first 90 minutes of A New Hope, one of the nine Star Wars films represented within The Skywalker Saga. Like every Lego game before it, this segment of the game followed the events of the film it was based on. It features full voice acting (from soundalikes, not the film cast), though I appreciated the inclusion of a “mumble mode” that makes the characters grunt and pantomime as they did in early Lego games.
LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga - Gameplay Overview
TT Games also experiments with the iconic opening of A New Hope. Many jokes are present to keep kids entertained, but it also intertwines with the end of Rogue One. The first character I played as was actually Princess Leia, who has the Death Star plans and is trying to escape Darth Vader as he boards the Tantive IV. Somehow, this Lego game made this oft-adapted and parodied plot beat feel fresh.
This mission also served as a tutorial and a demonstration of how The Skywalker Saga differs from previous Lego games. Yes, there are still combat, exploration, and puzzles, but those are deeper than before. A cover-based system has been implemented to make shootouts more involving. Meanwhile, players can now string together melee combos with different moves and counter enemies' attacks, making melee battles more enjoyable than before. Character classes and abilities also ensure fights in this game are more than simple button-mashing affairs.
Missions often give players multiple options to complete objectives, whether that’s because of a specific Lego build players can create or the abilities of their playable character. It’s no Devil May Cry, but these deeper gameplay systems made sure my eyes didn’t gloss over out of boredom within the first hour, something I can’t say for the last couple of Lego games I played.
The Skywalker Saga made a strong first impression on me and excited me to see how the rest of A New Hope would unfold. I was able to play as Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, recruit Han and Chewbacca, and explore the Death Star before my demo ended. While this is the second time TT Games is adapting this material, it feels completely new because of the revamped approach to storytelling, level design, and gameplay design.
All grown up
During my demo, I only scratched the surface of what the game had to offer. The Skywalker Saga seems to be the most densely packed Lego game yet, as all nine mainline Star Wars films have been recreated here. Not only are there linear levels based on the main plot points and set pieces of each film, but there are large hubs on planets and areas in space that players can explore and complete side missions within.
As players complete the stories of more films and gain access to more characters, ships, and planets, the amount of options players will have at their disposal will only continue to grow. The Skywalker Saga also has a progression system to back that amount of content up ,as missions reward players with Kyber Bricks that players use to unlock and enhance abilities on skill trees.

Yes, this game has skill trees to complement the aforementioned classes -- which include Jedi, Smugglers, and Protocol Droids -- and their abilities, which is useful during and outside of combat. Systems like this bring TT Games’ Lego series more up to par with its action game peers and make it feel like the franchise has finally grown up. As The Skywalker Saga will be the first Lego game in years to appeal to those with nostalgia for the series' earliest game, it's a relief to see that it won't disappoint.
Of course, The Skywalker Saga still will be approachable enough for kids thanks to its visuals, humor, and approachable gameplay basics, but it finally doesn’t seem like that’s coming at the sacrifice of engaging gameplay for older players. While I thought I had aged out of ever liking a Lego game again, this demo of The Skywalker Saga revealed that I could still love these games -- they just had to catch up to me first.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch on April 5, 2022.

Gaming

Gears of Wars heroes come to Fortnite in latest update

Marcus Fenix and Kait Diax Gears of War Fortnite skins

Fortnite is bringing Marcus Fenix and Kait Diaz from the Gears of War series to the game. The characters will be available as skins in the Fortnite Shop starting at 7 p.m. ET today, along with other Gears-related goodies.

These two characters are only the latest additions to Fortnite’s Gaming Legends Series, which includes characters from Street Fighter, God of War, and Halo.

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass is killing pre-orders — and that’s a good thing

Games on Xbox Game Pass.

A recent survey on Windows Central polled readers on their pre-order plans for Halo Infinite. Out of nearly 300 responses, two-thirds said they didn't plan to pre-order the game. However, nearly half the respondents said that they planned to play the game on Xbox Game Pass, and multiple respondents who pre-ordered the game said they planned to play it on Game Pass, too.

Game Pass is helping lead the charge to kill pre-orders. Although that may not be a good thing for retailers and publishers, it's great for gamers -- especially as more titles ship in broken states after suffering delays. Although pre-orders will inevitably stick around for a while, they're becoming obsolete, and Game Pass is a driving force behind that.
Pre-orders are bad for the people who matter