Gears Tactics Review: XCOM Meets Gears Of War

Strategic options don’t stop on the battlefield. In addition to extensive skill trees per class, Gears Tactics features a comprehensive gear system. From weapon parts to armor pieces to grenades, there’s plenty of items to consider as you strive to build your squad. There’s even fun, non-gameplay affecting cosmetics such as changing your gunmetals, adding color or throwing on a pattern. While you can’t alter the main character’s looks, you’re free to change the looks and features of your other squad mates. Gears of War will always be known as a third-person shooter, but Splash Damage has perfectly adapted its mechanics to a tactics game. What you expect from a Gears game (chainsaw bayonets, bayonet charges, emergence holes, brutal finishers, etc.) is all here with few compromises. This is a Gears game, and it feels exactly right to play.


In a game where troops can be killed permanently, it is both a gift and a curse that the soldiers level very slowly. On one hand, it can make the pain hurt less when a troop is killed and they aren't insanely str


Its greatest offering is its brilliant take on the well-worn overwatch mechanic, which expends all of a soldier's remaining AP (with at least 3 being given each unit every turn) in exchange for the ability to cover squadmates, reserving one shot for spotted enemies per AP allotted. What sets Gears Tactics ' overwatch apart from the crowd, though, is its spatial nature, forcing players to highlight a lane of a length and in a direction of their choosing. This not only encourages players to anticipate from where they want to defend against assault, but also allows them to prevent their units from taking unintended potshots at the wrong enemy unit and leaving their allies exposed. Along with Sniper Locust that pin down friendly units, enemies are similarly eager to box vulnerable Gears using overwatch until killed or interrup

Gears Tactics’ structure crumbles around the side missions due to a lack of variety. The game features four types of side missions: Rescue, Sabotage, Scavenger Run and Control. In Rescue, you need to save two soldiers from torture pods. Sabotage sees the squad attack a Locust stronghold and destroy its Imulsion supply. Scavenger Run tasks players with grabbing equipment as Nemacyst bombings inch closer each turn. Finally, Control has the squad holding two positions to collect supplies. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these types of objectives, but Gears Tactics overly relies on them to its detriment. It regularly sidelines its own story and main missions to task players with these side missions. It’s not bad until you realize that the game interrupts the flow of the campaign after nearly every main mission and completely throw off the pacing of the entire game. One mission you could be laying a trap for Ukkon, and the next, rather than springing it, you must complete two side quests. In an effort to increase the length, Gears Tactics actively sabotages the pacing of its campaign. Considering the campaign makes up the entirety of the Gears Tactics experience, the amount of required side missions to continue the story is just too much.

Players can take up to four members into battle with units coming in five different classes (Support, Vanguard, Sniper, Heavy and Support), each with their advantages and disadvantages. Support’s weapon of choice is the Lancer and utilizes healing and motivational abilities. Vanguards serve as the tanks with their Retro Lancers. Snipers, equipped with the Longshot, cover allies from long distances. Heavy’s and their Mulchers plant themselves into a spot and lay down suppressing fire. Finally, Scouts and their Gnashers can move fast and hide from enemy troops. There’s lots of variety and strategic decisions to consider when building a team, especially since you can’t take every class with you and non-Hero characters can permanently die if you’re not careful.


It seems simple, but not allowing "friendly fire" really helps keeps the game flowing. Soldiers can accidentally shoot their squad-mates in Gears Tactics ; this can end a mission instantly if one of the main characters is accidentally killed. It makes the XCOM games slightly less realistic, but it’s not an omission that particularly gives the feeling of being less realistic. Disallowing friendly fire makes soldiers on overwatch more reliable at providing cover. No doubt thousands of hours have already been wasted by gamers who have had to restart a mission because one of their soldiers shot a character who’s necessary for the plot to conti


Gears Tactics is the latest slg game Units in the Gears (or Gears of War , as boomers may call it) franchise. A radical departure for the third-person shooter series, Gears Tactics is instead a tactical, turn-based RPG similar to XCOM or the recently released John Wick Hex . So far, it’s also only available on PC, not the Xbox


The ultra-violent third-person shooter franchise Gears of War just made its return in a weird way. The newest entry in the series, Gears Tactics , uses the iconic universe as a setting for a squad-centric strategy g