I have never played any Gears game before in my life, so I have no prejudice about franchise whatsoever. I guess this review will tell you if you can play the game without any knowledge about Gears. So, the first thing that impressed me was the graphics. Details are stunning, developers did a really good job by perfecting every nook and cranny, making environment very cool.Environment is really cool here. Also the game constantly entertains you with well made cutscenes. After every major or sometimes even lesser event, you can watch the conclusion of your recent moves filmed with a shaky live-looking camera. Cutscenes are made with the game’s engine, but I had a feeling that they used a bit different setting or even a bit modified game engine than in actual gameplay to make a cutscenes.
It is similar to what Blizzard did in Starcraft 2, but there is no such a huge difference, they are making the transition between cutscene and real gameplay very well. Also developers implemented nice execution animations and there are quite a few of them. I have found them very satisfying to watch. They are quite gory, but look how cool they are: Anyway, I started the game by accidentally killing my teammate. And I was like You are your own worst enemy. Yeah, friendly fire is on and that is amazing, because usually in such games your teammates are immune to your bullets, or they tend to be just like an obstacle denying your shots. And now you can be your own enemy, isn’t that great? The game keeps you on the edge constantly. When you defeat a bunch of monsters, suddenly another wave arrives.
It’s like a boss in a Dark Souls, where you kill it just to realize that you killed only a weaker version of it and now you have to fight the real deal in phase two. Few times I was thinking that I lost the battle, but I actually won, because some heroes have godlike abilities, like… resurrection from being knocked down without any hitpoints left. Imagine, one of your characters loses all his health, but suddenly on the next turn you press one button and it is alive again with half of his health and even one action point available. Whoosh, that felt good. Godlike indeed. Overall, I should say that the normal difficulty actually feels normal. I was challenged not too much, not too little. Not great, not terrible. Yeah, it really feels normal. I had to load the game when I have lost a battle a few times, but you know, not 4 or 5 times, you can learn from your mistakes here very quickly. In general, the game is very easy to understand and to I could even say – easy to master. Everything is very clear and simple. When in other similar games, I’m always confused by some crazy new mechanic, weird camera angles, or some other stuff that isn’t necessary, here I had no such moment.
I can even say that this is a good game for newcomers to this genre. So, how does it feel for a man who never tried Gears games and have no idea what is happening? It’s ok, the story is simple and easy to follow. Evil is attacking the city and you have to kill bad guys and rescue good guys. That’s pretty much it, but it doesn’t really matter – all that matters is the gameplay and it is great. There isn’t many games that I still play after making a review, actually Beautiful Desolation was the only one this year, but I have a feeling that I will continue to play Gears Tactics, because it is a great game. I don’t know, maybe I’m a bit tired of indie titles with all their bugs and low budget feeling all over the place, so Gears was like a gulp of a very good vodka after months of drinking that homemade ink your cousin Artem is making.
The last similar game I played, with a sci-fi setting, was Phoenix Point. But with that one I wasn’t impressed at all. I don’t know why, It seemed like a nice game, but I had no will to play it more than one day and I didn’t even made a review, because I had nothing to say. Gears Tactics is different, this game entertains you pretty well. Especially I like boss battles. Creatures are made very well and look original. Look at this guy. Isn’t he cute? I wish I had a plush toy of him. Game also has some depth and a lot of RPG elements. In-game you can find crates and later apply various stuff to your weapons, so you could be a better killing machine. There are many parts you can attach to your gun. Also, you can paint your guns, chose the metal of your choice, and apply the pattern of your liking. That feels a bit useless, because your units in gameplay are like ants, you can’t see those cool patterns anyway, well except in a cutscenes.
You can also change the appearance of your crew members that are not heroes. I have made this fashion guy and renamed him so he could do more damage. Well, imaginary damage, but when you’re named Vodka Alien Bender, you do more damage automatically. Also, I’ve made women with a mustache. Just because I can. And because it reminds me of my friend hairdresser Dasha. Gladly Dasha doesn’t speak English, or she would “accidentally” kill me while trimming my beard and then no more video for you, you know. Keep it a secret. TSSHHH Also your heroes can gain levels and by doing that acquire various skill points from a huge skill-tree. So it’s a true science fiction tactical RPG, one of the best I played so far. And my favorite thing here was three action points per turn, instead of two we usually get in other similar games. This makes the game faster and you can plan and do more in one turn than before.
I’d say that I would give Gears Tactics 8,5 vodkas out of 10. This game is like well marinated herring, not too sour, not to salty, just perfect combo of vinegar and spices. If your grandma made games, she would made something like Gears Tactics. I promise. Although it could be even better if it had a more interesting story. Anyway, Gears Tactics fulfilled most of my expectations, I’m totally recommending it for you to try if you can get your filthy fingers on it. But if you want to buy it on Steam, keep in mind that it is ridiculously expensive. Now it costs 70 Euros for the game. In Eastern Europe, a person can live for a week with that sum. That is crazy. Anyway, thanks for watching. If you are enjoying my videos, please consider becoming my patron on Patreon. You can join a handful of amazing people who are helping me to create more, even one dollar a month means a lot to me, please think about that, you can find a link in the description below. Have a nice day, and I’ll see you next time, bye.
