Gears of War 4 Review

"Ok! Good meeting."

"Oh, it's not over."

"You two!"

"Grab the fabricator and follow me!"

"Carmine!"

It's been 10 years since

Marcus, Dom,

and the other members of Delta Squad

first shot and chainsawed their way

across the planet, Sera,

in a desperate attempt to defeat the Locust.

And in some ways,

both those characters and

the gameplay we so strongly associate with them

now feel like relics from another era.

Gears of War 4 seems to recognize this,

reinvigorating the series signature combat

without reinventing it;

and shifting the narrative focus

from Marcus and his buddies

to a younger generation,

who have grown up without the threat

of the Locust looming over them.

Unfortunately, Gears of War 4 still

plays it safe:

teasing us with the potential for a story

that could have taken the franchise

in a fascinating new direction --

before settling into yet another

simple and straightforward

fight against the Locust.

The result is a solid, competent shooter;

a decent game that could have been much better.

Gears 4 gets off to a promising start,

suggesting that the COG,

the Coalition of Ordered Governments,

that fought so valiantly for humanity

in the original games,

has become an oppressive, authoritarian force

in a post-Locust world.

The press conference that begins the game

shows us how the government-controlled media

glorifies the COG and its de facto leader,

First Minister Jinn --

presenting her as a noble figure,

with humanity's best interests at heart.

"It's a world of safety. Of family."

The reality of Jinn's politics turn out to be

more complicated, however,

as people are required by law to live in

fabricated cities;

and women are required to participate in post-war

repopulation efforts.

Kait, the squad's one female member,

understandably takes issue with this.

"You got an issue with babies?"

"No. I have an issue with being told

I need to have one."

And I'd hoped the game might explore

this idea some more.

But it's quickly dropped and never mentioned gain.

The game play also starts off strong,

before becoming more conventional

and expected.

As "Outsiders,"

humans who have chosen

to defy the government

and live in their own settlements,

the protagonists face off against

the COG's robot army

in the early sections of the game.

During these encounters,

the combat feels simultaneously

swift and hefty.

Spherical enemies called "trackers"

can be kicked away like soccer balls,

lending the combat a playful physicality.

And the spectacle of robots being dropped

into the environment by massive planes

flying overhead

makes these battles feel dramatic

and desperate.

It's also during these first few acts that

we see far more of Sera's natural beauty

than we ever have before.

But soon, the game retreats into

more standard and familiar territory.

All the interesting early concerns about

how the COG is misusing its

military and industrial power

go out the window,

when the game once again pits you against

the Locust,

in the sorts of grimy, industrial environments

that were so common in the original Gears games.

The Locust continue to be an enemy

with all the nuance of J.R.R. Tolkien's orcs;

they're seemingly an inherently hostile,

aggressive species that we can feel

justified in slaughtering without

any moral qualms whatsoever.

Still, the interpersonal dynamics within your squad

set Gears 4 apart a bit from its predecessors.

The central character, Marcus Fenix's son, JD,

isn't terribly interesting.

He's the sort of blandly likable protagonist

who might have been played by Chris Pratt

if this had been a movie --

and not the funny, quirky Chris Pratt,

more like the Jurassic World Chris Pratt.

But what is interesting is the difference between

Marcus and the younger members

of the squad.

Marcus is as gruff, grizzled, and crusty as ever;

but JD, Kait, and Del

bring a different kind of energy to Gears.

They're a bit more lighthearted than

the men of Delta Squad were --

joking and making wisecracks,

suggesting that they've grown up in

a more peaceful time

than the previous generation did.

"Looks like their ship just came in!"

Unfortunately, Del, the squad's

one black member,

doesn't get to do much of anything

but joke and make wisecracks.

"Uh, how can someone be terrible

at Rock Paper Scissors?"

"Easily. Because you always pick paper."

"...do I?"

JD, Marcus, and Kait all have the suggestion

of lives that extend beyond the battlefield.

But Del's character arc begins and ends

with being JD's warm, wisecracking buddy.

Meanwhile, Oscar, Kait's uncle,

is presented as reckless and drunk,

teetering over into being a racial stereotype.

"How about I call you hungover?"

[laughs]

"Oh, you got some tough, boy, don't you?"

"Uncle!"

It's also frustrating that the game employs

a standard damsel-in-distress device,

with Kate's mother, Reina,

who is introduced as a strong leader,

being reduced to a plot mechanism

when she's taken by the Locust early on.

Sure Marcus is also captured

for a brief period of time,

but it's not the same sort of overarching

plot motivator that Reina's capture is.

On the other hand,

Kait is presented as a capable,

and competent member of the team,

with Marcus and everyone else

treating her with respect and a sense of solidarity.

"We'll be right beside you."

Of course, not treating a female character terribly

is hardly something we should celebrate -

it's simply something we should expect.

And ultimately, Gears of War 4 is all about

giving us exactly what we expect:

nothing less and nothing more.

It's a solidly built machine that,

10 years after the release of the original game,

wants to convince us that this franchise

can still be relevant.

But if it's going to be relevant,

it needs to take some chances.

Gears 4 starts off suggesting that it

might take us to new places,

but then shies away from that.

And in the end,

it's yet another cover shooter

that centers the experiences of its

white male characters

and has us fighting the same straightforward

battles we've fought before.

It could have been

fun, and suprising, and special --

but in the end, it's content to just be

fun, and familiar, and predictable.