Gears of War 4 E3 2016 Preview

Gears of War is one of my favorite franchises, it was the pulling title that made me get a Xbox 360 and one of the titles I always love playing friends. Ultimate Edition was an absolute blessing this past year as I've put far too many hours in and I'm pumped for Gears of War 4. Now that aside when I take a look at this new entry it does really look like everything has been re-skinned.

That's not a terrible thing as they're hitting core concept for Gears of which The Coalition is aiming towards in making this title. It's less about innovation for the team and more about getting this one right to prove themselves before pushing forward. That's fine with me as I just want another Gears title without anything too crazy and this fits the bill.

We've got a fresh story that exists within the same universe and are given three titular characters that are somehow too endearing. It's great to see their lack of experience show in trailers as they try to keep it together and they're entertaining. I'm sure at this point you might have seen the walkthrough during the press conference and going from there I'm discussing what I saw in the theater presentation which takes place before the events of the big walkthrough they did.




Part of what was so awesome at this display was them showing off Gears of War 4 Xbox One and Windows 10 edition. With Xbox Play Anywhere (cough, Cross-buy) you own the title everywhere which is lovely. No more of that silly double buying, you get to play the game where ever, however and whenever you'd like on all the support devices.

That and you can cross-play with anyone that runs the game which we were given a strong display of. On the main screen Gears of War 4 was running gorgeously in 4K while to the side on a smaller monitor we saw it running on Xbox One. Both looked great, but of course the 4K screen was obviously better with much more detailed textures. The demo saw the group moving across an old pre-COG area which matched the usual architecture you see in the games while chasing the Swarm.

They were following this group as they had kidnapped their guide and these kids had no idea how to get to their destination as they're all rather young. This had them go through a number of firefights indoors and out which all kept that distinct Gears feeling while offering a bit grosser of gameplay than usual.

There's lots of slime, guts and wretch like enemies to chainsaw along with that crazy saw blade shooting monstrous weapon. The full experience was nice to see both of these aspects running together so perfectly and it feels right.

While it's not huge on innovation it shouldn't be, as a fan I just want another regular Gears title for multiplayer. As far as campaign goes I know they have the right group of people working and they'll surely deliver an emotional experience. It was nice to see the game actually running in front of me and while I didn't get to personally play I already know how it runs so no need there.

Read Our Dead Rising 4 E3 Preview
Check out our E3 2016 Coverage