In Gears Tactics, you play as Gabriel “Gabe” Diaz as he both rescues and builds a squad in a journey of leadership, survival and sacrifice. Gears Tactics is a fast-paced, turn-based strategy game that is set 12 years before the events of Gears of War. Gears of War has been with us for about 13 Years. After Emergence Day, the Locusts overrun the surface eliminating as much of humanity as possible to take hold on the planet. The Coalition of Ordered Government (COG) Mount a defence against their new threat by torching the surface in an attempt to rid the battlefield of locust. However, things don’t go accordingly to plan, as they rarely do. With Ukkon on the loose, he creates all manner of obscurities unlike the world as ever seen. Thus begins our quest to save the world.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Gears Tactics is a little more than the straight forward go-here-kill-enemy. With many mechanics making things require a little more thought including 3 action points and a well thought out map layout, you’re forced to movements that are strategic and tactical. Icons show cover and let you know when you’re in attack range, the most helpful and a welcome feature. When enemies take enough damage they go into a down status. If close enough you can initiate an extremely satisfying gory execution, giving one extra action point. Emergence holes are also familiar Gears of War mechanic, where enemies can spawn from, helping to keep things interesting and dynamic. Be sure to close them with grenades to properly deal with them. If you fail to close the emergence holes, more enemies will continue to spawn, so pro tip, don’t go throwing grenades everywhere, make sure you save some. Dealing with enemy drones is more or less straight forward. The bane of my existence is the darn wretches. They’re small and move fast. They also spawn in large numbers. If it ain’t black and white, they peck scratch and bite. You’ll need quite a bit of firepower to deal with them. As Gears Tactics progresses you’ll begin to level up characters and unlock mods and skills making certain character builds more effective on the battlefield. Like locusts, your character can go down as well, losing a part of their health for the remainder of the game as a punishment for making mistakes. If any of the main characters take enough damage, it’s game over, and you’ll have to start from the beginning. Once the randomly generated recruits lose enough health they’re gone forever. The controls take a little getting used to but once you have a grasp on them moving around the map is incredibly simple and flows smoothly.

Sound

Now for the sound. The music in Gears Tactics is perfectly re-created with the Razer Nari Ultimate wireless headphones I was using. With great low and high end. If you’re looking for hard-hitting bass, weapon fire will satisfy your hunger. The music comes clear and carries extremely well letting you know some shit is about to go down. The only real issue I found was the repetitive voice snippets while something was happening on screen. It can become a little jarring in some cases.

Graphics

Here we answer the question of whether or not the game looks good. I was surprised to find that the answer to that question is yes, it looks damn great. I mean, it better look great with the game supporting High Dynamic Range and a 4K resolution. For my playthrough, I tested it at 1080p at maximum settings and saw a consistent 130 fps in the main menu and 90 fps in-game. The cutscenes look amazing with no stutter and hangups. Gameplay, as expected, has a few various hiccups and glitches here and there with some in the main menu while waiting to launch missions or upgrading characters, however they were less noticeable during missions. Overall Splash Damage and The Coalition have done a great job optimizing the game for the PC. To wrap this up, Gears Tactics is a great title if you’re looking for something that’s thought driven and includes a storyline that compliments the Gears of War series. With solid controls and gameplay mechanics. The Graphics are optimized so that even low to midrange PC’s can handle it comfortably. There are many ways to play the game, you’re only limited by the strategy you come up with. Be it cautious or aggressive, your experience can differ every time you replay it. Gears Tactics is now available on Steam, Windows 10 and with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta)   Give us a shout in the comments are you excited for the next installment to Gears franchise? Also, be sure to check out our previous article on celebrity streamers!    

Disclaimer: our review copy of Gears Tactics was provided by Microsoft.