For the most part, Gears of War 4 has received high marks from gaming publications, though it did receive a few lower scores from a handful of sources. Even so, the general consensus seems to be that Gears of War 4 is a good game that is a step up from Judgment, but may have some issues that hold it back from reaching the greatness of the original trilogy.
Reviewers dissected Gears of War 4’s co-op campaign mode, Horde 3.0, and its multiplayer component before offering their final opinions on the game. See what critics around the web have to say about The Coalition’s first original outing:
Game Rant (Riley Little)
Score: 4.5/5
Destructoid (Brett Makedonski)
Score: 8/10
EGM (Ray Carsillo)
Score: 9/10
Game Informer (Andrew Reiner)
Score: 9.25/10
GameSpot (Mike Mahardy)
Score: 7/10
It seems as though many reviewers came away from Gears of War 4 impressed by Horde 3.0 and the multiplayer, but not everyone was high on the campaign. GameSpot also noted some technical issues, but it doesn’t look like everyone ran into the same problem with their copy of Gears of War 4, or at least, weren’t quite as bothered by any oddities they encountered. Other publications took issue with the way Gears of War 4 handles microtransactions, and others still weren’t crazy about the class system in Horde 3.0.
A theme between all the reviews, though, seems to be that The Coalition didn’t do enough to make Gears of War 4 feel like a unique experience. Numerous reviewers pointed out that Gears of War 4 refines the formula from the past games, while not necessarily adding enough original ideas to make it truly stand out on its own. With Rod Fergusson at the helm, it’s no surprise that Gears of War 4 is similar to the games that came before it, but perhaps The Coalition will take this criticism to heart and experiment a bit more when it comes to the inevitable Gears of War 5.
Gears of War 4 will be available on October 11, 2016 for PC and Xbox One.
