Video test Gears Tactics: Our opinion in a few minutes
The Gears Tactics announcement was surprising. Indeed, the canonical opuses of the saga do not have the reputation of making lace or asking us to dig our brains in search of the optimal movement. Our first contact with this spin-off was very encouraging. Have the Splash Damage and The Coallition teams successfully transposed the codes of this flagship license from Microsoft to strategy games?
Taking place a few years before the first Gears of War events, Gears Tactics puts us in the boots of Gabe Diaz, father of the heroine of the 5th episode. He finds himself mandated by Prescott, the president of the CGU to eliminate Ukkon, a Locust scientist creating enemies of a new type. If the scenario can be followed, it never really takes off. The new protagonists, Gabe, Sid and Mikayla lack character and respond to archetypes a little too summary. Never stingy for a punchline, the heroes of previous episodes regularly smiled at us with their gruff side and stepped inside. In this case, there are few aftershocks that hit the bull's eye and our new avatars look very pale against Marcus, Dom or Cole for example.
This point is not unacceptable, however, as the Tactical-RPG is above all a genre that is judged on its gameplay. The base is crystal clear for those who have already approached an XCOM, you move and have your heroes act on a map viewed from above using action points. The shots have a percentage chance of hitting that is influenced by the distance from the target, the angle, the obstacles, the type of weapon and the type of enemy. Each class has more or less useful skills allowing them to face a maximum of situation. It's up to you to analyze the situation and adapt your strategy to the threat you face and use your action points wisely to lead your troops to victory. To this already solid base Gears Tactis adds several mechanics directly from the Gears saga. The slide allows you to cover the little distance you needed to take cover without spending additional AP, the great luxury for which has already been seen uncovered close to a wall in an XCOM. The executions represent THE flagship mechanics of Tactics. Indeed if one of your units finishes an enemy on the ground, all your other allies will gain 1 additional action point this turn. It is therefore possible to chain the executions and eliminate a group of enemies in a single turn by finding the optimal combination of action which makes that At times Gears Tactics is more of a puzzle game than tactical Rpg. An optimal solution to completely unblock a situation. If we add to that classes that can generate action points quite easily, we get an extremely aggressive approach and fits in to the genre. The result is a pleasurable and accessible experience. We therefore recommend that experienced strategists opt for the highest difficulty modes because certain skills and accessories, such as grenades, strongly unbalance the game in favor of the player.
Visually, Gears Tactics is a credit to the series. The camera taking a lot of height and allowing optimal readability perfectly does justice to the artistic direction of the saga. By reusing the different 3d models of the saga, sound effects and visual effects, it ensures overall artistic coherence for the license. Without forcing, Gears Tactics offers the prettiest Tactical on the market. It’s not the ruined battlefields we’re walking in the pouring rain that will make us lie. In addition to being pleasing to the eye, these cards prove to be particularly well designed. They systematically allow multiple strategies, offers bypass possibilities, high points for snipers, etc.
Once a mission is completed, the player returns to the convoy in order to recruit new units, open the crates collected in combat but also and above all customize his equipment. Particularly complete, this system allows you to change many pieces of weapons or armor, offering passive abilities and better statistics to your heroes. It is also the place where it is possible to assign skill points to your characters in order to make them stick to your style of play. Invisibility, increase in the percentages of chance to hit its target, double hit, healing… As much elements that allow you to personalize your Gear and your gaming experience.
Gears Tactics does exactly what is expected of it and does it well, very well even. If some veterans of the genre will surely reproach him for an overly measured difficulty and a side that sometimes gets too pronounced, he has the merit of proposing a philosophy different from Tactical-RPG. More aggressive and favoring combos and multitudes of actions per turn, the game system integrates everything that makes the salt of Gears of War (the shoot less). Whether you discover the genre or the license with this episode does not matter as it is suitable in both cases. We will regret a narration and characters a notch below what we have been used to, but the fights alone are worth the detour.
By iGamesNews, Journalist igamesnews.com
MP
