Gears Tactics: Recommended Skills For Each Class

As for actual Gears Tactics gameplay, it's fun and punchy Gears of War fare from an all-new top-down perspective, but players well-versed in squad tactics will find it doesn't offer much in the way of anything groundbreaking beneath its well-executed franchise veneer. Combat is the name of the game, bundled into the expected disparate mission and level format, and it's all mostly genre standard stuff. Story and side missions will variously task players' squad of up to four Gears with moving from point A to B (and often back to A) in hostile Locust territory, clearing areas of enemies, rescuing imprisoned COG soldiers, defending control points, and m

A fine addition to the Xbox Play Anywhere lineup, Gears Tactic s is the best gears of War campaign-looking squad tactics games on PC and Xbox One X. That goes doubly for high-end PCs, where max textures, lighting, and shadows settings produce gorgeous results that easily make it one of the most alluring games in the franchise. Splash Damage's expertise and preference for the more powerful platform are felt throughout the experience, and the PC port is definitely the better choice for players with options. That superiority is felt to a fault when playing on console or PC with a gamepad, however, as it feels clunkier to play than even the first XCOM without a keyboard and mouse handy. Moreover, while it runs exceptionally well on mid-to-high-end PCs and, presumably, the One X, original Xbox One and One S players' time won't be as jaw-dropp

In addition to these universal options, players can effectively use skills to boost and stretch skill points. Each of the five classes have skills that add much-needed action points. For example, the Sniper's chain Shot skill will award the shooter AP for hits; the Support can use Empower to grant bonus points to a squad-mate get their own points for reviving a friend with the Encourage passive ability; and the Vanguard's Breach skill gives a point to any soldier canny enough to bring down a breached enemy. Spend some time exploring the skill trees to suss out what options will generate the most action points without costing on combat skills, and think about this when setting up team composition - it may be worth having a Support who, while not a damage dealer on their own, can keep every other soldier firing that bit longer with bonus AP. More points means more gunfire - keep the heat up and the battle is the player's to


Its greatest offering is its brilliant take on the well-worn overwatch mechanic, which expends all of a soldier's remaining AP (with at least 3 being given each unit every turn) in exchange for the ability to cover squadmates, reserving one shot for spotted enemies per AP allotted. What sets Gears Tactics ' overwatch apart from the crowd, though, is its spatial nature, forcing players to highlight a lane of a length and in a direction of their choosing. This not only encourages players to anticipate from where they want to defend against assault, but also allows them to prevent their units from taking unintended potshots at the wrong enemy unit and leaving their allies exposed. Along with Sniper Locust that pin down friendly units, enemies are similarly eager to box vulnerable Gears using overwatch until killed or interrup


In most squads, the Vanguard is going to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting. A multipurpose fighter comfortable anywhere from middle to relatively close range, players are likely to keep them on the front lines at all times. Conveniently, Vanguards happen to have a well-rounded skill tree that allows them to adapt to fill in any holes in a team composit

Gears Tactics’ structure crumbles around the side missions due to a lack of variety. The game features four types of side missions: Rescue, Sabotage, Scavenger Run and Control. In Rescue, you need to save two soldiers from torture pods. Sabotage sees the squad attack a Locust stronghold and destroy its Imulsion supply. Scavenger Run tasks players with grabbing equipment as Nemacyst bombings inch closer each turn. Finally, Control has the squad holding two positions to collect supplies. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these types of objectives, but Gears Tactics overly relies on them to its detriment. It regularly sidelines its own story and main missions to task players with these side missions. It’s not bad until you realize that the game interrupts the flow of the campaign after nearly every main mission and completely throw off the pacing of the entire game. One mission you could be laying a trap for Ukkon, and the next, rather than springing it, you must complete two side quests. In an effort to increase the length, Gears Tactics actively sabotages the pacing of its campaign. Considering the campaign makes up the entirety of the Gears Tactics experience, the amount of required side missions to continue the story is just too much.


No one can put out focused damage like the Sniper. Given the proper space (and ideally elevation) to work, the ranged specialist can inflict heavy damage on any foe, softening up hard targets and mopping up damaged enemies in a single deadly sweep. The skills of the class allow the player to choose their particular flavor of deadly at a dista