10 Things Everyone Completely Missed In Gears Tactics

Gears Tactics, as a prequel, doesn’t answer any of the questions Gears 5 left us with, but is still a tale worth exploring, whether it be for the new characters or the additional context the game provides to the universe. It will also provide many hours of gameplay. Gears Tactics will last players between 20-30 hours, depending on the difficulty. It's a lengthy campaign with an additional Veteran Mode available upon your first completion. Unfortunately, not all activities in Gears Tactics are created equally. That length is split between main and side missions. Main missions are by far the best with impeccable design that forces players to study the battlefield and make smart decisions. It’s here that the gameplay and design come together to create truly fantastic moments that rival the best encounters in the main series. Boss fights particularly stand out as moments that require players to balance positioning, ability usage and range to stay alive and claim victory. Gears Tactics is at its best when playing these missions.


It may sound like a given, but Tactics truly impresses in its presentation as another quintessential Gears entry. All of the smells and flavors that helped characterize the series are seamlessly translated over. Cinematic cutscenes are smartly interwoven throughout the story, filled with plenty of tension created by the cast of fantastic voice talent. Low, brassy orchestral lines to add to the gritty, dark atmosphere – it’s all th


Overall, it leaves the campaign feeling about two-thirds baked. Adding in more mission variety (or even trimming the side mission fat) to minimize repetition would undoubtedly solve attention-loss issues towards the ending stre


The two opening skills for the support are both incredibly useful in their own right. Empower essentially hands an action point off to an ally, delegating the damage-doing to a more specialized soldier for a net increase in hurt thrown the enemy's way. Stim is simple and direct healing, a nice pop of 100 points at the skill's first level. While not exactly overly impressive, that little boost can be game-changing - 100 points of health can mean the difference between a soldier making it out of a crossfire alive or d

Despite some stumbles, Splash Damage has successfully taken the essence of the Gears franchise and transferred it into a turn-based strategy game. Gears Tactics is a true Gears title with a campaign that builds and expands the franchise’s lore, all while introducing new characters and adding new wrinkles to old ones. The turn-based gameplay fits well within the universe, providing plenty of strategy both on and off the field. Combined with some genuinely excellent main missions, Gears Tactics comes together nicely. It does frequently stumble thanks to the repetitive and frequent side quests that vastly hurt the pacing, but remains a joy to play throughout its many hours. Gears Tactics is a solid turn-based Mechanics game that’ll make Gears and tactics fans happy.

Tactics’ status as a prequel allows it to further flesh out the overarching Gears story. For example, fans of Gears 5 protagonist Kait Diaz get to discover her father’s origins. The story also serves to further flesh out the COG and Stranded’s relationship and explain why, even following Gears of War 3, things are so icy. Aside from fleshing out the Gears universe, Gears Tactics’ story stands on its own. Gabe and his companions have strong chemistry from start to finish, though it does take a while for their gruff personas to soften up. Though many of the revelations may not be that surprising to longtime fans of the franchise, there are enough twists and turns to keep players on their toes. Ukkon, Tactics’ main antagonist, may not be as physically intimidating as RAAM or Skorge, but he does pack more personality than them or any of the franchise’s other signature villains, besides Myrrah.


Extending the game is a feature the developers should consider in the long run if there is enough demand. If they get past that, there will be tons of goodies for both strategy and Gears fanatics in the game. Genre fans will love a more fluid speed, unique hero system, as well as the distinctly translated prequel tale and gameplay mechan

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.