Each of up to four squadmates get three actions per turn, allowing for more movement, more shooting, and more usage of abilities, some of which, like the chainsaw mauling and the bayonet charge, are series’ staples. Objective-focused battles are nothing new, but some simple alterations to the core formula radically reshape the overall feel of the tactical combat.
It’s the preservation of these essential aspects of the brand’s identity that help to elevate Gears Tactics, and they’re most obvious in the mechanics. For all their macho bluster, the Gears games have always cared about telling a decent story, and this one is no different. Gears Tactics retains a vague anti-authoritarian streak and a clear affection for the rank and file, and its clichéd characters are given dynamism and life by committed vocal performances, allowed to flourish in handsomely-produced cinematics of a kind that most games of this type never bother with. But the devil is in the details, as people say, and the charm of these stories has always been in how they unfold mountainous men with hearts as big as their preposterous armor trundling through genre-splicing adventures chock full of interpersonal conflicts and interesting world-building. Story-wise, Gears Tactics is a prequel, earlier even in the timeline than Gears of War: Judgment, and concerns a ragtag group of Gears setting out to take down “a monster who makes monsters”, which is more or less the macro plot of all the games in this franchise. In fact, being released so close to XCOM: Chimera Squad only helps this new reinvention of the brand stand out from its closest competitors, most of which it speeds ahead of on the strength of a story and character focus, unusually fast and aggressive combat, and the preservation of everything that makes Gears what it is. But the two real-time strategy spin-offs in the enduring war against the Covenant were in the old Command & Conquer mold, whereas Gears Tactics, available now on Steam and Xbox Game Pass PC, has much more in common with the Firaxis XCOM games. On some level, it’s a bit of a surprise that Gears of War has taken this long to get a tactical makeover since the series lends itself so well to the idea and Microsoft’s other flagship franchise, Halo, did it first. Gears Tactics turns a flagship franchise into a smart, pacey, and aggressive turn-based tactical game, while still feeling exactly as a Gears title should.
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