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‘Gears Of War 4’ Xbox One: Microsoft Is Going To Need It To Be Perfect — Here’s Why

By David Cornell
Published on: 04:41 PST, Oct 7, 2016

Gears of War 4 on Xbox One and PC is hitting the market on October 11, and it has a lot of expectations to live up to. As hardened as fans of the franchise are, The Coalition’s debut efforts under Microsoft will need to be perfect.

This franchise is not for the casual gamer, a shooter which utilizes cover to avoid damage, but if you depend on that aspect too much, you could still end up dead within a couple of levels. This is arcade-like action with a difficulty like that of Dark Souls. One mistake could cost you heavily.

One reason why Gears of War 4 on Xbox One is so important is that it’s a first-party title released after the Xbox One S hit shelves. That is a console capable of 4K resolution, which will be able to upscale games for maximum effect, and that might explain the hefty day-one patch. The demand from gamers now is that any first-party title will need to look amazing at that scale. Every detail in a game known for its chaotic action will need to be perfect, the very definition of what 4K games should look like. Every crack in the sidewalk, every bullet discharged from a gun, and every drop of oil from a robot freshly destroyed will need to look crisp enough to amaze us.

Gears of War 4 on Xbox One is also a completely new story following another group of protagonists, a kind of next generation of combatants fighting off a whole new threat. The original focused on an alien invasion that only grew in scale. In the meantime, Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud eventually joined forces in more than one way. Their son, J.D., joins with new friends Delmont Walker and Kait Diaz 25 years after the Imulsion Countermeasure wiped out the alien threat.

Since then, humanity on Sera has faced new challenges, like the elimination of fossil fuels and hurricane-level wind storms that sweep the entire planet. The planet has been placed under martial law, so surviving residents cannot leave the walls that protect them from the dangers outside.

Some reviewers have received early copies of Gears of War 4 on Xbox One and PC, and they have been generally positive. Kotaku states that the game runs like it should on PC, a welcome comparison to Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. They showed an in-game chart listing all of the options you can tweak to get the most out of the PC port.

This likely means that the Xbox One S is running an impressive title if a current PC system might actually struggle to handle it at full capacity. There are even settings for hardware that hasn’t been released yet. This could mean that the “PC master race” gamers and Xbox One gamers are closing the gap at this moment.

Destructoid pointed out some flaws in the armor of Gears of War 4 on Xbox One though. One of them has to do with the story, which they claim never explains why the government is trying to kill the protagonists. After a relatively quiet start, the game starts picking up and we are introduced to the classic gameplay the franchise’s fans have grown to love.

What’s different this time is that enemies can actually pull you out from behind cover and execute you the same as you can to them, utilizing the combat knife mechanic. There are also new weapons that work like something the A-Team might make from things found at Home Depot, like drill and sawblade shooters.

The final opinion should always be that of the consumer, though. When Gears of War 4 hits Xbox One and PC on October 11, leave a comment below about what you think.

[Featured Image by Microsoft Studios]

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