Gears of War 4 online multiplayer review: Arguably the best in the series
One of the most popular third-person shooter franchises is back with Gears of War 4, and the online multiplayer mode is arguably the best in the series.
Throughout the years, the Xbox consoles were never really known for their first-party titles and exclusive games. For the most part, there were only two game series that stood out: Halo and Gears of War.
Since the first Gears of War game, which was released back in 2006, three more games have followed. The first three games are all very similar, and in all honesty, this is probably why the series is so successful.
The games are third-person shooters with huge amounts of blood (for all you gore freaks), great guns with amazing mechanics, incredible online multiplayer modes with memorable maps, and a compelling and emotional story that you can play in the campaign mode. The Gears of War series is the full package, and it was hard to see how they could improve on that with another game. But somehow, they did.
Gears of War 4 is spectacular. In this review, we’ll be talking strictly about online multiplayer. Unfortunately, we haven’t played through the campaign just yet, but expect something on that in the future.
To start off, online multiplayer got off to a shaky start because of the servers, but that’s expected with a game of this caliber. The servers are still somewhat unstable from time to time, but they’re not as bad as they were at launch. Plus, the game has only been out for a short period of time, so they should be fixed and running at full capacity soon enough. Regardless, this is a minor issue, and it doesn’t take away from the actual gameplay whatsoever.
If you’ve played the series before, then this game will be familiar in a lot of aspects, which isn’t a bad thing at all. The famous Lancer, Hammerburst and Gnasher are back, and they’re just as good as you remember. One tweak that they’ve taken into the full game is the Gnasher’s range. During the multiplayer beta earlier this year, the Gnasher had a lot of range, which was very annoying because people can shoot you from far away with it, when in reality, it’s a shotgun and should function like one. That’s one thing we’re glad about.
The Lancer and Hammerburst are your rifles, and at the beginning of every match, you have the option of customizing your loadout to your liking. If you like automatic weapons, you’ll definitely utilize the Lancer. It hasn’t changed much throughout the series, and if you’ve played before, then you already know.
The Hammerburst is the weapon that has seen some changes throughout the series. It’s always been a semi-automatic weapon, going from shooting bursts of three bullets to bursts of one bullet. It wasn’t the best weapon in the first game, but it’s been extremely effective in Gears 2 and 3. It’s definitely effective in Gears 4.
There’s also a new loadout weapon called the Enforcer. Basically, the Enforcer is like an Uzi. You can compare it to the Retro Lancer from Gears 3, which excels from close range.
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The variety of weapons to pick up on the map is as versatile as it’s ever been. The Longshot, Torque Bow and the Boomshot all make their way back to the series. New weapons include the Embar, which is a railgun sniper; the Buzzkill, which fires buzzsaws that can ricochet off walls; the Dropshot, which is a replacement for the Digger from Gears 3; the Overkill, which is a burst fire shotgun; and so on. There are so many weapons to use, and they’re all very unique.
The multiplayer maps are extremely fun to play. As always, the design of the maps are very unique, symmetrical and balanced. Some of the main focuses of online multiplayer for the series are teamwork and map control. The key to win is to control the map, grab the power weapons and gain the advantage. With the new maps, there are many ways to travel through them and do exactly that.
Finally, let’s talk about the modes. Fan favorite modes, such as Execution and King of the Hill, have made their return, but there are some new modes such as Dodgeball. In Dodgeball, when you kill an enemy, a dead teammate will be revived. There’s also Arms Race, where every three kills changes your team’s weapons. Both are extremely fun to play.
With these multiplayer modes, you can play casually with the social playlist. If you want to be competitive, there are also competitive playlists. In every game mode, there are five placement matches. After those placement matches, you get placed in a specific division, and from there on out, you get matched up with other players of your skill level. It’s definitely very balanced and puts you right where you need to be.
The Verdict
Despite some shaky servers at launch, there’s so much to enjoy with Gears of War 4. The series is back with an absolute bang and has returned to its roots after a unnecessary setback with Gears of War: Judgment. From the weapons to the maps to the variety of modes, we highly recommend buying Gears of War 4 and experiencing one of the best shooters of the year.
Next: Titanfall 2 Single Player Vision trailer (Video)
Stay tuned for our campaign review sometime in the future.