Gears Tactics (Xbox Series X/S) Review

If you have played a Gears of War game before then Gears Tactics's cutscene presentation will look very similar. The set pieces, character design, environments, cut-throat conversations and the impending sense of dread, doom and willingness to fight all come over in the dialogue and cinematics. From a story perspective it is worth playing Gears Tactics, which helps continue the narrative set in the more recent titles of Gears of War 4 and Gears 5. The sound effects, music, and voice dialogue are also exactly what fans have come to expect over the years, so the familiarity with practically all the video game elements is there. However, what differs vastly from any other game in the Gears franchise is the XCOM-like tactical maneuverers and gameplay mechanics. The change of perspective might be off-putting to those completely unfamiliar with strategy games and certainly this is not the traditional third person shooter that Gears fans would expect.
Levels are set from a top-down view, and the whole map can be viewed by scrolling across. The on-screen mouse is easy to control and units can be directed to certain points of the map with a click of the button. The gameplay mechanics may seem familiar, it is just that they are now in a turn-based formula. Items of cover are there to be used to hide behind, so guiding a player to that particular spot will show them nuzzling up cover just like in the other Gears games. Each character has the ability to use the Overwatch function, allowing for characters to keep watching a selected area and automatically attacking an enemy there, although this can be cancelled out by the CPU by using particular moves such as Interrupt and Disabling Shot. Each character can act three times per turn, although these can be extended by successfully executing a downed opponent.

Side missions are also available to level up characters; there are only five different types, some of which are also in the main missions such as Rescue where players are tasked with saving characters from torture pods or Scavenger where various equipment cases have been spread across the map and need to be collected.
Skill trees are available for each character to specifically define them and add to their strengths. The four corners of the tree help build towards specific traits such as Marksman, Assassin, Strategist and so on. Ensuring that there is a balanced team on board benefits what the team can execute tactically on the battlefield while also keeping each character varied and different to play with.
Building up skills and stronger stats are very much needed as huge scale boss battles do occur and can take quite a long time to defeat. It is worth persevering in every aspect to level up a variety of characters because bosses can tough to beat without a strong team.