Game Preview: Gears of War 4

The upcoming third-person shooting game of the year, “Gears of War 4,” is set to make its presence felt this year.

Gears of War 4 will launch on October 11, 2016 for Xbox One and PC.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the official box art was also revealed:

The recently-formed development team may have started working on the game even before Epic officially announced it had sold off the rights to its shooter franchise to Microsoft. The fact that Rod Ferguson (executive producer), joined Microsoft to “play a key studio leadership role at The Coalition on the development of the “Gears of War” franchise going forward" around the same time, pretty much confirmed Gears of War 4’s existence. Ferguson, after all, presided over the first three Gears of War games as executive producer.

So when Gears of War 4 was revealed at the end of Microsoft’s Xbox One keynote at E3 2015, its demo was more expected than it was an actual surprise.

And to be honest, in spite of the fact that the action in the reveal was more believable than the previous "Gears of War" games, we’re actually rather enthused about the prospect of getting our hands on the next Gears of War game. It’s been quite some time since we wielded a Lancer in a video game.

Gameplay

Many gameplay elements from the previous games are retained, such as taking cover to avoid damage and performing active reloads. A new feature in this game is the "Combat Knife." The combat knife can be used for melee attacks and allows new ways to perform executions. New weapons have been introduced as well, such as the “Dropshot” weapon that fires explosive drills and the Buzzkill that fires ricocheting sawblades. Players can also perform a short distance shoulder charge, knocking enemies off balance and enemies can also pull players out of cover and perform their own takedowns. The game features 4 categories of weather: from heavy breeze (trees, leaves, dust kicking up) and grow into violent category 3 windstorms that can affect combat and weapon usage.

Microsoft is beginning to bridge Xbox One releases across to PC with "Quantum Break," "Killer Instinct," and even a rumored "Forza Motorsport free-to-play game," which will be coming to Windows 10. Gears of War 4 is also among those rumored Xbox One exclusives expected to make its way to PC.

A Gears of War 4 multiplayer beta is set to kick off on April 18 for those with Early Access, which will run until April 24. To get early access to the beta, you need to have played Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on either Xbox One or Windows 10 before April 11. There will then be an open beta which kicks off on April 25 and will run until May 1.

Multiplayer Beta

Producer Rod Ferguson has said the game is set to be a "graphical showcase" on Xbox One.

Quite a bit of hype to live up to, then.

You can Pre-Order #GearsOfWar4 at my #GWPStore now!

1st Video Credits: PIXEL PLANET

2nd Video Credits: outsidexbox

3rd Video Credits: IceMaN 8o4

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