[Editor's Note: Mild spoilers ahead for E-Day’s campaign, so turn back now if you don’t want to know any more…]
I’m a massive fan of Gears of War, as I have been since the very beginning. But I have to be honest: something about Gears of War: E-Day’s campaign reveal at the Xbox Showcase a couple months ago just didn’t quite land right with me. It wasn’t bad, by any stretch of the imagination. But I just wasn’t as fired up as I thought I’d be after seeing the first new Gears of War campaign footage in seven years (OK, six if we’re counting Hivebusters).
When I finally sat down to play E-Day’s campaign, though, it took all of about 30 seconds to turn my tepid feelings into joyful smiles. My one-hour preview, which covered the early parts of Act 2, featured plenty of everything I want from and love about Gears of War: Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, lots of story cutscenes, a sweet mix of old weapons and new ones (including the origin story for a signature Gears firearm known for its sharp teeth), some evolved gameplay mechanics, killer setpieces, new Marcus Fenix one-liners, subtle references to characters we know and love, and did I mention Marcus Fenix saying and doing cool sh*t?
I was so fired up by what I played that when I got hit with the “demo complete” screen it actually hurt. I suppose The Coalition got the reaction it wanted from me, because all I wanted to do was keep going. And I’m now not only more fired up to finish Gears of War: E-Day’s prequel story than ever, but I’m also more confident than ever that, at least based on the small slice I’ve played so far, E-Day has struck the exact right balance of tried-and-true old stuff and compelling new stuff.
Act 2 picks up with Marcus and Dom still in their civvies, scavenged Mark-1 Lancers in hand. They’ve arrived with fellow civilian-dressed COG soldiers Carter and Reyes at a makeshift command center with the mayor of Kolona, whom they’ve no doubt rescued in Act 1. COG officer Colonel Trench and the mayor face off about whatever the heck is happening out there – you and I both know darn well what it is, of course – and how best to handle it, leading the angry Colonel to yell at our heroes to get some armor on. And then Awesome Moment #1 happens: Marcus and Dom suit up in their familiar COG garb, flanked by Carter and Reyes in the newly christened Bravo Squad. “Guess we’re back to it,” Marcus says, and he might as well be speaking for players as well. My grin could not have been any wider.
Venturing out into the city of Kolona, we see ash raining from a cloudy sky and remnants of once-proud buildings around us. This moment definitely hearkens back to the “destroyed beauty” aesthetic of Gears 1. We soon find our way to the heart of this chapter of gameplay: a massive suspension bridge that raises and lowers in multiple sections in order to let large ships pass underneath it. All of that was in the Before Times, of course, before actual Hell started erupting from the ground beneath the people of this city. We’re making our way towards Oria Stadium, home of the Kolona Eagles thrashball team, where civilians are being routed to in the event of the citywide disaster. But we’re going to have to fight our way there.
This straight-ahead bridge section certainly isn’t the combat bowls we’re used to with Gears, but it’s a great way to warm up – not to mention climb up, meaning: to get a feel for using E-Day’s new verticality, i.e. you can now mantle up and over cover, including the cars that the Locust are using to shield themselves. The Mark-1 Lancer, Gnasher shotgun, Snub pistol, and frag grenades all work exactly as you remember them. Gears of War’s core combat has aged remarkably well over the past 20 years. However, E-Day introduces a welcome new evolution in the form of unlockable weapon mods. Each firearm has four total mod slots, and mods vary by weapon, of course. Every reloadable weapon, by default, gets the classic damage bonus if you nail a perfect reload; it’s called Full Metal Jacket now. But there’s a heck of a lot more than just that. For instance, on the aforementioned Gnasher – which, yes, is still your best point-blank bet for turning low-level Locust Drones into chunky-style soup – has an Auto Pouch mod that automatically reloads the shotgun when you stow it (i.e. switch weapons).
This also seems like a good time to mention the new Tactical Gear, which I unlocked at the very end of my demo build. (You got to experience these in the Versus beta weekend, if you participated.) These are short-duration (45-second) buffs with a cooldown, and they also have unlockable mod slots, none of which were available in the preview. But even without mods, the Adrenaline Injector immediately refills your health when triggered and also increases your damage dealt while decreasing damage taken. Choosing the Sonic Disruptor Tactical Gear, meanwhile, nets you a more defensive bonus: stunning low-level enemies in a cone in front of you, interrupting their attacks. With tons more of all of these left to unlock over the course of the campaign, they should add a welcome bit of personalization and gameplay customization to your playthroughs – emphasis on plural there, because I’ll be shocked if there isn’t a New Game+ available that lets you run the campaign again with all of your Tactical Gear and weapon mods available from the jump on higher difficulties.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/gears-of-war-e-day-campaign-hands-on-preview-to-quote-marcus-fenix-nice
