The character-driven story in Gears Tactics is more compelling, and allows for voiced characters whose banter is amusing at times. For a player’s first play-through, this method of storytelling allows for a more interesting narrative, but the player will already know the story on subsequent play-throughs. In XCOM , each game is different. The soldiers will be different, the player can build their base in a different country, and the locations under attack will be different. Additionally, a player could focus on different avenues of research and technology (or psionics) than in previous playthroughs. This makes XCOM infinitely more replaya

For starting stats go with +3 in either Strength or Finesse, +1 Warfare, +1 Scoundrel, and a Civil Ability that fits your character, like Thievery for Fane or Persuasion for Red Prince. Initial skills should include Crippling Blow for strong close-range damage, Battle Stomp to clear out areas and knockdown enemies, and Adrenaline to get bonus AP on your first action. Because the main Knight weapon is two-handed, they will have access to All In, which deals additional damage for 3 AP. If playing a human Knight, use Encourage at the start of a turn before attacks, not after as a means of spending unused AP. The same should be done for elf Knights and Flesh Sacrif

One of the best aspects of the XCOM games, going back to the first title, is the ability to salvage and examine alien technology. Advancing through the research tree not only unlocks newer weapons, armor, base facilities, and tools, it was also the vehicle through which players advanced the st

Completing research on a new piece of technology gives players a sense of being one step closer to winning the war against the alien invaders. Gears Tactics doesn’t have a research system, and instead uses a more character driven system for story advancem

Gears Tactics, as a prequel, doesn’t answer any of the questions Gears 5 left us with, but is still a tale worth exploring, whether it be for the new characters or the additional context the game provides to the universe. It will also provide many hours of gameplay. Gears Tactics will last players between 20-30 hours, depending on the difficulty. It's a lengthy campaign with an additional Veteran Mode available upon your first completion. Unfortunately, not all activities in Gears Tactics are created equally. That length is split between main and side missions. Main missions are by far the best with impeccable design that forces players to study the battlefield and make smart decisions. It’s here that the gameplay and design come together to create truly fantastic moments that rival the best encounters in the main series. Boss fights particularly stand out as moments that require players to balance positioning, ability usage and range to stay alive and claim victory. Gears Tactics is at its best when playing these missions.

Currently, Gears Tactics is exclusive to the PC. But if gamers don’t have a computer powerful enough to run the game well, fret not, for a console version is coming this year . The game will come to Xbox One, but it will presumably also come out on the Xbox Series

Every gun’s bullets can pass through enemies. However, the most effective guns are a heavy’s mulcher or a scout’s shotgun. Even if these guns miss their main target, they can still hit another enemy in range—and they can even hit an ally, if one is not care

Executions in Gears Tactics isn’t just there as a callback to previous games, it has a point. When committing an execution on a badly injured enemy, every Soldier personalization in the squad will gain one extra action point. This is crucial later in the game when the difficulty starts ramping

It’s entirely possible to kill two enemies in Gears Tactics with a single shot. Bullet penetration is a thing in this game, with shots capable of traveling not only through certain objects, but enemies (and allies)

In the modern XCOM games, soldiers get new abilities when they advance in level (rank). This "perk" system works well, but characters can go from weak to overpowered after advancing only one rank. Gears Tactics uses a similar system, but the number of perks is greatly increased over what XCOM offers. The perks in Gears Tactics are not only more numerous, they also allow for more varied tactical options on the battlefield. This helps soldiers seem more unique and allows players to make soldiers more suited to a specific task or tac

XCOM has more than a little tension since players have to make the most of their few turns, which often has drastic effects. If one makes a wrong move, it could come at the cost of a character they have spent hours upgrading. But with Gears Tactics , the tension is hardly there since the players’ soldiers get an extra action per turn when one of them performs an execution. The weapons in Gears Tactics are also powerful—especially those overpowered sniper rifles—so the soldiers are unlikely to