In the past two years, Microsoft has been actively promoting cross-platform entertainment. Not only has its Play Anywhere feature, which dominates the XBOX/PC dual-platform interoperability, expanded the coverage of games from exclusive games to third-party works, but in recent years it has also broken through the concept of console exclusivity and “crossed platforms” to its peer Gabe Newell’s Steam store through the Xbox Game Studios business.
First, Halo: The Master Chief Collection was launched on Steam, and then Gears of War 5 was launched simultaneously on multiple platforms. Microsoft is preparing to move from the classic service combination of “content development + platform distribution” to a new ecosystem of premium content providers combined with subscriptions. As a pioneer in conquering Steam, the launch of Gears of War, one of the three original exclusives, also shows how much Microsoft values this strategy.
In fact, since Microsoft purchased the copyright of “Gears of War” from Epic, the new “Gears of War” has become the pioneer of Microsoft’s cross-platform strategy. The fourth generation was the first to remove the console exclusive label and join Play Anywhere. However, it is different now. The launch of “Gears of War 5” on Steam is not just to attract more users. Its multiplayer online mode also reveals Microsoft’s strategic considerations for current service-based games, which is of far-reaching significance.
A new attempt to make steady progress
Like the Halo series next door, the Gears of War series also experienced a change of production team before entering the next generation. After taking over this IP, The Coalition studio did not dare to make drastic reforms due to its classic nature and the tone of the series.
The game only uses the powerful Unreal Engine 4 to upgrade its performance, without making too many changes to its gameplay. Indeed, adhering to the core framework of the old game and deepening the production helps to stabilize the reputation of old players, and not innovating also means no trial and error, which is indeed understandable. However, the performance of “Gears of War 4” is too “playful” and lacks novelty, which indeed makes the game’s reputation far from the initial expectations.
Although Gears 5 is in urgent need of new changes in gameplay, it still mainly adopts the formulaic design of the old generation: solid TPS shooting, fast sprinting between cover, active reload BUFF timing, chainsaw close combat execution and other familiar elements are still original, and the new cross-cover close combat execution added in the fourth generation is also retained. Of course, while the overall backbone remains unchanged, this game also proposes several new focus points in the details of the gameplay.
Cover shooting, fast movement, and tomato-flavored executions are still the original flavor
The most eye-catching one is the skill and development system designed around the little robot Jack. Gears of War 5 puts Jack, the auxiliary robot that has always been a minor character in the plot, on the stage and gives it a total of five different active skills in the process. From offensive flash bombs to restorative healing grenades, from tactical all-member stealth to defensive defense barriers, these unique abilities have made a qualitative leap in the previously conservative combat experience.
Not too much, not too little, each one can greatly enhance the combat experience
Sniper is hiding behind cover? One flashbang will stun your opponents. The freezing flashbang unlocked in the subsequent chapters has the dual effects of killing and reducing defense. The enemy’s firepower is too strong and your teammates are falling to the ground? One healing grenade will immediately help them all stay on the spot. The enemy hasn’t discovered us yet? Turn on stealth and assassinate all the way to gain a favorable opening advantage… Although the same design has long existed in other similar games, such a diversified use of scenes still enhances the strategic considerations in the battle of “Gears of War”, making the series’ past mindless rush and cover whack-a-mole possible to further develop.
Stealth Assassination
Open the barrier and shoot at the enemy
When playing the multiplayer campaign, you can also control Jack, which is a completely different experience.
In addition, the newly added elements of interaction between enemies and levels also have amazing performances. Take the snow level in Chapter 2 as an example. Many battles in the process take place on the frozen ice surface. The ice cover is fragile. Players and enemies cannot shoot at each other for a long time, and must switch covers flexibly. And thanks to the excellent physics engine of Unreal 4, the frozen ground under the feet of the enemy can be shattered by concentrated firepower, thus achieving the amazing effect of instantly killing the enemy. This kind of interaction has a wonderful experience in several battles with strong enemies. The game even designed a BOSS battle based on this point, which is quite innovative.
The fragile ice shelter cannot last long
Not only that, Gears of War 5 has changed the previous one-track level process and added the popular sandbox-style pseudo-open levels in Chapters 2 and 3. In addition to the main process, the game has placed a small amount of explorable side content. Exploring these side locations can not only launch additional battles, but also obtain key props for Jack’s ability upgrades and unlock related upgrades or big moves.
It is essentially a large one-way level, and you can choose to ignore the exploration element.
In fact, compared with the current single-player masterpieces, most of them have begun to add semi-open elements in line with the industry trend, but Gears of War 5 is not too vulgar in this regard. The placement of explorable elements is similar to that of Metro: Exodus next door, which is just right. At the same time, the rewards of exploration are not necessary, so it does not overshadow the main theme like other open-world games that focus on freedom, and has just the right coordination.
A new chapter that connects the past and the future
In fact, Epic has already made a relatively satisfactory conclusion to the story of the old trilogy in Gears of War 3. Even though there are many plot holes due to various settings and book changes, the overall story is coherent and easy to understand. However, the new trilogy opened by The Coalition studio obviously has more ideas about the story of Sera.
The new trilogy has made a drastic reform to Epic’s “just enough” script writing style. Not only has the new generation of bloodline been added to the four generations, but also the interaction between JD and Marcus and the rebirth of the orcs have drawn out the main story line of the new trilogy. At the end of the story, the mystery of the new heroine Kate’s life experience has laid a new development clue for the core of the whole story.
The beginning of the game briefly retells the storyline of the first four games in the series, so new players can quickly understand it.
Although the new development of the fourth generation has made a good start for the trilogy, the story still ends abruptly at the climax. As the middle work of the new trilogy, Gears of War 5 naturally has higher requirements in terms of storytelling. Therefore, the Coalition Studio sorted out a lot of unsolved mysteries left by Epic before: through the combination of main lines, side lines and collectibles, it has well filled and answered the various plots and world view setting pits left before. And it has improved the world view and story line of Gears of War accordingly by incorporating its own understanding. In particular, many collectibles tell a series of short stories from the “Pendulum War” to the “Day of Incident” after the Day of Incident, depicting what happened in the world from the perspective of the people, the UIR Republic soldiers, and even the Orcs, which greatly enhances the connectivity of the world view.
Although the story focuses on the new generation, the old generation’s bad karma is still entangled in it.
The collection describes the world before the Pendulum War, and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is still implied behind it.
The game uses the perspective of the heroine Kate to solve the main story of the return of the orcs. In the process of players tracing Kate’s bloodline, the interaction between teammates enhances the bond between the new generation of characters, strengthens the character image, and avoids the formal character interpretation of the previous game. However, the story of this game has a major turning point at the climax, which is so sudden that it catches people off guard and makes people very concerned about the direction of the next game’s story.
The atmosphere of the third chapter is the most relaxed, and traveling through the sea of sand even gives you a sense of déjà vu of “Metro Exodus”.
Compared with the slightly serious atmosphere before, the rhythm of this game is more relaxed, and there is a little humor interspersed in it.
Testing the Edge of Games-as-a-Service
Although the Gears of War series has always been famous for its exciting single-player campaigns, its excellent combat experience has also made its multiplayer mode a classic game that European and American players never tire of. However, as the series has developed to date, even with the addition of four generations of next-generation engine technology, the design of the multiplayer online mode is still too stable and conservative. In addition to the classic multiplayer battles and the “protracted war” that has been slightly modified, there is a lack of more fresh content to stimulate players.
To this end, Gears of War 5 has learned from popular service-based games based on the operation of the fourth generation, enhanced the seasonal activities and corresponding reward mechanism, and increased the player’s activity through various skins and character rewards. At the same time, a new online PVE mode called “Evacuation War” was designed around the plot theme of the new trilogy. Three players play the role of a death squad that actively goes deep into the enemy’s nest, and while the diffuse deadly poison gas is activated in the heart of the enemy’s nest, they race against time to escape.
The suicide mission that comes to your door is essentially a time-limited escape.
Since the theme is a cooperative timed escape, the gameplay experience is very different from the protracted war, which is also a PVE game. First of all, players cannot get decent supplies throughout the process. They have no guns or cannons and rely on the enemy to deliver them. However, even if they can kill the enemy, the ammunition supplies they can get are still very few, which is a high test for the player’s killing skills and teamwork ability. Secondly, the level process map is random. When being chased by poison gas, they have to defeat the enemy while finding the right way out, which again puts forward requirements for the player’s combat ability and observation. Finally, multiple selectable difficulty ranges from novice, veteran to advanced give players more choices. If you just want to kill with friends, the novice difficulty will be a pleasant and joyful adventure; if you are eager to leave a big name on the scoreboard and win season rewards, then the high difficulty restricted by many restrictions will be a new round of suffering.
The higher the difficulty, the better the reward. It is the only way to get advanced skill cards.
Not only that, the characters in the online mode are also shared with the protracted war, which means that players can also choose characters with different characteristics and skills to participate in the evacuation war, so as to play a different fresh feeling. And as the game continues to operate, more characters with different characteristics will be added to the battle reserve list. In addition, The Coalition studio is also trying to introduce more real-life linkage elements in “Gears of War 5”. In addition to Sarah Connor from “Terminator: Dark Fate” that comes with the deluxe version, Rahul, the star of the American TV series “iZombie”, also played a new teammate Faz with a bad attitude in the main storyline, and “The Destroyer” Batista, who is responsible for the comedy in “Guardians of the Galaxy”, will also become an optional character in the multiplayer mode.
Terminator: Dark Fate co-star, elderly Sarah Connor
In fact, the online operation of the fourth generation has already shown signs of progress, and the fifth generation has gone a step further and tried to be more entertaining.
Frankly speaking, these joint initiatives are not uncommon in the industry, but we can still see from them that Coalition intends to learn from the operating methods of service games such as “Fortnite”. While expanding the user audience through joint efforts, it adopts popular quarterly activities and reward mechanisms to keep users online, and then uses krypton gold micro-transactions to form a mature and reasonable ecological closed loop. What kind of attraction will it have for the new recruits and veterans who come here to admire it, let’s see the truth after the game is officially released.
Conclusion: New gameplay, new fun, and new experience
Overall, it is most appropriate to describe Gears of War 5 as “seeking progress in a stable manner”. In addition to retaining the basic features of the series, this game has made new attempts in combat, levels, plot interpretation, etc. Although it is not perfect, it also has both novelty and fun. While it has well supported the expectations of old players, it is also actively trying to embrace current players.
In addition, The Coalition studio’s attempts at cross-platform and service-oriented operations represent Microsoft’s strategy and direction for the future development of its games and this series. Perhaps the future “Gears of War 6” will be even more worth looking forward to.