Gears of War 4

Gears of War 4

Box art showing the three main protagonists
Developer(s) The Coalition[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s) Microsoft Studios
Director(s) Rod Fergusson
Producer(s) Allie Henze
Series Gears of War
Engine Unreal Engine 4[1]
Platform(s) Xbox One
Release date(s)
  • WW October 11, 2016[2]
Genre(s) Third-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Gears of War 4 is an upcoming third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Microsoft Studios for Xbox One.[3] It will be the fifth installment in the Gears of War series and the fourth main installment. The game is scheduled to be released worldwide on October 11, 2016.

Gameplay

Many gameplay elements from the previous games are retained such as taking cover to avoid damage and performing active reloads.[4] A new feature is the Combat Knife, which can be used for melee attacks and allows new ways to perform executions.[4] New weapons have been introduced as well such as the Dropshot weapon that fires explosive drills and the Buzzkill that fires ricocheting sawblades.[4] 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.[4] 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.[4]

Setting

Gears of War 4 takes place 25 years after the Imulsion Countermeasure weapon destroyed all Imulsion on the planet Sera, taking the Locust and the Lambent with them as well.[4] Unfortunately, this also knocked out the use of fossil fuels, forcing humanity to adapt new ways for survival.

The countermeasure also brought the advent of "Windflares", powerful windstorms that form across the planet.[4] Following the aftermath of the Lambent Epidemic, the reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments estimated that only hundreds of thousands of humans are left on Sera.

To prevent the population from declining, walled-off cities were built to protect the citizens from the dangers outside. The COG also declared martial law, preventing any travel from outside of city walls. Some human survivors rejected the viewpoints of the COG and formed a group called the "Outsiders" that live outside of the COG jurisdiction, conducting raids on COG territory to gather resources.[4]

The game focuses on the son of Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud J.D. Fenix (Liam McIntyre),[5] who, alongside his friends Delmont "Del" Walker (Eugene Byrd)[5] and Kait Diaz (Laura Bailey)[5] deal with a new threat to humanity's survival.[4]

Development

During E3 2013, Microsoft Studios vice president Phil Spencer said he thought more Gears of War games were possible.[6] On January 27, 2014, Microsoft announced that they had purchased the rights of the franchise from Epic Games, and a new game will be developed by The Coalition for Xbox One.[7][8] Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games on the Gears of War franchise, joined Microsoft and plays a key studio leadership role at The Coalition on the development of the franchise going forward.[9][10][11] On April 1, 2015; The Coalition producer, Allie Henze, confirmed that Gears of War 4 would not be available for the Xbox 360.[12]

On June 2015, Epic Games’ Ray Davis, admitted that "Having been through shipping hell with Rod Fergusson on past Gears of War games I can say that I’m absolutely confident he’ll do a great job with the franchise at Microsoft."[13] Microsoft shown for the first time Gears 4's trailer and gameplay at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015;[14] following the show at E3, Fergusson certified that it was Coalition's intent to show and make sure that Gears 4 reminds the first chapter's atmosphere, and said "We’re going back to something personal, intimate, dark, and mysterious, being afraid of the boogeyman."[15] During first months of 2016, Gears of War 4 appeared on April's number of Game Informer, releasing a ton of details about the game's plot and gameplay.[16]

Some of these details revealed included: Gears 4 is set on Sera 25 years after Gears of War 3; JD Fenix, the main character, is Marcus Fenix's son; new main enemy in the game is called "The Swarm"; 2-player couch co-op is available; the setting's design took heavy inspiration from Northern Italy.[4] Following this fall of informations, The Coalition revealed that Gears of War 4’s campaign runs at 1080p and 30 FPS, while multiplayer counterpart runs at 60 FPS.[17] A multiplayer beta of the game became available on April 18, for those who bought Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and on April 25 for everyone.[18] It's been revealed that multiplayer would be developed by Splash Damage, that already worked on Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.[19] Coalition announced the release date of the game was set for October 11, 2016,[2] and admitted that Epic Games originally worked on Gears of War 4 for six months before deciding to abandon its development, then some of their work and ideas have been important part of development and used by Coalition to make the final game.[20]

Speaking about the future of the game, and the Gears of War series itself, Rod Fergusson said that "One of the things that's nice about Microsoft's investment is that we know, unless this does horribly, we're probably going to do another one."[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ Additional work by Splash Damage

References

  1. ↑ McCaffrey, Ryan. "Gears of War 4 Multiplayer Beta Preview: Nice to Saw You Again". Gears of War 4 Multiplayer Beta Preview: Nice to Saw You Again - IGN. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 Hussain, Tamoor (6 April 2016). "Gears of War 4 Release Date Confirmed, Box Art Revealed". GameSpot. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (15 June 2015). "E3 2015: Gears of War 4: First Gameplay Details". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Gears of War 4 Gets Tons of New Details on Game Informer". DualShockers. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Ben Reeves (March 8, 2016). "Exclusive Reveal: Meet The New Cast Of Gears Of War 4". Game Informer. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  6. ↑ Evans, Edwin (14 June 2013). "Gears of War Xbox One will take "some time", says Microsoft". Official Xbox Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Griffiths, Daniel Nye (January 27, 2014). "Microsoft Acquires 'Gears of War' From Epic, Assigns Next Game To The Coalition". Forbes. Forbes, Inc. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  8. ↑ Karmali, Luke (January 24, 2014). "Gears of War Rights Acquired by Microsoft". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  9. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (January 27, 2014). "Microsoft acquires Gears of War from Epic, hires series producer Rod Fergusson". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  10. ↑ Crecente, Brian (1 August 2014). "The fixer: Why Rod Fergusson returned to Gears of War". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Hicks, Jon (13 September 2014). "Epic streak: Rod Fergusson on bringing Gears of War to Xbox One. Series veteran talks The Coalition, Bioshock and betraying fans". Official Xbox Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  12. ↑ Albert, Brian (April 1, 2015). "The Next Gears of War Game Won't Come To Xbox 360". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  13. ↑ Toney, Martin (June 7, 2015). "Epic Games: Coalition Will Breath New Life Into The Gears of War Series, Will Do A Great Job". GamingBolt. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  14. ↑ Cooper, Dalton (June 2015). "‘Gears of War 4’ First Trailer & Gameplay Details Drop at E3 2015". GameRant. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  15. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (August 3, 2015). "Gears of War 4 Is 'Personal, Intimate, and Dark'". IGN. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  16. ↑ "April Cover Revealed – Gears Of War 4". Game Informer. March 8, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Gears of War 4’s Campaign Runs at 1080p, 30 FPS, 60 FPS for Multiplayer; "Possibly" Coming to PC". DualShockers. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Gears Of War 4 Multiplayer Beta Kicks Off On April 18". majornelson.com. March 15, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  19. ↑ "UK-based Splash Damage is working on Gears of War 4 multiplayer". Videogamer.com. March 15, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  20. ↑ Reeves, Ben (March 28, 2016). "Details On Epic’s Abandoned Vision For Gears Of War 4". Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  21. ↑ Sam Loveridge (April 14, 2016). "Gears of War 5 is happening - as long as Gears 4 doesn't go "horribly"". DigitalSpy. Retrieved April 16, 2016.

External links

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