Gears of War 4

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 542 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 299 out of 542
  2. Mixed: 121 out of 542
  3. Negative: 122 out of 542

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  1. ozorxoron
    Oct 16, 2016
    3
    The PC port is flawless, it runs great and looks great too, truly an amazing job as far as porting goes.

    The game itself however is mediocre, a very forgettable story along with a very short campaign(beat it in co-op on hardcore in 5 hours) make for an incredibly forgettable experience. There is no real replay value since it's very linear and scripted meaning events will play out the    The PC port is flawless, it runs great and looks great too, truly an amazing job as far as porting goes.

    The game itself however is mediocre, a very forgettable story along with a very short campaign(beat it in co-op on hardcore in 5 hours) make for an incredibly forgettable experience. There is no real replay value since it's very linear and scripted meaning events will play out the same way every time. This has been the case for previous Gears games too, but this is 2016 and the series is in need of some refreshing ideas not just a retread of the same tired formula.

    Multiplayer is fine but is hurting already on PC due to a very low playerbase, cross-play does not work in versus multiplayer so as soon as the PC playerbase dies out this game will be worthless unless you're really into the 5 hour campaign.

    The game has insanely overpriced microtransactions too. The items inside are completely random and are most likely going to be worthless since they know idiots will keep paying money in hope they get a rare item. Microtransactions have no place in a full price triple A game.    … Expand
  2. xSlicK007
    Aug 23, 2022
    4
    The game is mediocre in every aspects
    Story? Not good not bad
    Gameplay? Soooo bad that I almost cried
    Graphics? Good
    Dialogues? Bad, in my experience the voice was ahead of the movement -_-
  3. vcca15
    Oct 26, 2016
    3
    Typical average gears story mode from what I've played, never cared about the story though, I play GoW for the multiplayer. That's why it gets such a low score from me, the multiplayer is utter broken garbage.
  4. MegamanAT
    Oct 28, 2016
    3
    Boring as hell! I am a big fan of this series and have played every single game on xbox. But this game sucks. Just boring. Repetitive scenes and enemies. Graphics and performance are fine, but I would rather have had a better story and missions instead of only good graphics.
  5. bogmire
    Nov 14, 2016
    4
    More like Gears of Bore! GOT EM!

    Bringing back the worst blandness of the past generation to the new one in all its puke colored glory. Chest high walls ahoy!
  6. Chapa9dj
    Nov 2, 2016
    4
    I praised this game too much in my main review but after hours of playing it gets repetitive and boring, the story is nothing to write home about, the gameplay seems a bit clunky and dull and the ending is really one of the biggest slap in the face of the consumer i have ever seen. Just when you think things were starting to get more interesting, the game just ends.

    Then we have the    I praised this game too much in my main review but after hours of playing it gets repetitive and boring, the story is nothing to write home about, the gameplay seems a bit clunky and dull and the ending is really one of the biggest slap in the face of the consumer i have ever seen. Just when you think things were starting to get more interesting, the game just ends.

    Then we have the multiplayer, there are so many game modes and all of them are literally dead, i assume because of the low playerbase, restricting a game to a single store, extremely overpriced in my region and the fact that the MP is full of P2W, it killed the MP on arrival. Had it been on Steam and Origin, the outcome on the MP would have been different.
    I wouldn't be surprised if it sold poorly.

    The horde mode is fun, but it gets tedious trying to complete 50 waves which it could take a few hours.

    All in all, a forgettable experience that is not worth it.
    So far, it has been a disappointment, but one thing though, this is an amazing port and it looks beautiful, but that's about it.    … Expand
  7. Revadarius
    Oct 15, 2016
    2
    Ah, Gears of War. Another in the list of franchises Microsoft seems to be rebooting because they're either unable to think up something inspiring to help sell their console, or they're too afraid to push the boat out - in fear it may just be a wasted effort. Well, I guess they're sticking with what they know.

    Sadly, they seem to have forgotten what Gears was really all about. close    Ah, Gears of War. Another in the list of franchises Microsoft seems to be rebooting because they're either unable to think up something inspiring to help sell their console, or they're too afraid to push the boat out - in fear it may just be a wasted effort. Well, I guess they're sticking with what they know.

    Sadly, they seem to have forgotten what Gears was really all about. close quarters combat, inspired mostly by roadie running, wall bouncing and Gnasher fights. How unfortunate that assault rifles (particularly the Hammerburst) is dominating the current weapon meta. And that the maps seem to be designed with openness and visibility in mind...which really makes the glaring weapon damage (especially at range) a major issue, and easily noticeable. That being said, the maps seem overly familiar and uninspired. Lackluster, and don't really reflect the campaign, feel or theme of the game as a whole.

    Versus, however, is ridden with peer-to-peer connection, with the game feeling worse than the gameplay of GoW2 from 2008. To those who remember the abysmal issue of host advantage, and severe lag and want to relive that sweet bit of nostalgia, then GoW4 is definitely for you! Yes, the game advertises dedicated servers - yet I never played on one. The game also advertised cross play for Versus (along side campaign, and horde - to which it does have) but, unfortunately, it does not support this. Instead, online is riddled with issues where social is limited to 2 man teams, with difficulty finding lobbies. And ranked, from my experience, just being the same 2 dozen players, day after day, slowly moving up the ranks as we were shuffled about. That's when I could get a game - Ranked TDM was the only viable playlist, which took 5 minutes or more to find a match. I waited 30 mins or more for every other playlist, and never got a game. Which is a shame, because I'm partial to some KotH myself.

    Now, moving onto Horde. Horde is... boring. It's repetitive, with the only change being bosses on boss waves. This isn't helped by certain factors. Such as the maps. I can't really express my disdain for the games maps... but they just don't seem to work with the gameplay, the game types. They're so out of place. Ofcourse, there are new weapons - but I feel there are less weapons. Or atleast, noticeable weapons. Some, such as the boomshot and torque bow return, but they don't feel the same - the boomshot in particular. Some of the newer goodies, like the dropshot, or embar, seem 'too' good. Even in verses. However, I do like the class system in GoW4. Well, I like the idea of it... beside's TC's need for greed.

    Microtransactions. No, really. They're extortionate, and ridiculous. You can get duplicate of drops. The drop rates, especially for epics, has proven to be ridiculously low (Even on the 'better' and more expensive dropboxes). The in-game currency just isn't dropped anywhere near enough. TC and MS really dropped the ball on this one - the microtransactions are basically forced down your throat.

    They wouldn't be so bad. I mean, bounties are nice but all but pointless (especially the ones that give you pathetically low credit rewards) the skins are basically all too flashy, misplaced, and lackluster. No old-timey characters, or decent skins or current characters - most look like they were literally excreted on by a unicorn after it digested a rainbow. And are easily noticeable a mile away. Oh, and Horde skill cards are locked and can only be gained by these dropboxes. And you have to upgrade said cards (you need 1 to unlock it and another 19 to level it to the max level, which is 5). Some cards are even epic and rare. And you need 1 to access it...before you even have the option to create it from scraps. Scraps, which are a currency from breaking down cards, skins and bounties for less than a 1/5 of it's value. And with how hard it is to obtain cards, because the drop boxes are overpriced... you're not maxing out your horde cards any time soon, especially the good stuff.

    Campaign I can't really comment on, I didn't complete it - I lost all incentive as there's no reward for effort anymore. Everything is locked behind a large RNG grind wall / extortionately priced pay wall. Not that I even picked up GoW4 for the campaign, I didn't really get far into it - it just didn't grip me at all, though I can say the characters have more personality this time around. Even Old Man Marcus sprouted an ego at some point since GoW3. See, they can write good characters if they try.

    Although, on a positive note. The graphics look amazing, if you've got a decent GPU. Although that's mostly ruined by all the issues (see the forums for details). Honestly, avoid this game. This ain't my first rodeo with these XB1 exclusive ports, or the XB1 and it's quality in general. They think good graphics make up for lack of content and an unfinished game. They're wrong.    … Expand
  8. somed00d
    Apr 2, 2017
    0
    Can't play it without Windows 10.
    Won't play it then.
    Well done Microsoft. Let's hope everybody switches to Linux sooner rather than later to stop this nonsense.
  9. blackburn2350
    Oct 14, 2016
    0
    Multiplayer is essentially broken. Guns will literally not expend ammo and if they do the hit detection is so off that it makes the MP almost unplayable. Greediest microtransactions outside of mobile games too and Horde is now officially pay to win
  10. somedude14
    Oct 11, 2016
    2
    Looks and runs great on PC, however the game itself falls apart around the middle of Act 3 like they ran out of time and had to rush things and just slapped the rest of the game together in a hurry from there on out. Up until that point the game is only average at best.

    It's two-player campaign only unlike Gears 3 which allowed for four players, however you always have at least three    Looks and runs great on PC, however the game itself falls apart around the middle of Act 3 like they ran out of time and had to rush things and just slapped the rest of the game together in a hurry from there on out. Up until that point the game is only average at best.

    It's two-player campaign only unlike Gears 3 which allowed for four players, however you always have at least three characters in your squad and sometimes four, so this easily could've had three player coop which would've alleviated another major issue with the campaign: The absolutely abysmal squad AI. They said they wanted to focus on delivering the Gears 1 experience again but if that's the case why isn't it a Marcus and Dom type coop adventure where the other members are in the game only half the time? Reeks like they planned to do larger coop but cut it for some reason (my guess would be XB1 limitations with how hard they wanted to push graphics).

    Most of the boss fights are absolutely ruined by the AI doing really stupid things requiring you to babysit them and constantly reminding you why it's impossible to enjoy the game as you are chronically required to drop everything to pick them up so they can at least be distractions for the bosses, and then when they're up they don't do much more than act as bait for the bosses seemingly going out of the way to die again ASAP so you have to stop enjoying the game to pick them up and repeat the process endlessly throughout the entire campaign.

    The multiplayer is a F2P system in a AAA priced game, you collect cards through packs you can buy with in-game credits you earn at an abysmal rate, or you can buy them with real money. You do not unlock anything at all unless you are purchasing packs, Horde mode sees actual play benefit from having better cards, it's also how you unlock new characters, basically they are heavily milking unlocks for $$$ when it should've been included in the base game for clearing the campaign, acquiring certain achievements, and if the card system had to be left in, having it credits only (no real money transactions) with a significantly buffed rate compared to current so it would be unlike the current system where you're essentially earning slave wages if you aren't spending money on them outright.

    My take is that they made this a well optimized PC port to get stubborn non-Win10 gamers onto Win10, threw together a half-baked campaign so they could tout it as a feature, then went the easy route of plopping in Horde and Versus modes they could milk with the pay system of card packs.

    Servers are supposedly dedis but there are still hit detection issues, players will be invincible to bullets at times, the Gnasher shoots out of the barrel sometimes and from the center of the screen others. I've also, on my screen, been *behind* an enemy and then been gibbed when they fire in front of them on mine screen (this is only possible on peer-to-peer servers, it is literally *impossible* on dedis, so I doubt we are actually getting dedis like they advertised).

    Horde Mode lets you invite friends to join games in progress in case people drop but how often is that going to be used? Most people still drop around Wave 15 out of boredom or join and then stand there afking then altab in every now and then to wiggle their character to prevent being autokicked (you earn credits regardless of performance so this is an effective way of farming for packs).

    2/10 because it looks good runs good and is fun for campaign coop for about three hours. Beyond that everything about it falls apart. Gears is just a terrible, terrible franchise, and a proper PC release can't even save it from that truth.    … Expand
  11. profd
    Oct 12, 2016
    3
    2016 graphics, 2007 gameplay.

    Good graphics but very dated and clunky game play immediately turned me off the game and i knew it wasn't for me. Others will disagree and enjoy it i am sure. On requesting a refund after only approx 10 minutes play i was told this is not possible but as i am a "special" customer MS will refund my store account only this once. Due to this arcane    2016 graphics, 2007 gameplay.

    Good graphics but very dated and clunky game play immediately turned me off the game and i knew it wasn't for me. Others will disagree and enjoy it i am sure.

    On requesting a refund after only approx 10 minutes play i was told this is not possible but as i am a "special" customer MS will refund my store account only this once. Due to this arcane policy compared to steam, Origin and GoG i will avoid all future purchases on the windows store, which sucks anyway.    … Expand
  12. hu4654
    Oct 11, 2016
    0
    i am really dissapointed and that is coming from a long time gears fan this game barley offers anything it is sad because the campaign is only 5 to 6 hours **** long really sad
  13. giggidy
    Oct 18, 2016
    1
    Absolute garbage.
    Reason #1) Pay to win micro transactions after paying $100 for the game. I remember the days when you could get a whole game for $60
    Reason #2) Windows 10 only. Worst operating system from Microsoft since, well, their last operating system. Reason #3) The commercial for the game has a horrible, weak cover of a Metallica tune. A girl singing Metallica with no distortion    Absolute garbage.
    Reason #1) Pay to win micro transactions after paying $100 for the game. I remember the days when you could get a whole game for $60
    Reason #2) Windows 10 only. Worst operating system from Microsoft since, well, their last operating system.
    Reason #3) The commercial for the game has a horrible, weak cover of a Metallica tune. A girl singing Metallica with no distortion on the guitars. CAN YOU GET ANY MORE LAME?!?!    … Expand
  14. Goodkitty
    Oct 21, 2016
    4
    Campaign is solid. My issue of the game is the ease of use of the Xbox on PC software and server quality of the game. First off you have to install Teredo Tunneling protocol to even start using it AND you need to turn ON your software firewall (which is good practice if you direct connect to a modem). The software does not support UPNP so the voice chat in game is essentially broken. ITCampaign is solid. My issue of the game is the ease of use of the Xbox on PC software and server quality of the game. First off you have to install Teredo Tunneling protocol to even start using it AND you need to turn ON your software firewall (which is good practice if you direct connect to a modem). The software does not support UPNP so the voice chat in game is essentially broken. IT seems a lot of people in the multiplayer (not campaign) randomly disconnect if they are console players which is possibly due to the bridge of the networks. I haven't had one game of horde mode where my friend who is on pc and myself have lost half our team by the 4th round. I give it a 4 score because of the technical issues that shouldn't be an issue with any other PC game.… Expand
  15. PuppetMaster251
    Apr 23, 2017
    0
    Same reskinned game we have all played before. I play it because it's gears, but for anyone who isn't a gears fan this is not recommended. Multiplayer is an absolute **** the gnasher is broken, grenades are op (if you have so much as your toe in a grenade's [massive] blast radius, you are instantly blown to bits). The coalition has done many updates claiming to fix the gnasher but theySame reskinned game we have all played before. I play it because it's gears, but for anyone who isn't a gears fan this is not recommended. Multiplayer is an absolute **** the gnasher is broken, grenades are op (if you have so much as your toe in a grenade's [massive] blast radius, you are instantly blown to bits). The coalition has done many updates claiming to fix the gnasher but they changed nothing at all; i think we can accept it will always be inconsistend, rage-inducing **** Anyone who hasn't already played the franchise for a while and is not familiar with it will feel ripped off if they purchase this game. I haven't mentioned campaign because i have not played it, and why would i if it is the same on-rails crap like i'm hearing.… Expand
  16. PanzerFerraz
    Oct 11, 2016
    0
    Expected much more of this Gears 4, but for many gamers will be great, but to min, continue with the previous games of Gears. I'm very disappointed. Short time.
  17. aussiedude98
    Jan 27, 2019
    3
    Great graphics - excellent motion capture and lighting. Extremely tedious and repetitive game play, and an awful cheesy story. I didn't finish it - it was just too boring. I bought it on special for just $12, and would say it still wasn't worth the money.
  18. Ricardete
    Apr 16, 2018
    0
    It still has the same gameplay, it still has the same mechanics and controls, with only a few extra tweaks.
  19. Voodoo123
    Mar 24, 2018
    3
    Maybe i'm a somewhat jaded gamer in saying this, but I feel as a fan of the series so far, disappointed to find the same aged gameplay wrapped in lacklustre story combined with a definite lack of visual flair the series was so good at. I got game pass for this and sea of thieves to try out and at 120Gb install size I am not finding the value in the singleplayer campaign. This game is forMaybe i'm a somewhat jaded gamer in saying this, but I feel as a fan of the series so far, disappointed to find the same aged gameplay wrapped in lacklustre story combined with a definite lack of visual flair the series was so good at. I got game pass for this and sea of thieves to try out and at 120Gb install size I am not finding the value in the singleplayer campaign. This game is for hardcore series fans only.… Expand
  20. Spetty85
    Sep 15, 2019
    4
    Worst game in the series. Snatchers are very frustrating and most enemies need an absurd amount of bullets to be killed.
  21. passionne
    Jan 8, 2019
    3
    Good :

    - graphics
    - action
    - good optimization

    Bad :

    - 3rd person view for a FPS ! = bad maneuverability
    - too repetitive
    - weapons : no feeling, seem underpowered
    - scripted events
    - story
    - too few weapons
    - impossible to uninstall
  22. aliant72
    Oct 2, 2019
    3
    Fun game.
    But....how in the nine hells can someone think that making a downloadable game of 133,7 GB is a good idea?
    And you HAVE to download it from the most buggy, crashy awful store out there, the WINDOWS STORE!!! If you manage to download it without errors, then try out with the national lottery because you are a damn lucky guy, trust me!!! And if there's something wrong in the    Fun game.
    But....how in the nine hells can someone think that making a downloadable game of 133,7 GB is a good idea?
    And you HAVE to download it from the most buggy, crashy awful store out there, the WINDOWS STORE!!!
    If you manage to download it without errors, then try out with the national lottery because you are a damn lucky guy, trust me!!!
    And if there's something wrong in the installation (maybe the game doesn't like to be installed to a drive that is not C: like in my case) you'll have long loading times (I mean MINUTES long loading times) and freezing during the autosave, (and there are A LOT of autosave in the game) and the only solution will be to UNINSTALL and DOWNLOAD the 133.7 GB ONCE AGAIN.

    Oh lord!
    What a mess.    … Expand
  23. tacorco
    Apr 17, 2018
    2
    What a poor game compared to the previous ones, really be disappointed, a game with a very poor campaign, repetitive enemies, repetitive textures ... so much to wait for nothing!
  24. Mizuiro
    Jul 9, 2019
    4
    Juego sin alma, historia vacia, personajes sin carisma, gameplay que podria jugar un niño de 3 años (Cubrirte y disparar , no hay más) , accion pasillera... nula recompensa por exploracion, solo cajas de municion que curiosamente andan en cada combate.

    En fin, que muy lamentable, me esperaba mas al haber oido que los Gears of War eran la ostia, pero solo son el tipico juego consolero    Juego sin alma, historia vacia, personajes sin carisma, gameplay que podria jugar un niño de 3 años (Cubrirte y disparar , no hay más) , accion pasillera... nula recompensa por exploracion, solo cajas de municion que curiosamente andan en cada combate.

    En fin, que muy lamentable, me esperaba mas al haber oido que los Gears of War eran la ostia, pero solo son el tipico juego consolero para adolescentes sin ton ni son, y que en PC se queda super descafeinado acostumbrados a FPS de habilidad de verdad.    … Expand
  25. resentfulcup
    Jul 9, 2019
    0
    Doesn't work on NVIDIA cards since around 2017, and neither of the companies involved don't care to fix the game while Microsoft is happily still charging almost full price. Disgusting.
  26. Mayhem714
    Jun 19, 2020
    2
    Terrrrrible. So sick of the obvious new area battle layout which is just rinse and repeat. What’s worse is on the way back through the same areas they’ll start another boring fire fight. Should have ended this at 2. So milked.

Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Best PC Game of 2016
46
#46 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
65
#65 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Feb 10, 2017
    90
    With The Coalition at the reins Gears is in safe hands, and we’re genuinely intrigued to see what happens next.
    Read full review
  2. games(TM)
    Dec 18, 2016
    90
    With The Coaltion at the reins Gears is in safe hands, and we're genuinely intrigued to see what happens next. [Issue#257, p.64]
  3. PLAY! Zine
    Nov 8, 2016
    80
    Coalition did play it safe for their first game, but still delivered a fun, classic Gears of War experience that will, hopefully, provide an equally good sequel.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »