Gears Tactics

Introduction

Gears Tactics is Splash Damage and The Coalition's turn-based tactics spin-off of the Gears of War franchise, published by Xbox Game Studios and released on 28 April 2020 at NZ$49.95. Set before the events of the original Gears of War, it sends a squad of soldiers to hunt down Ukkon, the Locust scientist responsible for creating the game's monsters, across a linear, story-driven campaign. It sits at 78% positive ("Mostly Positive") across 3,865 English-language Steam reviews. This review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews of 867 total, plus a sample of the 100 most recent English reviews.

The comparison that defines the negative sample

The clearest, most consistent pattern in this review's negative sample is a direct comparison to XCOM, appearing in 31 of the 100 negative reviews read — one of the highest rates of a named-comparison complaint this outlet has recorded. "Between Gears Tactics and XCOM, I am seeing a lot of trolls, idiots and fanboys claiming one better than the other without discussing any specifics whatsoever. So, here is a detailed in-depth comparison," opens one long, methodical review that goes on to list specific gaps. Another sums up the core complaint concisely: "No world map, just a linear campaign with no replayability. Randomised gear system where you can't go do extra missions for gear, so you're stuck with what you get despite the campaign ramping up the difficulty." A third, with hundreds of hours in the genre: "I have hundreds of hours in tactical games, especially XCOM, and overall I have to say this one is severely missing some key things... its mired under some bad design decisions that leave me wondering if the developers have ever played a single tactical game." The consistency and specificity of this comparison across otherwise unrelated reviewers is the clearest signal in this review's entire sample.

A strong opening that doesn't sustain itself

A closely related, separately recurring complaint concerns pacing across the campaign's length. "The first few missions are great. The story draws you in and each level feels unique and interesting. Then, the game just becomes a slog of grindy and repetitive encounters. Even the 'story' missions that were so good in the first few rounds become copy/paste faceless missions with some voice over thrown in," reads one review, a shape several other reviewers describe independently across different years. "You'll quickly see the gameplay formula they've put forth: Do a story mission that involves some macguffin and then do 2-3 side missions of which there are only 4 types," reads another. This review's achievement data is consistent with that account: the earliest story milestones sit at 84-90% completion, showing most buyers do get well into the game's strong opening before the later repetition sets in for some.

Verdict

Gears Tactics delivers a visually striking, strong opening built on Gears of War's combat feel, which this review's own negative sample keeps crediting even while explaining why it didn't hold up. What drags the score down is a specific, heavily corroborated comparison: nearly a third of negative reviewers directly measure the game against XCOM and find it short on strategic depth, gear progression and mission variety, a complaint reinforced by a separate, recurring pattern of reviewers describing a strong start giving way to repetitive missions. Recent sentiment running well below the lifetime score suggests these aren't settled, launch-week complaints. Worth it on sale for the opening hours and Gears of War flavour — go in with XCOM-sized expectations adjusted downward.