The Multiplayer

"Gears of War 4" remains a game of skill, especially with the gnasher. Coalition listened well to the complaints from players who felt that the Sawed-off shotgun, introduced in "Gears of War 3" and continued in "GOW: Judgement," was too defensive because of its over-the-top firepower and abandoned the weapon entirely. Switching back to the D-pad weapon selection, Coalition went back to the games roots, which allows the pistol to remain as a sidearm instead of being stuck as a secondary as it was in Judgement. Why change something that isn't broken?

Multiplayer is the second best feature of this game, both introducing new and exciting features and weapons while maintaining the heart of "Gears of War." "GOW" maps never fail to impress with its geographical symmetry yet uniquely different spawn point areas. The coalition also brought back great maps from previous games, such as Checkout and Gridlock, which has been a Gears favorite since the first game.

When I first stepped into my favorite game mode, King of the Hill, and picked up the longshot again, I felt the greatness of Gears rush back to my fingers. With new maneuvering techniques, "Gears of War 4" has taken on different styles of playing. While the 'cover grab' move has little to no value against a seasoned player; when it works, it becomes a huge advantage, yet you only have a few seconds to make your killing move.

New weapons, like the Embar, enhance the speed of gameplay. Crosshairs only appear on the Embar when you start to press the trigger. And because it is a charging weapon, meaning you have to hold down the trigger long enough to pop off a shot, it becomes much like the gnasher in skill requirement. Yet, because only two body shots are needed to decimate your enemy into bloody chunks, the sniper rifle is a power weapon.

While "GOW4" has kept the 'special event' mode from "GOW:Judgement," they've added two new 'competitive' game modes that help players familiarize themselves with tournament-style gameplay. With that in mind, "GOW 4" multiplayer heavily revolves around the eSports tournaments with promotional items available via purchasable in-game gear packs.

As seen in games like "Halo: Guardians," "GOW4" has created a card system for weapon and character skins, bounties, and class skills--for horde mode--based on in-game transactions for the gear packs they randomly come in. In essence, Coalition is getting in on the micro-transaction business.

While most of the gear packs can be paid for through an in-game currency, earned in multiplayer and Horde mode, and work as an economy of selling the cards by destroying them, there are exclusive gear packs like the "Run the Jewels" pack that have skins and bounties that can only be purchased with real money.

And while the more expensive gear packs ensure better cards, hardly do they produce a legendary class card as the cheaper ones do. At my odds, every ten Horde or Versus booster pack, at 400 credits yielded a legendary than every five Operations pack, at 1,000 credits, or Elite pack, at a whopping 3,500 credits. And since each pack contains five cards, quickest way to get the best skins is through Versus and Horde packs.

"GOW4" maintains the status quo in multiplayer with a throwback in control scheme and new weapons that help diversify gameplay. But the introduction of an economics structure with a card system both helps level out the skill difference for new players and hinders the initial soul of "playing" your way to specific skins through completing certain achievements. In the overall layout of Versus mode, "Gears of War 4" is still worthwhile for both new and returning players.