The Coalition, the developers that inherited the "Gears" franchise from Epic Games, have crafted a very good installment that would make series creator Cliff Bleszinski proud. The video game equivalent of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", it sets the stage up for another war between the COG and the Locust a whole generation after the previous trilogy ended. Lighter in tone, but equally brutal as its predecessors, "Gears 4" is a great title that captures the classic feel of the series. While the campaign can get a little repetitive, it never ceases to be an entertaining action ride. The story follows Marcus Fenix's youthful son and his two best friends on a journey that eventually leads them into a conflict with a new generation of Locust creatures.
The game introduces advanced enemy A.I. and a weather system that affects combat with strong winds and debris. I also liked the new weapons which include a rifle that fires ricocheting saw blades and a submachine gun that resembles the SMG featured in "Halo 2". The campaign relies more on cutscenes than in previous installments to tell an emotional story. Beautifully rendered CGI animation helps give the game a "true" movie feel. The gameplay is classic "Gears" with plenty of intense shootouts and some outstanding moments that are true to Hollywood action blockbusters. The only disappointments come in the "rinse and repeat" nature of the shootouts and the sudden ending of the story. It concludes very much like "The Matrix Reloaded" with plenty of information revealed before the game just stops, rather than ending properly.
The competitive multiplayer modes are classic "Gears" with plenty of maps pulled from previous titles. More "Rainbow Six" than "Call of Duty", the games rely on fast-paced, tactical action. Customization options are limited to different weapon skins and costume changes. The new "Horde" mode is also terrific which features the different solider classes that were introduced in the lackluster "Judgment" prequel. As you rank up, the special abilities of each solider type are upgraded. There are 50 levels in Horde, but the difficulty quickly increases due to the more aggressive enemies who use advanced tactics to kill you. Both Horde and competitive multiplayer includes the new card system which increase various stats or help you earn more points by completing challenges.
Overall, "Gears of War 4" is a great title in the franchise. A massive improvement over "Gears of War: Judgment", it still doesn't best the original trilogy in terms of creativity, but it's a great start to a new series of games. Long time fans will definitely feel at home with this and newbies will find it to be a real blast. I'd rank it with an 8.5 out of 10.