Gears of War has been one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises, and the upcoming release of Gears 4 for both Windows and Xbox hopefully bodes well for the company’s latest PC gaming initiative. They’ll be showing off the campaign to attendees at this week’s San Diego Comic-Con, and revealed today six minutes of gameplay footage walking us through a mission.
Despite some aesthetic changes–most notably, characters now have necks–it looks very much like Gears of War. You’ll take cover, pop out of cover to shoot enemies, and maneuver around for impressively grotesque melee kills. This title seems to feature additional execution moves accomplished by stunning enemies and hitting a melee prompt.
Gears 4 is a big title this fall, but it isn’t the only one. Check out our list of upcoming PC games!
The more impressive part of the demo is the environmental effects. Wind rips through a valley, sending equipment and wreckage flying through the air to hurt both you and the Locust hordes. You can naturally shoot down loose bits of debris to kill bad guys, and the wind will even affect larger projectiles as they travel toward the enemy. Between murderous windstorms, razer hail, and nighttime hordes of killer bats, it seems that Gears is proud of its tradition of deadly weather.
Gears takes flak for its ridiculous machismo and brown-grey world, but I think it’s one of the best single-player shooter franchises of the last generation, so I’m very much looking forward to the game’s release on October 11. It may hew a little close to the franchise’s standard, but I can’t deny being excited by that brief glimpse of Marcus’ do-rag-covered head.
