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One of the best aspects of the XCOM games, going back to the first title, is the ability to salvage and examine alien technology. Advancing through the research tree not only unlocks newer weapons, armor, base facilities, and tools, it was also the vehicle through which players advanced the st

Protoss is gaining some important zone control options in Legacy of the Void as well as some harassment and single-target removal. The Immortal, Warp Prism, Carrier and Oracle changes all emphasize micromanagement and intelligent placement, while the Photon Overcharge and Warpgate changes reward caution and restraint. More dynamic gameplay can be expected from the deathball race in the upcoming installment.

The weakest part of Tactics is its mid-to-late-SLG game Maps objective variety. I’m looking at you, accursed side missions. Like many strategy games before it, Tactics ends up relying on the same few formulas for a good bit of its meat. This time around, you’ll be getting a whole lotta "hold these supply points," "rescue these two POWs," or "collect these loot crates before you get nemacyst'd in the face." Rinse and rep

Perhaps best of all, however, is the cosmetics selection. Equipment and appearances (limited on certain heroes) are each highly-customizable, more so than I expected from a turn-based strategy game – and without any microtransactions in sight! Almost immediately, I turned Sid Redburn into Uncle

Two skills that every Vanguard should consider are Intimidate and Hunker Down. Available before getting too deep into specialization, these skills are both endlessly useful in nearly every combat situation. The massive 40% evasion bonus granted to the soldier chosen by the Vanguard to Hunker down is more or less an effective shield, while Intimidates double whammy of breaking enemy overwatch while simultaneously forcing them from cover is useful both for pushing advances and breaking tight opposing formati

A fine addition to the Xbox Play Anywhere lineup, Gears Tactic s is the best-looking squad tactics games on PC and Xbox One X. That goes doubly for high-end PCs, where max textures, lighting, and shadows settings produce gorgeous results that easily make it one of the most alluring games in the franchise. Splash Damage's expertise and preference for the more powerful platform are felt throughout the experience, and the PC port is definitely the better choice for players with options. That superiority is felt to a fault when playing on console or PC with a gamepad, however, as it feels clunkier to play than even the first XCOM without a keyboard and mouse handy. Moreover, while it runs exceptionally well on mid-to-high-end PCs and, presumably, the One X, original Xbox One and One S players' time won't be as jaw-dropp

Gears Tactics isn’t rogue-like the same way XCOM is, so there’s a more narrative-driven campaign. While there’s perma-death for random soldiers, that’s not the case for the main cast (Gabe, Sid, and Mikay

The weapon applications are similarly impressive. Torque Bows, Longshot Snipers, Gnashers – they all hurt just as much as they did in the originals. Even the unique Active Reload mechanic is (somewhat) emulated via the "fast fingers" perk for the Sniper class. Seeing the wide array of Gears weapons in action from a birds-eye view is pretty fr

The character-driven story in Gears Tactics is more compelling, and allows for voiced characters whose banter is amusing at times. For a player’s first play-through, this method of storytelling allows for a more interesting narrative, but the player will already know the story on subsequent play-throughs. In XCOM , each game is different. The soldiers will be different, the player can build their base in a different country, and the locations under attack will be different. Additionally, a player could focus on different avenues of research and technology (or psionics) than in previous playthroughs. This makes XCOM infinitely more replaya

It’s entirely possible to kill two enemies in Gears Tactics with a single shot. Bullet penetration is a thing in this game, with shots capable of traveling not only through certain objects, but enemies (and allies)

Gears Tactics is the latest game in the Gears (or Gears of War , as boomers may call it) franchise. A radical departure for the third-person shooter series, Gears Tactics is instead a tactical, turn-based RPG similar to XCOM or the recently released John Wick Hex . So far, it’s also only available on PC, not the Xbox

As such, Gears Tactics won’t let players continue if a main character dies. Forcing gamers to restart an entire mission would be a bit harsh. As a compromise, the game features checkpoints throughout missions, so if the player dies, they won’t lose a ton of progress. So don’t be afraid to be aggressive, worst-case scenario, only a few minutes of progress will be l

Messing around with customization between missions sucked up way too much of my time – and that’s not particularly a bad thing. The equipment menus could’ve been redesigned for more convenient loadout swaps, sure, but the high volume of tweakables was pleasantly surpris