As long as that character has action points to spend, players can swap between characters in the turn order at will. Move one character, attack with a second, move a third, then go back to the first to attack ag

Class customization is satisfactory. There are five classes, each featuring four branches of subclasses. I found the amount of skill-tree variety to be just right – nothing overly complex nor dumbed-down. The selection of weapon mods and armor perks brought me the experience I just about expected. You can build each of your units to be adaptable and well-rounded or have them specialize. I personally enjoyed building up Cole Train as a beefy tank and Mikayla as a critical hit-machine, for exam

XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Within and XCOM 2: WOTC are both amazing strategy games that will have players fighting even more aliens with super-powered human soldiers. If players are not looking to replay Gears Tactics but still want to fight aliens, give the XCOM series a

The two opening skills for the support are both incredibly useful in their own right. Empower essentially hands an action point off to an ally, delegating the damage-doing to a more specialized soldier for a net increase in hurt thrown the enemy's way. Stim is simple and direct healing, a nice pop of 100 points at the skill's first level. While not exactly overly impressive, that little boost can be game-changing - 100 points of health can mean the difference between a soldier making it out of a crossfire alive or d

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

For how iconic the series has become, the ever-expanding Gears of War franchise has, historically, had some issues with customization. Though there is a wild variety in the shapes and forms of the Locust adversaries, ranging from skittering dog-like monsters to cavern-mouthed titans, the Cog heroes tend to fit into two unshakable categories: beef statues clad in sci-fi plate mail for the gents, a svelte, sleeveless form of the same for the ladies. The biggest differences have come in the form of little cosmetics (Marcus has a bandana, Dom... does not) and what weapons the player tends to prefer - of which, to the games credit, there are many. Only our beefiest actors only play the characters in film adaptations and only our beefiest consoles may get secret ports of the titles. Truly, Gears of War has historically been about the beef at the cost of customizat

However, action points are not necessary at all when it comes to opening chests. All the player has to do is hover their mouse over a chest until the cursor changes from an arrow into a hand. Then they can open it, no further steps needed. This way, Supreme loot rewards players can maximize their action points on obliterating the alien enem

It may sound like a given, but Tactics truly impresses in its presentation as another quintessential Gears entry. All of the smells and flavors that helped characterize the series are seamlessly translated over. Cinematic cutscenes are smartly interwoven throughout the story, filled with plenty of tension created by the cast of fantastic voice talent. Low, brassy orchestral lines to add to the gritty, dark atmosphere – it’s all th

Despite an in-built effective range limitation, the Sniper can be built to fit a range of different high damage roles with the right formation of skills. For a verified boss slayer, grabbing the Bullseye and Overture skills from the Assassin branch is invaluable. Mixing Overture's 50% damage boost to the first hit of the turn with the guaranteed critical hit afforded by Bullseye can amount to a truly stunning amount of single shot decimation, comfortably levelling even some of the stronger enemies. For those who want a Sniper more focused on quantity than quality, maxing out the Chain Shot perk is a solid way to go; the extra two actions on a hit offered by the second level of the skill allows the sniper to lay down a wall of fire that sprays like a machine gun and hits like a truck. The more defensive player can follow the Stalker path, specifically taking advantage of the Critical Overwatch passive skill. It may not seem ground-breaking, but the chance to turn overwatch from a deterrent to a straight-up slaughter tool can take cover control to the next le

The game is similar to the other Gears of War games in that it’s fast-paced and incredibly aggressive. It feels like a Gears game, only that it’s now overhead and focused more on strategy . For gamers who love Gears of War and similar games like XCOM , this is like a dream mash-up between the ga

Checkpoints are so plentiful that, to be frank, they are a bit ludicrous. The player can even get checkpoints in the middle of a boss fight, which means they can use all the outlandish strategies they can think of until they defeat a b