Gears 4 beta was easily the best gaming experience I've had in ages. The movement was the best yet IMO. I'm super pumped for Gears 4!! Have had my preorder in since before the Gears Ultimate beta!
But yeah I get what you're saying. In many respects it's the same old same old. But to me, that's a good thing. There's so many amazing games and franchises out there that I don't want Gears to change too much and turn into something else. If Gears turned into something else then it would just be one other different thing amongst a million other different things out there on the market. It would make an insignificant difference to the number of other titles already out there and which I'm already playing for variety's sake. And for that tiny payoff I would be robbed of the Gears mechanics, characters and lore (yes I do actually follow the crayola-level Gears lore) that me and my friends know and love.
To me, the difference in mechanics between Gears Ultimate and Gears 4 is variety enough. It's funny...Gears 3 fans on the official Gears forums are always complaining when all Gears games aren't like Gears 3. Vice versa with Gears 1 fans wanting everything to be Gears 1. To me, I like all Gears games (even Judgment!) for pretty much the reasons you've touched on in your topic...variety. There's many people who just want to play Gears 3 over and over and any time anything strays away from the Gears 3 formula they complain. Loudly! Not me. I have appreciated the small nuances between titles with each new release. There definitely is variety between all the titles and I feel it when I jump between them. (My friends and I jump between all of them at any given time).
I do appreciate that it's very possible to get burnt out on Gears. My friends and I are somewhat at that stage ourselves. But that's what other franchises are for!!' We all fire up Rocket League or Titanfall or COD or Halo or GTA or Dead Rising or any one of dozens of other franchises we all own. But when the mood strikes, we are always thankful that we can go back to Gears, and Gears will always welcome us back like an old friend. Gears remains Gears and I would be deeply saddened if it ever stopped being so.
A bunch of my friends didn't really like Gears Ultimate so they've stuck with Gears 3. A bunch of my other friends (myself included) got somewhat burnt out on Gears so have been waiting and playing other things. But the chatter amongst everyone is that we're ALL gonna be back for Gears 4. And Gears with friends is to me what Gears is all about. Having the whole crew back together with more game modes, better lobbies and match-making, current-gen graphics, and that beautiful Gears 4 movement via an Elite controller...man it's gonna be a magic time. I can't wait!!
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