I've been a Playstation user exclusively since the PS2 and therefor have missed out on a lot of Xbox exclusives. I recently bought a decent gaming computer (i5 6400, GTX 970) and I have always been interested in the Gears of War franchise. My question, would Gears 4 be a worthy first time experience into the series or is the lore of the previous games necessary. Thanks!

Jump in. You can follow the story without playing the other games and even if you don't end up liking the narrative, the gameplay is still great.

I assumed I would jump in and have a blast with it. I just wondered how many of the "big moments" of the game that Jeff talks about are directly tied into old story lines that maybe I wouldn't get.

@b_lee17: There are character reveals that would have more of an impact if you knew who they were and you should probably go look up what the ending means fully when you are done. Even I had to do that. The story focuses mostly on the new characters and only one older character is in it for the majority of the game.

The main plot is the slow uncovering of a mystery that should still be rewarding even if you haven't played the previous games.

If you are really worried, go read a synopsis of the previous games.

@ulquiokani Thank you!

the first 10-20 minutes of gears 4 kinda acts as a "previously on gears of war" and for more info you can hit up a lore video and have them explain what happened in those games if you're interested in further explanation. If you do decide to get into the versus multiplayer, just know that it's a very different game from the campaign and the people who are good at it have been playing it for a long time so don't let that get you frustrated. there's a good post on the boards with good tips for beginners and even people like me who have played all of the games thus far. Hope you have fun!