Preview: Playing Horde Siege in Gears of War: E-Day has left me conflicted
Playing Gears of War: Reloaded last year, it struck me how clunky it now felt. It’s no wonder, then, that it’s one of the things The Coalition is taking aim at with Gears of War: E-Day, the upcoming prequel to the acclaimed third-person cover shooter series. And after going hands-on with the game during a multiplayer preview, it’s perhaps the thing I’m most excited about.
It’s clear right from the off that much work has been put into improving the movement in Gears of War: E-Day. Marcus et al. are more responsive to your inputs, and improved animations translate that to more fluid and lifelike movements on the screen. There are some major changes to how you traverse the world in Gears of War: E-Day, too.
For a start, the ‘Roadie Run’ is now a thing of the past, replaced with a more standard sprint that feels more functional. There are new manoeuvres in your repertoire, too, such as the ability to move, and even slide while running, under low objects. Even the cover system has been tweaked, with your character now able to make use of cover of all sizes and adjust their body appropriately to remain safe. Additionally, the Y button can now be used to climb up ledges and vault over obstacles without having to take cover behind them first.
Outside of the movement, there’s little else here in terms of core gameplay that feels like it deviates from what has come before all much. The Gnasher is still alarmingly effective at close range, it’s still a lot of fun to dismember enemies with your Chainsaw Lancer, and getting your hands on a heavy weapon, such as a Boomer, pays dividends when it comes to taking on stronger foes. This still look and feels like Gears. What I’m not sold on, however, is the new Horde Siege mode.
One of the major new additions to Gear of War: E-Day, Horde Siege mode adds a new spin to one of the most popular multiplayer modes in the franchise. Rather than simply selecting a Horde map to play on, you now drop into a large city alongside two other teams of four, and are then given objectives to complete. Three match types are available within Horde Siege: Blitz, which has shorter length missions, Siege, in which missions last somewhat longer, and Horde, strips things back to basics.
Whichever you choose, the core of Horde Siege remains the same: make your way to an objective point, defend a device for a set number of waves, then make it to the extraction point and defend it until you can escape. Chose Blitz or Standard, however, and you can also discover and complete side missions along the way, and perhaps find yourself in a random event. Those random events can sometimes prove to be a bit overwhelming when combined with your main objective, though; it can be hard enough completing a boss wave as it is, and when you’re also tasked with randomly taking down an armoured Brumak, you might feel like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.
Ultimately, that’s my main issue with Horde Siege right now; it often simply feels unbalanced and overwhelming, particularly when playing the standard Siege variant. Elite enemies are overly tanky, and just charge at your defended position causing chaos if you’re not able to take them down before they reach you. And if an event also starts, things just get messy. There’s a saying: “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” I commend The Coalition for trying something new, but to me, Horde mode was enjoyable because of its simplicity. The changes here just make it needlessly complex at times, sucking some of the fun out of it.
Still, with some time to go before the release of Gears of War: E-Day, there’s a good chance that The Coalition can work at improving things. Simply making elite enemies less like bullet-sponges might go a long way, for example. And even if nothing is done, the changes to traversal here, as well as the overall impressive presentation, means that its campaign should hopefully be a hoot. It’s just a shame that Horde Siege hasn’t left me more excited to jump in, as Horde mode in previous Gears games has been a highlight.
Gears of War: E-Day launches 6th October on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
