10 Video Game Spin-Offs Nobody Asked For (That Were AWESOME)
9. Gears Tactics
It’s fairly commonly known video game trivia that the Microsoft Xbox juggernaut IP Halo started off as a strategy game before it completely morphed into a generation-defining FPS. It wasn’t entirely unthinkable that it might end up looping back to where it started before 2009’s Halo Wars. However, Microsoft’s other exclusive shooter doing the same thing was far less anticipated.
After all, Gears of Wars had a third-person-action game in its blood. Even in the original release it had such a defined identity that only got better over time as it ironed out the kinks and sharpened the edges.
Hot off the heels of the fifth numbered title however Gears of War jumped genre for the first time with Gears Tactics.
Considering that the core gameplay loop of the series is slamming armour-clad, muscle-bound soldiers behind cover, blasting monsters when the right opportunity arises and then moving onto the next piece of cover it actually makes a lot of sense. Basically, Gears Tactics’ move to RTS just changes the perspective and the pace of the standard affair. The tone remains the same.
By no means perfect, Gears Tactics works wonderfully as the first entry into a potentially very promising side-series. It offers at least a little more thinking and planning into a franchise which has often always been about brute-force spray and pray.