Gears Of War 4 Review: 7 Ups & 7 Downs

2. Act 3 Is Pure Filler

Don't worry: there won't be anything in the way of major spoilers here, but rest assured that Act 3 of GoW4 is one hell of a slog. It's the flabby mid-portion of the game as JD and co. are on a retrieval mission of sorts, but it just drags on...and on...and on, outstaying its welcome by a good 30-40 minutes, by which time you'll likely just feel exhausted.

The only real motivation to keep going is that the end goal is actually fairly interesting, but the overlong, repetitive frag-fest that gets you there is pretty much a distillation of everything lazy and unoriginal that this game has to offer.

Thankfully, once you get past Act 3, things pick up significantly ahead of the finale.