Gears POP, which was announced alongside Gears 5 at this year’s E3 conference, is taking the franchise into the mobile space. On the eve of its release, Studio Head of The Coalition Rod Fergusson and Lead Designer Tyler Bielman talked through the first gameplay from the title. A tower rush game similar to Clash Royale, Gears POP will have players building decks of soldiers from both the COG and Locust forces. Each soldier has different abilities that will come into play on the battlefield before them.
You start off with two outposts and a leader unit in the center. As you push forward and gain more cover points, you can drag soldiers in closer to your enemy outposts. Destroying said outposts gain you points, and the highest score after a few minutes wins. What makes Gears POP stand out from the crowd seems to be down to the franchise fundamentals. Soldiers will take cover when they find it, shooting down the more bestial soldiers who charge ahead.
In the gameplay demo, we can see several units you may remember from Horde sessions. From giant Grinders to JD from Gears of War 4, everyone is represented. As the battle goes on, your leader unit charges an ultimate attack. One example is the Hammer of Dawn, a laser from the sky that takes down anything in its path. This could just be one of several of these abilities that have not been shown.
If you like what you see and want to prep on the go for Gears 5, you can currently sign up for news on the release of the soft launch on the Gears POP official site. The game is scheduled for a full launch later in 2019 on both iOS and Android devices. POP is one of three Gears games in development, with the third being the turn-based Gears Tactics on Windows 10.
