I mostly agree with thus.

Gears 4 was a total package for me. The campaign is strong albeit not perfect (like any game), great multiplayer modes, split screen, etc.

Its also my GOTY just because it offers a ton of content and it does it all really well. This is a game I know I will revisit many times for many years. Look forward to more Gears as well.

Oh yeah it's a great game. I was skeptical since Microsoft has been struggling with first party output but it's really an outstanding game -- probably THE "killer app" for XOne. Fergusson and The Coalition did a great job with Gears 4, honoring the mechanics and gameplay of the original trilogy. Love the online coop versus, too.

And, yes, The Coalition's work on Gears is light years ahead of 343's ugly work on Halo. Moving forward, Gears, in my mind, is the flagship franchise on Xbox.

Ya it offers tons of content behind a paywall lol 

So, I have a few minutes and I'd like to talk about the ending.

The ending was weirdly bad. For some reason the last few missions the difficulty dropped like a stone and OT was just half a dozen or so crazy easy firefights, followed by a horde mission that was easier than the others were, then that really out of place robot bit, and then a really dull boss fight...

Still definitely an 8/10 game for me though.

Granted there is a season pass for maps and cosmetic stuff you can spend money on. But more importantly, there is plenty of content in modes without buying extra stuff.

No there isn't. 

The season pass offers you .. three exclusive skins. All of which suck and can't be destroyed. All the maps you get in the pass? They're free for everyone, all you get is early access. So yea, there's no  value to the season pass.

And lot's of content? Not really. Did you know that every time they add new maps to the game they take away the same amount of the maps from the rotation? That means the entire point of having microtransactions(so that they can make a profit off cosmetics while still deliviring free content to the community) is ruined, because you aren't REALLY getting more free content, you're getting the same amount of maps it's just that some maps are taken out. Which means that there's no point in adding more maps, since that means the only time you can enjoy all the maps is in  private exclusively. What would be the point in that? And since the only other thing updated for free in which other content isn't deleted or taken out to make place for it is unironically microtransaction packs and optional cosmetics, it means there was no point at all to have a microtransaction system. For the people(the majority) who play Matchmaking, the content you get day one is the same amount of content you get after the free updates. 

Oh - and where's Arcade mode for the Campaign, Capture The Leader, etc. Offline horde? What's that? Oh and the funniest thing is - even without the microtransaction system the unlockables suck ass. So we get one bald baird but we get 30 color blast skins and a few shitty zombie skins? What? 

Yes there is plenty of content even if you don't buy the season pass. Quality campaign, many versus modes, horde and even co-op versus. Arcade campaign they definitely should have added, I think that was the reason why Gears 3 was top 10 most played games for so long time. I think it had 10,000+ people playing at any time even a year after release. Some old modes are missing, that's quite undestandable, but there's Dodgeball and Arms race instead.

Season pass is a funny one yeah. Well you get a starter airdrop (worth 20$), skins you get are nice and I really appreciate the developer playlist for new maps but I think it should include more. They've said they will add content for season pass owners though. Maps for private play is good for serious horde players.

I think their microtransactions system was fine until UIR packs. I mean, you could play any mode you want and get coins to open packs, then scrap what you don't need and use it for horde skills and skins you prefer. Those 400 coin packs for 10 year anniversary and Gearsmas were generous, offered you a good chunk of scrap for little amount of coins. They dropped the ball with UIR packs though, since you can't craft those skins and packs are expensive and not permanent.

If they want to make tons of money out of microtransactions, I think they should make Overrun (the best versus mode ever created) the way Halo 5 Warzone is.

Gears of War is all about even battelfield so any pay2win would be unacceptable for traditional versus. But I think it would work for Overrun, because it's more of a casual mode. You could buy packs that would contain different weapons or classes, like stronger turrets etc for Engineers and stronger Swarm/Locust types like Maulers etc. Of course you could buy packs with in-game currency too. I know I would play the shit out of this and most likely spend some money too :P

Kudos, it looks like you've done your homework to find anything negative about Gears.

Regardless, its a package with significantly more value than the typical game. It has basically everything people argue like a campaign, split screen, PvP, co-op, and it does it all very well.

Please name me the games that do everything Gears 4 does as well and/or better. I have a feeling this is gonna be a short list. This is why I'm comfortable calling Gears 4 a total package.

Its my favorite shooter this gen and that includes Splatoon. Its a love letter to anyone who loved gears. I can't get enough of it and I play it everyday. As far as I'm concerned its the best gears since 2.