Gears of War 4 review: better safe than sorry

“If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll like it.” It’s a perennial cliché in games criticism and something I almost always try to avoid. It’s a lazy way to bunt on actual appraisal of the title in question, playing off presupposed notions of what the reader wants to hear.
But things are a little different with Gears of War. Once Microsoft’s standard bearer for the Xbox 360, the series’ stock has fallen somewhat following the last installment,