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The Xbox One multiplayer beta for Gears of War 4 rolls out this week, offering a playable sampler of a major Microsoft title not due for release for another six months. We were given the opportunity to jump in early over the weekend, and we were eager to see what new studio The Coalition has achieved so far. The ambition here is certainly lofty: while single-player campaign is confirmed as a 30fps affair, the studio is aiming for 1080p60 with its multiplayer mode - with Unreal Engine 4 providing the technological underpinnings.Gears of War and Unreal Engine have been a ubiquitous pairing since the franchise launched on Xbox 360 in November 2006, with the success of that title leading to the Epic middleware powering hundreds of games in the last-gen era. Indeed, even now, ten years after its debut, it continues to power many hits like Batman Arkham Knight and Rocket League.
However, Unreal Engine 4 is a different story: as companies transitioned over to the new consoles, changing business strategies, competing middleware and new in-house technologies have limited its appearance on new consoles. As a result, aside from a handful of indie titles and the occasional heavy hitter like Street Fighter 5 or the upcoming Paragon, we haven't really seen any AAA shooters designed using Epic's technology. That is, until Gears of War 4.
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