Upcoming

Gears POP! won't be a match-three or endless runner, but we're still not too sure what to expect

I'm more interested now though

Gears POP! won't be a match-three or endless runner, but we're still not too sure what to expect
|
| Gears POP!

At E3 this year we heard of a few mobile games on the way including the rather - er - unexpected take on Gears of War. Gears POP! revealed very little information and while we still don't know much, there's been a couple more trickles released.

yt
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

It was during Microsoft's conference that we watched a brief trailer featuring Gears POP! In it, it was evident that the game'd be a mashup of Gears of War and the popular Funko Pop collectibles.

During an interview on Wired.co.uk, Rod Fergusson (Studio Head at The Coalition) notes that Gears POP! will be a MOBA rush-style game tailored to play on the platform, not a third-person shooter recreation.

"This is a MOBA rush, authentically mobile-first genre, for the mobile audience. Again, it's not about just porting something over and getting it running on a new platform, it's actually saying, 'What are the strengths of that platform, and how can we make a Gears experience for those players?'"

Fergusson then goes on to say how he didn't want to make a licensed match-three or endless runner, and that he wanted to do something which was true to both the platform and the franchise's mechanics.

As for the Funko art-style, it was chosen to give the developers more creative freedom. "With this art style, we're able to create a game that isn't M-rated, that allows us to have fun with the characters in a different way, in a different style, and maybe reach an audience we haven't been able to reach before"

While we still have absolutely no idea how the game will play, I'm more excited to see it now than I was before. It's often easy to pass mobile game adaptions of larger franchises off on a match-three or auto/endless runner, so to see that the developer's trying to do something a bit different gives me more hope.

What do you guys think? Are you still a bit concerned about Gears of War being reshaped like this? Let us know in the comments below.

Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.