Gears 5 is just around the corner, but it isn't the only new Gears of War game in town. Gears POP! recently dropped for Android, iOS, and Windows 10, promising bite-sized Gears action, crossed with the cute factor of the popular Funko dolls. On the surface, it sounds like a winning formula. Unfortunately, Microsoft and The Coalition decided to go heavy on the pay-to-win microtransaction route here, destroying any real chance of competitive play. Since this is a primarily PvP game, the winner of a given match isn't necessarily the player who played better, but rather the one who simply had the better army.

The core game mode in Gears POP! has you and another player facing off in a three-minute Versus match for domination of the battlefield. Each side has a leader and two defensive outposts. You earn one point for destroying each outpost. The winner is the one with the most points at the end of the match. If you're tied, you move into a sudden death round. If you're still tied, the game ends in a draw. Eliminating the opposing leader is an instant win.

By keeping the time limit short and sweet, Gears POP! adds a sense of urgency to each game. While defense is an important part of play, you don't have much time overall, so you need to get to attacking ASAP if you want to take out your opponent. You can't win by turtling.
In between the two sides are three rows of two cover points each. If you capture both cover points in a row, your control line moves forward. This allows you to deploy new troops closer to your opponent. This is a useful ability when pressing an advantage, as you can drop new troops on your opponent's doorstep if you push far enough. With that said, there can be an advantage to deploying farther back, especially with units that have a charge special attack and need time to prepare.

There are currently 38 different units in the game, and eight of them make up your army. Each unit requires a different amount of energy to deploy, with stronger units typically requiring more energy. This gives you some choices when customizing your army to your play style. If you prefer to flood your opponent with a large number of troops, you can pack your army with common soldiers that are cheap to deploy. You can also be more aggressive and stock up on more powerful tank units. Sure, you won't get as many on the field, but when you do deploy, they'll dish out some damage. There are also a few special item units, such as the Hammer of Dawn, that simply deal damage on deployment.

Having two different armies face off could make for some interesting gameplay challenges, but sadly, this is where Gears POP! starts to fall apart. It's not because the default troops aren't balanced, but rather because once you start upgrading troops, there is no guarantee that you'll face off against other players at the same level. Game balance goes completely out the window.

This happens because you don't start off the game with access to all of the units. You start with a basic set and unlock more by opening gear packs, which grant coins and unit pins. You can earn gear packs by winning matches, but there is a wait time (up to 12 hours) between earning and the time you can open them. It is possible to speed up opening via microtransactions. You can also buy gear packs for real money via the in-game store. The thing is that there's no guarantee that you'll get the unit pins that you want when opening a pack. It's luck of the draw, otherwise known as loot boxes (or Las Vegas slot machines).

That same luck extends to upgrading units, as you need to collect multiple pins of a given unit and then pay a certain amount of game coins to upgrade. If you don't have the right number of unit pins and coins, you can't upgrade. Upgrading a unit makes it stronger, giving it more health and a higher damage output.

Where all this falls apart is in matchmaking. Because the core gameplay in Gears POP! is Versus mode, you are focused on going head-to-head against other players. If those other players are at the same general level as you, the competition can be fun and exciting — especially if you have both chosen different units for your armies. There is a push-and-pull as you realize your opponent has a unit that you can't easily counter because you didn't bring the needed unit onto the field, but at the same time, you have something that they can't easily counter. If this was the only bit that was left up to chance, I'd be loving Gears POP!; unfortunately, the game doesn't take levels into account when matching.

It is possible to get matched against players who have a much stronger (or weaker) army than you have — either because they've been playing a lot more, or more likely, because they've spent real world money to open more gear packs. There's nothing more frustrating than facing off against someone who is steamrolling you, not because they're a better player, but because they have more health, more damage, and upgraded units that you haven't even unlocked because the random number generator hasn't rolled in your favor.

On the flip side, there are also matches when you get paired with someone who is noticeably weaker than you. It's no fun steamrolling someone else, either. Sure, you get rank points, but it isn't fun when there's no challenge. The whole point of a Versus mode is to match wits against someone who can put up a fair fight. Pulling out a close win in the nick of time is going to give you a satisfying endorphin rush. Blowout matches aren't going to do that.

Gears POP! also suffers from a handful of small, but noticeable, technical issues. The game ties into Xbox Live, so you can earn achievements while playing, though Gears POP! doesn't do the best job of tracking said achievements. This is the first time I've ever earned an achievement in a game for a mode before I played it. In addition to Versus mode, Gears POP! has a co-op mode called Horde, where you and a friend have to survive against waves of enemies. I spent a good deal of time in Versus before ever attempting Horde mode, yet I earned an achievement for clearing 50 Horde waves. Oops.

Another issue has to do with tracking wins when an opponent drops during a match. Because Gears POP! relies so heavily on building your army, getting a gold gear pack for a win streak is an important part of play if you're not putting real money on the table. You have to win five matches in a row to get the best pack. More than once, I had a match freeze because an opponent dropped out. That's not a horrible thing by itself. Two of the three platforms are mobile, and cell connections can drop. The issue arises when a dropped match ends up mistakenly tracking as a loss and ending your win streak.

If Gears POP! had focused on skill rather than pay-to-win game design, it could have been an impressive title. Even it its current state, the game does shine in those moments when you happen to get a fair matchup. Distilled down into its purest form, though, Gears POP! is nothing more than an exploitative loot box machine that relies on the goodwill granted by the Gears and Funko brands to separate gamers from their cash. Here's hoping that Gears 5 doesn't go down the same route.

Score: 4.0/10