Yesterday, it was announced that Batista would be in Gears 5 as part of a crossover promotion with the WWE. Now Xbox has released some new screenshots that show exactly how Batista will look when he's added to the game on September 15 after the WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view.
Batista will "don the armor of Marcus Fenix" when he's added to Gears 5 as a multiplayer character. This was done partly as a result of Batista campaigning to be in the Gears of War movie, though that casting still hasn't actually been set. While we don't know if Batista will ever have the chance to star in the Gears of War movie, at least fans will get to see him in Gears of War armor once he's added to Gears 5.
What's unclear at this point is just how extensive Batista's role in Gears 5 will be. The language in the Xbox Wire post suggests that he may just be a skin for Marcus Fenix instead of a distinct character all his own. However, that hasn't been confirmed, and it's possible that he's his own character, just with Marcus's armor. We also don't know if Batista will be featured as a playable character in Horde and Escape as well as Versus.
For the uninitiated, some of the multiplayer characters in Gears 5 also appear in Horde and Escape. They're assigned to specific classes and each have their own Ultimate ability, adding an extra layer of strategy to the experience. We don't know if Batista's appearance in Gears 5 will be extensive enough to see him included in Horde Mode and the like, but we should have more details sooner rather than later.
One thing that does make us think Batista may have a big role in Gears 5 is how many voice lines he recorded for the game. According to The Coalition studio head Rod Fergusson, Batista recorded over 700 lines for Gears 5. This included dialogue from Marcus's script, but with additional elements of his WWE character. "Batista was great in the booth and I can't wait for Gears and Batista fans alike to stomp some Swarm as The Animal."
More on Batista's Gears 5 appearance should come to light in the next couple of weeks.
Gears 5 launches on September 10 for PC and Xbox One.
Source: Xbox