Fifteen years ago Gears of War revolutionised the third person shooter genre with its intuitive one button cover system that has been may action games since. Gears wasn't the first to use this kind of system but it was the first to perfect it and the gaming world has not been the same since. It was also one of the big system sellers early in the Xbox 360's life cycle and went on to spawn one of the systems most iconic and beloved franchises for its blockbuster action movie style plot, and its tightly balanced unforgiving gameplay.
Epic Games developed the first three Gears of War games before the reins were handed over to new developer The Coalition in 2015. Their first title in the Gears universe was a ground up remaster the original game, including adding in the previously PC exclusive chapters, as well as bringing major updates to Gears 1's multiplayer to help give it a new lease of life.
The story of Gears of War is pretty simple, especially for the first game which is the least story intensive in the franchise. You play as Marcus Fenix, sergeant of Delta Squad in the midst of a war between humans and a hostile race of creatures known as the Locust Horde on the planet Sera. The war has already been raging for 14 years when you are busted out of prison by your buddy Dominic Santiago in a last ditch effort to strike the Locust where they live and eradicate them once and for all.
That's really all you need to know, unfortunately the finer plot details such as why Marcus was in prison, why his father is so important, where the Locust came from, and pretty much any backstory whatsoever are completely absent from the game. These things are explored in the sequel and prequel games, however the first game's plot is very fast moving and chooses to focus on the matters at hand rather than looking at the bigger picture; for better or for worse.
Epic Games developed the first three Gears of War games before the reins were handed over to new developer The Coalition in 2015. Their first title in the Gears universe was a ground up remaster the original game, including adding in the previously PC exclusive chapters, as well as bringing major updates to Gears 1's multiplayer to help give it a new lease of life.
The story of Gears of War is pretty simple, especially for the first game which is the least story intensive in the franchise. You play as Marcus Fenix, sergeant of Delta Squad in the midst of a war between humans and a hostile race of creatures known as the Locust Horde on the planet Sera. The war has already been raging for 14 years when you are busted out of prison by your buddy Dominic Santiago in a last ditch effort to strike the Locust where they live and eradicate them once and for all.
That's really all you need to know, unfortunately the finer plot details such as why Marcus was in prison, why his father is so important, where the Locust came from, and pretty much any backstory whatsoever are completely absent from the game. These things are explored in the sequel and prequel games, however the first game's plot is very fast moving and chooses to focus on the matters at hand rather than looking at the bigger picture; for better or for worse.
Gameplay in Ultimate Edition has been left relatively untouched. That leaves Gears of War feeling exactly like it did nine years ago, take that as you will but any Gears of War fans will know what I mean when I say it feels very Gears of One-y. Your movement is kind of stiff and you can quite easily get stuck on cover you didn't want to go into, but these are problems which after just a couple of hours playing you will learn to work around and after several hours in multiplayer will even learn to exploit to your advantage using methods such as the infamous wall bouncing.
Gears of War is a game that you need to practice at to play well, even the campaign on Normal can have its challenging sections. It's a brutal and unforgiving game that will regularly chew you up and spit you out just to make you try a little harder.
Obviously being the first Gears game means that the arsenal is somewhat limited compared to later titles. Hammerburst, Snub, Boltok, Longshot, Torque Bow, and Boomshot is your pretty small extended arsenal beyond your trusty Gnasher shotgun and Lancer assault rife with chainsaw bayonet. No Sawn-off's, no Pendulum Lancers, and no grenade variants beyond Frags. It's a barebones kind of game that uses it's limited armoury well by having refined balance rather than huge variety. It's fast paced, it's bloody and it's old school Gears like you remember it.
Ultimate Edition is a fine looking game too. Not only have the graphics been touched up to make it look like an eighth gen game, but the engine has also been upgraded, the lighting has been massively revamped, and character models have been completely reworked to fit in line with the sequels. Cutscenes are mocapped, extended, and re-edited now with a much more cinematic focus. Though no new dialogue has been included, the new direction illustrates a much better picture of war and terror than the original game managed to do and that's mostly thanks to the motion capture and new lighting effects. The sound design is meaty, guns sound raw and heavy, and voices are gruff and smokey. It isn't the prettiest sounding game around if you're not a fan of almost constant gunfire and shouting, but the audio work is still rather slick.
So is Gears of War Ultimate Edition worth picking up? Absolutely! The original Gears is one of gaming's modern classics and if you haven't played it before then you now have the best way to play it readily available on your Xbox One. If you have played it before, you now have the best version available to replay it with, complete with all the benefits of the old PC version and a graphical upgrade.
With the revamped multiplayer it gives you a good reason to stick around too, with ranked matches and a levelling system, it's a much more robust and worthy multiplayer mode than the original Gears ever had.
Gears of War is a game that you need to practice at to play well, even the campaign on Normal can have its challenging sections. It's a brutal and unforgiving game that will regularly chew you up and spit you out just to make you try a little harder.
Obviously being the first Gears game means that the arsenal is somewhat limited compared to later titles. Hammerburst, Snub, Boltok, Longshot, Torque Bow, and Boomshot is your pretty small extended arsenal beyond your trusty Gnasher shotgun and Lancer assault rife with chainsaw bayonet. No Sawn-off's, no Pendulum Lancers, and no grenade variants beyond Frags. It's a barebones kind of game that uses it's limited armoury well by having refined balance rather than huge variety. It's fast paced, it's bloody and it's old school Gears like you remember it.
Ultimate Edition is a fine looking game too. Not only have the graphics been touched up to make it look like an eighth gen game, but the engine has also been upgraded, the lighting has been massively revamped, and character models have been completely reworked to fit in line with the sequels. Cutscenes are mocapped, extended, and re-edited now with a much more cinematic focus. Though no new dialogue has been included, the new direction illustrates a much better picture of war and terror than the original game managed to do and that's mostly thanks to the motion capture and new lighting effects. The sound design is meaty, guns sound raw and heavy, and voices are gruff and smokey. It isn't the prettiest sounding game around if you're not a fan of almost constant gunfire and shouting, but the audio work is still rather slick.
So is Gears of War Ultimate Edition worth picking up? Absolutely! The original Gears is one of gaming's modern classics and if you haven't played it before then you now have the best way to play it readily available on your Xbox One. If you have played it before, you now have the best version available to replay it with, complete with all the benefits of the old PC version and a graphical upgrade.
With the revamped multiplayer it gives you a good reason to stick around too, with ranked matches and a levelling system, it's a much more robust and worthy multiplayer mode than the original Gears ever had.
STORY: 4/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
PRESENTATION: 7/10
LIFESPAN: 5/10
SCORE: 7/10
If you never were a fan of Gears of war, this will do nothing to win you over. This is a game for the fans, by the fans. Now excuse me whilst I go gib some noobs with my Gnasher.