Gears 5

Grind for many hours or just buy the stuuff from store to get pride and accomplishment

I am a massive fan of Gears 1-3 and judgement. I liked 4 a lot and wasn't sure about the direction of this series, but 5 got me locked in. This game is AMAZING. Honestly this is probably the best Xbox exclusive since Gears 2 or Halo Reach. It's that stinking good!

Here are my positives:

• The story. Really creative and cool way to continue on the threat of the hive. The personal story with Kait and JD is fantastic.

• The cast. All your favorites are there and I really think Kait, JD, and Del are great characters, especially once the credits of this game role.

• The combat. As always this game has the best third person shooting available on any console or from any dev. Gears combat just cannot be matched. The tried and true formula is there and they added some nice new layers with stealth kills and the ability to command Jack to give support. How Jack is used in this game is honestly brilliant and he can provide a major tactical advantage.

• The semi open world. Running around on the sciff is so fun. It looks beautiful and is a blast to drive. The game is not a "open world" in the sense that it's dense or 100+ hours to beat, it's the same linear gears formula (10-12'hour campaign) with the addition of over world travel between missions and to do a few side quests. Really good stuff.

• moral choice and consequence in a gears game for the first time!

• enemy design and boss battles are greatly improved. Gears 4 had some rough boss encounters but gears 5 ironed all of that out. The boss fights are polished and fun.

• the final act of this game reminds me of Gears 1.

• The graphics and art style are great. This is a Xbox one game that looks just as good as some of the triple A titles that are evening out out today (2023). It holds up and looks beautiful.

• the game physics are actually incredible. From the snow, to the sand, to how drop shot bullets work and how the wind can affect tongue bow arrows, it's really impressive.

• a massive multiplayer and horde mode!

• co-op!

Play this game!

This gears of war 5 is so amazing that's all just play, you won't regret it!!

Gear 4 wasn´t the shot in the arm Halo 4 was but is still a perfectly fine soft-reboot. Gears 5 is the same mess that Halo 5 is. It equally features bizarro characters and writing that fails even the low standards of the series. Whoever came up with Fahz needs to be stopped! Meandering levels with tons of empty space (the "open world" and the collect-a-thons can go to hell), a bewildering difficulty curve that isn´t balanced for single player and the game again fails to go anywhere or evolve the 13-year-old formula in any way. And then we have the abysmally executed new skill system via the Jack bot that leads to endless menu management in a shooter. Gears needs to either end very soon or move on to a full-blown GoW 2018 style reboot after a half-decade+ hiatus. The multiplayer is the same as usual. It works fine but you don´t need to buy a new game to play the same old stuff. Gears 1 was a generation-defining game. Gears 5 reduced the series to a hollow zombie that is only saved by production values. 6/10

PS: Whoever came up with the idea that you should either grind like mad or pay actual money to unlock the Pride flags and skins that advertise a failed Terminator reboot, I like the film btw, deserves a special place in hell.

Gears 5 has a few surprises and the story is expanded on through item descriptions. The combat is solid, with weapon variety and the ability to upgrade your AI support (Jack). The graphics are nice as well, although any long-term gamer should know that doesn't mean much.

Unfortunately, Gears 5 doesn't push the boundaries of the genre in any regard. A lot of action sequences and features were simply replicated from other action shooters, enemy AI is a bit dumb, it's almost impossible to die because of the revival system, and the progression is very predictable.

Go to a location, complete a chore, enemies appear, shoot them, and repeat. The "dropship waves" tactic has been implemented in many games since the early 2000s. Some parts of the progression are so absurdly chaotic you might think you're watching an Avengers movie: "What the hell is happening right now?" Other moments are so drawn-out and dull you'll wish you were playing another game.

Gears 5 is far too long for its own good. This is primarily due to the sheer repetition and the (mostly unrewarding) skiff exploration sections. However, the second act is narratively strong and has a decent amount of gameplay variety to support it. The final chapters pick up in intensity as well, although there's one major plot sequence which is totally illogical and involves making a choice between sparing one character or another.

With the story in particular, more character development and overall depth could have made this game so much better. Why did JD change, and then change back to who he was? What made Kait suddenly become a leader? What are the philosophical implications of the human-Locust hybrids? Are the Locust really just mindless, animalistic creatures? Couldn't we get some more perspective of the war from the Locust's side? Tell us more about the research of Niles, the red sands of Vasgar, or what's currently going on with the COG besides Delta and Jinn. After 13 years, the writers should really start committing to fleshing out the lore because it has so much potential.

Multiplayer is also okay - doesn't necessarily stand out but isn't bad. It's more of the same we've all seen before.