Game Name: Gears 5: Hivebusters DLC
Developer: The Coalition
Publisher: XBOX Game Studios
Release Date: December 15th, 2020
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Introduction
Ever since I finished Gears 5, I was looking forward to the DLC. This is the first DLC for the game. It is actually called a Campaign Extension. Makes it sound like those boxed PC games in the 1990's, where they sold expansions to games.
I had played the original on my XBOX One S, so I was looking forward to playing this on my XBOX Series X. How much better would it look?
In addition to the above, the DLC is actually readily available on XBOX Gamepass. This is normally not the case. In case that you are not familiar, usually, the base game is available on Gamepass but the DLC needs to be purchased. Here since it is a first party Microsoft game, they decided to make all the DLC free with Gamepass.
Story
Hivebusters is a direct prequel to the Gears of War: Hivebusters comic book. In this instalment, you play the character of Jeremiah Keegan. You are accompanied by Lahni Kaliso and Leslie "Mac" Macallister. Other members that you meet are Colonel Victor Hoffman and Hana Cole. She is the daughter of the one and only Cole Train.
The game starts where the team's (Team Scorpio) Condor crashes on the island of Pahanu. When they get picked back up after their distress signal is picked up, the team notices that some acid spewing creature can destroy the the Swarm.
Knowing that there is a Swarm beneath the ground, Team Scorpio are tasked with destroying the hive by going to the core and placing the bomb directly. Of course, like everything in this series, it does not go as planned. In fact the bomb did not do what it was supposed to do.
Having seen the creature destroy the Swarm earlier, the team goes and tries to find this creature. They will ry to obtain the poisonous acid so that they can build weapons that could destroy the Swarm.
They try to obtain the poison without killing the creature and it was a success.
Gears 5: Hivebusters - Full Gameplay
Bottomline
Is this worth the play through? I think that, yes it is. Let us see how it was compared to the base game.
The fact that the game is not limiting the DLC on Gamepass is an awesome thing. Players can play this DLC and if you are not on Gamepass, the game was free with Games with Gold where the DLC is also free. So there is no reason to try this one out.
Having played the previous game on my XBOX One S, there was a noticeable difference playing this on my XBOX Series X. The game plays smoother and the graphics look spectacular. I did not think that it would have made such a difference but it did.
As expected the voicing of the characters was spot on. Having played older games recently, I really have grown an appreciation for modern games with their voice acting. It makes the experience that much better.
The sound design of the game itself, is also great. This is the same as the base game, so I have nothing much to add here.
I liked the story a lot. I think that I did because this was more of a typical Acts with straight forward chapters. There was no roaming around and I think it brought it back to the basics (Gears of War 1-4). I have seen some players prefer this to the main story of Gears 5.
The big question, if I had to pay for the DLC, would have I paid money? The answer is probably not. Chances are the DLC would have been 10$ and higher. For a 3.5 hour DLC, it is not worth it for me. Did I love it? Yes I did. However, I do find in recent years DLC's are way too expensive for the return that the player gets. In most cases, you are better off waiting for the Game of the Year Edition and have all the DLC's with the base game.
As of right now, not many people have played the DLC as all of the achievements were all diamond. Since right now this is available to pretty much anyone with an XBOX, play it. It is short and you can play it in one evening if you have the time.
What did you think about the DLC? Like it or hate it? let us know below.
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