Gears 5 (XBOX One) Review

Game Name: Gears 5

Developer: The Coalition

Publisher: XBOX Game Studios

Release Date: September 10th, 2019

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S

Introduction

Finally, I have made it to the final game in the series so far. It was a long road. Not that the games are that long but I did not have as much time as I wanted to play video games.

Let us see, if the quality of the game has become stale.

Story

Gears 5 takes place right after the events of Gears of War 4. The story, like in Gears of War 4, focuses a lot on Kait. Ever since she killed her mother, she has been having these intense nightmares. In fact, it would seem that the Locust Queen, Myrrah, is still alive and kicking. She is trying to get into Kait's head.

We learn early on that the heirloom, that was given to Kait right before her mom's death, is a symbol of the Locusts. It is believed that this is how the Queen is able to telepathically communicate with Kait. The Queen's main goal is to get her to the "dark side".

The rest of the journey is trying to get to the bottom of what is giving these nightmares to Kait and how to destroy the locusts for the last time.

Gears 5 Trailer

Bottomline

I think that this is a strong entry in the series but I do not think that it is the best in the series. Let us get into the details.

The visuals here are the best in the series. At least it is on par with Gears of War 4. One of the main reasons for this, is the colour palette. It is much more varied than the first three games. Makes the world seem more vibrant. I also loved the levels with the snow. It did look very good. Reminded me a little of the Metro series.

I appreciated the recap at the beginning of the game. It really did seem like it was an episode of a TV series and this was the continuation. They even said, "previously on Gears...". I always liked this. As it does not force the player to play previous games. It gives new players just enough information for them not to be lost in the storyline.

I had not read any reviews for this game or gameplay. At the time, I was under the impression that this was a more open world version of Gears. So, in my mind I thought that it would have been like Metro Exodus. However, this was not fully the case. There are 4 acts. Act II and Act III are both faux open world. What does that mean? It means that the story is still linear but there are a few side quests that you can complete. In the end, I was a little disappointed. I think that Metro Exodus did this much better. It is not to knock Gears 5 as it was fun, but these levels felt extra long for no real reason. I did not feel like completing the side missions added anything to the story. If anything, it added just a little bit to the lore.

In these open areas, we were able to direct a Skiff. This is a Gears version of a Skidoo. It was fun driving it although the mechanics could have been tweaked a little more. It is so easy to turn and slide off the road. I thought initially it was because I was on the ice. However, I realized in Act III when the player is in the desert, it controls the same way. So the driving mechanics were by design.

The only main complaint that I have about Gears 5 is that the formula is starting to get a little stale. Do not get me wrong, the game was very fun. However, they did not change the game enough to make it feel fresh in my opinion. I would have wanted it to have a more open world feel than it did. Also, not every game needs to have a death scene with someone close. They started this since the second Gears. It takes away the emotion when it happens in every game. I know they are trying to pull on your heart strings but they need to find another way to do this.

So all in all, it is a strong entry in the series but I would put is right behind Gears of War 4. I think the changes that they did make were good but they did not go far enough. I still had a good time though. This game will take you longer than previous instalments in the series. It will take you about 15 hours to 20 hours depending if you are a completionist or not. The open world areas added to the completion time.

Sample Gameplay