Gears Of War: Reloaded Review (PS5) – A linchpin in Microsoft’s early dominance with Xbox 360, Gears of War represented a seismic shift in fortunes and ramped up a console rivalry the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Nintendo and Sega.
Gears Of War: Reloaded Review (PS5) – The Boys Are Back In Brown
Grub’s Up, Delta Squad
Released a mere ten days before the North American launch of PlayStation 3, Epic Games’ bombastic third-person shooter hit the ground running and set in motion a period of sustained success for its publisher, Microsoft. Fast forward to the present day and we’re in very different times, a time where Microsoft has shifted its focus from the traditional console mindset to instead publishing its tent pole franchises across what had originally thought to be rival consoles.
The Holy Trinity of Gears of War, Forza, and Lost Odyssey – okay, scratch that last one and pop in Halo – all appear to be making the jump to PlayStation before long, and this latest re-release of the former is further evidence that we are indeed beyond the point of no return. A Mad World, indeed.
Divorced from the context of this series being released on PlayStation for the first time, the question naturally arises as to whether or not this is a worthwhile endeavour when compared to the release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition back in 2015. The answer to that is by and large ‘yes’.
Like Commando before it, Gears of War’s exposition is a matter of minutes before getting you straight into the action, evidenced none more so than the fact you can skip the tutorial and get straight into butting heads with the game’s subterranean antagonists, the Locusts.
The campaign plays out across five acts, with each separated into smaller chunks. Though there is an element of rinse and repeat, particularly in later acts, this is counterbalanced by an awareness to keep things moving at a pace, as you’re rarely holed up in a location for more time than is necessary to progress the story, that is, unless you die and are sent back to the start of the latest skirmish, which naturally feels a little out-of-step when compared against modern design sensibilities.
Pointing further to its age, the game’s campaign can feel rudimentary in some respects – or perhaps put in a kinder way – shows the seams of its design through its scripting in more apparent ways. You enter an area that will soon become a combat zone, you clear it out with a hail of bullets before then engaging in a discussion with command or your squadmates over comms which is accompanied by a forced walking sequence before moving onto the next, previously-gated, area. You may even need to go searching for that last hidden enemy holed up in a corner in order to trigger the music change which signals the ability to move forward.
Gear of War’s Campaign Remains The Benchmark
These are minor footnotes, all things considered, and are more a reflection on how things have changed since its initial release. On the other side of the coin, there is a purity that is evident throughout its eight-or-so hour campaign; it pursues its goal at breakneck speed, rarely rests on its laurels, with a better mind of playing into the adrenaline-soaked power fantasy that it undoubtedly is.
That being said, despite its bombastic veneer Gears of War has always been a little more considered in its approach to combat, instead encouraging ample use of its cover system to outmanoeuvre and outflank entrenched enemies. Depending on the difficulty chosen you may have to batten down the hatches and wait patiently for the right moment, or better yet meet head-on an enemy who has just broken cover with the chainsaw affixed to your Lancer.
The patented Roadie Run, though not a particularly convenient mechanic, feels important to the overall flow of Gears of War, which dovetails with ease into the game’s cover system which still feels fluid, snappy, and complements the otherwise heavyset movement. The use of tactical shortcuts is a neat mechanic, particularly in co-op play – the bite-sized nature of the campaign still feels tailor-made for playing in this way – but only ever feels fully relevant for flanking gunners, particularly on normal difficulty.
The game has a real weight behind it, and being presented in 60 frames per second for the first time on consoles also does wonders in tying its feel together. There isn’t much fat on the bone of Gears’ campaign and it holds up very well considering its age.
Leveraging the work done with the Ultimate Edition release, Reloaded retains the quite transformative lighting changes, with notably less bloom when compared to the original. The shadow and texture reworking manage to maintain the game’s overall feel, though some will prefer that grittier, more washed out rendition of the visuals. The changes present do allow for the colour palette to pop more and with Reloaded’s 4K presentation it is one of the more pronounced differences when compared to Ultimate Edition.
Multiplayer Is a Baptism Of Fire
Gears of War’s multiplayer suite is of course included in the package and for those who have the scars to prove it, it’s just as brutal as you remember. The standard Team Deathmatch is a baptism of fire in particular, with snipers and shotguns aplenty and what is a seemingly boundless skill ceiling, but there are at least a steady amount of game modes to get your feet beneath you.
The ability to play in 120 frames per second adds to its overall smoothness and is a boon considering that competent use of the game’s cover and movement mechanics really are at the forefront of success. Though the omission of bots remains a hindrance to its onboarding overall, it is a fleshed out offering that more than has its place in the package. The addition of cross-play is welcome also, ensuring no doubt that Xbox and PC veterans alike will be going easy on their new PlayStation relatives.
The additional trinkets found in Ultimate Edition, such as in-game comics for collecting COG tags, the cinematic cutscene and concept art viewer all make a return but nothing substantial beyond that. There’s also the neat touch of three sets of credits, comprising of the original game, Ultimate Edition, and Reloaded – a simple gesture you might think, but one which can be conspicuously absent from similar remastering efforts.
Revving Up The Chainsaw Has Never Felt So Good
Given that this is seen as a definitive edition of Gears of War, it is replete with customisable options for both game content and controls, ranging from colour blind presets to whether your firing position is either left or right-handed. It also includes the new Sony-mandated power saver options which are split between both campaign and multiplayer, both with an ‘eco-quality’ and ‘eco-performance’ mode respectively. There is also an idle energy setting whereby the frame rate is reduced when a button hasn’t been pressed for a certain amount of time.
Taken on its own merits some nineteen years since its original release, Gears of War remains a blast to play, only showing its age in minor ways which do little to detract from what is a seminal piece of work. Though not too far removed from 2015’s Ultimate Edition, the lower price of entry makes this easier to stomach for PlayStation owners tempted to dive into the series that defined a generation of Xbox fans and that few games have bettered in the proceeding years.
Gears of War: Reloaded releases on August 26 on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.