Gears of War Reloaded

Before there was Fortnite. Before there was Infinity Blade. Before there was Shadow Complex, but after a bunch of Unreal Tournament games, Epic gave us Gears of War, the game that proved that Microsoft could juggle more than one science-fiction shooter at a time. Released back in 2006, this was one of the Xbox 360’s first must-own exclusives, allowing the system to take the early lead over the PlayStation 3. Now on its fifth installment (with multiple spin-offs), Gears of War has been a reliable player for Microsoft and one of the reasons to own an Xbox. That is, until now, because two decades after they first debuted, Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago and the one and only “Cole Train” are about to go where they’ve never been before – the PlayStation 5. Rev-up your chainsaw bayonet, because it’s time to review Gears of War: Reloaded.

Looking back on Gears of War two decades later, it’s easy to fall into the dismissive trap of calling it a big, dumb action game with meathead characters and a paper-thin story. And while some of that is unquestionably true, it fails to capture why this 19-year-old game was so important to the games industry. It was more than just another top-selling exclusive for Microsoft to trot out between releases of Halo and Forza, because Gears of War was the blueprint for how to make a modern third-person shooter. It completely reshaped the genre, leading to a whole generation of moody shooters with snap-to-cover mechanics and active reloading, most using the same Unreal Engine as Gears.

And it was a big hit. Not just with Xbox fans, but also critics. In fact, one of those critics was me. I gave the game an “A” back in 2006, gushing that it was one of the year’s best games. A game that was so good, that it was worth buying an Xbox 360 just for this singular experience. I ultimately concluded that “this game will change the way you look at action games. It’s a stunning example of how good a game can be if the right people are developing it.” Like I said, I loved it.

At its core, Gears of War: Reloaded is an updated version of 2015’s Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, which was an updated version of the 2006 original, this time developed by The Coalition. It may annoy some Xbox Series X owners that Microsoft remastered a game that was already remastered, but I doubt PlayStation 5 owners will complain. What they are getting is the best-looking version of Gears of War yet, with all kinds of fun ways to make it look and play even better, including HDR and support for 120 frames-per-second. We’ll nitpick some of the finer details later in this review, but what you need to know is that Reloaded looks better than Ultimate Edition, and that already looked amazing.

There is a story here, though it often feels more like a series of explosive set pieces than a well-crafted narrative. After being rescued from prison, Marcus Fenix leads a squad of macho action heroes on a high-stakes mission to help the resistance fighters push back against an alien foe that has been planning its attack deep underground. Using a large metal backpack straight out of a B-movie from the 1950s, the COGs will need to fight their way to the enemy’s tunnels, using technology to map the space and gain the upper-hand.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Right from the start, we’re flung into the action with barely any information. We’re told to aim the gun at the alien and shoot until it dies. If one gets too close, then use the chainsaw at the bottom of your gun to quite literally cut them in half. Once you’ve gotten the hang of that, you’ll want to throw a grenade into the emergence hole to stop the invasion and master the active reload, which rewards perfect timing with stronger bullets.

This was the stuff I remembered going in. What surprised me was how well-crafted that first Gears of War game was. Not just for its time, but for any time. Sure, there are some dated elements (especially when it comes to the enemies), but Cliff Bleszinski and his team really nailed it right from the start, on almost every level.

You see this in the flow of the action. The game likes throwing you into epic firefights that all manage to feel a bit different, with none of them overstaying their welcome. They find that sweet spot, wrapping things up right before the action gets repetitive. And then they’ll let players breath, usually by having us explore the creepy surroundings or by chatting up the squad. And just when you’ve gotten used to the peace and quiet, the game will slam you with another exciting action sequence. All of a sudden, we’re right back in the thick of it.

And what I like about this game is how they find different ways to frame the action. Some levels are all about going in guns-blazing, while other bits will require a stealthier approach. Some stages are small and confined, ideal for a shotgun, while the next bit may be better with a sniper rifle. And just when you’ve grown tired of walking everywhere, you’ll drive a car across the city, dealing with a bunch of bat monsters known as the Kryll.

The stage designs are admittedly linear, usually with only one way to go, but there’s more to the level designs than meet the eye. For one thing, the game is smart about splitting up the squad, forcing players to choose between going left or right in almost every level. This is especially fun if you’re playing through the co-op mode with a friend, as it forces both players to use their different vantage points to help keep the rest of the team alive. There are some really clever ways they split the squad up, and the moments where you can’t rely on your teammates are some of the best (and most tense) bits in the game.

Another thing the game got right from the start was the visual world building. Instead of being bright, colorful and polished, like Halo, Gears’ world feels dead and discarded. We run through bombed-out buildings that look like they were abandoned years ago. The last remaining humans fight to stay alive, but it’s clear that the aliens won. And even if we do win this war, what kind of world will we be left with? That’s the kind of question you ask if you stick around one place too long. Thankfully, the game is good about whisking us away to the next exciting level or fight.

This is a game that doesn’t just get the big stuff right, but even the small stuff stands out. For example, one thing that genuinely surprised me was how different each gun felt. Not because of the graphics or anything on my TV screen, but rather because of the controller’s rumble. From the powerful shotgun rounds to the tension of the torque bow, you can tell what weapon you’re firing by feel alone. As silly as it sounds, it’s those small things that help to make this game feel modern.

That said, there are definitely elements of this game that will remind you that Gears of War is nearly twenty years old. You’ll see it with how the enemies act. Oh, they’ll snap-to-cover, just like our hero, but then they’ll race into the open for no reason, as if they are waiting to be shot. There are so many situations where you’ll walk right up next to a Locust baddie and they won’t know what to do. Instead of shooting or escaping, they just stand there, dumbfounded. You also see this with your computer-controlled helpers. While they do a good job overall, there are just so many times where they’ll be in the way or not firing at obvious targets. Gears is a stark reminder that we often take smarter enemies for granted.

You’ll also notice that the cinemas look noticeably worse than the rest of the game. Where the Ultimate Edition used the game’s engine to bring the story to life, Reloaded just uses video footage from that decade-old remaster. It seems the developers ran into some major complications trying to redo them in-engine on the PlayStation 5, so this is what we get. That’s understandable, but unfortunate. There’s definitely a dip in quality whenever the cinemas come up, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t notice it every single time.

As this is really just a remastered version of The Coalition’s Ultimate Edition, it comes with a lot of the same problems that plagued that version of the game a decade ago. One of those issues is the lighting. Gears of War is simply too bright. The original version of the game played with the darkness, often using it to not only set a mood and atmosphere, but also as deadly obstacle. This is especially true in the second stage, where we need to run from one lighted area to the next before the Kryll get you. Frustratingly, I found it almost impossible to tell the difference between the dark and lit parts of the stages. Sometimes it’s obvious, but there were so many times when I thought I was safe, only to have a whole swarm of Kryll take out the entire squad. That’s annoying.

It’s also worth mentioning that Gears of War comes with a competitive multiplayer mode that is basically ripped straight out of the original game. It only supports 8 players, so it feels a lot smaller when compared to modern multiplayer shooters, but it does come with a nice assortment of game types, including team deathmatch, blitz, king of the hill, one shot kills, 2 versus 2 and even a fun assassination mode.

While I’m sure this mode will bring back a lot of nostalgia for those who really got into fighting COG vs. Locusts twenty years ago, I have to admit that it doesn’t do much for me. I always preferred Halo, which had agile characters that could get just about anywhere with the right vehicle (or perseverance). In contrast, these Gears characters feel like they weigh a thousand pounds and just lumber around the small arenas. There’s no energy or excitement to these online matches.

For me, the real star of this package is the blockbuster action found in the campaign mode, which can be played with or without a co-op friend. Back in 2006, gamers were disappointed that Gears only lasted eight or nine hours, but compared to modern action games (that barely clock in at ninety minutes), this campaign feels like a mini-series. The story and characters may be simple, but it’s always exciting and constantly finding new ways to surprise you. More than anything else, I was genuinely impressed at how well it held up all these years later. This is a great-looking remaster with a well-paced story and lots of bullet-sponge enemies that die in extremely satisfying ways. It took a long time (and an unconventional path) to get there, but Gears of War: Reloaded is a perfect fit on the PlayStation 5.