Gears 5 Dares To Be Different

After earning fans' trust with Gears of War 4, developer The Coalition had the chance to get creative with the franchise formula. Gears 5 is the result.

[Spurg]

This was an evolution that Gear's campaign needed.
-The sandbox area allowed characters to have more dialogue which leads to better development of that character.
-Upgrading jacks abilities allows for great progression throughout the game but most importantly changes combat drastically whilst making it more fun and creative.
-The 20 hrs long campaign is great for building the world even more and flesh out minor characters. Act 1 itself was
-Gears 5 has tons of enemy variety and weapons. Almost all of the enemies from Gears have a presence in this game.
-Words cannot even describe the graphics of Gears 5.
-Soundtrack from Ramin Djawadi is absolutely great bringing back old and new.

That's just Campaign, there are 3 more modes.
I don't really care about scores but this game is nowhere near the Metacritic of 85 it got, it belongs in the mid 90.

[lxeasy]

Agreed there were a couple troll sites that wanted to bring down the metacritic score for the series ranking. Plus the user rating is higher than what the critics gave it. and the user rating has even more trolls who've never even played the game.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

lol...sure, tin foil hat time..The open areas in Gears 5 are barren and ruin momentum, dont add things just for the sake of it. The open section in G5 is poor.

[SkatterBrain]

I always thought it was funny the Round metal circles over there man boobs, like the purpose of them , is it true Roided out men can Lactate?

[Poopmist]

Reading the negative reviews it seemed like they were just tired of the series and weren't gears fans.

[NarutoFox]

Negative reviews: They want something new from Microsoft.

[coolbeans]

"I don't really care about scores but this game is nowhere near the Metacritic of 85 it got, it belongs in the mid 90."

While I understand your enthusiasm, the amount of disconnects and annoying technical issues DO NOT warrant such a high score imo. I've had to hard reset a few times in respect to cutscenes not being properly triggered. There's notable--though not downright awful--MP connectivity issues to make as well.

[Xb1ps4]

Shit I thought I was the only one lol!!

Had to restart 2 times so far but I’m 50/50 on knocking a point for that. The game delivers on a lot of things day one, now if the whole game was half ass to begin with..... and I’m sure the game will be patched. I’m also going through my first campaign play on insane!! So I hope it doesn’t happen again.

[rainslacker]

There are plenty of games which still get high scores despite having copious technical issues. While I wish reviews would address them, they don't, and I don't see why they should start with Gears 5. There should be a more consistent editorial standard among sites for scoring, and they just don't do that, and from the reviews I read, not many of them seemed to mention the technical issues as a reason to downvote.

Can't say what I think this game deserves, since I haven't played it more than a few minutes myself at work, just thought I'd put my own observation forth.

[MasterCornholio]

I understand why he wants it to score in the mid 90s but I honestly don't see this game as being on par with Breath of The Wild, God of War, The Witcher 3 etc.

[coolbeans]

@rainslacker

Sure, but it's often dependent on the threshold of reviewers in general. Days Gone is one that DID a plethora of major issues handled around the 1-2 week mark of its release, but many lowered scores were clearly influenced by the 1.0 state of things. I think Control did get a knockdown by specific reviewers as well who played on a base XOne/PS4 too.

"While I wish reviews would address them, they don't, and I don't see why they should start with Gears 5."

Why not? The failures of game reviewers (as a ill-defined collective) regarding this in the past suggests there's a need to get on the right path IMMEDIATELY.

"There should be a more consistent editorial standard among sites for scoring, and they just don't do that, and from the reviews I read, not many of them seemed to mention the technical issues as a reason to downvote."

Well...I think this partially comes back the more-pleasant experience reviewers get to have when servers are practically empty. I doubt they encountered any party join issues or mid-game disconnects. For campaign? That's hard to say. A part of me wonders how much I may have done something by making certain actions that confused the game; nevertheless, I can't ignore them.

@Master

"I understand why he wants it to score in the mid 90s but I honestly don't see this game as being on par with Breath of The Wild, God of War, The Witcher 3 etc."

I mean...there is that temptation of ****-measuring that scores have devolved into, but I think it's also tied to the enthusiasm most feel in comparison to other Xbox-studio titles with similar scores. If technical issues were near-extinct here? This would thus far be the least-offensive 90+ game I've played in 2019--not to say I'd be locked to that score just yet.

[Kribwalker]

Are you installed on an external or the internal
hard drive? I have read being installed on the internal hard drive fixes performance issues people have had

[coolbeans]

@Kribwalker

It is actually installed to an external harddrive. I'll put that into consideration, but that's still a bad look of me having to put in legwork & more time to transfer this stuff to an internal drive.

[ziggurcat]

On a slightly related note - I had RDR2 installed on my external HDD, and it would crash constantly. When I transferred the game to my console's HDD, those issues disappeared.

[InUrFoxHole]

Issues I have had so far
1. Game will load but starting menu won't
2. Game enemies will disappear into ground so u can't attack or advance
3. Game will progress with dialogue but enemies won't appear so you can't advance.
4. Horrible ping in MP
5. Random disconnects in mp. If u can get back in quickly it will save your kills and score.

This doesn't warrant any score in the 80's or 90's

[Gaming4Life1981]

Yea I'm enjoying the game alot but man the graphics at 60fps is just great. I'm playing on xbox one x and it's very impressive, I can probably do ultra at 1440p on my pc but I'm more than satisfied on the x. Glad to see everyone enjoying the game. Haters gonna hate as always.

[Kornholic]

"Words cannot even describe the graphics of Gears 5."

Hah, it's a very generic looking Unreal Engine game.

[NeoGamer232]

I played thru act i yesterday with a friend. The only extremely minor problem I have with the game is that sometimes objectives and the path forward are not always clear.

The campaign itself is a masterpiece so far. This is the Gears I was waiting for since Gear 2. Glad to see this franchise is back on track.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Different? There is nothing different about gears 5 lol...Many games have done it and done it better.

[King_Noctis]

"The Coalition had the chance to get creative with the franchise formula"

They refer to changing the game's formula. You should read past the headline.

[King_Noctis]

Pure irony? That's pure hilarity coming from you.

Is the pot calling the kettle black?

[AmUnRa]

Did you kow, headlines that tells only the halve of the true will deliver lots of klicks of people who are pointing that out....😉

[Livingthedream]

Have done what better? I'd be interested to find another 3rd person shooter that provides a great campaign and also has tons of online game modes for cooperative and competitive play, oh and also provides free map updates. The only one that comes to mind is uncharted but their online component is nowhere near as good as gears.

[NarutoFox]

Like rehash of the old games but added a little more open areas and sections to the game.

[timotim]

You've really been trying really hard...and failing.

[King_Noctis]

Is it impossible for you to like more than just one console?

[Orionsangel]

The Escape mode is new for Gears 5 and a lot of fun.

[Godmars290]

Its an "Only on Xbox" thing. We wouldn't understand...Much like why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

[bluefox755]

There are changes, it is technically "different", but the changes don't really make it better, that's the problem. Gears of War 1 was groundbreaking, Gears 5? Good, but mostly more of the same. The gameplay is still strong, it still looks good and plays well, but beyond that, everything is pretty mediocre.

[timotim]

This coming from one of the people who got behind and defended Days Gone. He was telling us all how great the game is and how reviewers were hating on it for being mediocre, but somehow Gears 5 doesn't quite live up to his standards...typical.

[NarutoFox]

Totally agree blueFox. Not saying it's a bad game but I'm surprise this game couldn't get in the 90s on opencritic and metacritic since its suppose to be the best Gears in the series now according to the fans and the critics

[King_Noctis]

@fox

They say it has the best campaign, they did not say it is the best Gears game and you know that.

[Concertoine]

I was impressed with how TC managed to breathe life into a series that had fun multiplayer but felt past its prime. Im enjoying the campaign, the new escape mode and ranked multiplayer immensely.

[Summons75]

Interesting how media sites aren't talking about how completely broken and almost unplayable this game is. The sandbox areas could go though, they aren't fun and just make unnecessary filler to pad out the game. I like Jack being a big focus than I thought I was going to.

[Kabaneri]

Agreed Im really enjoying the campaign but whenever I get "disconnected from Gears servers" my game either freezes, the checkpoints stop working and/or button prompts dont show when they should. Ive had to restart several checkpoints and honestly its really frustrating that server issues are affecting my campaign experience.

[Concertoine]

that part where you kill all the "rejects" at the end of Act 1, my game didn't load any of the textures. I tried rebooting the game, switching hosts with my friend. Trying to trigger the loading in different ways, switching to single player. Ultimately we had to just feel our way through this textureless arena of annoying robots.

Also none of my wins are seeming to count on ranked. Im enjoying the game regardless but wish MS could launch a AAA game without these issues.

[Minute Man 721]

Post ur gamer tag. Doubt u play G5

[TK-66]

There are issues. He's being hyperbolic when he says it's completely broken but there are quite a few bugs that require you to reload a checkpoint.

[mcstorm]

You guys on pc or xbox as I've not had them issues using the pc version.

[NarutoFox]

You shouldn't have no issues with the PC version. If you have a mid-range to high end PC of course.

[Enate]

I've had several issues on PC that have nothing to do with specs. We've run into the Kait walking on her own at the start of the village glitch. The first night we got connected for all of part of an act an was not able to connect for the rest of the night. An we've had people drop randomly from horde mode matches.

[mcstorm]

Not had any issues in sp yet but only played it for a few hours. Giving online a go this weekend but for me no issues on my pc.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Hardly broken, I have been playing splitscreen campaign as well as online co-op with 3 players and it works fantastic. But I'm also playing on PC and Xbox One X, perhaps it's a base xbox thing?

As far as the open level areas I have been enjoying them a lot. Not only do they offer additional dialogue to flesh out the story and characters which was desperately needed for these new characters, it offers plenty to find. I came across a broken down tank and I found a note from Cole Train that he wrote to his mom when he thought he was going to die in the war because he was stranded in a broken tank.

Besides that, the side missions are a good extra challenge with big boss fights and cool relic weapons that also give you upgrades to Jack for some extra incentive.

I'm also loving the sections and missions that allow you to set up attacks and use Jack's stealth abilities. Scanning and tagging enemies and taking out bases full stealth with my co-op partner has been a cool thing never available in Gears.

[FanboySpotter]

I wonder what the people having issues are playing on? Like Pc? Og x1, s, x? I keep seeing people say the game is broken but it's been running flawlessly with me(I play on Xbox one X). There was this one time where it said press to start and the loading felt too long for a menu load so i closed the game, went offline and opened the game and it loaded up right away so anything other than that was perfect.

[Fluttershy77]

how brave

[azizlksa]

strongly agree on campaign mode, they made it a lot better.
Strongly disagree on multiplayer mode, they made it worse than gears 4 which was already bad compared to previous titles excluding judgment.

[DaDrunkenJester]

what dont you like of the MP?

[azizlksa]

The gameplay in general is floaty and guns dont have weight to them. The cover system is horrible with the fast transition between covers and inhuman movement speed, it feels like fortnite compared to gears 2 or 3. I feel like sometimes these developers forget that these are 220lb dudes with huge armors and chainsaws.

Other issues with the multiplayer excluding core gameplay are op lancer, too many explosives, the range of breaker mace is ridiculous, and it just feels arcady and encourages you to be a coward and play behind covers and from the distance, and thats a game called call of duty not gears.

People will downvote and most of those dont even care about the game. Ive been playing the multiplayer since gears of war 1 and i care about this games a lot, and it saddens me that its turning soft and accessible just to appeal to new fans.
I wonder how that worked for battlefield franchise.

[Orionsangel]

The new mode called Escape in Gears 5 is a lot of fun! It kind of reminds me of Left4Dead because of the safe rooms. Everyone should try it! It takes around 12 minutes or so to get through. I commend the developers for trying new things.

I got MVP! https://youtu.be/b2Jw2_3ehL...

[DaDrunkenJester]

12 minutes if you play on easier modes. I was playing with my wife and brother on some harder modes and it was taking us up to 40 minutes to get through.

There are so many modifiers as well that add to the difficulty on higher levels. I cant wait until they add more tiles though as the launch 4 Hives re-use a lot of the same tiles. But between all the enemy variety, bosses, modifiers and upgrading our own characters... we had a ton of fun binging the Hives.

[Orionsangel]

Good call. Yeah I haven't tried on other settings. The default setting is on beginner. I'll try the harder mode.

Yeah me too. Escape is a cool idea for a new multiplayer mode. I hope it's done in other games.

If you ever wanna join my game. You're welcome to. I'm on the PC version as Orionsangel.

[Orionsangel]

This might be SPOILERS....

It doesn't reveal plot elements or anything, but anyway I warned you ahead of time,

Gears 5 opens with you playing the rest of Gears 4 that we never got. It ends the Gears 4 story line. Then something happens and the game changes and Gears 5 really begins. You'll know when it happens. The Coalition obviously wanted to set a new tone for this game.

[ajax17]

youtube.com /watch?v=JalWT8oNxhk

[Godmars290]

Given that most if not all things Xbox related are wank-fests, I can't take anything said here as legitimate. At best acknowledge that its probably a good thing for Xbox fans who are fans Gears fans.

Edit:
Wow. They mention God of War then mention game features that have nothing to do with GOW. Just name drop in hopes of gloaming onto similar positivity that game received for its revamp, though Gears ha hardly been changed to that level.

[rainslacker]

I'd put the change in the campaign more akin to what Naughty Dog did with Uncharted 4. Made some open world areas which you could explore a bit more. The rest is nothing that I would call daring based on what I've seen or read. Game play seems pretty solid though. I don't know if I'd call any of it really daring. I don't think anything they did is such a drastic change from the original formula that people would be upset with it....and of course, you have those that would say the game was great even if it was the worst game ever made. It's not the worst game ever made though and I'd say it's a pretty solid title, albeit technical issues have been reported.

[TK-66]

Lol so Xbox releases one good game and you just can't handle it can you? Look at you working overtime in these comment sections XD

[Godmars290]

Working overtime?

The console wars are over, for me at least. Why don't you just let it go too.

[TK-66]

"The console wars are over"

Agreed. PC won years ago.

[Godmars290]

Someone needs to look up the description of "game consoles".

Yes, PCs are more versatile, can be more powerful, but even @ $500 a console is more accessible to the general public.

[TK-66]

@Godmars290

It's almost as though the console war is stupid because it removes the best platform in numerous areas from the conversation. Who'd have thunk it? Fighting a war for second place is real entertaining to watch.

[XtraTrstrL]

I didn't play much Gears 4 campaign, I'm mainly a VS player. I got a friend to try Gears 5 though, cuz the GPU for $2/2mo. We're on Ch4 of Act 1, it's good so far. I'm very optimistic about what the Map Builder can evolve to in the near future, and am patiently waiting for them to add VS map making to it.

My only issue, which was a huge problem with Gears 4 in general also, is that the technical code team at The Coalition doesn't seem to be too up to snuff. For instance, the first time I joined my friends campaign, I couldn't pull out a weapon as JD, and the rope they descend down on, glitched and was stuck to me until we left that first area, might have tied into why I couldn't pull out a weapon.

All the other bugs/issues with VS are also not the usual launch bugs with games, it's that this team needs work. They make weird creative choices too, like the weapon customization in VS. In Gears 4 you could go to COG, Swarm and Horde setup sections and pick a character and each weapon skin for each section separately. In Gears 5 though, weapon customization is universal and sets the same weapon skins to both factions.

So, if you buy the $20 AAPE Kait skin/weapon set it'll set it to the Swarm side too, so if you have like Gilded Raam and the Black Phantom weapon set, it'll override it. I don't get why they'd go backwards from how nice they had it in Gears 4, and completely downgrade it, especially when that's a big part of how they make their post-launch $.

That being said, and once they completely stabilize servers and matchmaking/ranking issues, and hopefully tone weapon damage down a tad bit in the future, it'll be at a good spot. The 60hz tickrate servers are definitely an upgrade over Gears 4, I'll give them that. 1 weapon tuning was a must, and I love that I'll be able to own the game on Steam, and be completely done with the atrocity that is called the Windows Store.

[ElementX]

I played Gears 4 for the first time this weekend. It looked really good on PC and I can't wait to see Gears 5 looking even better.

[quiddd]

Got a weird question about the vehicle with the sail. Is it necessary to have someone on the sled? Is she steering it?

[Imortus_san]

You are the one that steer it, you are never alone so the CPU player is at the front.

[timotim]

Really loving the story mode so far. Haven't gotten too much into MP, but I'm there soon as i finish it up

[spicelicka]

Going through the campaign and it feels like one of the best action games ever. Graphics are incredible, set pieces are top notch, there's enough depth with the upgrades and semi-open world to give it a really fresh feel, and the gameplay is still unmatched.

[4kgk76]

Gears 5 is great game if you a huge fan of the series you definitely will like gears 5. Gears 5 probably not the game changer or savior Xbox need right now but it a solid game.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Gears 5 is a solid game that I would play, but the technical issues are valuable criticism but don't detract good game like Days Gone and that game is getting better too.

[OnlyThoseOnTheFence]

So far the thing that Gears 5 does so differently is that this is the first Gears game to be such a buggy mess that it gives Anthem a run for it's money.

[slavish0]

So awesome so many people can enjoy this game and play together. Excellent work Microsoft

[AK91]

Does it?

[Good-Smurf]

Watch the crowbcat video and see it for yourself.

[InUrFoxHole]

Gears 5 dares to be buggy and have ping in the 100+ for mp.

[Ausbo]

According to metacritic, F12019 is a better game than gears.

Metacritic isn’t the end all be all. It’s a GOTY contender.