Support NeoGAF

[Kagey K]

I liked that they tried some interesting things with co-op. Like when Kait is having her freak outs, only the person playing as her see those while the others have something else to do.

It was an interesting mechanic that I would like to see more games try. It gives you a reason to play all the different characters.

 

[makaveli60]

I'm not a Gears fan but I liked it enough to finish it in one weekend.

 

[acm2000]

Gears 4 wasn't great, 5 was good.

 

[Rikkori]

Remember also, we're in an age where The Division 2 exists, and that puts how Gears controls to absolute shame. It's an ok game to play if you're invested in the Gears universe but it's just so medicore otherwise, in every way. Even their great HDR is let down so much by their weak lighting, so visually it doesn't really go toe-to-toe with this gen's best - something that used to be a Gears staples, the graphical prowess. Granted, it's cause they wanted 60 fps on consoles, but since I play on PC, that's of little comfort. This new studio just doesn't have the ambition of old Epic, or maybe they just don't have enough time, idk. Disappointing either way.

 

[GametimeUK]

I really enjoyed it and performance on PC is great. There's just one boss and a few encounters that pissed me off on insane and a few encounters can get bugged out, but on the whole the game is great. I appreciated some of the changes, the performance on PC (on Xbone from what I hear) is fantastic. I would have loved to play this game coop. I recommend it regardless, but I wouldn't say it's better than any game in the original trilogy.

 

[Steve.1981]

I don't play multi-player. Outside of some couch co-op, I'm a single-player guy all the way. So what I'm about to say is based solely on that perspective.

New Gears seems to be one of those times when I'm just completely out of step with the majority opinion. This thread is a good example. I read people saying things like it doesn't have good gunplay, or impressive graphics, it didn't do anything new, or has a worse story than the original trilogy. I'm sitting here like

It makes no sense to me. The new Gears that I've played have basically the same gunplay as before, which was always best in class, but now it's even tighter & more satisfyingly punchy.

The Coalition are a graphics powerhouses & a real showcase studio for Xbox, with Gears 5 in particular sitting pretty as one of the most impressive looking games of this entire console generation. For me, that's not even up for debate. It's just a fact. I have an OLED, a 1X & a Pro. I love AAA stuff & am a bit of a graphics whore. Gears 4 was gorgeous, but 5 is just on another level. It's stunning.

5 took a couple of refreshing steps away from the tried & true Gears formula (while keeping it's fast pace & big, bombastic set-pieces intact). It introduced a player controlled support robot with several unique powers, which can strategically change the flow of any gunfight & which can be upgraded over the course of the game. It stretched out a bit, moving away from those linear corridors & giving the player a couple of open maps to roam around in for a while. There were optional side objectives to complete & cool, unique weapons hidden around to search for. It even let us spend some quiet time in a village built out of the remains of the giant earthworm from Gears 2, which was a nice callback & some world-building which I hope they expand on in part 6.

The story is, for me, an example of how to continue a popular franchise without pissing all over what came before. JD, Kait & Del are the next generation, with their own struggles & motivations in a new setting. But the old guard are still around. Marcus, Baird & Cole play their parts in the new conflict &, crucially, both they & their past achievements are treated with all due respect.

I could go on, but this is getting long enough. My point is that I think new Gears deserves better. I really don't see why people react so negatively to it. For me, The Coalition are moving the franchise in a good direction while staying true to it's roots & respecting both the original characters & the fanbase. At the same time they're building eye-popping AAA games with gunplay & combat that provides all the thrills & action a fan could want. But hell, maybe I'm just out of touch. Who knows.

 

[Ogbert]

Remember also, we're in an age where The Division 2 exists, and that puts how Gears controls to absolute shame.

Completely agree.

My problem with Gears is that it feels tired. The mechanics are dated. Why bother running in awkward straight lines and using the same guns over and over again, when I can free roam around Washington DC and loot all sorts of different gear?

Don't get me wrong, Division 2 has it's own problems, but it feels like the evolution of horde shooters. I think it's a direction Gears could consider.

That said, it looks nice and is obviously very polished, so if Gears is your thing, there's enjoyment to be had but it just...feels....bland.

 

[Lloyd22]

Maybe they mean the single player story is garbage, for me the single player was good, but not good as the first trilogy.

 

[Kharnivore2099]

I played it on release and thought it was crap. But i've always found the Gears games to be a little bit shit.

Just a damn shame Platinum didn't make any more Vanquish games, as it was worlds better than Gears.

 

[Kokoloko85]

If you liked the others, you’ll like this.
If you love coop Gears, online gears, you’ll like it.

If you were getting bored of the foruma.... then maybe not so much. Same same

 

[The Bloody-Nine]

The formula is definitely tired, nowhere more evident than in part 4, which I thought sucked. But I thought 5 was considerably better than that game.

That aside, I don't know how anyone can argue that the graphics aren't very good.

 

[Aidah]

I played the campaign and a bit of horde when the game came out, and thought it was mediocre overall.

Then about a month ago I started playing online versus, and that part of the game is great.

 

[The Skull]

4 and 5 for me felt very uninspired. The characters are boring, the swarm are far more boring than the locust. I had a better time playing gears tactics. Gears for me is at its best when it's a constant over the top Michael bay esque romp. Gears 2 remains my favourite campaign.

 

[Dontero]

Remember also, we're in an age where The Division 2 exists

I don't like Division 2 but i agree, everyone just moved on from forced cover shooters. IT was already outdated when Uncharted 1 came out with its fluid cover and in 2020 you have game that forces hard cover actions.
It is just 2006 game wiht 2018 graphics. Cover shooting and two weapons max was fad that came and went away and somehow gears didn't evolve above that.

You can even see this in level design. That joke about chest high walls everywhere for no reason in games is still alive and well in Gears5.

 

[Grinchy]

what main issue does 4 have?

For a game that is nothing but one killroom after another, they had to nail the gameplay. They didn't. The horrible input lag made shooting a chore. Playing on the harder difficulty meant never having ammo for the fun guns, so you were stuck with nothing but the basic, shitty, spammy guns the whole time, compounding the feeling of everything you were doing being a chore.

Gears 5 not only remedied every aspect of that, but the enemy variety and placement was much improved. And they even at least attempted to do something new with the exploration sections.

 

[Diddy X]

Gears 4 was good, Gears 5 was good+, they still haven't nailed it, they need more of that gears 1 and 2 vibe.

#bringcliffyback

 

[Kerotan Frog]

I loved the campaign. Has great character moments and the semi open world really worked for me. Not spoiling anything, but Soviet rocket lab just hit all the perfect notes. And it has a 4 act structure as opposed to the typical 5, and I didn't mind. I thought it bookends the 2 open acts with really good linear acts. It was easily the strongest gears campaign since gears 1. I can't wait for gears 6. That will be the game to make me get a series X.

 

[fermcr]

Your friends are morons. Game is great.... and get better friends.

 

[Nikana]

Gears 5 biggest issue is that 4 exists. If 5 was the first game out for the rebith it would of felt much newer and less samey.

Both games are solid but not new. They also couldn't seem to figure out what direction they wanted to go in the story. It seemed like JD was going to take the lead hut then they pulled the plug on that and switched it to Kate in 5. Which is probably the right call as I think she is the better character but it felt kinda jarring.

The new open worldish stuff is kinda neat and a nice break from traditional gears but it's their first time exploring it and kinda shows at times.

Horde is still fantastic.

Multiplayer is still fantastic.

 

[Bartski]

Some posts in this thread are just pure BS vitriol. I played GEARS 5 straight after 4 and if anything surprised me there it was how much much better it was than its predecessor in almost every way. Still more of the same, its classic gears TPP cover shooter and some people just had enough of that already. I don't see how that takes away how good of an entry to the franchise it is.

Having an opinion of your own, independent, and different from what your friends are saying (or what you read on a gaming forum) isn't really that difficult.

 

[GC_DALBEN]

It is the only gears that i did not finish, i liked at first, but after a while couldn stand the protagonist, i dont know why. Horde mode is fun (as always).

 

[Riven326]

They need to change it up. The games have largely been the same since the original. But it seems like they're afraid to change too much because it might upset the fans. The thing is, you're always going to alienate some people with a new game.

That doesn't mean that Gears 5 isntva solid game though. It is and it's better than 4. But in a way, 4 and 5 feel like they shouldn't exist. The story concluded with the locusts and all that. I would gave taken Gears of War to space. Far in the future. Wipe the canvas clean and start again with something fresh and exciting. But most faxme developers don't do that anymore.

 

[ResilientBanana]

I didn't like the cast, but it wasn't a bad game.

 

[GHG]

It's ok.

I've tried to play through it twice, once on gamepass and another on Steam during the recent free week but I ended up getting bored about a third of the way through.

Doesn't have the same punch that the early gears titles had, the core game mechanics haven't aged well.

The next game needs to be a reboot.

 

[guerrilla999]

I am a moderate fan of the series as I loved one and two yet three slightly less and judgement far far less

I could see a trend forming in the direction of lameness

the game slowly but certainly moved away from the gritty gory realism of a military shooter and became more and more child friendly and wisely tried to appeal to a wider broader audience with politically correct characters plus a wildly more simple difficultly

I think five may have learned it's lesson because is seems to be the flop of the series

a young slim minority female who has cool hair that obscures her vision and would likley catch fire in combat like a Starbucks barista taking over the lead character position in the series is pretty much the last nail in the coffin for me

I've got nothing against a woman being in a video game but if you're going to put a female in a military type shooter she needs to look like she could hold the weapon and the gals from gears look more like PC models than warfighters

LOL

gears took a gritty dark and extremely difficult gory shooter designed for adults and turned it into a goofy kid friendly politically correct title that in my opinion is selling sex and violence to children

Pretty girls with fancy hair who couldent lift a 25lb weapon are winning "chainsaw duels" with 500lb armored monsters??

LAME

of course I'm the kind of character that thought the first few gears were silly because the soldiers never wore their helmets in the combat and that seemed to set a trend away from gritty realism and toward silly characters doing fanciful things to entertain little kids with releativly intense violence

 

[oldergamer]

Gears 4 last couple of levels were incredibly fun.

 

[Jesb]

I enjoyed it. I expect them to have a XSX version surely. It was my first gears since two and thought it was the best one since than.

 

[Ovek]

Because it's the 5th game in a series that the core gameplay loop hasn't changed in the slightest and thats being driven by a story that is nonsensical twaddle.

There is a reason people call it Gears of Chore.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

Gears 1, 2 and 3 will always be my favorites. 4 and 5 are mechanically good games. I always felt like we could go a little deeper into the set piece though... there is a lot of surface scratching and that is disappointing if you retrospectively think about the journey.

it is a lot like a mission impossible or fast and furious movie in that you went a lot of places but didn’t do much on screen to show for it.

I think Gears 3 would have been the perfect ending for the series, it hasn't really been good, each one is worst than the last IMO but Gears 3 was great for it's time.