Microsoft try to reinvent the Gears Of War formula, but are the new multiplayer modes and open world areas enough to do it?
There comes that point in every long-running franchise’s life where it goes from genre-defining blockbuster to just part of the furniture. New entries become more formulaic and predictable, while ill-advised new features are added that do nothing but undermine the appeal of the originals. Often times there is a recovery, as Microsoft are banking on with Halo Infinite next year, but while Gears Of War has never sunk as low as Halo 5 in fan’s estimation, Gears 5 is not the reinvigoration of the series that the game makers have been hinting at.
The first three Gears Of War games were all made by Fortnite developer Epic Games but to ensure the franchise remained an Xbox exclusive Microsoft bought it off them at the start of this generation and put one of their own in-house studios, now called The Coalition, to work on it – while hiring Rod Fergusson, who’s been the executive producer on the entire series, to oversee everything.
The end result of that was 2016’s Gears Of War 4, an enjoyable but uninspired third person shooter that nevertheless proved that Epic weren’t needed to replicate the formula. Gears 5 is a direct sequel to that game, but while it’s thick with references to the previous entries the plot is paper thin and much of the storytelling focus is on making new protagonist Kait a more three-dimensional character, which… the game doesn’t really pull off.
There’s been a lot of talk about how this is the most dramatic and grounded Gears Of War game so far and in many ways that’s true, but Kait’s origins as an outsider with alien (or however you’d classify the Locust) lineage are little more than a plot detail. And while’s she’s certainly more interesting than Marcus Fenix’s son JD she’s still not close to being a believable, human character.
There’s also an attempt to show a darker side to JD and some of the other soldiers, but that’s constantly glossed over by the game and the other characters. The actual plot doesn’t revolve around anything more than getting the Hammer of Dawn laser satellite system up and running again, which is extremely underwhelming – especially when the game ends arbitrarily on what only barely counts as a cliffhanger.
The action is classic Gears Of War, with very little in the way of new features, beyond the introduction of a floating utility droid called Jack. Although he has only minimal offensive weaponry he can revive other characters and provides Kait with a variety of special abilities that can be collected on the way, including traps, shields, and limited invisibility. He’s useful, and has a fairly complex skill tree to unlock, plus he can be controlled by a human player in co-op – allowing someone without much in the way of shooter skills to have a meaningful role.
Everything else is run of the mill Gears Of War, with very few new weapons or enemies that weren’t in the last game. It’s also the same old cover system and combat as always and frankly it’s beginning to seem old hat. Perhaps it’s because Kait seems like she should be more athletic than her roided out allies but the cover system and movement feels increasingly clumsy compared to most modern games.
What always makes the Gears Of War games difficult to quantify though is that they’re best played in co-op and if you can get two other players to join you on the campaign (including local split-screen) it is a lot more entertaining. Although, as ever with a co-op game, it’s debatable how much of that is down to the quality of the game versus the quality of your friendship. Especially as there are no real co-op puzzles or team-up requirements, beyond occasionally needing two people to open a door.
Gears 5 does have a big new idea™ though and that comes in the form of two separate open world areas. It’s very obvious that these, and the whole revised approached to storytelling, has been inspired by God Of War but none of it works nearly as well in Gears 5. There’s hardly anything in the open worlds, except a small number of short side quests that feature nothing in the way of unique objectives, gameplay, or enemies.
They’re all over before you know it, with the only reward an extra gadget for Jack. The few characters you meet never speak English and there are no enemies wandering around the open world itself. So apart from picking up the odd rare weapon there’s no reason to explore beyond the five or six obvious side quests locations. Even the weird wind-powered toboggan you use to get around is pointless, as it requires virtually no skill to steer.
The main problem Gears Of War has always suffered from is that despite all the giant monsters and impractical weapons it’s not quite silly enough to embrace the 90s style arcade action it always seems to skate so close to. Gears 5 moves away from that to a degree (there’s certainly nothing as amusingly OTT as Gears Of War 4’s finale) but it’s still not grounded enough to take seriously, leaving it stuck even more awkwardly between two stools.
It doesn’t help that your team-mates are almost the only people who speak to you the whole game, leaving the motivations of the enemy extremely unclear, especially to anyone not familiar with the series. There’s no real lead protagonist and the only bad guy that says anything more than a gurgled threat is a human that’s been downloaded into a computer. And it’s telling that his section is by far the most enjoyable in the game.
Add in some eye-rollingly contrived boss battles, that are some of the worst examples from a Western developer we’ve seen in a long time, and Gears 5’s story campaign lands with a wet thud. It’s by no means unenjoyable but it is formulaic and repetitive, with the few attempts at moving things forward never really working.
There are plenty of multiplayer modes but, again, it all seems a little too familiar. Horde mode was innovative 10 years ago but wave-based PvE is hardly a novelty anymore and Gears 5 struggles to distinguish itself from its many copycats. There is a brand-new mode though, called Escape, which has you trying to escape a large enemy facility with very limited ammunition.
Escape is a genuinely new idea, and it’s interesting just for that, although a successful run does take a bit too long to complete, at around 20 minutes. The three-player co-op is enjoyable but the tension only really kicks in when you turn up the difficulty level, otherwise everywhere just seems a bit empty, with only a scattering of low level enemies.
You can also design your own custom levels for Escape, which might lead to seem interesting ideas, but we were surprised that neither it nor Horde are replicated in the story campaign in any way, which Gears Of War does usually do.
Gears 5 is fine, but like many a long-running franchise it thinks you’re more in love with the lore than the gameplay and has become distracted from what made the series so popular in the first place. With the story left completely unresolved by the end it implies The Coalition already has a plan for what happens next, but we hope the focus for Gears 6 is placed squarely on the action and set pieces and not the inconsequential storytelling.
Gears 5
In Short: The attempts to innovate in terms of storytelling and structure feel superficial and ineffective, leaving Gears 5 to survive purely on its increasingly overfamiliar action.
Pros: The combat is still fun, with a meaty range of weapons and enemies. Plenty of content, whether you’re on your own, with friends, or just randoms. Escape mode has potential and Jack is great.
Cons: In terms of gameplay there’s very little new here and a lot of it is starting to feel quite old-fashioned. Weak plot, very limited characterisation, and the open world areas are largely pointless.
Score: 7/10
Formats: Xbox One (reviewed) and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: The Coalition
Release Date: 10th September 2019 (6/9 for Ultimate Edition)
Age Rating: 18
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