Gears of War - Ultimate Edition

Editor's Notes

Digital Xbox One version reviewed. Specific notes on the multiplayer can be found in the Replay section.

Introduction

'Gears of War' is a seminal Xbox 360 title from 2006, and it led to a series of popular third-person shooters, all published by Microsoft (as well as some imitators). In January 2014, Microsoft purchased the IP and tasked their new studio, The Coalition, with remastering the first 'Gears', with additional work being conducted by British indie dev Splash Damage. Rod Fergusson, producer of the original game, is currently employed at The Coalition and continues to oversee the franchise.

With 'Gears of War - Ultimate Edition,' Microsoft is not only bringing back a modern classic, but there is an expectation that 'Gears' multiplayer will take hold on the Xbox One, enthralling a player base of old and new 'Gears' players, and ultimately leading up to 'Gears of War 4.'

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

The Coalition has big shoes to fill in remastering one of the most beloved 360 games of all time. Throughout much of the 360’s lifecycle, at least one 'Gears' had consistently been in the top ten most played games on Xbox Live at any given time, and the whole series has sold like hotcakes (with the partial exception of the most recent entry, 'Judgment', which struggled a bit in comparison to its older brothers). The work on 'Gears of War: Ultimate Edition' has purportedly been going on for 18 months, which is quite a long time for a remaster.

The 'Gears' series is about Delta Squadron, a foursome of soldiers engaged in perpetual battle on the planet of Sera. After eight decades of human civil war, a previously unknown collection of subterranean species, called the Locust, spilled out onto the surface of Sera. The first event, called Emergence Day or E-Day, destroyed a quarter of all human life. The humans have been steadily losing ever since, and their population has been decimated by both Locust attacks and ill-fated initiatives by the heavy-handed human state, the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG). Fourteen years after E-Day, former soldier Marcus Fenix is released from prison, and he leads a desperate offensive by the COG to destroy the Locust home.

The most dramatic change in 'Gears of War: Ultimate Edition' is the visual presentation, which we’ll get into more detail about later. First let’s talk about the campaign. It plays as nicely as ever, with lots of cover-based shooting, torque archery, and chainsaw bayonetting. The level design has lots of variety, with some great bosses and only a chapter or two of frustrating silliness (like the "drive and shoot kryll with a huge flashlight" section). As expected, there are no problems with the translation to the Xbox One controller, and the default controls are identical. Changes and additions to the campaign are minimal with the exception of the Brumak levels, cribbed from the original game’s PC version. These were also given a next-gen facelift and are quite good for the duration of their 90-minute runtime.