The Verdict
Overall, I can't really think of a reason not to buy Gears of War Ultimate Edition. Four single player games along with a newly added campaign and multiplayer levels all for $40 is a no brainer in itself. When you add in the quality that The Coalition and Microsoft has added in, this collection is really one of the most well rounded games I've played. Even the listed negatives that I have are simply minor annoyances rather than full on detractions from the game itself. From what I've gathered, these are mostly due to my inexperience with the game rather than downfalls of the game itself. Whether you are a fan of the Gears franchise, shooters in general or perhaps missed out on the Gears craze almost a decade ago, I recommend Gears of War Ultimate Edition due to its polish and refinement on many levels.
The Positives
- Graphical quality is outstanding. As the name implies, it's not just a remaster but an Ultimate Edition. Even though the game is closing in on nine years old, it's done so well that it looks better than most new releases that are out today.
- Environmental effects. Every dead locust lets you kick them around after you kill them. You can blow their body apart mercilessly if you choose. If you run into a chair you send it flying across the room and don't just get stuck running in place behind it. Add that to the lighting and shadow features and it makes you feel part of the environment itself.
- Facial features. Marcus' gestures are just classic and he can even channel his inner Rock and pull off the classic eye brow raise as he talks. Most games show you just the mouth move. Gears of War Ultimate Edition incorporates the characters' entire set of facial muscles making you somehow forget they are based on ten year old technology.
- Weapons. Although not much variety in amount of weapons, what is there has a lot of ingenuity. The detail of the chainsaw gun's blades visibly moving and of course the Hammer of Dawn were amazing nine years ago and still really haven't been duplicated. Oh yeah, and the Locust Bow of exploding arrows is awesome. I mean really, how cool is it to see a body blow up after an arrow is stuck in em? Right?
- Multiplayer. The variety in maps along with some newly added modes makes it an entirely separate entity itself. With Team Deathmatch and new Gnasher execution mode you'll have plenty of options for a long time to come
- Value. The price tag comes in at $39.99 remember, a full $20 under your standard priced game. In addition to the original Gears you are also getting the complete Gears collection Gears of War 2, 3 and Judgment as long as you play before December 31st of this year. You will also be entered into the beta for Gears of War 4 if you play prior to March 31st of 2016. All this along with of course new achievements and this Ultimate Edition is a can't miss for anyone let alone a fan of the franchise.
The Negatives
- The story. As many action shooters go, Gears of War is light on story quantity. Soldier gets framed, soldier in prison, soldier gets out of prison soldier saves the day. There isn't really much side story in Gears which doesn't take away from the game in anyway, don't get me wrong. I'm just a sucker for a good, in depth story and like to see a good one regardless of genre.
- The A.I. By all means I get that the enemy should be tougher on Insane mode opposed to easy mode. That's why I chose to play that mode to begin with. On the other hand, an unarmored enemy should not need two dozen headshots before it's incapacitated. The A.I. was a welcome challenge itself forcing strategy opposed to just run and gun the entire game. On the other hand, I found myself dying often because I only hit the bad guy 15 times with headshots instead of 20 before finally getting shot behind cover once and dying.
- Movement. A few times while running (holding A) in order to avoid a turret I ended up pinned into cover as I came too close to a beat up car or small, retaining wall. Only a few times did this actually cause death as it was more of a minor annoyance. This occurred mainly due to the camera angle lowering while running. Also, since the characters in Gears are some of the most gigantic men I've ever seen, their sheer size blocked out some of my running path as a result.
Almost nine years since the release of the original Gears of War in November of 2006, Microsoft has released the Gears of War Ultimate Edition exclusively for Xbox One. Being that this was the first time I've ever played Gears before in my life, I have to say after five minutes of playing I was pissed off. Not at the game of course, but at myself for some reason never playing any of the Gears series before. Before I fired up the Ultimate Edition, I went and grabbed a copy of the original for my 360 at the local Fun & Games for $3.99. After all, I needed something to compare it to. As my luck would have it the disc was broken so I was S.O.L. As a result I jumped right in, chose Insane difficulty and hoped for the best.
The original story of Marcus Fenix being freed by his buddies from prison after a decade and a half to help eliminate the force of the Locust from the planet Sera is still in tact. Marcus, along with Dom, Baird and Cole (who may be the best character ever) make their way through five levels each with six chapters. In addition to the orginal levels in the game, five new levels have been added which are the ones from the PC release that were missing on the original Xbox 360 version. The intelligence of the A.I. is immediately evident. On the game's easiest level they are rather mundane as they stand out in the open and rarely shoot making themselves easy targets. When you ramp up the difficulty to insane, or even right below it on hardcore, that all changes. Every enemy makes use of cover, they use teamwork to flank you while forcing you to constantly change your location and strategy. Even popping out of cover to shoot only allows you one to two seconds before you're inundated with bullets and have to pop back in.
Added to the strategy needed in Gears of War Ultimate Edition is the damage that the enemies can take. While using my Lancer assault rifle, I found it took about two thirds of a loaded magazine to kill an enemy. Combine that with the fact that they just never stop moving and it became very difficult. I found the Insane level was aptly named within several short minutes. Always an intricate discussion in remasters is graphical enhancements and attention to detail. The chainsaw attachment to the Lancer rifle, although incredibly bad ass, was also ridiculously detailed. Even in the early parts of the game as I was trying to escape the darkened hallways of the prison, I could still see the chainsaw itself moving and operating rather than just simply hearing the telltale noise it makes. Even better with the weapons' detail was the locust pistol you are able to obtain from any of the dead scattered among the ground. It's a single shot, slow reloading pistol but much more powerful than your stock pistol you begin the game with. With each round you fire, you don't simply see the round exit the gun in a ball of fire. You can actually see the gun cycle and reload with each round fired.
Sunlight and shadows play a major role in the game as well. A couple times I found myself walking around a corner and only knew an enemy was there because there shadow was reflected on a column nearby. They are easy to miss as they are after all in darkened prison hallways, but you can still see them clearly and they definitely help in Insane level as you are trying to plan your next move. As the game goes on, you go through multiple levels like a mine cart, Marcus' home, prison etc both inside and outside. Out in the sun is where Gears of War really shines (no pun intended). During lulls of the action, I stopped several times to adjust the camera and see how the lighting panned out on the environment. The sun coming through the clouds lets you see its individual rays and the buildings hit by the sun reflect your shadows just as they would if you were walking down the city street on a beatiful, Sunday afternoon. Simply moving your character while looking at your shadow see it react as it would normally. These little details added a sense of immersion into the game that isn't oft seen in many shooters as they tend to focus more on framerate and enemy action than graphical quality. Visually, Gears of War Ultimate Edition is one of the best looking games on Xbox One.
From the moment-centric in game music to as close to real life voice acting you can get without a rated R game, Gears of War Ultimate Edition's campaign takes a minor story and makes it into something more than it is with the help of emotion and immersion.
There weren't too many people on the multiplayer servers unsurprisingly, but we were able to check it out with a couple colleagues. We didn't experience any hiccups fortunately as the game is running on dedicated servers with extremely little traffic. At first glance, there are 19 maps that we can use with all the PC exclusive maps integrated in as well. Skins for Gears of War 3 characters are unlockable as you progress in various modes along with new control schemes specifically aimed at tournaments.
How did the game as a whole stand up to the original? Let's See
** Necessary Disclosure ** I've never played a single second of Gears of War, any of them, in my entire life prior to this Ultimate Edition.
