‘Gears of War: Reloaded’ Campaign Mini Review

Developer: The Coalition/Epic Games | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 6:40

This review only covers the Campaign of the game, the Multiplayer is discussed in the latest entry of ‘New Side Quest!’ Available now.

While not quite the crown jewels that the Halo series is, having Gears of War on Playstation is a big step in Microsoft’s “Everything is an Xbox/Play anywhere” approach to titles. Choosing to remaster just Gears of War 1 rather than doing a full Masterchief eque ‘Fenyx Collection’ is an interesting choice. Gears of War offers players a solid introduction to this world but perhaps not enough to truly sink your teeth into.

The game takes place on the planet Sera, 14 years into Humanity’s war against subterranean creatures known as the Locust. You play as Marcus Fenix, a COG soldier arrested for trying to save his father, Adam Fenix on an unsanctioned mission. Four years into his sentence, he is broken out of prison by old comrade Dom Santiago as humanity need all the able bodies they can get. Together with other COG soldiers, they are tasked with providing the government tracking data for a ‘Lightmass Bomb’, hoping it will end the Locust once and for all.

That’s all you’ll get in terms of story, although by collecting the COG Tags (COG dog tags) scattered throughout missions, you’ll unlock digital versions of comic books that released during and around the time of the games original release. The story is pretty straightforward without them though, they’re more for flavour and scene setting. Each character is charming in their 1 dimensional characterisation but it’s a sci-fi military shooter from 20 years ago, you didn’t need Shakespeare.

I don’t know if it’s the original but Gears of War defined the third person cover shooter gameplay. It might feel a little sluggish now but sliding into cover, pivoting around it, blindfiring – all things Gears started with. It’s a shame the AI doesn’t want to take advantage of this with your AI teammates getting stuck around the corner from the action, walking in and dying or letting enemies through to give you a surprise smackdown. None of the encounters are terribly difficult, even if one or two are slight spikes in difficulty. This is a 20 year old game at it’s core and a lot of issues stem from that

Levels play well even if none of them are terribly interesting visually. Each Act is split into multiple sections (great for replays) but all of them follow the same linear corridor design. There are occasions where the game will ask you to choose a route, usually between low and high ground but the changes aren’t anything huge. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is some variation – encounters with the blind Berserkers or light fearing Kryll do help change the pace a little.

Gears of War is no masterpiece and perhaps hasn’t withstood the test of time after 20 years but it’s still very fun and the launch point for one of gaming’s most iconic shooter franchises. It’s arrival on Playstation, while late in the grand scheme, is only a good thing and it’s great more people can play a classic.