It’s by no means unenjoyable but it is formulaic and repetitive, with the few attempts at moving things forward never really working.Ĭreator of Nintendo NES and SNES consoles dies at age 78Įscape 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.
And it’s telling that his section is by far the most enjoyable in the game.Īdd 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. There’s no real lead antagonist and the only bad guy that says anything more than a gurgled threat is a human that’s been downloaded into a computer.
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. 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. 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. Even the weird wind-powered toboggan you use to get around is pointless, as it requires virtually no skill to steer. So apart from picking up the odd rare weapon there’s no reason to explore beyond the five or six obvious side quests locations. The few characters you meet never speak English and there are no enemies wandering around the open world itself. They’re all over before you know it, with the only reward an extra gadget for Jack. Especially as there are no real co-op puzzles or team-up requirements, beyond occasionally needing two people to open a door. 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. 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. 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. It’s also the same old cover system and combat as always and frankly it’s beginning to seem old hat.
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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.Įverything else is run of the mill Gears Of War, with very few new weapons or enemies that weren’t in the last game. 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. 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.