Gears of War is one of the hallmark exclusive Xbox properties since 2006. The next installment in the franchise, Gear of War 5, officially launches today – Sept 10, 2019. Gears of War 5 is developed by video game developer, The Coalition which is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Xbox has been having issues keeping market share in the console market during the last few years due to the fact many of their exclusives tiles have not doing so great. This includes the Gears of War franchise, with Gears of War 4 having less than stellar results. Can this new title redeem the franchise? Let’s dive into a quick overview of Gears Of War 5.
Gears of War 5 Initial Launch
Gears Of War 5 launched in an early beta earlier this week (Sept 6) for those who had purchased the Ultimate Edition or for those who have an Xbox Game Pass. The Xbox game pass allows users to play 100+ Xbox games as well as 100+ games for the PC for a low monthly rate. There are usually some good deals on the Xbox Game Pass if you haven’t done it before, so you might be able to try out Gears 5 for a couple of dollars. Gears 5 is available to play cross-platform, both Xbox and PC.
Early Problems
The initial release was met with many server issues. Some issues were reported to include Xbox live crashing, multiplayer matchmaking issues, as well as progress and collectibles in the campaign not being saved. Over 4 days, the Coalition has worked very hard to push out updates and get these issues addressed. All of them have been fixed except for the progress during the campaign not being saved but they are working on a fix according to updates. This is a pretty quick patch turnaround time for a game, although obviously many have been disappointed with the issues and glitches.
What’s Good in Gears of War 5
Even with all these initial problems, the reviews for Gears 5 have been quite favorable. I can attest that they have returned to their roots and produced a game that true to the original franchise with a solid, fun and challenging story-line. There are new and old characters but they have fixed many of the convoluted Gears 4 issues. Gears 5 is a familiar, comfortable game where they made minor improvements in controls, concept and characters and everything just works. The new Escape mode makes for quick fun speed runs with 2 of your friends. Horde mode maintains the roles introduced in Gears 4 but makes everything a lot easier to do with each character only have access to certain roles. The card system and unlock-able items are there, but they are straightforward and easily accessible from the customization screen. A few people are complaining about the cost of the items in the store but I’m sure once the bugs of the launch are ironed out we will be seeing new skins and items to purchase at various rates.
Final Thoughts
I am disappointed in many of the issues that happened at launch like many others, but still, have found myself booting up the game every day to play multiplayer rounds with friends of mine. We laugh, we scream, we yell “I’m down” and have a great time doing it. This is what I play video games for. If you are a fan of the Gears franchise or new to the series be sure to pick it up or check out the Xbox Game pass and start enjoying this multiplayer “returned to its roots “ game today.
