Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
A cynical person would be having a field day with the current generation of consoles, because if there is one thing they have excelled at, it’s in bringing great games back from the dead. This is the generation of the remastered game. Some developers are happy just to slap a higher res texture on their old game and make a few extra bucks. So why wouldn’t Microsoft bring back a 10 year old game that defined a generation of cover shooters?
Surely Microsoft however, would do more than just slap a fresh coat of paint on one of their flagship games?
On the one hand, that is exactly what they have done, and it’s a wonderful trip back in time, conjuring up those feel good vibes of the first time you played Gears of War. The environments are more detailed, the cut scenes are impressive, and the game feels just like it used to.
And here’s where the warning comes in for Gears virgins. This was a cutting edge game ten years ago, and it still performs well with it’s new lick of paint. But it’s mot quite as cutting edge as it used to be. In some aspects it’s feeling a little old.
Gears of War, the single player experience is about a good as it gets without creating a whole new game. It’s not quite current gen standards, and it did bring some of it’s glitches over with it, but it’s a solid game, and a blast to play.
But the big seller for most shooters these days is the online play, and this is where Gears of War: Ultimate Edition seems to have had the most done to it. The maps look stunning, the characters seem more fluid and the gameplay just as addictive as it always was.
Add to this all the DLC maps and the PC exclusive maps and you have a whole bunch of different arenas to fight in. The beauty of Gears is the smaller teams mean that players generally naturally gravitate to team play, rather than some shooters where you can end up with a whole team of lone wolfs and a losing team. It’s also got an element of hide and seek, keeping you on your toes, and on the move, lest a chainsaw wielding beast sneaks up behind you and rips you in half.
And if the nostalgic trio down Gears of War and a kick arse online addiction isn’t enough for you, when backwards compatibility kicks in, you’ll have access to the entire Gears back catalogue to play through.
Without the online multiplayer Gears of War: Ultimate Edition would have be a yeah, nah moment. But with the online gameplay and access to the rest of the games in the series, Microsoft have set a decent benchmark for re-mastered games.
Reviewed on: XBox One
Rating: R16 Contains violence.
Reviewed by: Jonathan
GAMEGUIDE rating:
