Topic: Gears of War 5 for Xbox One/PC

Posted in the N-Life Xbox thread but figured this might be a more suitable place for discussion.

I just played like 7 hours of Gears of War 5 campaign in online co-op with my brother.

Thoughts

This is easily one of the most amazing exclusives I’ve played all generation. I can’t believe how good this game is! Yet so few people talked about it when it released? Gears has always been good, but this game is on another level. It’s unbelievable. Previous Gears games were great- I played a fair bit of Gears Ultimate and Gears 4. Solid 9/10 games. But I’m struggling to find a reason Gears 5 isn’t a 10/10. I just can’t find any reason to knock this game. It’s near flawless in every single way. And it’s definitely one of the best looking games I’ve ever seen. 2160p 60fps Ultra Settings? This game isn’t messing around.

I’ve always admired the fact Gears of War is designed ground up to include co-op in the single player campaign, both local splitscreen and Online. And that’s not even including the four other modes, which, horde mode is, of course, a classic. But man, exploration in this game is so addictive. The gun play is absolutely phenomenal (on PC, with gyro in the controller mapped to the mouse for aiming of course, because I have to have my gyro aiming).

I wasn’t originally going to preorder Gears Tactics, but after tonight, it’s a day one buy. I’m into it.

edit
Also, I should mention how awesome it is this game allows cross play. My brother played on the Xbox One X while I played on PC. Amazing. I suppose if there was one nitpick I could find it’s the fact that there was no voice chat allowed for campaign co-op. At least that I could find. I know it allows voice chat for other modes, and it allows keyboard chat for the campaign. But no voice chat. I guess that makes sense though because there are cut scenes and a lot of dialogue.

I will be honest, I have never played a Gears game but your post has piqued my interest. Only thing I have a big enough backlog as it is and I feel like I won't enjoy the series from the beginning as I am sure the first Gears shows its age. That being said to jump in on Gears 5 I feel will just confuse me story wise. Still maybe if I get the feel like a good shooter and not care about the story I will check it out.

There is a story summary that gets you up to speed. All really high quality cutscenes. And a video on the universe of Gears that compliments it.

I hadn't played enough of the previous games to really know all the details. Just the bird's eye view. But it hasn't hindered my enjoyment. Probably because the two videos filled me in on everything pertinent.

It's definitely a game you can enjoy regardless of story though. The gameplay holds it's own. But the story on top of it is what really elevates it.

Also, I love the reloading mechanic in this series. So unique. Press R to reload and a bar moves left to right, with a sweet spot somewhere in the middle, a different width for each gun. Press R again and stop it on the sweet spot (Mario Golf style). Closer you get the faster your reload. It's a slick mechanic and makes every reload feel like a one second mini game.

I've played and completed campaign on all previous versions. Gears 5, I've started but lost interest mid game. I've got to the boss fight involving 'freezing the pool' #NoSpoilers and got bored. It's so clearly designed for co-op and I'm playing alone. At some point I need to get back into it as the game is okay. Personally I think earlier titles were better. Just my opinion.

I really liked 5. Gears is one my favourite couch co-op series.

Ya, I was surprised how great it is in co-op (I played online, but still). Having played previous Gears games to some extent but never really being wowed, I kinda expected more of the same. Solid game, decent fun together, but nothing exceptional. Idk what exactly it is, becaus it is still very similar to previous games, but this one just resonated with me more. It’s like, they had a good game, took it and made it exceptional. At least to me. But I suppose the original trilogy was loved just as much in its heyday. This game makes me want to go back and play the previous ones more.

I’d say Splatoon 2, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Monster Hunter World, Resident Evil Revelations 2 RAID Mode and Gears of War 5 are the top 5 multiplayer experiences I’ve ever had. And I think what all of those games have in common, is absolute top-notch gameplay. Gears 5 really strikes a chord with me, because the gameplay is so on point. I wasn’t expecting it to feel so good to play. Maybe the previous games just never grabbed me as much because I wasn’t using gyro to fine tune my aiming back then, as I originally played them on Xbox instead of PC.

@JaxonH
Did you try voice chat over xbox live? You could use xbox app in windows 10, and then use xbox party chat.

@Justifier
I’ll look into that. I’m wondering how it would work though because my brother has the game on Xbox.

If he has the Xbox phone app though, he could use that, while I use the W10 app then, right?

@JaxonH
You should be able to make xbox live party, even if you are on pc and your brother on xbox. Ecosystem is same after all.

If I go to the xbox app on my pc, I can see all my xbox friends on my friends tab. And there is a choice to invite them to my party. I havent tried crossplay live party, but it should work.

@Justifier
Right on. I'll try that.

We both each have a 2nd headset we bought for Switch, since alot of games dont have native chat, that plugs into the headphone jack, then connects via Bluetooth to your phone for Discord or whatever, and mixes the audio. We use it when playing RE Revelations 2 and Monster Hunter Gen Ultimate. We were planning on just using that if we couldn't figure it out.

But it sounds like that won't be needed. I'll download that app and give it a go. Hopefully it works playing through Steam.

@JaxonH
It should be automatically installed in every windows 10 pc. Click windows button and then up right green tile. Or just windows button plus G.

@Justifier
Ya I removed all the pinned square icons in the start menu cause they bothered me

Ran a search though. Is it the Xbox Console Companion?

@JaxonH
Yes that should be it.

I love the Gears games and for me, Gears 1-3 were the 'defining' Xbox exclusives of last gen. The OG Xbox was 'Halo' and 360 was Gears. I was playing Gears 2 when I bought my first HD flat screen TV and it was the game I used to demonstrate what HD brought to the table.

Gears 4 was a bit disappointing to me - not the game-play, the graphics and even the weather was incredible. It was the first HDR game I played too and its visuals were incredible - despite being 1080p at that time on a 4k TV. Gears 5 of course is 4k and visually incredible too. What disappointed me was more because it felt somewhat safe and the first half enemies didn't impress me as much as the Locust from the previous games. It got a bit more interesting later on but I also felt that it ended somewhat abruptly. A couple of missions also felt tagged on, a lift from 'Horde' mode.

I have just returned to Gears 5 - don't know why I stopped playing after Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is a big change from the normal - opening up into a bit more of an Open World. I have completed Chapter 2 today (inc the Boss fight at the end - Solo and on 'Experienced' Difficulty) and all the side missions/collectibles and really enjoying it. It ties back to the original trilogy too.

With ALL the Gears games available via BC - as well as the first as a remaster, there is opportunity to play through the whole history. I don't think the game is too bad playing Solo and the first game, the very end was a pain playing Solo with AI and its that AI that made the end so difficult. The boss I have just beaten may well of been easier co-op (but then that's to be expected) but it wasn't the AI that made this a problem so much. The AI wasn't constantly doing something stupid to get themselves killed (instant failure) - more lacking the intelligence to focus the fire in the right spot - but that also meant that I didn't have to risk getting downed to revive or failing if they died. To me, that was much more frustrating than not taking the boss out as quickly or helping to freeze it.

I generally like to play games Solo first before doing any mission in co-op. I like to take my time, find every collectible/upgrade, do every side mission etc and some people just want to 'rush' through and get the story done. I don't mind blasting through a campaign in co-op after I have played through Solo but I want to enjoy it all - spoiler free, at my own pace first.

I will be starting Chapter 3 tomorrow so I can't say yet how I think it compares overall to the rest of the series but so far, I am enjoying it more than 4 but 2 is still my favourite - so far...