Hands-on with the rebuilt Gears of War
Gears of Warwas not alone in ushering in an era of grimdark, of repetitive third-person cover-based shooting, but it ground our faces deepest into the dirt and grit.
At one point an officer yells at prison-broke Marcus Fenix, “you’re not fit to wear that uniform,” yet the army had no qualms about leaving him conveniently locked up in jail in that same armor. Why? The newly redone cutscenes don’t answer this. The dialogue is all the same, but story segments have been otherwise re-directed, re-edited. None of this props up what is a lacking story and unintentionally funny characters, but I’m sure the people who madeGears of War: Ultimate Editionhad fun making the original entry look its best.
Well, Rod Fergusson did. I can’t imagine too many studio members of The Coalition, formerly Black Tusk, took a particular nostalgic pride in completely re-doing over 3,000 art assets after the studiocanned the original IP it had been working onfor near two years. They get to makeGears 4, at least.
Fergusson callsUltimate Edition“the first at its best.” The team didn’t want to update the gameplay to reflect every change brought about by the second and third sequel. It’s a “balance between modernization and breakingGears 1.” You still can’t move while downed, for instance, but you can spot enemies. Still, the ten-year-old game could use some cleaning up. Fergusson hastalked about the slapdash putting together of the original. He noted that, “When you look atGilligan’s Islandtoday, it’s a terrible show that should never be watched.” That it isn’t really funny, “but Mary Ann was hot.”
This comparison doesn’t make a ton of sense becauseGears of War: Ultimate Editionis a tech overhaul. It’s a shot for shot, line for line remake, like thatPsychowith Vince Vaughn. An HD, visually remasteredGilligan’s Islandwould still beGilligan’s Island.
I played someGears Ultimatelast week in San Francisco. For shock value, they had Xbox 360s set up to play one round of multiplayer in the original. It is gritty and monotone. Characters feel appropriately like tanks and I struggle to discern between human and alien bug ground monster. This problem didn’t go away completely when we switched over to Xbox One, but we can chalk that up to me being not particularly great. I think my team only lost one round, though the win piles were not me carrying folks.
Here’s a more important question: why is the gruff marine third-person cover shooter the thing that feels most copied fromGearsand not active reload? Active reload is still so fucking good. It engages the player when they’d otherwise be waiting for an animation to finish, it has practical advantages, more button presses (in repeatable timing instances) makes for more rhythmic and fluid play. Why didn’t everyone do this?
The rest of it is still fun, too. The insult of walking patiently up behind a sniper and casually chainsawing them dead. The hulking movement and exploding heads. That one level with a killer train in between halves. And there are new additions like TDM, differing “competitive” and “social” matchmaking, 4K displays if you buy it on PC, additional content if you never played the original PC release.
PlayingGears Ultimatewill net you the previousGearsgames when Xbox One sorts out its backwards compatibility, too, and you of course get early access toGears 4down the line.
