The original Gears of War came out way back in 2006, The Xbox 360 was barely a year old and i was a few months into my first year of Sixth Form college. It was arguably the first big first party new IP for Microsoft's sexy new HD box and my god what an important game it was.
Now, 12 years on, i sat down to play through the enhanced remaster that came to the Xbox One a few years back to mark its 10th anniversary with a buddy of mine (Shout out to the Headshot surgeon that is Craig), does it still hold up? Well, in short - yes.
Gears Ultimate is a remaster in every sense of the term, instead of a drastic redesign it ops for subtle improvements. The game looks alot better with new textures, the animations are a little fixed, the frame rate is improved and the multiplayer has its own matchmaking system.
From an art perspective the game still looks great. It was an early showcase of the 360's power back in 2006 and while not being to the levels of Halo 5 or Gears 4, Gears ultimate does a good job of making you forget this is an old game. The soundtrack remains impactful and intense and the sound design in general is as beefy and brutal as you remember. Its also very well written, even if a little overly macho, the characters all come across with there own perspectives and motives without feeling like blank slates. I also loved the witty banter that Delta squad had in the original trilogy and that holds up great in ultimate.
The coolest addition for me to be honest was the added chapter from the original PC port. This chapter allows you to fight an enemy you saw in the original on Xbox 360 but you didn't actually get to fight so even if like me you've replayed Gears a number of times, there is something new to see. Overall this new chapter felt fairly good but did have a few instances of poor design which standout compared to the classic sections before and after. There is a few sections where it feels like the designer forgot how the cover system works causing a few frustrations for me and my Co Op buddy on our Insane playthrough but still its cool to play.
The level design in general has held up fantastically well and even on the hardest setting i was rarely frustrated too much. The atmosphere in Gears is without parallel for a macho 3rd person shooter and the first game has always been the best example of this. Whether its the amazing first encounter with a Bezerker or Speeding train at the end, Gears never feels stale despite its relatively simple gameplay and incredibly low amount of weapons.
In terms of Extras the developers have added a few little things for the Gears fans out there. They have tied the collectible Cog Tags to unlockable digital versions of the Gears of War comics which gives you a reason other than Achievements to hunt won the 33 cog tags throughout the game. They also added a vast array of statistic tracking and multiplayer skins to add to the longevity of the game which is a nice and harmless bonus.
I sadly wasn't able to test the multiplayer too much as the servers, at least here in Europe, appear to be very low on players but the few times i did get a match i got a great sense of not only nostalgia but of real quality too. The original gears multiplayer still had elements of classic multiplayer. for example the servers were peer to peer not dedicated so the host always got a massive advantage in the close quarter fights that occurred frequently, this is thankfully not the case with Ultimate. A modern matchmaking system has been embedded in the game and it works fairly well. The map design and game modes are still some of the best on Xbox and i do highly recommend you give it a go should you be able to get into a match!
At its core Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is everything a fan of the original game could ask for. It looks modern, has new content that most of us haven't played and adds a few little bonuses to keep us coming back. It sorely misses the Horde modes of later games but at its low £19.99 original price (you could easily get it for less than £10 now) and the fact that it is also now a part of the Xbox Game Pass program means i must highly recommend Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition to all Xbox One owners.
8.5/10
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