Review of Gears 5

I am a massive fan of Gears 1-3 and judgement. I liked 4 a lot and wasn't sure about the direction of this series, but 5 got me locked in. This game is AMAZING. Honestly this is probably the best Xbox exclusive since Gears 2 or Halo Reach. It's that stinking good!

Here are my positives:

• The story. Really creative and cool way to continue on the threat of the hive. The personal story with Kait and JD is fantastic.

• The cast. All your favorites are there and I really think Kait, JD, and Del are great characters, especially once the credits of this game role.

• The combat. As always this game has the best third person shooting available on any console or from any dev. Gears combat just cannot be matched. The tried and true formula is there and they added some nice new layers with stealth kills and the ability to command Jack to give support. How Jack is used in this game is honestly brilliant and he can provide a major tactical advantage.

• The semi open world. Running around on the sciff is so fun. It looks beautiful and is a blast to drive. The game is not a "open world" in the sense that it's dense or 100+ hours to beat, it's the same linear gears formula (10-12'hour campaign) with the addition of over world travel between missions and to do a few side quests. Really good stuff.

• moral choice and consequence in a gears game for the first time!

• enemy design and boss battles are greatly improved. Gears 4 had some rough boss encounters but gears 5 ironed all of that out. The boss fights are polished and fun.

• the final act of this game reminds me of Gears 1.

• The graphics and art style are great. This is a Xbox one game that looks just as good as some of the triple A titles that are evening out out today (2023). It holds up and looks beautiful.

• the game physics are actually incredible. From the snow, to the sand, to how drop shot bullets work and how the wind can affect tongue bow arrows, it's really impressive.

• a massive multiplayer and horde mode!

• co-op!

Play this game!