Gears 5 review: Bombastic action setpieces and great gunplay make for a fun ride

I have got to say, I really wasn’t expecting to like Gears 5 as much as I did. The Gears of War series has felt a little stale to me lately, like it’s one of those retro game series that just isn’t interesting anymore. This game blew my expectations out of the water and delivered what I am sure is the win that Microsoft needs right now. 

The game's campaign is Uncharted-levels of bombastic action set pieces tied together by memorable character beats and emotional story moments. With some really satisfying and fluid gunplay, the game’s multiplayer modes also have potential for long-term fun. Let’s dig into it!

Rootin’ tootin’ gun shootin’

Gears 5 picks right up where Gears of War 4 left off, with the Gears fighting off the Swarm - a hivemind of monsters and nightmarish creatures. The story centres around Kait Diaz and her search for truth, as she starts seeing and hearing her dead mother during painful visions. There’s a bit more to it than that, but I won’t spoil anything big here. 

The game’s campaign relies on how invested you are in the main characters. Kait is part of a squad of Gears, and all of them really shine through in the story in their own unique ways. The story has four acts, with each act having a series of ‘chapters’ to play through. It’s a fairly short and sweet run, lasting maybe 8 to 10 hours depending on how you play. 

Right from the get go, Gears 5 isn’t afraid to toss you neck-deep into the chaos of war against the Swarm. Monsters of all shapes and abilities will come at you - some as tall as skyscrapers - leading to some really epic and large-scale battles. 

If you take a step back after finishing the game’s story, you’ll realise that it was really just ‘run here, stop, shoot, run there, repeat’ kind of gameplay. It doesn’t really matter though, because this game is constantly tossing in new weapons and environments to keep things fresh. 

Throughout the story, you’ll encounter all sorts of new monsters to fight and some absolutely insane - but well designed - boss fights. It’s just non-stop action all the way through, and it says a lot about that this game that I came out the other end wanting more. 

Characters and visuals

The characters are really great, too. It would’ve been so easy for Gears 5 to just coast on how good its gunplay and mission structure is, but the game gets surprisingly emotional sometimes too. The writing is not always there to bring those moments home, though. I mean, once I heard the line, “Screw your orders! This isn’t about you, this is about me!” I checked out. It can get pretty melodramatic, but thankfully that evens out after Act 2. 

Part of what makes the campaign so good is certainly the main cast’s performances. Great actors like Laura Bailey and John DiMaggio easily chew up all the scenery whenever they’re onscreen, but everyone else plays their part really well too. For a game that relies heavily on cinematic cutscenes and strong performances to sell its story, that really goes a long way. Facial animation during cutscenes is absolutely top tier too. 

The visuals are absolutely fantastic as well. Gears 5 is constantly throwing you into new environments to keep things fresh, and it’s remarkable how much attention to detail is paid to each of these places. You could be exploring a dark tunnel, a vast red desert, big icy plains or even a rocket launch site, and they all look equally great. I never once got bored of just looking around and taking in the sights. 

Combat and semi-open worlds

Combat just feels awesome in this game. Gears 5 is widely-known for its emphasis on cover-based shooting, and that doesn’t change here. Standing out in the open will kill you instantly, so you really have to make use of your environments and find some cover. There’s always a powerful weapon or stack of ammo tucked away somewhere, so keeping things moving during battle is also a good idea. 

All the guns feel pretty great too. None of them are content to be just one thing - even the machine guns often double as chainsaws or grenade launchers. Weapon feedback is awesome, with enemies just exploding into mulchy piles of gore every single time you put one down. You can turn off gore, by the way. I don’t know who needs to hear that after that sentence, but you can.

Gears 5 introduces something new to the series: semi-open worlds. The game encourages exploration this time around, giving you two different hub worlds during Acts 2 and 3 that you can explore in between missions. You can ride around these areas on a Skiff, which actually feels really great to control. Props to the Coalition for that. 

Unfortunately, this is the weakest link in the campaign's chain. These big hub areas are really devoid of life and reasons to explore. Other than picking up upgrades for Jack, your little robot buddy, there’s really no motivation to explore and do side quests in the map. By the end, they just felt like a pseudo-loading screen as I travelled from one corner of the map to another to do a mission. Why even have them at all?

Multiplayer

Alright, so the campaign is great, but the game’s multiplayer modes will really decide how well it fares in the long run. There are three of these modes, Versus, Escape and Horde. You can also play through the campaign mode with a buddy, if you like. 

Versus is standard multiplayer PvP fare. Two teams of five clash in different types of matches; King of the Hill, Arcade, Escalation and much more. These are the quickplay modes, and offer a bunch of different ways for a bit of fun playtime here and there. Gameplay is fast and smooth, just like the campaign - although since that applies to all your enemies as well, you might find it just a tad faster than you like. 

Similar to games like Fortnite and Battlefield V, Gears 5 includes a whole bunch of weapon unlocks and progression systems to give players a little something to strive for here and there. Personally, I didn’t really feel motivated to chase all those weapon unlocks and cosmetics, but players who want something in return for all their time playing won’t be disappointed here. 

Horde and Escape are the game’s two co-op modes. Horde will be familiar to fans of the series, as it returns from Gears of War 4. This mode involves players working together to fight off 50 waves of enemies. Players can also build defenses and purchase new weapons between waves to help make the fight a little more bearable.

Escape is a new mode to the series, but just as challenging in its own way. Here, you have to escape a dangerous area filled with lethal gas and kill mobs of enemies along the way. In case you needed an extra twist, you start out with a very limited amount of weaponry too. That means you’ll have to scavenge for weapons and ammo as you fight your way out. 

Now, I haven’t been able to play as much of the multiplayer modes as I’d like, because as of the time of this review there are very little people playing them in the first place. I can’t judge the multiplayer component of this game very well as a result, but I really liked the game’s PvP modes and I think the rest of the multiplayer will definitely keep players’ Swarm-stomping appetites sated for a very long time. 

Conclusion

Honestly, Gears 5 was surprisingly good. Admittedly, the mediocre gameplay and plot of the last two Gears outings set my expectations of Gears 5 low. But other than a couple of graphical bugs and glitches (nothing game breaking) that I had encountered, the game was pretty polished. It’s clear that The Coalition has a lot of love for this franchise, and a desire to freshen things up at the same time. 

This has led to a very different kind of Gears game. It's one that feels uniquely Gears down to its bones, but also one that's innovative and fresh, with a fun and schlocky campaign mode that delivers exactly what people might expect from a Gears game: Lots of explosions, and an adrenaline-fueled good time. 

Speaking of which, this is probably a good time to mention that you can straight up buy an Xbox Game Pass subscription for S$14.90 per month on PC and Xbox, allowing you to play Gears 5 for something like a S$60 discount. It is absolutely worth every penny of that S$14.90.

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