As someone who has put in a lot of time in the Gears of War franchise I was more than happy to start playing Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Xbox One. I can remember the late nights when friends and I would just play co-op on insane hoping to one day beat the game itself. Did beating it on the difficulty ever happen? Sure, but we took our time since we often died, but in the end had fun.
Fast forward to 2015 and we’ve got the re-release of Gears of War for Xbox One, which to my eyes was a great idea since we have so many other AAA games that just get boring. How does Gears of War: Ultimate Edition stand up for being brought to Xbox One? Let’s find out!
I’m not going to explain what Gears of War is about since this is an older game. Gears of War was originally released in 2006 from Epic Games. The game starts off fourteen years after Emergence Day, which is when the enemy known as the Locust emerge from underground to declare war on all of humanity. You first learn that one of the two characters you play as (Marcus Fenix) has been in jail for four years for reasons that should’ve never landed him jail. Trying to save your own father during a war is important, but not to the people in charge in this story. After four years in jail he is reinstated into his military position to help take down the Locust Horde, find out what’s really going on, and to hopefully one day save the world.
The gameplay itself is quite basic in terms of being a third-person shooter. While there are many on the market this is one of the few classic Xbox 360 games that got remastered for Xbox One. Since this game came out a few years ago, it’s a third-person gameplay concept that people are familiar with:hiding behind walls, sneaking around and of course blowing the heads off your enemies with that perfect shot. The Xbox One edition hasn’t really changed in terms of gameplay, it’s more or less an upgraded look with the same mechanics as far as the story and the way the game is played–it doesn’t provide anything “new”. If you look at the multiplayer mode you will notice the new features since they’ve grabbed what happened to be in the other Gears of War games and pushed it to Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.
The online play is pretty solid (some weapons are in need of being nerfed) and I’ve enjoyed my time with it. The multiplayer is where it’s at in terms of the replay value with many maps and weapons we’ve grown to love and hate, as well as some fun matches to be had. As for the art style in the game, the pictures you see in this review show how great it looks in terms of the updated look. As I’ve already stated in the review the gameplay itself is nothing new, but the art throughout the game looks amazing after it being able to use the power of the Xbox One to provide the impact needed to show off what a company can do with an older game.
Overall, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is a game I loved playing from start to end. Should you buy Gears of War: Ultimate Edition with your hard earned money? Definitely. The game provides a great time with local and online co-op as well as the online multiplayer–where the major replay value happens to be. If you’re new to the series, you don’t need to worry about catching up with the story. You’ll be having a great time in what is a grand series. Trust me–once you get your hands on Gears of War 2 and 3 on Xbox 360 (or when the games become backwards compatible) then you’ll want to finish off the story.
