Continue the adventures from the Gears of War 4 storyline in Kait’s journey to find out more about her past and her connection to the Locust and her family bond to them.
AS THE GAME IS RATED M – FOR MATURE WE REVIEWED THE GAME WITH OUR GAMERS 17 AND OLDER.
General Gameplay
As with the other 5 games from the series, Gears 5 is the same cover-based shooter that we know. With new multiplayer game modes, P vs E horde and a new Escape mode, there is a lot of gameplay in Gears 5. We will cover the modes in our Family Friendly section of our review. The Game Visuals for Gears 5 are amazing. In 4K or in 1080P mode, the game flows very well and all graphics are drawn in great detail to showcase the Gears universe. Every attention to detail from facial animation of the characters to the enemies, robots, level backgrounds and even gameplay levels are very detailed and easily seen on the screen. The game does a fantastic job in showcasing the game story and presentation. The game is very violent, and the deaths of enemies and characters are very bloody and detail. There is an option to turn off the violence, but it does not tone it down as much. In our playtesting, outside of the violence, we did not see anything that would be offensive to gamers ages 15 and up. Gears 5 Audio is also done in a very cinematic fashion. All the sounds from the game sounds very clear and easy to hear where anything is going on. The game cinematic cut scenes also showcase the story with the well-done audio dialog and better move the story. The game spoken dialog is done very well with the voice acting and the actors and actresses do a fantastic job of bringing the game to life. The game is presented in 5.1 surround sound as well 2.0 stereo sound. As the game is very voice acting heavy, there is language throughout the game. The games use of adult language is more presence as it is a part of telling the story. Outside of the language in the game, in our playtesting we did not find anything that would be offensive to any gamers. Controls in Gears 5 have changed slightly since Gears of War 4. They have added a execute/melee button to the B button and move the chainsaw lancer to the right shoulder button. Also using the right shoulder button also allows you when the Lander GL equipped to target enemies in the game. Outside of this, every other controller setting is still the same from the previous games. The game controller settings allow the game to be play very fluidly and without any trouble. As with most cover-based shooters, controller response is very important, and Gears 5 does a great job of making the controller settings for the game very approachable. In interesting thing that came up while reviewing Gears 5 is that there is a special setting for gamers that use the Adaptive Controller from Microsoft for the Xbox One. We have some gamers that use this special controller and we will revise the review to provide more information on how the special controller works with Gears 5. The game does not need a special controller and can be played with the standard Xbox One controller.
“Gears 5 does a great job of continuing the story from the previous game, however the story can be predictable at times. Where the game shines are in the multiplayer, Horde and the new Escape modes.”
Family Friendly
We have to say that there is a lot of Gears of War fans here at the office and when the game was released on the Xbox Game Pass, everyone here went nuts for it. Gears 5 is a fun game to play in groups when you want to either play against others in of the many different types of multiplayer modes, or even as a group in the Horde or even the new Escape mode. The story mode does a great job in going into more detail of the Gears universe. We learn more about Kait and her family connection to the Locus. We also see what the aftermath of the Locus is returning and how it affects the relationship between JD, Del, Marcus and Kait. The game also does something new by introducing how you can do more exploring of the Gears world and visits other locations. This allows the story to open more and all you to get more upgrades for the JACK robot to be better useful in battle. This also allows you in single player to experience more of the Gears universe and see more side stories and missions as you play along to the main campaign. Multiplayer, weather you are a P vs. P or P vs. E player, there is a lot to do in Gears 5. There are over a dozen multiplayer type of games to choose from and all of them are fun for those types of gameplay. If you are a gamer that loves to play P vs. E (Player vs. Enemy, Co-op) then you will love the overhaul that they have done to the Horde mode. Horde is still the same, 5 vs. the enemy in up to 50 waves, but there are new multipliers that you can add before the match to get a better score and cards. Also, one of the big additions is a new Escape Mode. In this mode you and up to two gamers, must set off a bomb and escape a location before time runs out. This is a great fast paced mode where you must run and gun to be successful. This is also a great mode for couch co-op as all three players can play from the same game on the same screen. Overall Gears 5 is a great game for older gamers and teens as it offers a lot in the gaming sense. Now as the game is rated M – For Mature. There is a lot of violence and graphic language, again the story and gameplay are meant for a more mature audience, however that being said most of the parents that we tested with allowed the gamers as young as 15 to play the game. We always advise the parents/guardians to watch gameplay footage of both the single and multiplayer gameplay and make the best choice for their gaming family. The only complaint that we had was that there were at times for the multiplayer that it took longer to get into a match, but we suspect that this will be fixed in a patch from the developer soon. In our special needs game testing. Outside of the M rating, we did not see any issues with the game visuals, audio or even controls. If anything, having the ability to change your settings for the special needs controller offered by Microsoft is a big plus and we are hoping that other developers also notice and follow this practice.
Closing
Gears 5 is a great game. With a great story mode, fantastic multiplayer, and co-op modes, there is everything for those gamers that love shooters in your gaming family.
