Gears of War Ultimate Edition review

Gears of War Ultimate Edition

The landmark original Gears of War returns, stunningly remastered and modernized for Xbox One. Need I say more? The story of “Gears of War” thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surfaced from the bowels of the planet. Players live and breathe the role of Marcus Fenix. A disgraced former war hero, Marcus seeks personal redemption as he leads his fire team against an onslaught of merciless warriors from below. A console defining game much like Halo was for the original Xbox has been brought up to modern day graphics, running at a smooth 60FPS and not only do you get to play the campaign all over again and relive some of the best gaming moments and battles in history they have thrown every map ever launched through DLC and also 5 new scenes.

So whats new? People have recently been commenting on how remastered may or may not be worth it and that they should always include additional content in the remastered games.

Well Gears of War Ultimate Edition comes with an abundance:

Here is the game brief:

• Remastered for Dolby 7.1 Surround
• 90 mins of new campaign content from the original PC game
• New Xbox Live achievements (1,250 Gamerscore)
• Concept art gallery and unlockable comics
• Modernized Multiplayer featuring:
  • 60 frames per second
  • Dedicated servers
  • Skill-based matchmaking
  • New game types – Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill (Gears of War 3 style), and new 2v2 Gnasher Execution
• Total of 19 maps, including all DLC and PC-exclusive maps
• 17 unlockable Gears of War 3 characters for Multiplayer progression
• More Match customization including Actives, Respawn Time, Self-revive and Weapon Respawn
• Modernized gameplay with smoother movement and updated controls:
  • Alternate Controls and all new Tournament Controls
  • All controls tuned for Xbox One
  • Adding the Gears of War 3 features you love: Enemy Spotting, Multiplayer Tac-Com, Improved sensitivity customization

This alone should be enough to splash the cash on a classic 360 title fully remastered.

Remastered to visual perfection, Gears of War Ultimate Edition raises the bar further than any previous HD remake or remastered title. After hours of streaming this beautiful game there were hundreds of comments relating to how visually stunning the game is.

Visually Coalition and Splash Damage have done an amazing job bringing this up to 1080p and giving it a turbo boost to 60FPS, the game was so smooth (well apart from my wall riding) Each cut scene had us all in awe of it and one reviewer even said it felt like a whole new game not a remaster, had it not been for some attempt of memory callback by myself I would have to agree with him. The additional upgrades made to the game are in abundance and none more so than the raindrops in Act III both of us just stood there for a while looking into the ocean whilst we were saturated by the heavy falling rain right through to the poor rat that gets crushed by the boomers at the start of Act II (which now you can see the poor fellas inners).

Your protagonist is even blinking, it’s little things like that that bring this game to life, added textures and depth ensure the most realistic rugged COG of all time. Add to this the tufts of grass cascading in the wind while you’re raining down fire from your lancer, the blood even stays on your chainsaw after you pillage through a locust’s carcass. and your looking at something beautiful.

Hours of co-op campaign later,reliving classic Gears moments where we were both chuckling to the light hearted humour in cut scenes and focused on the heartfelt moments as you struggle with the onslaught of Locust horde the game presents, there were so many talking points already I just couldn’t put the game down.

Couple that with grit your teeth moments (especially if your memory is as bad as mine) where the Locust horde pop up in places you don’t expect, and the superb variation of drooling enemies that attack you, can you remember the first time a wretch was introduced into the game?

“argh bloody locust, my chainsaw wouldnt rev up”

Play Gears of War with surround sound on and your ears are going to be gifted a array of quality and depth. Having used 7.1 sound now for a few years you begin to get accustomed to the sounds in front of you and behind you, sure enough as per everything else in the game this has been brought up to par with modern digital quality to ensure that the wretch falling from above you is heard but perhaps not seen until it’s too late. In the distance the fall of Sera can be heard in the distance and it’s not until you look up that you see what else is going on, that you are reminded, this is war!

Are some bugs still in the game? sure but just like the Halo remake, its what makes it a classic game. It wouldn’t be the same without going “argh bloody locust my chainsaw wouldnt rev up” this amongst hundreds of other moments came flooding back. Remember when you got stuck on insane first time round? in the middle of the embers with 4 emergence holes, locust pouring out of them, well it’s just a terrifying this time round and it’s thanks in no small part to the fluid graphics.

The enemy’s flank with more intelligence than the original release which is good to see however you will still have those memorable moments a Locust does something dumb and you POP his head off. I did find that the A.I. kill more of the enemy A.I. than before which on insane is helpful, however, after more play through this was not the case. You could be down and bleeding out and the A.I. will look at you and think hmmm whats for dinner fueling your frustrations.

Unfortunately the multiplayer was not active durignour review perios so this will be added over the coming week but expect all sorts of mayhem.

I remember first playing it way back in 2006 and thinking WOW, well i have that feeling again with the reboot.

There is no doubt in my mind that if this much effort is going into Gears of War Ultimate Edition then next year when Gears of War 4 comes out we are in for a truly breathtaking game beyond anything we have seen to date on the Xbox One

You tube Video:

https://youtu.be/rwbYhvlrQbc