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Gears 5 starts with a "Previously on …" recap, and that's when I realized I remembered absolutely nothing about Gears of War 4. I played it. I reviewed it. Judging by the review I wrote at the time, I vaguely enjoyed it.
But I do not remember it.
If nothing else, I think Gears 5 will escape that fate. while Gears of War still feels like a series casting for an identity, one that could've died with the Xbox 360 era, Gears 5 at least makes an honest effort at finding a way forward. It stumbles occasionally, sure, but the seeds of future reinvention are here.
A new beginning
The first of those seeds? After a brief introduction, Gears 5 sidelines spicy-as-ketchup protagonist JD Fenix in favor of Gears of War 4 companion Kait. She's still no Marcus Fenix, but she's trying to be that way. JD was always going to be compared unfavorably to his father, the face of the series for almost a decade. Sure, it did not help that JD had all the personality of a model, but if we're honest he was doomed before he opened his mouth.
IDG / Hayden DingmanKait does not live in Marcus's shadow. Not as much, at least. She was ostensibly a sidekick in Gears 4, and yet the story revolved around her anyway. She was having mysterious visions. She was connected in some way to the Swarm and the Locusts as well. Hell, she killed her own mother to stop the formation of a new Swarm Queen. She was interesting. Marcus's place, let alone JD's. She already made a good argument last time.
So Gears 5 gives JD a five-chapter send-off and then pretty much writes him out of the story. Do not cry for him, New Ephyra.
There's no time for tears anyway. The Swarm threat looms. What was an ounce in the world of COG settlements, a reminiscent of the all-out war waged decades earlier. And as the threat grows, so does Kait's connection to the Swarm. She and Del (a.k.a. the other charismatic sidekick from Gears of War 4are forced to leave the relative safety of New Ephyra to try and figure out what visions mean. Is Kait a threat? A weapon? And what is her connection to the dead Locust Queen Myrrah?
The answers are pretty predictable, but the journey to find them less so-that Gears 5 has gone open-world.
IDG / Hayden DingmanWell, sort of. Acts II and III (all of a total) both adopt a hub-and-spoke structure, the first at the foot of the snowy mount Kadar, the second in the red sand desert of Vasgar. They are stunning local and refreshingly different for Gears. We of course visited Mount Kadar way back in Gears of War 2 but that was all springtime mud and evergreens. This is a marvel, frozen lakes and glacial chasms swallowing the remains of the New Hope Research Facility and its various outbuildings. It's a great throwback to one of the original trilogy's best setpieces.
Vasgar is the highlight of Gears 5 though. After ten years and five games we're still seen precious little of the Gears world outside of COG territory. In light of that, Vasgar feels like a revelation. Once a seaside resort region controlled by the Soviet-like UIR, ruins of old cargo ships and docks now poke up from a vast desert beset by perpetual lightning storms.
It's fascinating, seemingly referencing the USSR's real-world invasion of Afghanistan by way of Gears's own skewed timeline. And Vasgar is also home to Gears 5's best story beats and setpieces, moments I will not spoil here.
IDG / Hayden DingmanGears 5 did not need to be open-world though.
I can hardly fault them for trying. Gears of War has always been a Point-A-to-B series, relentlessly linear and tightly paced. That style's gone out of fashion though-or worse, become old-fashioned. Look around the current landscape and it's not hard to see why Gears broadened its horizons a bit.
Goal Gears 5 does not justify the transition. Mount Kadar and Vasgar are not really open worlds. They're crazy, you'll be forced to cross-often for a few minutes to reach the next shooting gallery. No enemies patrol the wastelands, there are many secrets to discover. Nearly every point of interest, save for one or two collectibles per area, is quite literally flagged with a giant flagpole to say "Hey, here's the Gears you know and love. " Gears of War.
Some of these flagged spokes are "Side Missions," which can not survive as a standalone-level or a two-sided, a combat sequence, maybe a collectible. They would not be very interesting on their own.
IDG / Hayden DingmanProblem is, they are not much better in Gears 5 is still a straight line series of main missions, only one of those missions.
Strip away the filler and have a better game, because Gears 5 can be wildly creative at times-especially when compared with the straightforward stop-and-pop of Gears of War 4. One particularly memorable sequence pits you against enemies on a frozen lake. Shoot the ice and your eyes plunge through the depths and drown, though of course the same hazard can be turned against you if you're not careful.
There's a glimpse of the old Gears of War magic in these moments, that "Wow, I've never seen that before". The high points in Gears 5 are some of the highest in the series.
IDG / Hayden DingmanThat feeling only happens in the core story missions though. Outside of that, Gears 5 Like this, it's exactly what it is. And while that experimentation Gears 6 and beyond, it drags Gears 5 down. It's no longer the hard-driving action series of the past, but it is fully transformed into a freeform sandbox.
Bottom line
That said, after Gears of War 4 I did not care what Gears 5. Now, I'm at least curious to see how Gears 6 plays out. I'm calling a win, no matter how narrow.
My interest is mostly due to Gears 5 nailing what Gears of War 4 did not, though. Better hand character, more unique environments, and a few new wrinkles for the well-worn combat shooter cover. I'd take another wholly linear Gears game if it was done to the same level of quality exhibited here. No need for further open-world experiments.
Do I think that's likely? Absolutely not. I expect Gears 6 will continue down this road, we have a larger scale even. I only hope it does not lose itself in the process.
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