Gears of War: E-Day is here, bringing with it what feels like a new push for Xbox and one of the best entries into the long-running third-person shooter franchise.
The original Gears of War defined modern console gaming and the Xbox 360 back in 2006, giving players a visceral and bloody shooter that shook up what Unreal Engine could push out. With 11 total games spanning the series, including spinoffs, Gears of War: E-Day feels like a soft reboot for the franchise, taking place earliest in the timeline. With the decades-long Pendulum War at its end, players experience Marcus Fenix coming to grips with the prospect of civilian life, something he seems to almost wish to forgo in favour of his military career.
Gears of War: E-Day uses this narrative thread to punctuate the beginning of Emergence Day, which in essence acts as a sick twist of fate in which Marcus’s desire to continue as a COG is realized. E-Day explores themes of guilt and regret throughout its roughly 15-hour campaign, adding a solid sense of narrative weight to an otherwise familiar story. Gears of War: E-Day is the perfect jumping-off point that feels like what an Xbox exclusive should be.
“Gears of War: E-Day is here, bringing with it what feels like a new push for Xbox and one of the best entries into the long-running third-person shooter franchise.”
It is a shame that the PlayStation 5 version of the game was scrapped at the last minute, but after playing through Gears of War: E-Day’s campaign, it is clear that Xbox is trying to recapture the glory days of solid exclusives, something that the Coalition and People Can Fly have nailed, delivering the best Gears of War campaign in years. Spread across 5 acts, Gears of War: E-Day showcases the steady conquest of Kalona, starting with our cast of heroes coming to terms with the Locust invasion, before inevitably coming to the realization that they are firmly on the losing side, and that a brand new war has only just begun.
Gears of War has always had a grim story, but Gears of War: E-Day manages to humanize it in a way that feels fresh, particularly in regard to Marcus and Dom’s relationship, made all the more emotional for those who’ve played the legacy trilogy. The game also takes the opportunity to reintroduce some iconic weapons from the series, going beyond the legendary chainsaw lancer and even providing better contextualization to various Locust weaponry.
On the topic of the Locust, Gears of War: E-Day introduces a few surprising new and reimagined enemy types, which all appropriately feel almost primordial, as if an ancient evil has finally awoken in the already war-torn setting of the game. Outside of standard waves of enemies, E-Day features several boss encounters and set pieces that feel distinct, even when they reuse familiar monsters, thanks to unique stage gimmicks and hazards.
“Gears of War has always had a grim story, but Gears of War: E-Day manages to humanize it in a way that feels fresh.”
Unfortunately, some of the latter bosses, particularly during the end of the campaign, can feel like massive bullet sponges, made worse by an incompetent friendly AI that can often get hung up and die in combat. In other words, Gears of War: E-Day, especially on the harder difficulty modes, is best played with a squad of real players.
Gears of War: E-Day balances the strictly linear approach from the Xbox 360 trilogy with the open-world aspect of newer entries in a much more concise manner, giving the best of both worlds. Many levels feature linear, tightly designed set pieces that eventually give way to large, open-ended city environments that feature a slew of collectibles, including weapon mods and story-related curiosities that flesh out the narrative. Side missions also often crop up during the more open-ended areas within the campaign, which, although they mostly feel like Horde Mode encounters, do add extra things to do that often have exclusive collectibles and mods associated with them as your reward.
Visually, Gears of War: E-Day might be the best-looking Xbox exclusive to date, particularly during the nighttime sections of the game. Playing the game on ultra settings on my 7900XTX with ray tracing enabled was a sight to behold, which, despite lacklustre native ray tracing support, ran at a fairly consistent 40fps that doubled nicely when paired with Lossless Scaling, making for a smooth and gorgeous experience.
Finally, despite being set first in the canon of the franchise, Gears of War: E-Day does feature a few new and unique weapons to play with, including an acid-spitting Locust shotgun, a sticky-grenade launcher and, of course, the early prototype lancer. Several unique and new Locust species are also introduced, which I won’t get into detail about, but all of which feel fresh and engaging to fight, making for a fun time for those who may be tired of the series or have been dormant towards the franchise.
In closing, despite some spongy boss encounters, Gears of War: E-Day is the series at its best, firing on all cylinders, giving both new and returning players one of the best Xbox exclusives to grace the system in years.
