James DavieWho thought we’d see the day where Gears of War would be a game you could buy on a PlayStation 5? After 19 years of Xbox and PC exclusivity, Gears of War finally hops over to the PS5 with Gears of War: Reloaded, a refurbished version of the original 2006 Gears of War, as well as the 2015 Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and yes that Ultimate Edition wasn’t quite “ultimate” enough it would seem.
If you have never played Gears of War before and you own a PS5, then Reloaded is a must-play experience, but even if you have experienced Gears of War, this Reloaded edition is the premium way to play Gears of War without a shadow of a doubt. Anyway you chainsaw-cut it, Gears of War: Reloaded is definitely worth experiencing, but considering it’s the third version of the game, is there enough to qualify this “reloaded” version as a worthwhile way to spend more money on a classic you’ve probably played before?
The Locust Scourge Finally Heads To PS5
Gears of War was an excellent 2006 third-person cover shooter starring a band of space marines headed up by protagonist Marcus Fenix, who desperately try to fend off the nefarious locust scourge while trying to locate a Lightmass Bomb, which will utterly annihilate the Locusts. Gears of War was an excellent game with deliciously meaty gunplay, fantastic weapons, an urgent and well put together story, and excellent visuals despite the overuse of greys and browns. Gears of War was generally considered one of 2006’s best games, and this singular entity went on to spawn a bunch of sequels in order to become Microsoft and Xbox’s exclusive premier third-person shooter franchise…….. until now!
Yes, as mad as it is, it’s is now on PlayStation 5, and although it may not make much sense to us gamers, the business of widening a massive franchise’s audience aplenty by letting the competition have it on their system as well, shows just how evolutionary the Gears of War franchise is, and that extends to this evolved GOW experience. Gears of War: Reloaded looks and plays better than it ever has before, and now more gamers than ever get to enjoy it too.
There’s the meaty campaign to tuck through, but on top of this, there’s the delectable multiplayer offering that runs at a sleek 120 frames per second, and will be a delightful new multiplayer treat for PlayStation gamers to indulge in — welcome to Gears of War multiplayer! Best of all is that multiplayer is injected with cross-play, so if your mates love playing on Xbox but you are a PS5 aficionado, you can unite for multiplayer sessions-no more restrictions-just pure universal play, which makes Gears of War a very accommodating juggernaut on top of being a badass classic of a shooter.
A Technical Gears Of War Evolution
So what exactly has evolved? Gears of War: Reloaded runs in native 4K resolutions and at 60 frames per second. The image quality and fluidity of the Gears of War experience has been bolstered enormously, the anti-aliasing and a range of improved textures and shadows truly bring the game into its zenith state. Furthermore, there are no more loading times to groan over during the campaign, and the experience is now fully cross-gen compatible, meaning you can take your account and use it between each system you play Gears of War thanks to your dedicated Microsoft account.
Whether all these quality of life features and evolutions are enough for you to want to play it again is questionable. For those who have never played Gears of War before-which means you the unshakable PlayStation faithful, then it is an essential shooter that you’ll absolutely love, provided you don’t get too perturbed by the brown and grey color palette.
Reloaded is a harder sell if you’ve played Gears of War before, especially if you played the Ultimate Edition from a decade ago as well. Despite the renewed technical showcase on display with it, you aren’t getting much in the way of new content, nor are you provided a reason why the original Gears of War Lily had to be gilded again instead of Gears of War 2, now that’s a lily we should be seeing gilded!
A Near-Perfectly Polished Gears Experience
What will impress the most in Gears of War: Reloaded are the little details that’ll make you truly believe it’s a 2025 game, not just a haphazard nostalgia trip. Locusts are far more easier and satisfying to pepper with the Mark 2 Lancer Assault Rifle, and of course using the chainsaw attachment has provided gory gratification for almost two decades, and that has been retained brilliantly too. The way grenades blow locusts to bloody disheveled chunks is appetite-wetting, they almost make you wish Mark Fenix and company feasted on their blown apart carcasses.
Overall though, it’s the smoothness of the experience and how the environments pop with more vibrancy than ever before that truly delivers where the original and Ultimate Edition could not; it just feels and looks like Gears of War as was initially envisioned, and the results are rather remarkable.
As clean, crisp and revitalized as Gears of War: Reloaded is, it’s certainly not perfect, though, admittedly it is easier to look for kinks when it looks and sounds as epic as it does. There’s a strange sound issue where you can hear Marcus and company talking, but when Marcus is using his earpiece to communicate with Control, you can’t hear their dialogue. Sometimes the AI can be confused about where to go, sometimes shifting themselves uncontrollably back and forth like they’ve come down with a case of physical fussiness. Technical imperfections aside though, Reloaded packs in many top-quality refinements that its debut on PS5 is exactly what devotees have been waiting for.
As Rich And Meaty As Disheveled Locust Chunks
If you’re uninitiated with Gears of War, Reloaded is simply an unmissable epic that you should play pronto. For everyone else, the suite of technical improvements will allow you to experience Gears of War as it was meant to be, and what you get is a luxuriously gratifying third-person shooter that makes a 19 year-old game feel totally new again. Sure, being reminded about the original GOW over and over isn’t ideal, and there are still unsavory remnants of its former self, but if you love the series and always wanted to play it then it’s time to load it up if you’re new, and reload it if you’re a returning fan-either way, Reloaded‘s a must-play.