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[Grinchy]

(Yes, OTTTP = On Time to the Party)

I felt compelled to make a thread about Gears 5 to alert the general public to the fact that it doesn't suck. I know it's the safe assumption that it would. If you don't really play these games and you just let the 5 die-hard fans post back and forth in the OTs about how amazing every single aspect of every single entry is, you may not be aware of the fact that Gears 5 is legitimately good this time. It's not only an insane fan who can enjoy it this time.

The first 1-2 hours are a bit of a slog. The input delay is still quite bad. The cover system and general movement still feel incredibly antiquated and generally clunky. There are little things here and there that could have been changed and updated but are kept in just because they're afraid fans of the series will be upset with the gameplay being improved and updated in any way despite desperately needing it.

But, that wraps up most of the negatives. When you get past those, what you are left with is a game where enemy encounters are actually balanced properly. You get actual challenge and not bullshit (minus a boss fight I fucking hated). You are left with a game that finally lets you use the cooler guns (that mostly feel WAY better than before) and doesn't restrict the ammo to an absurd degree on the harder difficulty. You are left with a game that manages to at least reach the level of "acceptable story."

You may not be watching Casablanca in these cutscenes, but the passion and desire to make something great is clearly evident. There is a very "God of War 2018" portion of the game where you're in a big hub world and can pick and choose where you want to go. You go off on a path, clear everyone out, maybe fight a boss, and are rewarded with an ability/upgrade for your Robot pal. It's an interesting departure from the standard "walk into kill room over and over again and sometimes we'll put a 28 second cutscene full of cringe in there to pretend we have a story."

I'm not claiming this is the best game of the generation or anything, I just want people to know that this game doesn't suck like a Gears game usually does. If we were doing a 1-10 scale where 5 is actually average, this is a very solid 7. There are bad design choices that will frustrate you throughout, but the good design choices, great visuals, the improved gun mechanics, and all other positives will keep you from thinking about the little bad things.

 

[j0hnnix]

Good write up. Gears5 is definitely and improvement over 4. The cover system does seem to have already worn itself out, the story was interesting and the choice you make towards the end leaves it open to see how coalition will move forward with it much better than their previous attempts. I really dislike the amount of cash for the skins lately but I don't care much for mp gears so its a minor nuiance for myself. We will see what they do with Gears6, the shit monetization needs to go though.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

ltTp: uNchArTed 4: mOrE lIKe uNcHarTEd bOrE

Just making a thread to say this: LTTP has been a long-standing tradition of NeoGAF. Please show some respect to this tradition by not making shitty puns on the thread title. Thank you, MiyazakiHatesKojima Happy Bastille Day, France! 🇫🇷

www.neogaf.com

 

[Hobbygaming]

Gears 5 is a good game. I think gamepass kind of cannibalized its sales though. I like what The Coalition did besides

Spoiler

killing off JD as I started liking his character

 

[Graciaus]

I thought act 2 was worse then the 1st. Then somehow act 3 ended up worse then both of them. Act 4 however felt like an actual gears game so there is hope.

Open world stuff was awful. That boss against the wannabe berserker was also awful. Did not care for the robot stuff and never used it.

 

[Northeastmonk]

My biggest complaint was that they ended it just like they did 4. Wait till Gears 6 for a memorable boss fight. I enjoyed playing it, but I feel like the campaign doesn’t have a lot of replay value. I finished 4 and felt the same way. I can remember the parts I did like and I’m not exactly complaining about it. I feel like they didn’t add that meat for multiple playthroughs. If anything Gears 6 is going to have that because you’re ending things.

It felt like a tease with the multiple choice thing. I mean, yeah that part was good, but Gears 6 is going to mean a lot more to the player. You basically did a complete loop in Gears 5 and the way they treated JD was like a grunt tier level. I liked it, but I have no real desire to replay it until Gears 6.

God of War was kinda like that. The meat was the cutscene we all were anticipating at the beginning. I guess you have to start somewhere. But even Mass Effect had some solid ground in 1, 2, and 3. Each title had its own unique tale and twist.

Gears of War 1-3 each had their own unique places and ways of finishing the conflict. The end to Gears 4 and 5 felt like amusement park rides, a larger experience minus the input of the player. Like a gun gallery at an arcade.

I felt like Gears 5 was a fun ride, but it didn’t leave me wanting to ride it again. I just want the finale.

 

[TUROK]

I just want people to know that this game doesn't suck like a Gears game usually does.

Hmm....

Not really sure how someone can enjoy this and think the other ones suck. They're all basically the same shit.

But yeah, Gears 5 is a solid outing. Doesn't push the gameplay forward in any significant way, but it's a pretty good linear SP game.

 

[Grinchy]

Hmm....

Not really sure how someone can enjoy this and think the other ones suck. They're all basically the same shit.

But yeah, Gears 5 is a solid outing. Doesn't push the gameplay forward in any significant way, but it's a pretty good linear SP game.

"usually does"

The first Gears is still fun to play to this day and a lot of competent design choices were made. There was kind of a gradual downward slope after that, with a huge drop bringing us to the awful Gears 4.

So, for people who aren't huge Gears fans, who may or may not have even liked the first one all that much, the assumption could be that there's no point paying attention anymore to a new Gears release. And I think someone in that boat should check it out, especially if they can do it for free or for a cheap gamepass.

 

[daninthemix]

Gears 5 was decent (I guess I'd give it a 7 or 8), but we're really 10 years on from Gears being a groundbreaking series. Only 1 and 2 were truly exciting, event videogames. Then the world moved on but Gears did not.

It's still a dependable series, but nothing to write home about.

 

[Grinchy]

Gears 5 was decent (I guess I'd give it a 7 or 8), but we're really 10 years on from Gears being a groundbreaking series. Only 1 and 2 were truly exciting, event videogames. Then the world moved on but Gears did not.

It's still a dependable series, but nothing to write home about.

This is the part that frustrates me a little bit and why I want to give this entry credit.

You can see a ton of effort went into making this, but then at its heart, it's still an old clunky cover shooter that died off for a reason. It kinda reminds me of the Killzone situation - I'd love to see that team make a new FPS with no ties to that IP. I'd like to see the team that pulled off Gears 5 get to make something while not being shackled to this old and somewhat busted gameplay.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

I enjoyed it up until the very end. The final boss fight at the end was meh and I didn't appreciate having to do the whole make a choice thing. My favorite part of the game was the open world stuff and the end of Act 2. I'd put Act 2 > Act 3 > Act 1 > Act 4. The first half of the game was absolutely solid for me. It was really just the very end that I wasn't impressed with. But overall a fun game.

 

[DForce]

I thought it was Ok.

Still feels much more of the same. I hoping they'll do a lot things differently with Gears 6.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

I really liked Gears 3 and 4. Im confident that 5 would be a good game too, but Im just sick of the gameplay right now.

 

[phil_t98]

My only complaint about the game was travelling via the sled. At times it was unclear where to go. The game overall was realy good and the weapons felt great. The fight with the boss getting him stuck in ice was a bit of a chore but other than those complaints I loved it.

massive improvement over 4, none of the levels for me were boring and the graphics and lighting on the X were top notch.i need to replay it to get the collectibles .

one thing I do hope with Gears 6 is they go back underground and take it a bit darker and horror esque again. Doesn’t have to be full on horror but a bit more where your dreading what’s around the corner like gears one. This is a perfectly acceptable action game where the first and some of the second had those darker moments

 

[Hotspurr]

Gears 5 is much better than 4. The impressive aspect is that 5 iterations later and it's still fun to play.

 

[GymWolf]

I quit out from the game during half of act 2, same old thing who play exactly the same with samey animation, enemies etc. with pretty graphics, lucky for me i payed only 1 euros for gamepass.
It's probably a good to great game for who is hangry of more gears formula, i'm definitively burned out.

 

[RiccochetJ]

I quite enjoyed (still enjoying) it. I'm like you OP where I would give it a solid 7, but the graphics bump pushes me to an 8.

I play Gears games for the campaign along with the story, and they like to show off a bit there. The campaign can be absolutely wonderful at times with the eye candy.

 

[Ravi_elite]

I guess everyone else seems to be having a completely different experience then i do


Coming from a gears1-aholic i find gears5 lacking all the good things that made gears of war so enjoyable.

 

[J-Roderton]

-Open world bits of it are what make me not enjoy the campaign so far. Just kills the pace.
-VS is fine. Arcade is a pretty cool addition. I'm seeing a lot less wall-bouncing try hards in casual too, so that's nice.
-Unlocking cosmetics and stuff is a drag. Luckily I don't give a shit about that stuff much anymore.
-Horde is still fun. Escape is excellent.

I'm fairly happy with Gears 5 so far.

 

[Grinchy]

I guess everyone else seems to be having a completely different experience then i do


Coming from a gears1-aholic i find gears5 lacking all the good things that made gears of war so enjoyable.

Was Gears 1 the last one you played? If that's the case, I'd understand. But if you played them all and this one is your least enjoyable then I'd be confused. The 4th one was such an awful campaign that I couldn't name one thing it did better than 5.

 

[Lupin3]

Campaign was horrible in almost every single way. Last act was the only thing I enjoyed somewhat, but the ending was quite lame as well.

The fluid mechanics saves MP somewhat, but the store and greed ruins almost everything. Gears MP (1-4, not Judgment, of course) used to be an addiction of mine, now I'm having a hard time even bringing myself to start the damn game.

 

[phil_t98]

I quit out from the game during half of act 2, same old thing who play exactly the same with samey animation, enemies etc. with pretty graphics, lucky for me i payed only 1 euros for gamepass.
It's probably a good to great game for who is hangry of more gears formula, i'm definitively burned out.

can I ask what you were expecting? Most games equals play the same as the ones befor. Zelda does exactly what Zelda does , if you didn’t enjoy the others or got bored of the others did you expect it not to be a Gears game?

not having a go just a genuine question

 

[GymWolf]

can I ask what you were expecting? Most games equals play the same as the ones befor. Zelda does exactly what Zelda does , if you didn’t enjoy the others or got bored of the others did you expect it not to be a Gears game?

not having a go just a genuine question

i was already disappointed from the gameplay trailers because i was expecting a major refresh on the formula, but for 1 euro of game pass was hard to not even try the game.

i enjoyed the saga for the first 3 games, then i played gears4 and i was already bored\disappointed with that one, but like i said 1 euro for one month of rent was too cheap to not even give the game a try.

 

[kunonabi]

As a more casual Gears fan I thought it played alright, although something about it still felt off, but the characters and story were even more awful than usual.

 

[phil_t98]

i was already disappointed from the gameplay trailers because i was expecting a major refresh on the formula, but for 1 euro of game pass was hard to not even try the game.

i enjoyed the saga for the first 3 games, then i played gears4 and i was already bored\disappointed with that one, but like i said 1 euro for one month of rent was too cheap to not even give the game a try.

gears 4 weren’t greatwas just ok. I found that gears 5 was a better game. They don’t need to change it as it’s gears. What would you change?

 

[Codes 208]

The store, lack of variation for characters, bugs, balancing and relatively uninteresting maps killed MP for me. The campaign was ok, better than 4 but everything else has been so-so.

i cant believe i actually prefer 4’s lootbox system over this store’s mediocre garbage and grind-heavy progression system. Bring back 3’s unlocking system FFS

 

[Grinchy]

The store, lack of variation for characters, bugs, balancing and relatively uninteresting maps killed MP for me. The campaign was ok, better than 4 but everything else has been so-so.

i cant believe i actually prefer 4’s lootbox system over this store’s mediocre garbage and grind-heavy progression system. Bring back 3’s unlocking system FFS

It's fascinating to me because I've only ever played the campaigns in these games. I'm sure I tried Gears 1 online at some point forever ago, but I never got into it. It just never resonated with me.

So my only perspective on the Gears games is in the campaigns. I wonder if, when I talk about how bad Gears 4 was, I would have liked the multiplayer and it would have rounded the package out more for me. I doubt it, though.

 

[Codes 208]

It's fascinating to me because I've only ever played the campaigns in these games. I'm sure I tried Gears 1 online at some point forever ago, but I never got into it. It just never resonated with me.

So my only perspective on the Gears games is in the campaigns. I wonder if, when I talk about how bad Gears 4 was, I would have liked the multiplayer and it would have rounded the package out more for me. I doubt it, though.

The mp was pretty good. I played the campaign once and havent touched it sense. The MP however kept me coming back for years. Though arguably it was very samey to 3’s. But the map selection was good, plenty of characters to play as (despite the shitty lootbox system) and arguably the most balanced gunplay of the series (the fluidity of 3 minus the sawed-off bullshit.)

and horde mode was also a pretty good iteration, though i would say 3’s is still better if not just for the bigger variation of enemies.

 

[GymWolf]

gears 4 weren’t greatwas just ok. I found that gears 5 was a better game. They don’t need to change it as it’s gears. What would you change?

general feeling, animation, controls, hit reaction etc. but maybe is too much of a change to ask because after that maybe devs can let down the more hardcore fans of the saga.

 

[phil_t98]

general feeling, animation, controls, hit reaction etc. but maybe is too much of a change to ask because after that maybe devs can let down the more hardcore fans of the saga.

It’s like the uncharted games, they basically the same with subtle differences. Hardcore fans would flip your right

 

[Rolling_Start]

(Yes, OTTTP = On Time to the Party)

I felt compelled to make a thread about Gears 5 to alert the general public to the fact that it doesn't suck. I know it's the safe assumption that it would. If you don't really play these games and you just let the 5 die-hard fans post back and forth in the OTs about how amazing every single aspect of every single entry is, you may not be aware of the fact that Gears 5 is legitimately good this time. It's not only an insane fan who can enjoy it this time.

The first 1-2 hours are a bit of a slog. The input delay is still quite bad. The cover system and general movement still feel incredibly antiquated and generally clunky. There are little things here and there that could have been changed and updated but are kept in just because they're afraid fans of the series will be upset with the gameplay being improved and updated in any way despite desperately needing it.

But, that wraps up most of the negatives. When you get past those, what you are left with is a game where enemy encounters are actually balanced properly. You get actual challenge and not bullshit (minus a boss fight I fucking hated). You are left with a game that finally lets you use the cooler guns (that mostly feel WAY better than before) and doesn't restrict the ammo to an absurd degree on the harder difficulty. You are left with a game that manages to at least reach the level of "acceptable story."

You may not be watching Casablanca in these cutscenes, but the passion and desire to make something great is clearly evident. There is a very "God of War 2018" portion of the game where you're in a big hub world and can pick and choose where you want to go. You go off on a path, clear everyone out, maybe fight a boss, and are rewarded with an ability/upgrade for your Robot pal. It's an interesting departure from the standard "walk into kill room over and over again and sometimes we'll put a 28 second cutscene full of cringe in there to pretend we have a story."

I'm not claiming this is the best game of the generation or anything, I just want people to know that this game doesn't suck like a Gears game usually does. If we were doing a 1-10 scale where 5 is actually average, this is a very solid 7. There are bad design choices that will frustrate you throughout, but the good design choices, great visuals, the improved gun mechanics, and all other positives will keep you from thinking about the little bad things.

For me, it was the forced and un-necessary choice right at the end of the game that ultimately wrecked the game. Along with the horribly written retro-ing of the previous main character to being an inept war criminal.

Other than these terrible narrative choices (edit: possibly foisted upon the writers by producers on reflection) it had been the best Gears game so far for me.

 

[thelastword]

OP what boss fight did you not enjoy...…?

I think Gears 5 was ok, but to me it had no personality...….The characters are uninteresting...…...When I first started playing I felt the controls was off, so I had to slide up the sensitivity...….It's a tad annoying that you can't jump over simple barriers in Gears after all these years, you can only jump over what they want you to....I can jump over tall barriers only to be stunted by something which looks like a baby could jump it, yeah, those little things

Tbh honest, I have trouble remembering the characters names and that's an issue right there......Like I am having now remembering Kait's default companion, let me google..........yes, Del......I kinda liked Del, so of course I chose him over JB, but that bit came out of nowhere, so close to the end.....Why? You just decide to peg out a main character for what?.....Very puzzling..

I don't think the hub world was that great, go clear a nest get some parts for your robot, the whole water damn thing rinse repeat, there was no challenge in the hub world, the hub itself didn't offer relative to variety or puzzles, I even felt perhaps I could get a chance to jump the skiff over a gorge get to some upper sections of the hub, nope, some secret areas, nope.....It was all very small in scope and density, just a mile of sand or a mile of snow to skiff over......I think the robot sidekick bit has been done much better in a game at the start of this gen, but it was certainly not awful in Gears 5, I liked it and feel they need to improve it for the next game.......I mostly used the hacking enemy ability on the big guys to kill the smaller guys and when it was wearing down I laced the big guys down with lead for an easy kill.......At the beginning of the game, I used lots of the stun ability and later on I also used a bit of the armor ability (STIM)......with hacking..

I don't know though, I expected more from the interactions with Kait and her mother, I felt that ended flat, especially the A.I which I followed for a bit, just to a poof.... In that section, I felt the frozen guys would pose a huge battle in that place, they definitely set up the tone... nope......I also felt the last boss was a bit cookie cutter.....In essence I felt it lacked a real challenge and that was a theme throughout the game for me......When I first saw the maggot swarm, it destroyed some soldiers viciously, I said ok, that enemy looks dangerous, I'm in trouble now....but nope, fighting the thing, you just stayed in cover or run about and deposit lots of lead into it, eventually it popped...No real strategy and anything unique to take down unique enemies...…...There are certain enemies in RE5 that gave me shivers everytime I faced them, but not so here.....The last boss was simple enough, just shoot some tentacles and take out a big tongue, but as you got close to beating him he lasered in on you with his tentacles to insta-kills, mostly when I went for ammo when I shouldn't though, but there's a very easy way to beat this boss, which I found.....Which I will not discuss here.....

I like TPS, it's defintely not the worst I've played, but I find the atmosphere the early games had was totally lost here...…..There's nothing innovative about the gameplay or the hub...It's a very short game where the story seems like an afterthought and very disjointed and b-rate...….I give it a 7/10.

 

[Grinchy]

OP what boss fight did you not enjoy...…?

When I first started playing I felt the controls was off, so I had to slide up the sensitivity...….

It was the Matriarch boss fight where you have to keep freezing it and running around it while everything it does just one-shots you. Just your typical bullet sponge boss fight with way too much power placed in a game with relatively awful controls.

As for the sensitivity, yeah it was the first thing I did too! It was the deadzones that helped me out. The bad input lag kinda requires that the game recognizes your joystick movement sooner, hence the need to lower the deadzone all the way down.

 

[Rolling_Start]

It was the Matriarch boss fight where you have to keep freezing it and running around it while everything it does just one-shots you. Just your typical bullet sponge boss fight with way too much power placed in a game with relatively awful controls.

Oh yeah, forgot about that boss. Pretty bad, that was.

One shot kills (especially from behind), from an insta-charge bullet sponge. Doesn't fit with controls built around being a cover shooter, in a large area with no cover.

 

[LordVader]

I loved this game. It has me excited for this series to continue for the first time in years.

 

[thelastword]

It was the Matriarch boss fight where you have to keep freezing it and running around it while everything it does just one-shots you. Just your typical bullet sponge boss fight with way too much power placed in a game with relatively awful controls.

As for the sensitivity, yeah it was the first thing I did too! It was the deadzones that helped me out. The bad input lag kinda requires that the game recognizes your joystick movement sooner, hence the need to lower the deadzone all the way down.

I usually let it run to the thin ice and I shot the ground just before it got there, rinse repeat....... You got to do lots of running in that fight, run away to the other side and pepper it with lead from the other side, but I do understand why it can be a pain with those insta-kill charges....What I didn't like in that section is how Kait could not move as fluidly in certain sections, like after the first cutscene introducing the boss, you had to come away from the hole and go all around the creature or else Kate would not move freely......

 

[zenspider]

OTTTP: I love it!

I really appreciate this look from outside the bubble of fandom.

If I had an XBOX I might give GOW5 a go, but alas...

 

[lock2k]

I subscribed to Game Pass to play it and I can't bring myself to play it.

Don't know why...

I used to love the series... I thought 4 was meh and now the 5th was just more of the same... I also miss how everything looked bleak as fuck and now it's all colorful. Don't get me wrong. I love colorful games (blue skies in gaming and all that) but a colorful GOW game looks stupid to me. I don't know why...

 

[Shifty]

On time? How very unfashionable.

 

[lock2k]

I like TPS, it's defintely not the worst I've played, but I find the atmosphere the early games had was totally lost here...…..There's nothing innovative about the gameplay or the hub...It's a very short game where the story seems like an afterthought and very disjointed and b-rate...….I give it a 7/10.

This, so much.

 

[ZywyPL]

IMHO Gears (and Halo) should finally end, just like ND ended UC series and shifted towards TLoU. GG moved from KZ to Horizon, Kojima moved from MGS and started DS, and so on. The Coalition and 343I need to move onto new, equally big and ambitious projects, especially given they cannot handle Gears/Halo series like their predecessors, enough is enough, you can milk the cow only for so long. Xbox needs a new, fresh Gears and Halo replacements.

 

[Insane Metal]

Yeah Gears of Bore 5.

 

[Grinchy]

IMHO Gears (and Halo) should finally end, just like ND ended UC series and shifted towards TLoU. GG moved from KZ to Horizon, Kojima moved from MGS and started DS, and so on. The Coalition and 343I need to move onto new, equally big and ambitious projects, especially given they cannot handle Gears/Halo series like their predecessors, enough is enough, you can milk the cow only for so long. Xbox needs a new, fresh Gears and Halo replacements.

Yeah, I am always saying how I'd love to see what they could do without the shackles of these IPs. Even if they nailed the formula as well as the predecessors, it's still an old game formula that just needs to be updated.

 

[The Bloody-Nine]

I am really enjoying this, it's a very well made game. And I HATED the 4th one.