I have very fond memories of the first Gears of War, playing it after work with a mate, we smashed through the campaign and then started over right away, so each instalment always gets my attention. With the recent Gears of War 4, it left me feeling odd, but leading up to Gears 5, I was optimistic about the series again, but now that it is here, has that optimism been rewarded?

The game is broken up into three modes, campaign, versus multiplayer and specialist multiplayer and each has an appeal over the others but let’s start with campaign. The story continues on from where Gears of War 4 left off, but thankfully if you either don’t recall it or never played it, the game starts off with a nice recap video, with there being a much larger one in the bonus menu. In Gears of War 4 you took on the role of JD Fenix, but this time around it is all about Kait and her search for answers, the problem is, her search is pointless as the game skips forward in time, multiple times, which removes the impetus, which results in a reason that is not compelling at all. The game is clearly broken up into three distinct chapters, the first, which could have been set right after the end of the previous game, the middle, which is a few months after the first and the final, which is scant few weeks later, the times jump move the story forward, far more than anything that happens inside of it.

The first part of the story is very typical Gears, which if you are 5 main games in, you should know exactly what to expect, the COG are doing what they can to save people from the Swarm, as they are attacking a story significant town. This happens after JD and Squad had just launched a rocket into space, packed with a Hammer of Dawn satellite, perhaps the most kickass weapon in the world and the events of their rescue, end with that same weapon being used, but sadly causing some friendly deaths. A few month pass and now we are Kait and her search to bring another group of Outsiders, to the ‘safety’ of the COG walls, but just as the talks begin, the Swarm attack and more deaths happen, the problem is that the lead up to this, from the entire opening parts of the game and to this point, is bracketed by Kait having severe headaches and refusing to do anything about them. However, in this instance a death happens and Kait feels at fault and desires answers to her questions, primarily what is going on with her and thus the search begins. I won’t talk about the final chapters, because there are some story beats that are best left for your to discover on your own, just be prepared.

Once Kait begins her search though, this is where the game honestly loses the shackles of the past and let’s lose in a more modern sense, giving you the freedom to explore some larger open places, something that the games have not even attempted in the past. The game has two of these gameplay moments and they are honestly the same, just with a pallet swap, from white to red, but regardless they are still quite fun and getting around on the Skiff, something I wish were real, is a real treat. There are plenty of locations to discover and more lore of the world to acquire, helping it feel like it is more than just a shell of a place, the mission though is what takes priority and the game does a solid job of keeping you on track. Once you hit the second instance of this open-ended exploration, you will feel at home on the Skiff, I know I did and while there are more people with you this time, there is still a lot that you need to do yourself. Both instances of this help make the game feel alive and I wish there was more of it, especially as when you are not on the Skiff, you are stuck back into the not archaic gameplay that is now the established Gears formula.

Playing Gears 5 feels like slipping back on a comfy pair of pants, after you have gotten home from a hard day at work, there is just something that is welcoming about it, the problem is that now, those pants are over 10 years old and showing signs of wear. The core gameplay is still as solid as it was with the first game, but there is still a distinct lack of innovation in it. For example, if you want your character to climb a ledge, they must first get into cover, then push up on the stick, ensuring that the icon to show you would climb is visible and then you can press the A button and climb up, something that has been around for a while and would not be an issue, except for the simple fact that none of the other members of Delta squad have to do the same, they just jump up. The other problem is that the game rarely deviates from the formula, when not roaming on the Skiff, which is a shame, there are times when some real variety would have been quite welcome, driving a truck away from the hordes of Swarm would be one way to break things up and the absence of that is more keenly felt, especially after they included a sequence in the past game. They have added some light RPG mechanics when it comes to levelling up Jack, the little droid that assists in your adventures, but these mechanics are honestly vary pointless, apart from the tutorial upgrade, I only upgraded two abilities once, leaving the rest as vanilla as it gets and I was fine with that.

When you step away from the campaign and enter into the more traditional multiplayer, things feel even more stagnant, at least when it comes to Versus and Horde. Both modes are fine, but there is not a lot of difference in the past efforts, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, as they have always been solid, but some more variety would have been quite welcome. When you start into that mode, you can select one of the many unlockable characters, for either the COG or the Swarm sides and customise them, skins, poses, phrases, there is a lot of choice for you and the more you level up, the more you unlock. This system is nothing special, countless games offer it, but it does help make the game feel more personal, which is funny given how the story mode does not achieve that. On the Horde side, there have been some refinements, but it is still the same basic mode that we have had since Gears of War 2 and there is nothing wrong with that, the same levelling system is here and combines with the Versus one, so you won’t need to level up each on their own.

Of course, the newest mode is that of Escape, where you and some mates will join to raid a Swarm base, only for it to go wrong and then you had to escape, while a wave of poisonous gas begins to flood the location, a cool concept to be sure. The Escape mode is fast and chaotic and just the right kind of escape, from the other modes we have come to know over the years, however there are problems with it, as it stands right now and that is lack of variety. The mode gives you only a small selection of characters and maps, so you will repeat the same basic mission each time and one can only hope that as time moves on, more is added to keep this mode fresh and exciting.

On a presentation side of things, the game is perhaps one of the best looking games out on the market to date, it still has that same Gears look that we have come to know, but the inclusion of the Ice and Desert locations, help flesh it out and offer up some more wonder for the eyes. Characters are animated quite expertly and have subtle touches to them, which make them feel more alive than ever, the locations though are not as exciting. As the planet of Sera is still under attack from subterranean creatures, a lot of the locations are designed with that in mind, so expect a lot of holes, gaps and cracks to do the landscape, collapsed buildings are also a common sight. The few times that the game does away with the completely ruined, is again in the open locations, with abandoned outposts and such, even some old ruins that are form wars long past make an appearance and these are the locations that are some of the best, that being said, the opening location on the island, covered in green, is far and away the best.

On the audio side, the game again takes no risks, there is very little new to be found and while that is a comfort, it again shows how thin the game is becoming, though it is not horrible. The games cast, once again knocks things out of the park, with John Dimaggio still managing to make Marcus Fenix sound great, after a decade and change, while Liam McIntyre retuns as JD and offers up a little more complexity to the character. The main people you get to spend time with are Kait and Del, voiced by Laura Bailey and Eugene Byrd respectively, both actors provide a lot of heart to the characters and regardless of my own feelings on the character of Kait, I simply don’t like her, Laura has done another amazing job for her. Keeping the other actors like Fred Tatasciore on, makes the world feel connected, not just for Baird, but the growls of the Swarm and again, sounds like that help make it feel comfortable. The music is still more of the same, helping sell the highs and lows and while nothing truly stood out, the track over the final credits was amazing.

Gears 5 seems to be a game that is not sure where it wants to be, there is a massive amount of content in the multiplayer, which will make a lot of gamers happy, but the campaign has become more paint by numbers, than anything interesting. The story makes some interesting choices, but at the same time it feels more incomplete than a half finished lego model and while it would not be so bad, if I found the characters to be entertaining, but they are mostly one note. While they attempt to ingest some new mechanics into the story, light RPG and exploration, they don’t fit within the rest of the game, which is still locked into the formula established over a decade ago. There is nothing characteristically wrong with the game, it just feels like more of the same and after six titles, that is wearing a little thin.

Review code provided by Xbox