Gears 5 Review (Zarious101)
Gameplay is better than Gears 4 but the new campaign mechanics are very unwelcome and for the most part can be ignored. Enemy variety is better but still nothing compared to Gears of War 3.
The story, like Gears 4 before it, is horribly written and more divisive than ever before with many political themes stuffed into the game. For example there's an egregiously absurd amount of use for the word "Fascist" in the start of Act II when mingling with a non cog settlement. I get that the leader currently for Cog is worse than Preston Scott but there's more ways to describe an authoritative and overreaching country than just that one phrase. One other example towards the end of Act I was when JD was revealed to have fired upon "peaceful protesters" in the past when he exclaimed in defence that the rioters were throwing molotov cocktails. More than likely JD's actions were a direct reference in some part to real life with the recent Antifa and BLM protests over the past few years. It's just another thing that will probably alienate older gears fans. I understand that the devs want to appeal towards a variety of demographics, but it all feels forced without any real character to back it up and more so just to check a box. If you really wanted to make such actions relevant to the story, maybe have the players actually be there and make it part of the story instead of just telling us it happened.
One last note on the story near act I as well, it really just felt like the writers wanted to take a crap on Marcus and JD.
Get this game on sale if you wanna play Horde mode because that's about all it's good for. I hope they just remaster Gears of War 1-3 and re-release the original trilogy.
It's a series that feels ruined by corporate interests in trying to appeal to a new audience without adding any real substance worthwhile to the series. Chasing the embers of a blazing trail that was left by it's prior peers.
Wish I could just leave the review as mixed.