“Christie slid this note over to me
at the table. It read: ‘Every winner
was once a beginner’”
story goes, the studio leads were in a
meeting, joking about the varying skill
proficiencies of various Gears Of War
players stationed in the Vancouver
offices, before Rae had a revelation.
What started as a joke between old
colleagues, ended in a total reappraisal
of the way that the studio approaches
development. “As the meeting
continued on, Christie slid this note
over to me at the table. It read: ‘Every
winner was once a beginner.’”
That message is at the heart of
everything that The Coalition has done
with Gears 5, a North Star guiding its
continued expansion and support
of the game. It means that while
the campaign is unquestionably the
biggest, boldest and most ambitious
in Gears Of War’s history – featuring
“levels that are 50 times bigger than
any previous Gears level” – it also
needed to be its most accessible. The
Coalition has taken steps to ensure
that anybody who downloads the
game through Game Pass (or decides
to purchase it through conventional
means) should be able to enjoy the
game, regardless of their experience
with the series. “We asked ourselves,
‘What are the things that we can do
to make our game more accessible
across the board?’”
THE HISTORY
OF GEARSBreaking down the landmark
Xbox seriesABOVE Kait’s
compelling story
moved Team OXM
quite deeply.
BELOW Ice... a lot
of ice. Makes us
shiver thinking
about it.Gears Of War
2006 Xbox 360
The game that started it
all, introducing us to
Marcus Fenix and the
war on Sera – and the
blockbuster that
helped establish the
Xbox 360 as the home
for the hardcore.Gears Of War 2
2008 Xbox 360
This follow-up
demonstrated the true
power of the Xbox 360
when it arrived in 2008,
dragging players into a
broader and far more
bombastic campaign
against the Locust.Gears Of War 3
2011 Xbox 360
Who’d have ever thought
that Gears Of War could
get emotional? The
concluding part of the
trilogy demonstrated
that Gears had a heart.
An emotional resolution
that few have forgotten.Gears Of War 4
2016 Xbox One
With the torch passed to
The Coalition, GOW4
was a faithful if
uninspiring return to
Sera. Still, it set the
stage for Gears 5, so for
that alone it should be
commended.Gears Tactics
2020 PC/Xbox One
With Gears 5 now
available, The Coalition is
turning its attention to its
collaboration with
Splash Damage on
Gears Tactics, a
turn-based strategy
spin-off of the
shooter series.That ranges from all-new content
types, such as a suite of new
multiplayer modes that can cater to all
types of players, to tweaks under the
hood, such as improved accessibility
options and the retooling of difficulty
modes to better support brand-new
and veteran players. You’ll see this
reflected in many ways across the
game, such as how target-locking
kicks in on the beginner difficulty,
where you can press left trigger to
align enemies with your reticule so long
as they are in range of your weapon,
to much larger options, particularly on
the backend, for players to customise
the experience. It means you’ll see
options such as the ability to turn offGEARS 5
More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 061