NOW
PLAYING
Meat. Hulking
masses of meat,
that’s what the
Gears Of War
franchise is all
about. Whether it’s
in the way Marcus
Fenix’s body slams into an item of
cover before laying down suppressing
fire, or how his gun-chainsaw hybrid
digs into the skin of enemies like a
knife through butter, Epic Games’
Xbox 360 debut repeatedly has all
these fleshy components wonderfully
smash together – subtly adding extra
maturity to a game already steeped
in grit. It all looks even better in this
recent remastering.
Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition
released for Xbox One in August 2015
and, despite the clear visual overhaul,
it’s refreshing to know that the first
true third-person cover shooter
feels just as great as it did in 2006.
The world might lack colour, and the
surrounding narrative is a little thin...
but I can forgive Gears Of War’s faults
in these areas because a) it was the
first in a series and b) filling Locusts
full of lead offers instant satisfaction.
The gameplay loop is simple but
solid, forcing me into a room in search
of cover, to find a place to get a good
vantage point, then unleash
reams of ammo clips until I
can eventually progress
onto the next area. Back
in 2006 this was unique
enough to satisfy my
simple tastes, and for
the most part it still is.
Gears Of War, however,
features a handful of
cool future weaponry for
Marcus and his pals to deal death
with, and for me the Lancer retains
its reputation as one of gaming’s
greatest weapons. Sprinting up to a
Berserker and playing head chef by
chainsawing his guts is too tempting.
There’s an argument that Gears
Of War is still very much the apex of
the macho power fantasy so many
other titles released circa 2006 were
gunning for, but that doesn’t mean
this super-soldier simulator is totallyabsentofheart.Youonlyneedlookat
the bromance between Marcus and
Dom to realise that these guys were
raving about family before it was cool.
And even though they may argue like a
married couple sometimes, character
dynamics like this combine with huge
set-pieces to remind me that
these ‘super-soldiers’ are
now in fact underdogs.Unfinished
business
This ethos is best
embodied in a new
boss chapter that was
previously exclusive to the
PCversion but finally makes
its Xbox debut in the Ultimate
Edition, where I’m suddenly tasked
with taking down a massive tank-like
Locust called a Brumak on foot. I’d
taken down countless of these from
the comfort of a rig in Gears Of War 2
and earlier in this campaign with the
laser-summoning Hammer Of Dawn
weapon. Now, however, it’s personal.
There’s cover to hide behind but
the Brumak doesn’t let me escape
its view, and so I’m forced to punishDomforblockingmylineofsight
earlier by using him as bait. It works
like a charm, gifting me enough time
to concentrate fire on the towering
Locust’s two arm cannons, which both
break off to leave the driver controlling
it vulnerable. The boss encounter
culminates in a cutscene that sees
the Brumak cooked in a tangle of
power lines – now just another slab of
meat in a war-hungry world.
Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition was
my first time besting the ‘Jurassic
Proportions’ level, and going toe-
to-toe with the Brumak up-close
gives this classic shooter new life. If
that isn’t the mark of a successful
remaster, I don’t know what is. QRevving up our chainsaw to make mincemeat of a forgotten
enemy in Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition AARON POTTER
PUBLISHER MICROSOFT STUDIOS / DEVELOPER THE COALITION / FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE AUGUST 2015“The boss encounter culminates in
a cutscene that sees the Brumak
cooked in a tan le of power lines”
WHAT IS IT?
The updated first entry
into Epic’s formative
cover-shooting franchise,
following Mankind’s
struggle against an evil
subterranean race called
the Locust.098 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
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