Gears of War: Reloaded

"And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad, the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had."

Gary Jules and Michael Andrews' very atmospheric and slightly eerie interpretation of the old Tears for Fears song echoes in my head when I start up Gears of War: Reloaded. Gears of War turns 20 next year, which feels completely absurd, it feels like it was yesterday when I saw the trailer for the first time and sincerely wished I could afford an Xbox 360 on the fly. Gears and I have some unfinished business and now finally came the chance to finish what I never managed the first time around 17-18 years ago. I got a long way then, right up to the final phase of the fifth act, but finally gave up for some reason. There must have been some part that drove me crazy, so I simply never picked it up again, even though I certainly thought over the years that I would do it at some point. But it's like John Lennon once sang that "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

It's the debut of Gears of War on PlayStation after all those years as an exclusive title and I've thrown myself into the fight against the Locust horde and their merciless Queen Myrrah immediately, and I can't help but smile as I take my first stumbling steps. It's certainly a bit like being thrown back in time where I sat in my old boyhood room and played on a thick and very basic 14-inch screen. A lot has undeniably happened since then, that's for sure, and I must admit that it feels a bit strange to play Gears on PlayStation, even though I absolutely welcome it.

In terms of the basic mechanics, there are no major differences compared to the original, except that it feels a little smoother, a little faster, and a little more modern, while still being recognisable. The game controls also seem to be basically the same, at least from the start unless you choose to change it to your own preferences. In any case, I quickly recognise myself and, happily, the muscle memory in my fingers are still there, even though it was so long ago. The refresh rate is usually quite good at a stable 60 frames per second, but when it gets messy and intense, it tends to drop a bit, which is a shame but not catastrophic.

Of course, we have to talk about the integration of DualSense's many great features, because it is extremely successful and makes Gears of War in 2025 actually a better game on PlayStation than it is on Xbox. There's no question that it does an incredible amount for the game experience, it feels solid to fire the weapons thanks to the haptic feedback, Marcus Fenix's steps feel just as heavy as they look, and splitting a Locust with the chainsaw has never felt more real. The speaker in the controller has also been integrated in a good way, all the answers you get via radio communication go via the controller and that gives the whole experience another dimension. But some weapon sounds also come from here and it's especially very useful when reloading. Just like in the original, you can reload the gun lightning fast if you time the reloading correctly and when the magazine has 2-3 bullets left, there is a distinct click from the speaker as a small warning. When the magazine runs out completely and the reloading process begins, there is a click again from the controller and based on this, it's then quite quick to learn to time the quick reload just by going by audio. Usually I need to glance up in the corner and then risk losing focus a little on the ongoing battle, and it can get quite intense when the disgusting Locusts attack with full force. But now I just need to listen and then I know exactly when to press R1 to perform a perfect quick reload. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, but once mastered, it's very beneficial.

Gears of War: Reloaded is definitely a great looking game, that's for sure, but... I'm not exactly floored, I have to admit. I remember very well how impressed I was when the original came out, which was probably the best in its class in terms of graphics at the time. Reloaded doesn't set the bar quite as high, but the textures, lighting, and shadows still look very good, with environments and surroundings in general never looking better in a Gears game, I would argue. But certain elements such as fire and water, for example, are less impressive in some places, especially water, which in some instances look very dated in terms of graphics. When I look back at the original, I also can't help but feel that the faces felt more personal and more expressive there and then. Of course, Marcus and Dom still look like themselves, the former has his patented soul patch and bandana, but there's still something that doesn't feel quite right. They're a bit too polished in this case, and a bit expressionless. Marcus had a rather scarred and worn face in the original where it was definitely obvious that he had been through a lot over the years. I think that is almost completely missing here, a bit like he has had Botox injections. It certainly gets a little better later on, when the fourth act begins I also start to recognise Marcus as he used to look, but before that it often looks like he just jumped out of the shower and then put makeup over his scars and wrinkles.

There are more things that are annoying, even though they are usually minor things in an otherwise good game. But the artificial intelligence leaves something to be desired beyond that. My team are not exactly great minds and Dom is above all an expert at getting into trouble. Do you remember the Kryll? Life-threatening, flying little bat-like creatures that attacked mercilessly and effectively under the cover of darkness and basically always led to instant death. Our dear Dom kept getting lost and then getting hurt and stuck in a dark place where it became difficult to save him. I tried but when I got there I got the Kryll all over me and died. After a couple of such mishaps I finally started to simply leave Dom to his fate instead, because he and my other comrades for that matter are annoyingly stupid a lot of the time. But in their defence, they are actually not bad at all when it comes to firefights so it's pretty even in that way, I guess. The enemies aren't much better either and are unfortunately dumber than a rock in most situations. The artificial intelligence doesn't seem to have made any real progress since 2006, or maybe since 2015 is more fair since this is actually the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition remaster that has been tweaked a bit for the latest console generation.

I can't say anything other than that Gears of War has aged with dignity in most respects and not least made a very honourable and strong debut on PlayStation 5. It's for the most part a very good remaster, as the campaign is just as good as I remember it being almost 20 years ago, albeit a little short, and the fine integration of DualSense makes it actually feel better to play on PlayStation than it does on Xbox, ironically. Despite some shortcomings, it's difficult not to recommend Gears of War: Reloaded to both old and new players, because it's still an incredible game and, not least, it's now high time for all die-hard PlayStation players to catch up on what you missed.