Gears 5 reviews round-up, all the scores

News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor

Published on Sept. 4, 2019

Gears 5 is Xbox's biggest blockbuster this year and we have the first reviews.

Gears 5 is taking a big leap forward for the series. The game's co-op campaign takes a quasi-open world approach where you're free to explore large areas, take part in side activities and keep up with the main narrative at your own pace.

This is a significant change for a series that's traditionally been fairly linear, but it's far from the only major addition in Gears 5. The game also debuts a new mode called Escape - a three-player PvE mode where the objectives is to plant a bomb in a Swarm Hive and extract before it detonates.

Horde mode returns, this time with elements borrowed from hero shooters such as character classes and ultimates. Gears 5 will also launch with a map creator that's easy to use, though it only works with Escape at launch, with support for more modes coming post-launch.

Gears 5's Versus multiplayer is also big part of the package, this time launching with a newcomer friendly mode, and a fresh take on competitive play.

Gears 5 is one few Microsoft games to launch on Steam day-and-date with other platforms. Because of this, you'll need a free Xbox Live account to play online through Steam, though the upside is that you'll be able to party up with Windows 10 and Xbox One players.

The Gears 5 Ultimate Edition unlocks tomorrow on all platforms, and the pre-load is available now. You'll also be able to play Gears 5 with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for just $2/£2.