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Gears of War Ranked (Best to Worst)

 

Gears of War: Ranked

There’s not a lot to say about Gears that hasn’t already been said (but i’ll be damned if that’s gonna stop me), the series has been a staple of the third person shooters for just as long as it’s been a staple for big dudes fighting big monster dudes. Gears of War is my favourite game series ever (though if DOOM keeps releasing bangers that might change). Since 2006 Gears of War has given us amazing campaigns, competitive (and often infuriating) multiplayer and later on, some awesome bonus modes, Horde being the best one. The series has really slowed down lately, with Gears 5 releasing in 2019 now (feel old yet?) but with Gears of War: Reloaded releasing and with Gears: E-Day looming I thought I’d write about it, here we go. 

 

So lets rank Gears of War together. I am biased and I am ranking based on opinion and across all of the modes, some campaigns are better than others, same applies for overall gaming experiences. I have kept in mind all of this as i’ve decided, be warned, I enjoyed Call of Duty: Ghosts (although that ending was complete shit), you may not agree with me but at least we get to talk about Gears of War together, and what’s better than that? A tenner? £20? I’m seriously asking, i’ll stop if you pay me. 

 

Gears of War: POP

This game isn’t bad, it really isn’t. I remember throwing my controller and my infant niece at the television when it was announced as I was waiting for the entire show for news of Gears and this is what I got. In the end, this game was fine, it made me add to my Gears of War POP collection (which is worthless now) and I liked the core idea, even if that idea was to get us to pay t9 win but with physical cool stiff at the end of it. All this being said and it’s still a hunk of junk that I played too mich of and even that was little compared to the rest. 

 

Gears: Judgement

This entry may be second to last but this is an excellent franchise and I do believe this game gets a bad wrap. The story of Judgement is lackluster for sure but the actual campaign in terms of gameplay is excellent. I loved the star based ranking system and the extra challenges you could accept for each mission, the horde sections were also welcome. 

*a moment of silence for anyone who completed this on Insane with the challenge and all stars and survive the beach landing mission, my throat is still strained to this day (that’s what she said)*

The multilayer was significantly more arcade-like than previous entries (something further leaned into by more recent entries) but it was good enough for a while. The colours were something I strongly disliked, especially the outlines of the character and I can remember maybe 3 maps (the big church, the oil rig and the *i forgot what i remembered as I typed the first two*. 

Lackluster maps, faster but in my opinion, sloppier combat and the lack of Horde mode, made this a lakcluster entry compared to the rest of the list. Though I liked Overrun it feels as tacked in as Beast mode was in Gears 3, though not as fun and at least Gears 3 also had Horde. 

 

Gears of War 5

Let me start by saying that I love Gears 5, warts an all, and theres a few warts. My biggest gripe with this game isn’t the emotes or the 86% gnasher shots but rather how quickly it was abandoned. After no more than a year this game was left behind, apparently some of the developers helped with Halo Infinite….. *enter sarcasm.

The game started incredibly strong with high player count, a new mode in Escape in ADDITION to Horde rather than in its place and a campaign that i honestly thouroughly enjoyed (except that one part near the end, you know the one….you know). The map editor was cool too. If the content drops post launch and the overall multiplayer experience was on par with Gears 4 it would supperceed it by a long shot, however, it just didn’t. Gears 5 fell by the wayside too quickly and the Hivebusters dlc felt rushed and lifeless, unfortunately I felt the same with Horde, it had few enemies and they all felt tanky. Overall I liked Gears 4 more and I’ll explain why below *spoilers.

 

Gears of War 4

Gears 4 had a lot riding on it. It inrrouduced us to the next generation of characters and for the most part they were great. Was Oscar saying “little ones” a lost soul grating, of course, did first ministor lady have motives that made any sense whatsoever, not at all, but it was passable. The story really set up the world, its the force awakens of the gears universe, luckily the sequel didnt aim to “subvert expectations” and was actually enjoyable. Gears 4’s main problem was that the campaign story was lackluster and relied heavily on Marcus and the others, it didn’t have a lot of new stuff to offer unlike 5 and you spend the whole first 2 chapters without seeing a locust *sorry…..ahem…..naked locust…..I mean….swarm*

*side note, can we agree that Del naming everything is hilarious. “like some kind of….Swarm” and “It was pouncing on us….like….like a pouncer”, okay that second one didn’t happen but it could have!

Gears 5’s lack of support added to mulitplayer and Horde that just didn’t reach the height of Gears 4’s gives 4 the win here but only just. 

 

Gears Tactics

Was i fuming when this didn’t release on xbox? Absolutely. Did I borrow my sisters gaming PC to play on launch? You betcha. Was it worth it? Oh yeah baby. 

I live Gears and I live xcom, what’s not to like? Is insane bullshit? Oh yeah, bug time. Is the execution system awesome, 100%, am I using too many self asked questions?

The story is cool, I loved the villain and the background for *spoilers Kaits parents and overall, I just liked it. I played the veteran missions for a long long time and bashed my head against a wall like it owed me money to get insane done, the wall won btw. 

This is a breath of fresh air for the series and I’m only sad there seems to be no sequel on the horizon, just like with Gears 6. If it doesn’t instantly thrive, drop it right? Right Netflix? It can’t hear me over the fucking TEDUM!

Gears Tactics is great, play it. The Jacked dlc makes everything even better too, and easier though insane is still…well….you know. The story is there and the levels are great, the comabt is awesome. XCOM meets Gears was just a match made in heaven for me.

 

Gears of War

Is the OG the bottom of the original 3? Yes. Am I asking questions again? Yes. Look, the original is chunkier, has no Horde and was redone into Ulitmatr edition which is in the slot below for that reason. It is a groundbreaking game that defined a degeneration of cover shooters and it has some epic moments but for me, it only gets better from here. 

The multiplayer was crazy back in the day and it was only really played because there wasn’t that many competitors that were offering the same experience. Power weapons straight from halo with gritty maps and machine guns that have chainsaws on them, what more do you want. 

 

Gears of War: Reloaded

God I hate the Coalition, I wanted to put this higher and I just might but damn I hate the Coalition. Reloaded is Ultimate edition again, that’s it, does it further improve it, no. There’s no quality of life updates, the serves still suck and as of right now, which is nearly a month after its release, the achievements only track when you’re the host, which for a co-op game sucks. Overall, same again only slightly worse. PS5 players have barely even tuned in and who can blame them, XBOX got nothing new and PS got outdated multiplayer for £35. 

 

Ultimate edition:

Same as above only prettier. This was good when it released, it gave Coalition a nice easy project to release before they decided to do absolutely no work for the forseeable, except of course, re-re-releasing Gears of War again. The campaign looks better, everything looks better….the end. 

 

Gears of War 3

Karen Travis wrote this one and it’s think overall, bo one could have pulled it all together better than the author of the book series (all of which are great I’ll rank her gears novels if you want me to). The story is great, the set pieces are great and it features one of the saddest video game deaths since Gears of War 2. 

The multiplayer was great, though Gaurdian got added way too late into its life (alongside Bernadette Mataki, simply put, the greatest video games character ever, big up Bernie), the Horde was such a vast improvement from Gears of War 2 while still being simple and fun and the beast mode was….there. the Shadow of Raam dlc was top tier too and added some cool character moments and bought back everyone’s favourite weilder of the bald guy power! Kim, or Mihn, or whatever. I bought the save Clayton t-shirt and I regret nothing!!

Gears 3 really sent the trilogy off with such a good ending Gears 4 and 5 really had their work cut out for them, that being said I do like the story direction they’re going. 

I did get all of my progress wiped from Hears 3 and the sawn off made me squeeze my controller so hard it called me daddy and let out a little cry. Overall, 10/10.

 

Gears of War 2

It’s my favourite and I don’t care about the flaws! This is my list, you go get your own! Mariaaaaaaa!

Gears of War 2 was my entry point into the series, into online multiplayer and into massive dudes with small hears welding chainsaw machine guns. The maps are iconic, the characters are deep, the story is just awesome, the multiplayer was top tier (love you Gaurdian) and the Horde was so hard that viagra got jealous. It was amazing. A great time to be alive. Remaster it you cowards! Why are we getting Gears 1 again! Why!

From Security, Pavilion, Hail, Ruins, Jacinto, Blood Drive and all the amazing dlc maps, the horrible connection issues and the bodies flailing like rag dolls when you throw smoke grenades at the., it was perfect. 

Dom finding Maria was heartbreaking and as memorable as his later demise. Skorge is cool, Kantus’s are cool, Mauler are cool. Mount Kadar? Cool. 

Planting grenades all over the place and two piecing really was the height of gaming, now we have Nicki Minaj in Call of Duty blowing people’s heads off with a unicorns fart….honestly, that’s a thing…..that’s actually a thing….

 

Conclusion

Gears of War 2 took the fight to the locust and I’m really hoping that’s what we see in Gears 6, of we get one. Killing Reyna would probably do the Night King trick so a deep strike into enemy territory makes sense and it would just be sick. Here’s to E-Day, Gears 1 vol 3 and one day, a gears 6 and gears 2 remaster. What a franchise.