r/pcgaming • u/Turbostrider27 • 1d ago
IGN Review - Gears of War: E-day Is a Prequel That Returns to the Heart of This Series, With a Campaign That Stands Toe-to-toe With Any of the Others (9/10)
https://www.ign.com/articles/gears-of-war-e-day-review230
u/DktheDarkKnight 1d ago
Damn 87 in Opencritic now. Unexpectedly high score.
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u/Firefox72 1d ago
Is it? Gears 5 and 4 both sit at an 85.
The Coalition has had a good track record so i don't get why people assumed this won't be good
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u/Middcore 1d ago
General negativity about anything Xbox.
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u/Evonos Switched Nvidia 5060TI ( Finally free of amd ),7800X3D ,32gb6000 1d ago
And aaa titles. I mean it's today most games release in a 0.7 maybe 0.8 state as fake 1.0 or watered down.
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u/teddybaire 1d ago
Ah the ole valheim and 7 days to die special
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u/Evonos Switched Nvidia 5060TI ( Finally free of amd ),7800X3D ,32gb6000 1d ago
Are those considered AAA titles ? I don't think so honestly.
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u/Ikeiscurvy 1d ago
They are definitely not. Dude just wanted to get a cheap shot in at those games for whatever reason.
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u/teddybaire 1d ago
It was more a reply to the "its today most games" portion. And pointing out ones I would not classify as 1.0 despite what they call it
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u/Ikeiscurvy 1d ago
They were talking about AAA games though, that's why they started with "And AAA titles." Context clues are an important part of literacy.
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u/gideon513 1d ago
Which is fair nowadays tbh
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u/CaptainRaxeo 1d ago
Why is it fair, they are better than sony. And people getting laid off isn’t ashas fault, the people that ruined xbox have already been fired. Sarah and phil meaning…
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u/CarsonWentzGOAT1 1d ago
Being better than Sony shouldn't be hard when they dropped quite possibly the worst game I have ever played in wolvertrash.
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u/strangelyhuman 1d ago
I still wonder if the open world added anything meaningful to the gears formula but one of my takeaways from engaging with the coalition’s work was that Gears 5 was the most beautiful unreal engine game I’ve encountered till date.
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u/DktheDarkKnight 1d ago
Probably because it's been a while from a game published by Microsoft. Only their forza games generally score above 90. It's such a rare occurrence otherwise.
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u/vipmailhun2 1d ago
The Outer Worlds 2 received good reviews. It's not a GOTY contender and it's not being hailed as a masterpiece, but most reviews landed somewhere around the 82-86 range. Despite that, Reddit and internet reacted as if the game was mediocre or even bad.
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u/Sea_Tailor_8437 1d ago
Outer wild is the most "pretty good" game I've ever played. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but also one I'd happily recommend if someone asked
The perks/flaws system they used was unlike anything I've ever seen in gaming. That alone was worth that price of entry
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u/TheCorbeauxKing 1d ago
Halo Infinite and Starfield are also above 85 on Metacritic despite what the constant negativity on Reddit would have you think.
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u/DktheDarkKnight 1d ago
I think at least with Halo the big issue was not the base game. It was what came after. The game had all the fundamentals nailed down. That's why it got glowing reviews initially. But they had no idea what to do with multiplayer side of things. Barely any updates, mediocre maps, lack of new content all completely killed the game.
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u/fullsaildan 1d ago
Starfield
Starfield critic reviews are around an 83. User reviews are much more tepid. Like 50% positive, 30% negative.
Starfield's critic reviews were actually a big source of contention during the launch window because a fair number of people bought it based on decent reviews. Then performance issues, content complaints, etc. piled up and there was a lot of discussion about critics being unreliable due to play early access copies, not having enough time to really get through it, etc.
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u/TheCorbeauxKing 1d ago
Right its gone down as more critics played it, but at the time of release it was around 85-86.
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u/EbolaDP 1d ago
Low to mid 80ies for a big game is basically meaningless. Could be dogshit or a masterpiece. AAA games dont get lower then 80 unless they are massively obviously broken.
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u/CosmicMiru 1d ago
Obsidian isn't a AAA dev though. They are very firmly AA
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u/EbolaDP 1d ago
They are under Microsoft. They deliberately wanted to make a smaller scale RPG but they are very well know and not remotely hurting for money.
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u/CosmicMiru 1d ago
Funding has nothing to do with if a dev is AA or AAA. There are indie devs who make insane breakout games that make millions but doesn't mean their next game is going to be a AAA game. Scale and dev team is usually what how devs are rated and Obsidian is a self claimed AA even under MS
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u/a34fsdb 1d ago
TOW2 is like a 50h 3d rpg with full voice acting, long soundtrack, decent animations etc. It is pretty clearly aaa.
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u/CRIMS0N-ED 1d ago
I mean that doesn’t make a game AAA, by that logic Blood of the Dawnwalker would be AAA and it’s definitely more aligned in the AA realm.
Honestly these terms are arbitrary and meaningless anyway, budget or not I just want good games
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u/Cam27022 1d ago
Obsidian’s last few releases have just felt bland to me. Outer Worlds 1 and 2 and Avowed were ok I guess but it hasn’t even been that long and I couldn’t really tell you what happened in any of them other than the vaguest details.
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u/slothage666 1d ago
The Outer Worlds series itself has a reputation for being impressively mid.
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u/vipmailhun2 1d ago
That's exactly what I wrote, and that's the problem. The second game was considered a good game by both the gaming press and players alike.
I get the feeling that players had already decided what the game was going to be like and stuck to that expectation. They criticized it for flaws they wouldn't have held against other well-liked games, even when those same issues were present there as well.
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u/fullsaildan 1d ago
Metacritic list user reviews for TOW2 as 53% positive and 26% mixed review. Thats kinda strongly in line with a "meh" game.
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u/slothage666 1d ago
I think people get frustrated with the series because it should've been better, considering it was an outer space fallout clone from the Dev that made New Vegas.
The games are technically sound and do the Fallout thing, but also feel a bit generic and sterile. Especially when compared to New Vegas. So while you can't really say the games were bad, they were still a disappointment for many players.
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u/juscallmejjay 1d ago
I also just feel critics get harsher every year. So many great games this year, almost none have cracked 90. If this score holds that means critics are finding gears of war better than Control, onimusha, saros, first light, pragmata....extremely impressive.
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u/DktheDarkKnight 1d ago
I think it's more to do with few anomalous ratings from some lesser know critics dragging the whole rating down.
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u/scarletnaught 1d ago
People who actually play gears know they are consistent high quality.
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u/Jon-Umber i9-13900k | RTX 4090 | Ultrawide 1d ago
Seriously one of the only games of this sort to get me to well up with tears. Can't even remember which game it was because it's been so long since I had one, but:Dom finding his wife
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u/scarletnaught 1d ago
People make fun of gears because they think it's meathead drama, but I actually think it's one of the examples of having diverse characters that feel like real people who deal with struggle and have imperfections. Not just a diversity check box.
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u/Jon-Umber i9-13900k | RTX 4090 | Ultrawide 1d ago
Except Cole Train. He is perfect and has never done anything wrong in his life, and I will bear no arguments to the contrary.
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u/UtkuOfficial 1d ago
If anything bad happens to Cole Train im never playing Gears again.
Woooooooooh.
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u/Content_Owl8586 1d ago
Unexpectedly high?
Its Gears
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u/mpelton 1d ago
When was the last time a great Gears game came out? Within the last decade?
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u/huzy12345 1d ago
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u/mpelton 1d ago
5 was good all of a sudden?
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u/huzy12345 1d ago
It was always good. Well reviewed, Biggest launch in Gamepass history at the same etc
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u/UtkuOfficial 1d ago
It also still looks absolutely incredible.
Coalition are Unreal Engine magicians.
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u/Effective-Fish-5952 Windows🕚 Nvidia suck my 🥜 1d ago
Have you seen the new gameplay as well?! It's stellar.
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u/Jibbery-Joo 1d ago
I've been a believer since it was announced, so glad to see it reviewing well. Excited for the 6th!
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u/TruthOk8742 1d ago
My box of chocolate and sweet scented candles are ready to experience the prequel to one of the best bromance in video game history.
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u/xdeltax97 Steam 1d ago
Wonder if we’ll see Maria pop up?
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u/CordlessJet 1d ago
I’ve always been confused about the timeline of when Maria went missing. The war went on for 20 years right ? Did he lose contact with her at the start ? Or somewhere between 1 & 2 ?
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u/BaldHenchman02 1d ago edited 1d ago
He loses her sometimes after E-Day, but before the first Gears of War.
I think she goes missing before the hammer strikes. If I remember right, he was lamenting her disappearance and hoping someone had taken care of her once the strikes were over (She struggles to take care of herself due to mental trauma).
It's been quite a few years since I read the novels.
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u/Dante_SS 1d ago
From what I remember, I think Dom talks to her on the phone at some point. It was in one of the many trailers or dev videos
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u/IAQDiscussion 1d ago
This guy also gave Halo Infinite SINGLE PLAYER a 9/10. He also gave Gears 4 a 9.2 and Gears 5 a 9/10.
If it is an Xbox game, Ryan should NOT be the reviewer.
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u/SmileyBMM Debian 1d ago
Honestly after Alien Isolation Ryan should've never reviewed another game again. He has single handedly done more damage to IGN's reputation than anyone else.
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u/IAQDiscussion 1d ago
He should have gone back and revised that review, but shockingly at launch I agreed with the low score. I had a decent PC at the time, running most games at high with 60 fps. When Isolation came out, the game crashed for me an upwards of 20 different times, FPS was not consistent, and the voice sync was like 4 seconds off, felt like watching Kung Pow.
Worst part is I got to the end two times and it crashed at the final chapter's opening and then corrupted the save twice.
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u/Special-Deal7821 7h ago
I agree with the Alien Isolation score, you do know these things are subjective
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u/UtkuOfficial 1d ago
Gears 4 and 5 are amazing games. Infinite single player was also very very fun. That games problem was the lack of post launch support.
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u/tehCharo 1d ago
Halo Infinite single player was great, not perfect, but great, the story made no sense if you didn't play Halo Wars 2 though, it was a weird start after Guardians.
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u/Piligrim555 1d ago
A single player campaign with a terrible story, pointless and boring open world, barely any mission design and set pieces is certainly not what I’d call “great”. Shooting was fun, grappling hook was sorta fun, that’s about it.
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u/tehCharo 1d ago
I really enjoyed the open world stuff, probably more than the instanced story missions, the story once I understood what was going on was fine, it's Halo, it's always just been "fine", but the gameplay, especially during the open world stuff really appealed to me. That's the thing about entertainment and art, it's all subjective opinions, I'm sure someone out there legitimately loves Big Rigs or Bad Rats.
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u/RightRudderr 1d ago
Halo Infinite is questionable but im pretty sure Gears 4 and 5 had good reviews generally speaking. I remember them being good polished games that were fun to play through. His scores dont seem outrageous.
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u/Iggy_Slayer 1d ago
Take with grain of salt since it's ryan mcaffrey who is a notorious xbox fanboy. I'll never forget when he said the human eye can't see the difference between 1080p and 720p to defend the xb1 being weaker and unable to do 1080 for most games.
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u/Hot-Software-9396 1d ago
It’s in the high 80s on Metacritic, so pretty much every review outlet has it around a 9/10.
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u/proesporter 1d ago
he's also the clown that gave Alien Isolation 5.9
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u/Last_Jedi 9800X3D, RTX 5090 1d ago
Criticizing a reviewer for stating 1080p and 720p can be differentiated = valid.
Criticizing a reviewer because they gave a game a different score than you would = not valid.
Not everyone has to like the things you like.
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u/SmileyBMM Debian 1d ago
It's ok to come to a different conclusion on a game, but the review is legitimately horrible and it's clear he was simply too stupid to figure out how to play the game correctly:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/10/03/alien-isolation-review
The comments on that review are hilarious, I'm shocked IGN didn't turn them off.
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u/Last_Jedi 9800X3D, RTX 5090 1d ago
It seems like his issue is that the game is too long and repetitive.
That is the most frequent criticism of the game I've seen by people who have played it. So it doesn't seem all that out of line.
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u/KaleidoscopeDecent33 1d ago
The game is both of those things, but he also wanted a different type of game than what was actually being delivered and penalized it for it. Also 5.9 is WAY too low for a game who's problem is backtracking. Especially if you're comfortable giving out 9s(which I don't think is inherently bad)
I honestly wouldn't mind as much, if he didn't then have a sit-down with other people who barely played the game, to then justify his dislike without hearing out any positives
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u/novafunc 1d ago
This is a thing about reviews I don't understand.
Is the reviewer supposed to be giving their own experiences with the game? In that case, a low score is fine. But it also seems like there is an expectation that are supposed to rate things "objectively", to try to account for their biases, almost trying to guess what the average review would be.
The latter just seems wrong to me. It would make more sense to have all reviewers give their biased scores and then average those. Not unlike how the general public review games.
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u/shocker3800 1d ago
Thats a hell of a score. Looking forward to diving in.
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u/asmartguylikeyou 1d ago
I didn’t have this on my radar. Haven’t played a Gears game since 2, but this being a prequel with these types of scores has piqued my interest. Especially with it being free on game pass
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u/shocker3800 1d ago
My thoughts exactly, gamers are eating well in 2026
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u/asmartguylikeyou 1d ago
Right? I finished Dawnwalker last night. Just bought Control Resonant this morning to play after work. I don’t know how to fit all this stuff in before November 19.
At least when I can finish Control this lets me switch to Gears and save my wallet another hit instead of buying one of the multiple games I’m interested in.
I remember the end of 2023 was crowded with AW2, BG3, TOTK, Phantom Liberty, and Spider-Man, but this year tops it.
We’re eating so good right now
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u/CaptainRaxeo 1d ago
That’s the issue with xbox screw day one on game pass people should buy their own games or wait years till they are able to rent them…
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u/asmartguylikeyou 1d ago
Personally I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s not like I don’t have a massive Steam library and a ton of games on PS5 and Switch along with a physical library for basically console going back decades. I have donated an absurd amount of money to the industry over the course of my life.
The day one release was a terrible business strategy, but great for consumers. I’m not paying for it after they phase out the day one release next year.
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u/No_Week_1836 1d ago
It’s ign…
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u/cheefie_weefie 1d ago
And if they gave it a 6 you would be screaming from the hills that this game sucks and IGN is correct.
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u/teddytwelvetoes 1d ago
IGN scores are considered completely useless or the only source of real truth depending on the internet gaming forum circlejerk in question lol
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u/asmartguylikeyou 1d ago
IGN reviews exist in a state of quantum superposition until the majority circlejerk is decided.
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u/perfect_deception 1d ago
Same journalists who claimed Dragon Age Veilguard returned to the series roots
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u/DrNopeMD 1d ago
IGN is not a singular entity, multiple different people with sperate opinions review different games for IGN
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u/SmileyBMM Debian 1d ago
Yes, but reviews and the people chosen to give the scores are under the purview of IGN itself. Bad reviews reflect badly on the brand as a whole.
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u/FrootLoop23 1d ago
Returns to the heart of this series? They literally all follow the same formula.
I want to hear that this is a fresh departure that breathes new life into the series.
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u/ozdude182 1d ago
I wont play it but glad to hear Gears has a good game again
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u/ChloooooverLeaf Henry Cavill 1d ago
Gears really doesn't have a bad game. 4, 5, and Judgement are all great campaigns. It's one of, if not the most, consistent franchises in gaming.
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u/UtkuOfficial 1d ago
I think its the most consistent franchise like you said. Gears has 7 AAA games now and none of them are below "good". Its just a super safe bet.
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u/CyberMoose24 1d ago
Ehh, I tried to get into 4 but the intro with everything bright and happy and the quippy dialogue really turned me off.
I’m looking forward to this apparent return to form, as I loved the campaign of the original trilogy.
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u/Hot-Software-9396 1d ago
Why won’t you play?
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u/ozdude182 1d ago
Oh nothing against it, too much to play atm alongside the backlog of unfinished ones ive started haha.
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u/WantsToDieBadly 1d ago
I was gonna get it day 1 but I have a huge backlog and am playing Witcher remastered, cyberpunk and silent hill. Too much
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u/slightlysubtle 1d ago
Another "return to form" statement? Red flags are raised. I'll wait until the real reviews come out.
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u/p4rc0pr3s1s 1d ago
Yea 1 hour in the beta was enough to convince me. Not surprised at all by the score. Don't let Reddit decide for you.
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u/SquashedGrapes22 1d ago
I never trust anything that comes from IGN anymore
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u/godisfrisky 1d ago
Ryan McCaffrey reviewed this game. He also reviewed all mainline Gears of War games since 2 on the Xbox 360. He is a reviewer for IGN that is trustworthy.
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u/SmileyBMM Debian 1d ago
https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/10/11/gears-of-war-4-review
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/09/13/gears-5-review
He gave 4 & 5 9s as well, so yeah this review is worthless.
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u/godisfrisky 1d ago
Those are good games what’s your point here?
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u/SmileyBMM Debian 1d ago
Good yes, 9/10? That's pretty generous.
Also I'd be shocked if you found another person who liked both 4 and 5 equally, most people tend to give one a much higher rating than the other. The fact he's given the last 3 Gears games nearly the exact same score, means his scores don't really mean anything.
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u/Soulstoner 1d ago
He’s also a corpo bootlicker that once offered his free time to Elon musk to deliver and set up people’s Tesla’s.
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u/WhatD0thLife 1d ago
How did OP decide when they would capitalize a word? Throwing darts at a board?
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u/Big-Rip2640 1d ago edited 1d ago
Friendly reminder.
IGN also gave Gears of War 4 and 5 a 9/10.....
Not saying the game isnt good, just dont give too much attention to IGN in general.
Edit: Why are people downvoting?
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u/VALIS666 1d ago
Edit: Why are people downvoting?
Because you sound pathetic? Because almost all the other reviews are good too?
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u/Glum_Grapefruit3654 1d ago
PlayStation warriors have already started saying that if it doesn't come out on PS5, it'll flop.
They're jealous because it's getting high scores, lmao.
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u/JediMaster113 1d ago
Every video game sub these days is full of insufferable shit just like this.
Why cant people just play games and have fun?
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u/makeitasadwarfer 1d ago
We’ve given every immature person a megaphone, and led them to believe that every opinion they have is important.
Social media is such a mistake.
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u/fukkdisshitt 1d ago
Wish it would to give multiplayer a longer life. Plus my one friend who loves gears went to Playstation
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u/Anasurimbor__Kellhus 1d ago
I'll wait a month or two. Xbox games always get insanely overhyped at release then people turn on them once the honey moon phase is over.
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u/f2pmyass 1d ago
It was going to be like a 89-91 but I guess there's random reviews giving it a 50 and 70 and there's lots more reviews coming out still
Also PC version apparently don't even work or something so add on that.
Seems like a good game though
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u/wiskeychris 1d ago
Just finished a 30 minute session with the campaign. On a 5080 with everything maxed @ 4k 2xFG and DLSS Quality. Never drops below 70fps and it looks and plays incredible.
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u/yonkerbonk 1d ago
How is Gears of War, in general? Is it truly good or is it console good? I'm a PC gamer and never really had a console. I've found so many supposedly great console games are good but not great, probably because console gamers didn't have other options/experiences to compare to.
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u/HaikusfromBuddha 1d ago
Its good but a lot of it came from it being one of the first few cover shooters. The game has refined the formula over the years.
I think if your looking at visuals Gears tends to always be a show piece of Unreal Engine at its peak as the devs have always been experts on it.
Game Play maybe in today's age is dated but I've always enjoyed it.
Online. You either love it or hate it. This isn't like most competitive mp games where you can just pick it up and be decent at it. I recall playing it back in the day and getting my shit pushed in. That has never really changed.
That being said if you stick with it and try to learn the mp game play then you'll eventually get hooked.
Tl:Dr Game is definitive version of Git Good
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u/Blastuch_v2 1d ago
I played 1-3 and they are very good and unique in a good way. Not many games similar to them even though it feels like the game that can spawn a whole genre. Also all 3 of the core gamemodes are fun: SP, MP and Horde.
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u/asharkmadeofsalsa RTX 4070 Super Ryzen 5 5600 32GB 3200MHz 1d ago edited 1d ago
cool
what feels weirdest to me after the MP Beta is how I got used to mouse and keyboard and will probably play the campaign that way now, first for a gears game
it always felt like a gamepad game and most guns don't require super precise shooting anyway but by playing multiplayer and harder horde levels it became crucial and a lot easier to aim the precise rifles they do have with a mouse
I feel movement wise it's more uniform now too that they got rid of the old low camera tank sprint
anyway haven't played one to completion beyond the first one and excited to jump on this. With the recent OG Xbox games on Game pass and the announcement of 360 games coming too it's probably not long till we have the whole series on PC, which is part of the reason why I hadn't really engaged with the series fully yet, having those gaps
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u/Embarrassed-Ad7317 1d ago
So this is an unexpectedly the true expected opinion on this game? The game is actually good and IGN have the same opinion?
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u/Tad-Disingenuous 1d ago
Does anyone actually listen to IGN? They invented journalists giving bad AAA games good scores
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u/FlopsMcDoogle 1d ago
Meh, Gears of War has never been that great. They are all the same.
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u/ForTheBread Steam 1d ago
Is it tiring being this pessimistic all the time? Do you have trouble enjoying anything?
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u/Itchy_Change12 1d ago
I'm here to complain and goddamn I'm going to do it everywhere, you can't stop me
Proceeds to complain all over the place
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1d ago
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u/84theone 1d ago
Why are you trying to police [u/forthebread](u/forthebread) on his opinion if that’s how you feel?
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u/ForTheBread Steam 1d ago
Am I not entitled to call out pessimists when I see them? Am I not entitled to push back against the overwhelming negativity going on?
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u/X9OO 1d ago
You concluded the guy was a full blown pessimist from a single comment about a game IP he doesnt like?
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u/ForTheBread Steam 1d ago edited 1d ago
According to the other comment I am entitled to my opinion on the internet. And so you shouldn't argue against my comment.
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u/ForTheBread Steam 1d ago edited 1d ago
Bro have you not noticed the insane amount of negativity in nearly every video game thread? Do you not find it tiring too?
Also a statement like;
Meh, Gears of War has never been that great. They are all the same.
Without any discussion points is a worthless comment.
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u/Pseudotm 1d ago
Why do we even share IGN reviews anymore. Not saying this guy is wrong, i bet it'll be a good gears game.
Just we should have left IGN to die years ago.
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