Gears of War: Reloaded Review. Yet Another Unnecessary Remaster of a Remaster

Instead of giving players updated versions of Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3, Microsoft has once again decided to re-release the outdated first installment, only slightly “powdering” its appearance. Undoubtedly, the original caused a stir in the gaming industry back in 2006 and forever changed the third-person action genre, but now it rather feels like Steve Buscemi from the popular “How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?” meme. Is it worth playing Gears of War after 10 years since the full-fledged remaster and almost 20 years after its original release? What exactly has changed? And how does the project feel on PS5? We’ll answer all these questions in our review.

Before Fortnite, Epic Games created dynamic, technological, and at times groundbreaking projects, each of which received wide attention in the gaming community. In 2006, Gears of War became a true revolution in the third-person action genre and forever changed the approach to cinematic blockbusters. And the recipe for this “new word” in game design was fairly simple. Cliff Bleszinski only needed to assemble a constructor from several elements: over-the-shoulder camera like in Resident Evil 4, cover system from Kill Switch, a brutal universe reminiscent of Warhammer 40,000, movement from Bionic Commando, and game design elements from The Legend of Zelda.

However, let’s be honest: no matter how cool the original Gears of War was, it has aged considerably in terms of game design. Few will argue that it was the sequel that refined the raw mechanics and elevated the series to cult status. And the decade-old remaster clearly demonstrated that improved graphics are not what’s needed to modernize a classic. Yes, the setting, characters, and excellent story can still hook new players, but clearing out small groups of enemies in corridor-like levels is hardly surprising anyone anymore.

The most frustrating thing is that The Coalition studio has their hands completely untied when working on the series. They are well aware of which elements are hopelessly outdated and how best to adapt them to please both fans and new audiences. But they clearly didn’t dare to risk making targeted changes.

The above-mentioned remaster, subtitled Ultimate Edition, was very controversial in itself. Yes, the developers completely overhauled the graphics and lighting while keeping the old gameplay, but the color palette and stylistic component were radically different from the original. Muted tones and gray “grimness” were replaced by bright sunny shades and a grounded visual style. And these seemingly minor changes strongly affected the overall atmosphere. Instead of the depressing, brutal, and very creepy post-apocalypse, the remaster turned into a standard modern military theater.

Gears of War: Reloaded could have been the work on mistakes where The Coalition would have brought back the recognizable style and modernized the gameplay, but in reality, we only got a powdered Ultimate Edition with even more contrasty visuals, outdated gameplay, and decade-old bugs. Microsoft decided to pull a Sony-style business move by releasing a “remaster of a remaster” that nobody asked for.

In terms of storytelling, Gears of War: Reloaded is no different from the original game. We still play as Marcus Fenix, exterminating hordes of Locusts who are gradually turning the planet Sera into a desolate wasteland. The main story, despite its age, remains gripping and doesn’t let go until the very end. This is thanks to the vivid characters, great voice acting, and the unique setting, where brutal soldiers literally walk through hell to the invigorating buzz of a chainsaw.

However, as mentioned above, the overall atmosphere of the remaster is radically different from the Xbox 360 version. Locations are no longer shrouded in gray fog, and the dirty metallic tint on the textures has turned into brown dreariness. The bright color palette kills the original’s visual identity and seriously affects perception.

Moments that were scary and tense back in 2006 now feel like a leisurely stroll through polished environments. The chapters with rain suffered the most. Previously, these were atmospheric moments that kept you on edge, as it was very difficult to spot enemies through the downpour. In the remaster, the rain was replaced with a light drizzle, noticeable only by the splashes on the asphalt. There are many such changes in Gears of War: Reloaded. New players are essentially presented with a project that is completely different in tone and atmosphere. And that’s definitely disappointing.

Truly significant changes in Gears of War: Reloaded compared to Ultimate Edition will only be noticed by dedicated fans. In addition to an even more contrasty and vibrant color palette, the game world has become slightly more detailed, and new decorative elements have appeared indoors. But otherwise, it’s still the same game from ten years ago — except now in high resolution and with brighter lighting.

Compared to modern games, Reloaded looks pretty decent. At the time, The Coalition had to completely redraw all the visuals for Ultimate Edition, so you don’t have to worry about seeing assets from the 2006 game in this “remaster of a remaster.”

The gameplay of Gears of War: Reloaded exactly replicates the original. Animations, enemy placements, and scripts are all in the same places. Even the shaky camera that covers the entire view while running has been preserved in its original form. The core action still comes down to dashing from cover to cover and killing small groups of enemies. Compared to the original, the remaster is more forgiving to newcomers and doesn’t punish as harshly for shooting outside of cover. We remember how, in the 2006 version, even on easy difficulty, Locusts could kill the main character in seconds if he accidentally “detached” from a safe wall. In the remaster, incoming damage has been noticeably reduced, allowing the new audience to make more mistakes.

Bugs, Optimization, and the PS5 Version

The bugs that were present in Ultimate Edition have been carefully transferred by the developers into the Reloaded version: in story cutscenes, lines get cut off mid-sentence, the main character can get permanently stuck to the environment, and Locusts constantly get trapped in textures, becoming easy targets. We tested the game on both PS5 and PC — the bug situation is identical on both platforms. It's especially amusing when, in places where you have to choose one of two paths, the game can simply transfer the main character to the alternative route after loading a checkpoint, without asking any questions.

The funniest thing we noticed when comparing the three versions of the same game in detail is the degradation of artificial intelligence. In the original, companions weren’t exactly geniuses, but at least they tried to defend themselves and even helped in particularly intense battles. In Reloaded, your partners are just dummies. Like the enemies, they love getting stuck in doorways, getting lost in the environment, and becoming easy targets. On difficulties above normal, you'll constantly be running around tiny arenas reviving your hapless allies, since they can't assess the situation or retreat to safe zones. And our favorite: allies freeze in place where they’re supposed to trigger a script. We don’t even hope these issues will be fixed with patches, since these bugs were already present in Ultimate Edition, and The Coalition left them unchanged in Reloaded.

The only significant new feature in Reloaded that we could find is additional content in the form of comics and concept art. To unlock them, you need to collect hidden tokens in the campaign locations. Unfortunately, Microsoft couldn’t offer anything else more substantial or valuable.

A surprising bonus was the return of multiplayer mode, which other studios often remove from their remasters and remakes. The Coalition not only updated Reloaded’s servers and improved their responsiveness, but also optimized performance, allowing console owners to play at 120 frames per second. We couldn’t test the maximum FPS ourselves, but even at 60, the experience was very comfortable.

We tested the game on both PC and PS5, and both versions run flawlessly — the picture is sharp and smooth. The 4K image feels truly native. At least compared to other PS5 games, where upscaling is noticeable even without close inspection, Gears of War: Reloaded doesn’t suffer from “blurriness” or jagged edges.

There are no FPS drops in the campaign. Even in the most action-packed scenes, the game remains smooth and responsive. DualSense gamepad features are fully utilized here: working adaptive triggers and even radio chatter through the controller’s speaker. In general, Microsoft took care of PS5 owners and gave them the best version of the remaster. It’s just a shame that this isn’t the Gears of War originally designed by Epic Games.

Gears of War: Reloaded is an absolutely pointless re-release of the 2015 Ultimate Edition, which Microsoft has presented as a remaster. There’s nothing new or unique here, and all the visual improvements come down to high resolution and maxed-out contrast.

The Coalition studio hasn’t modernized the gameplay, hasn’t restored the atmosphere and style of the original Gears of War, and hasn’t even fixed the bugs fans complained about ten years ago. Despite the more or less modern appearance, at its core, the project is still the same old, clunky game with monotonous cover-based shootouts. For fans who miss Marcus Fenix’s first adventure, we recommend replaying the original 2006 release, where the atmosphere and gameplay are preserved in their purest form. For everyone else — buy the remaster at your own risk.