Players have been debating the legacy of the Gears of War trilogy and unlike so many, these games appear to have stood the test of time. The first entry in the franchise, Gears of War, came out on November 7, 2006 for the Xbox 360. The game was followed by Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3 on November 7, 2008 and September 20, 2011 for the same platform. The franchise was transferred from developer Epic Games to its current home at The Coalition shortly after Gears of War 3 was released.
The news comes from a post by the user on Resetera going by the name of Djost1kk. “Just finished the first three Gears of War games thanks to backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X,” the user said. “So far, I’ve enjoyed the games in terms of their gameplay, characters, and story. It was nice to see how Epic Games got better with each entry and expanded upon its formula even though you couldn’t go far with the linear first person shooter genre back then.” Djost1kk went on to describe how the company “managed to spice up many things, even simple ones like the cover system,” but noted how the “turret sections definitely overstayed their welcome.”
Djost1kk asked “what people thought of the games back when they came out” on the Xbox 360 during “one of the best console generations of all time. Did you immediately fall in love with the Delta One squad after Gears of War? Or was it a more gradual increase of interest? What’s your favorite game in the franchise overall?” The responses have naturally been mixed, but the vast majority of users have been pointing out how nicely the games have held up over the years.
The user known as Duxxy3 described how their “pre-order was memorable. I went to pick it up on release day, but was told that it hadn’t come in yet. I took the day off to play the game, so I wasn’t going to wait. I went to Walmart and they had it. Went back to GameStop and canceled the pre-order.” Duxxy3 added that “I loved the original trilogy. I play it multiple times a year to this day.” The user calling themselves Lord of Cereal called them “incredible games, even the newer ones” before going on to say that “by modern standards, they might be a bit clunky, but once it clicks it really clicks and feels incredible.”
While most players have nothing but fond memories for the Gears of War trilogy, some have been pointing out their more problematic aspects. “I never loved the franchise, it always felt too restricted in its movement,” the user going by KornDog remarked. “The roided up, dude bro art style and characters didn’t help make it more appealing to me either to be honest. But what I did really like about the first one compared to the others was the horror tone. Sadly, that was pretty much entirely lost since.” KornDog noted how the attempt at “making their characters have some emotional depth fell so flat it was hilarious.”
When all is said and done, few games can be said to have held up as well as those first three entries in the Gears of War franchise. What remains to be seen at this point in time is whether or not they can hold up for yet another decade.
Read Next
About The Author