Mechanically & graphically has to be one of the best Gears games to date. There's a couple of "open-world" sections during the game that are interesting & fortunately doesn't overstate their welcome. They are akin to the likewise section in The Last of Us 2. The situation is a bit odd as you spent Gears 4 actively against the COG & now in 5 we are back working with them again. A nice addition is that you can upgrade Jack the Bot to make it useful in combat. It has abilities that range from forcing enemies out of cover to turning your group invisible for a short time. There are collectables throughout the levels that allow you to upgrade Jack to suit your play style. When playing co-op, a player can choose to play as Jack too. The DLC campaign Hivebusters was a nice take on a different set of characters but is more of the same, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.