I played the first two Gears of War games on the 360 and found them to be exciting and innovative for the time. Having largely ignored the series since I thought I would dive back in but I sadly couldn’t tolerate the writing and repetitive drone of the game for long. I did not even make it to the open world area but given I generally dislike forced open world gameplay it is unlikely it would have saved this game for me.

I am sure for people invested in the narrative this is a fine adventure but I was genuinely shocked at how little this game has moved forward since its first iteration. Masses of other games now do cover shooting in a more natural and dynamic way. I could not commit to many more hours of bullet sponge robot shooting, so unfortunately I gave up on Gears 5.

In its favour I would say the shooting is satisfying and the environments were interesting if a bit too obvious.

I did not play the online multiplayer so my comments only refer to the campaign.