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Its showing its age a lot more than Gears 2, especially in comparison to Ultimate Edition, but...god damn the game is still fun. What it obviously lacks in scale compared to its sequels, it makes up for in spades with consistency and pacing. All five acts of the story (except maybe 1 and 4) feel very distinctly their-own in terms of visuals, level design, and atmosphere, and the game does an excellent job keeping itself varied without forgetting why you bought the game, to shoot alien guys. Act 2 is the standout: As night falls, a horde of the bat-like Kryll swarm the sky, and they kill you near instantly if you stay in the dark for long. So mid-combat you'll need to light up specific safe areas by shooting bombs, whilst also avoiding being overwhelmed by the locust horde. Later in the game you ride minecarts in a cave system, effectively turning it into a rail shooter but still letting you take cover.
Basically, its a very "small" feeling game that implements variety in a way that really really works, never once bogging the game down (thats a lie, theres one chapter at the end of Act 2 sucks) and instead just being plain fun throughout.
The Co-op is pretty fun too, I really like how its a lot more lax due to the ability to revive your teammate. You can sink a lot of time into grinding out every shootout in the single-player strategically: What guns do you bring, which do you swap mid-fight, when do you use your Frags, what enemies do you prioritize...but you can also just turn the volume down and beat it at a lax but still challenging pace with your bud!
Overall, I really love Gears as a franchise, but out of the original trilogy I still think Gears 1 reigns supreme.
Its showing its age a lot more than Gears 2, especially in comparison to Ultimate Edition, but...god damn the game is still fun. What it obviously lacks in scale compared to its sequels, it makes up for in spades with consistency and pacing. All five acts of the story (except maybe 1 and 4) feel very distinctly their-own in terms of visuals, level design, and atmosphere, and the game does an excellent job keeping itself varied without forgetting why you bought the game, to shoot alien guys. Act 2 is the standout: As night falls, a horde of the bat-like Kryll swarm the sky, and they kill you near instantly if you stay in the dark for long. So mid-combat you'll need to light up specific safe areas by shooting bombs, whilst also avoiding being overwhelmed by the locust horde. Later in the game you ride minecarts in a cave system, effectively turning it into a rail shooter but still letting you take cover.
Basically, its a very "small" feeling game that implements variety in a way that really really works, never once bogging the game down (thats a lie, theres one chapter at the end of Act 2 sucks) and instead just being plain fun throughout.
The Co-op is pretty fun too, I really like how its a lot more lax due to the ability to revive your teammate. You can sink a lot of time into grinding out every shootout in the single-player strategically: What guns do you bring, which do you swap mid-fight, when do you use your Frags, what enemies do you prioritize...but you can also just turn the volume down and beat it at a lax but still challenging pace with your bud!
Overall, I really love Gears as a franchise, but out of the original trilogy I still think Gears 1 reigns supreme.
Reviewed on Jun 26, 2022