Coming into this after the huge misstep that was Judgement I was a bit skeptical but I have to say I'm mostly impressed. Gears of War is probably my favorite original xbox series, they all tell a complete, interesting enough story with no filler and they're never dull. This one had a tough act to follow and I think it mostly succeeded in starting a new chapter for the series. It gave as a new perspecting on the CoG, expanded the world, which changed a lot after 25 years, and brought the game to a new generation. Its gameplay is the the most fluid so far and the graphics have never looked more gorgeous.
Obviously the new main character would never be as good as Marcus Fenix but he didn't have to be this boring. I don't even remember his name, he has no personality other than being Marcus' son. Kait would've been a better protagonist, which I guess they realized for the sequel.
When it is firing on all cylinders like making us shoot an airplane down on high speed on a bike or controlling an oversized mech this is amazing. But then come the horde sections a la judgment which I hate hate HATE and i don't understand why they would bring them back.
And finally that ending... I literally didn't expect the credits to start rolling, it felt so abrupt and felt really rushed. I feel like the new swarm was never properly explained and not properly defeated either, all we did was kill a boss, what about the rest of the huge hive? I feel like it needed another one or two chapters. The only conclusion we got was for Kait's story
All in all it does a lot right and I wish I could rate it higher but it also has its flaws