“Thanks to the incredible support from our fans, Gears 5 kicked off the Holiday season strong – attracting over three million players in its opening weekend and setting new records for Xbox Game Pass with the biggest launch week of any Xbox Game Studios title this generation. The performance easily doubled the first week’s debut of Gears of War 4 and made Gears 5 the most-played Xbox Game Studios title in its first week since 2012’s Halo 4.“ – Xbox Wire
Shocker. I mean, think of all the stiff competition of first party exclusives that Gears 5 has had to go up against! There was Halo 5, which yea I guess that was an alright game. You’ve got Gears 4, which everyone played for about 5 hours then never touched again. Oh and then there was Halo Wars 2 that I think about 10 people bought. Don’t forget about Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2, both titles that you find out after about an hour of playing that there’s really nothing interesting to do. Then you’ve got the real big boy, the one that really surprised me, *giggles*: Crackdown 3. Yea I’m absolutely floored that Gears 5 was able to have a better launch than a game that no one ever wanted that was delayed for like 5 years. Let’s see, what else was there…oh you’ve got all those Forza games that no one really ever touches (but everyone corrects you when you mispronounce the name). Yep. Stiff competition right there. Can’t believe that Gears 5 was able to beat all of those. Oh, but wait, there’s also this little detail:
First week performance includes the four-day early access period beginning Friday, September 6, which was exclusive to Gears 5 Ultimate Edition and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. – Xbox Wire
So basically, Xbox is patting themselves on the back for having a great extended launch after releasing almost nothing noteworthy over an entire console generation. Oh, and don’t forget that about 2 full days of that launch were plagued by the worst multiplayer servers known to man that not only made online multiplayer impossible to play, but also crashed the Xbox Live servers for 6 hours on a Friday night. Great job guys. Quality work right there.
Last thing, I’ve played about 10ish hours of Gears 5 and have almost completed the campaign. This game is no where near as good as everyone is rating it. The story is bland as hell. I really really miss hearing “Booom” and “Griiind” from the enemies; they all feel so lifeless now. I will admit I am enjoying the difficulty for co-op campaign even on Intermediate, because my friends typically play on pussy ass walking simulator mode and we’re actually grinding our way through a game for a change. Horde mode is still kinda fun. Multiplayer is the same as Gears 4 but with what feels like less maps, less power weapons, and just overall less fun than earlier Gears titles. The only real pro I have seen to this title is its visuals. The campaign areas look beautiful, and the overall graphics for the game are at par with what I would expect out of a late gen title. Overall, its probably around a 73/100 for me, just because I know this franchise can do way better, but a shitty launch and overall mediocrity show that The Coalition have dropped the ball yet again.
