Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10

 PC
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 26
  3. Negative: 1 out of 26
  1. CD-Action
    May 30, 2016
    30
    Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is a great game, but only on Xbox One. The PC edition is troublesome beyond belief. I had to face failing Windows Store download, abysmal performance (so much for the Full HD, not to mention 4K...) and lots of different technical issues ranging from missing textures to game quitting unexpectedly. [05/2016, p.45]
    All this publication's reviews

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
3
#3 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 180 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 69 out of 180
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 180
  3. Negative: 86 out of 180
  1. yogibbear
    Mar 1, 2016
    0
    Windows Store exclusive. Complete with all Windows Store associated BS Universal Platform issues. Avoid like the plague.
    60 fps lock.
    No SLI    Windows Store exclusive. Complete with all Windows Store associated BS Universal Platform issues. Avoid like the plague.
    60 fps lock.
    No SLI support.
    Broken AMD support.
    No G-sync or Freesync support.
    No native fullscreen support.
    Broken V-Sync.
    Broken AO.
    No mod support.
    No split screen support.

    GG Microsoft indeed.    … Full Review »
  2. Skillzaa135
    Mar 1, 2016
    0
    The graphics aren't even that great, the game is visually horrible, looks like a game from 2008, this game's performance is absolute dogpoop,The graphics aren't even that great, the game is visually horrible, looks like a game from 2008, this game's performance is absolute dogpoop, as i said before this game doesn't deserve any money at all, its horrible piece of crap, this game is a joke… Full Review »
  3. plotlesviolence
    Mar 7, 2016
    3
    OVERVIEW = 3
    A remake of the first major 3rd-person cover-based shooter.
    [PRESENTATION = 2 (Graphics = 3) Gears of War always looked    OVERVIEW = 3
    A remake of the first major 3rd-person cover-based shooter.

    [PRESENTATION = 2
    (Graphics = 3) Gears of War always looked good, especially on PC with 1080p resolution. Ultimate Edition is identical; you’d have to have a side-by-side comparison to notice the differences.
    (Visual aesthetics = 2) You’re a gray-armored character in a gray environment fighting light-gray enemies. The occasional glowing yellow lava sticks out because of the surrounding gloom. Call it “enemy camouflage,” but it lacks variety. The visual clutter hasn’t improved. Epic’s better shooter, the Unreal Tournament series, managed to be bright and colorful, so what’s up here?
    (Sound Effects = 8)
    (Voice Acting = 8)
    (Physics = 8) Ragdolls, blood spurts, and body parts exploding into gibs when blasted or sawed in half.
    (Plot = 1) As with many games, plot is just an excuse to move between setpieces. But I always loathed that in every level your character would put his finger to his ear and slow-walk while the game force-fed you unskippable exposition. Cutscenes were actually less aggravating. Never make dialogue or cutscenes unskippable; if they’re good, we’ll watch them, if we’re replaying the game for the third time, let us play instead.

    [CONTROLS/MECHANICS = 7]
    Aiming and running is smooth. The cover-based combat still holds up, I mean, it would have to, right, given that it took over shooters the same Batman:Arkham scheme took over all subsequent melee combat games?
    The “active reload” minigame that offers an opportunity to boost firepower at the risk of longer reload time adds a lot.
    I like that it switches to “tank” control (left/right turn instead of strafe) while you hold down “B” for the chainsaw, because it would have been too hard to also move the right joystick with the right hand. I dislike the unreliability of the chainsaw bayonet, which led to dying when it failed to operate on command.
    I never liked the Halo-style limit of only carrying 4 guns. In Halo it arguably works because there’s some strategy involved in switching mid-battle. There’s no strategy in GoW: 3 of weapons are permanent (the Lancer since it’s better than the submachine gun, the revolver since it’s the best pistol, and the grenades). The remaining slot is reserved for the only gun with available ammo, presented lying out in the open when it’s time to switch. Why bother pretending that we have a choice? The Hammer-of-Dawn superweapon takes up the pistol slot, but you only use it 4 times, and each time it’s used once, then replaced. Why not let us switch between all 8 weapons so we’d have options?
    Other than the submachine gun, weapons all work well: sniper, shotgun, explosive crossbow.

    DESIGN = 2
    (Level Design = 7) I dislike that several levels have you split into left paths or right paths, because you shouldn’t be forced to have to replay a game to see everything.
    (Difficulty Curve = 3) The purpose of recharging health is to allow players to self-calibrate difficulty. Better players charge ahead, worse players take more rest breaks behind cover. But to keep up the difficulty, GoW starts throwing enemies that one-shot-kill in the final third, and it’s frustrating to spend 10-20 minutes clearing an area only to be killed in 1 second. The aggravation discouraged me from experimenting with tactics.
    (Modes = Singleplayer, Multiplayer) As with the original pc release, the pc version of GoW:UE lacks the splitscreen cooperative game mode its console has. I have fond memories of beating the Xbox360 version twice with my friend.
    I really really really hate when developers do this to ports. Splitscreen has already been coded, PCs have more power than consoles, so why kneecap the port by actively removing something? I don’t buy the explanation that pc is harder to standardize, because the game engine is already working on pc. And I don’t buy that it discourages piracy, because making a product intentionally less appealing discourages legitimate buyers more.
    And I certainly don’t buy that pc gamers don’t play locally, because I do, all the time. 4 wireless Logitech controllers, an HDMI cable, and my school’s bigscreen tv in the student center and, bam, we’re playing splitscreen Unreal Tournament 3. And frankly, it’s easier to set up on my laptop that it’s been on any console since the Nintendo 64.
    (Length = 8 hours, 10% padding)

    CONCLUSION
    This is a rerelease that offers nothing but an un-noticeable graphic upgrade, at a cost of more than 4 times the price and adoption of the Windows 10 store monopoly. It might have been worth it had they added back local co-op. While I hold personal animosity towards the GoW franchise for diverting Epic Games away from developing Unreal Tournament games, the original Gears of War 1 still holds up and would have been a 9/10 at the time of release. But as a full-priced game 9 years later, Ultimate Edition must be judged against modern shooters. So I recommend buying the 2006 PC games-for-windows-live release instead.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »