Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10

 PC
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

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  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 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.
  2. Avadon
    Mar 6, 2016
    0
    Horrible PC version, pop-in everywhere, frequent crashes, requires W10 store, nobody online. For several days I even had trouble running it at all. I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not.
  3. SilentCheech01
    Mar 6, 2016
    1
    Has to be installed through the horrible Windows Store.
    Single player performance is abysmal. Multi-Player runs pretty good, but i bought it for the campaign and it is unplayable even on a GTX 970. Settings don't make a difference. Runs like garbage on all settings. Never buying another title off the windows store ever again.
  4. KKaneIRL
    Mar 25, 2016
    0
    Absolute disgrace, owned the Xbox one version and wanted to see it with better visuals on PC but it was a complete mess, sound was distorted, constant frame drops and terrible multiplayer connections. Stay clear of this garbage.
  5. Emanoel
    Mar 10, 2016
    0
    This adaptation is HORRIBLE, WORST then first day of BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT IN STEAM, MICROSOFT is making my FAVORITES GAMES WORST everyday, after HALO, now GEARS and FABLE, WHO FRANCHISE U GONNA KILL next?
  6. 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 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    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.    … Expand
  7. Praxcelis
    Mar 9, 2016
    3
    Any game from the Windows Store as it is run now is locked from mods and has to be installed on the boot drive. Broken v-sync... all kinds of broken. Just like with Rise of the Tomb Raider (which fortunately was also released on Steam) gamers are locked down and out of the full experience of the game. No way will I buy ANY games from the Windows Store until it has no more limitations onAny game from the Windows Store as it is run now is locked from mods and has to be installed on the boot drive. Broken v-sync... all kinds of broken. Just like with Rise of the Tomb Raider (which fortunately was also released on Steam) gamers are locked down and out of the full experience of the game. No way will I buy ANY games from the Windows Store until it has no more limitations on the gamer and the developers than Steam has. I'm betting that if this game was released on Steam or elsewhere, the issues with GoW:UE would be greatly diminished and I probably would have given it a 7 or 8.… Expand
  8. Smackk
    Mar 2, 2016
    4
    The game is fun and the visuals are much improved from the original release but the performance and technical problems made me request a refund. I have a i7 3770k @ 4.6, 16gb 2133mhz ram, 2x980ti OC, game installed on a 500gb 850 EVO and I get massive FPS drops on 1440p. This is with Nvidias game ready driver that was released specifially for Gears of War.

    Although I cant monitor FPS    The game is fun and the visuals are much improved from the original release but the performance and technical problems made me request a refund. I have a i7 3770k @ 4.6, 16gb 2133mhz ram, 2x980ti OC, game installed on a 500gb 850 EVO and I get massive FPS drops on 1440p. This is with Nvidias game ready driver that was released specifially for Gears of War.

    Although I cant monitor FPS because its a windows store game I can feel and see it stuttering which is completely unacceptable. SLI doesn't work in case anyone was wondering. Ive tried messing with the settings like unlocked and locked frame rate but it doesn't matter, its a stutter fest.
    It doesn't use more than 50% of any core on my 3770k and my 980ti usage isnt even maxed out when the FPS drops, nor is my disk usage. No idea why FPS is so unstable but I would avoid it for now if you have an Nvidia card at least until a patch or new driver is out.    … Expand
  9. AnTi_HeRo2100
    Mar 2, 2016
    4
    Gears of War (PC)

    I love gears and I always have, I spent so much time playing through this series each time another one released, but this besides looking like crap is a poor money grabbing attempt by Microsoft. It's a shame that they would port one of their most recognizable and popular series over to PC and not even spend a little extra time to tailor it to PC gamers a little better,    Gears of War (PC)

    I love gears and I always have, I spent so much time playing through this series each time another one released, but this besides looking like crap is a poor money grabbing attempt by Microsoft. It's a shame that they would port one of their most recognizable and popular series over to PC and not even spend a little extra time to tailor it to PC gamers a little better, for example removing a FPS lock? or the fact that there is no native full screen support? Come on Microsoft you can do better than that I give it a 4/10 just for Nostalgia reasons and nothing more.    … Expand
  10. 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, as i said before this game doesn't deserve any money at all, its horrible piece of crap, this game is a joke
  11. vgmkyle
    Mar 1, 2016
    0
    What the guy below me said. This game has no options, it's out way too late and fails in every single way that a PC game could. Don't play the XBOX ONE version either.
  12. Joe_Friday
    Apr 23, 2016
    0
    Another abomination from the Windows Store. First you have to struggle through hours (or days) of slow, buggy downloads that constantly disconnect. You will finally appreciate Steam, Uplay and Origin after you see what a nightmare it is to download a game from the Windows Store.

    IF you can download it, once it's installed you have limited choices in the setup menu. Want to tweak the    Another abomination from the Windows Store. First you have to struggle through hours (or days) of slow, buggy downloads that constantly disconnect. You will finally appreciate Steam, Uplay and Origin after you see what a nightmare it is to download a game from the Windows Store.

    IF you can download it, once it's installed you have limited choices in the setup menu. Want to tweak the game to improve it's stuttering frame rate? Sorry, since it's a Windows 10 app it doesn't allow you to set up basic video functions like every other PC game does.

    In conclusion, Microsoft HAS to be sabotaging PC gaming on purpose, probably hoping to drive gamers to the Xbone console in desperation.    … Expand
  13. Valet90
    Apr 13, 2021
    0
    У игры если и были тестеры, то их компетенции/количества было явно не достаточно!Soft-лок в 5 акте(на xbox в принцепе много багов,а на Pc их ещё больше),тот кто расставлял чекпоинты в epic возможно был не опытен(хотя для такой игры должны были выделить лучших из лучших. Это же был главный тайтл после Halo)и ему/им можно было это простить,но в 2015 ТАК РАССТАВЛЯТЬ ЧЕКПОИНТЫ НЕЛЬЗЯ!У игры если и были тестеры, то их компетенции/количества было явно не достаточно!Soft-лок в 5 акте(на xbox в принцепе много багов,а на Pc их ещё больше),тот кто расставлял чекпоинты в epic возможно был не опытен(хотя для такой игры должны были выделить лучших из лучших. Это же был главный тайтл после Halo)и ему/им можно было это простить,но в 2015 ТАК РАССТАВЛЯТЬ ЧЕКПОИНТЫ НЕЛЬЗЯ!
    P.s.Русская локализация тоже не тестировалась.Куча ошибок перевода(да, именно по смыслу фраз бьёт)неправильная работа актеров, человек по подбору кадров - в принцепе работать скорее всего а данной отрасли не должен(скорее всего сроки были конские, но на то вы и специалисты должны быть что бы объяснить все издателю правильно или сделать так как он хочет, вот только качественно)    … Expand
  14. vova22379
    Jul 3, 2023
    0
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  15. PalitoNoob
    Jan 11, 2021
    3
    It is an incredible game, but the PC port is horrible, it gives low FPS in many moments played with a 1660 super, 16 gb ram, ryzen 5 3600

Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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. GameStar
    Sep 11, 2016
    85
    Great remaster of a real action classic. The timeless gameplay mechanics still work in 2016.
    Read full review
  2. 4P.de
    Sep 9, 2016
    85
    This is what remaster should look like. Mechanically it feels slightly outdated, but nonetheless Lancer and Chainsaw Bayonet keep your adrenaline pumping – even without splitscreen co-op.
    Read full review
  3. 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]
See all critic reviews »