3/5 ★ – HomeVideoHustle's review of Gears of War.

I think this is my third time beating this game. Once back in the 360 era, once on the Xbox One and now another time on the Series X and with the “Ultimate Edition.” I think this may be the first time I beat it solo as well. Like the other times I played it though, I left feeling the same way and thinking the same thing… “It’s aiight.” At the time it was new and kind of fresh, it was a new console generation and people wanted something that felt like a jump in hardware. I did feel like that when I played it but when I was done, I never expected it to continue into this huge series that is still going now. The gameplay loop is fun but very repetitive. You run around, take cover and shoot aliens. Sometimes you have to run from rushing enemies until you can get them outside and use a satellite weapon, sometimes you have to run from the dark to avoid getting killed by swarms of flying enemies. They do try to mix it up but it’s not enough to keep it from feeling dull. The first two chapters were great and I was having fun but from chapter three onward, my enjoyment started to dip with each section. It is fun to shoot though and the regenerating health was nice to have, so I didn’t have to run around for health packs and ammo. The biggest flaw in the game and what made me frustrated on many occasions, is the AI. Specifically Dom’s AI. So, so many times I’d be killed in a shootout because Dom would just stand there doing nothing or would be completely useless and hanging out in an area behind me and no matter how many times I’d hit the regroup button, he’d never show up or just say, “negative.” Whatever bond the story may have tried to build with Fenix and Dom was ruined because of this. The other two were fine and always were running and gunning. I don’t know why Dom was acting so stupid. It’s fun for a while but then just becomes a push to be done. The buddy AI is useless and the plot is not very exciting. I’ve never played a Gears game after this, so maybe it gets better, it has to right?