Episode 20: Gears of Fall Part Deux - Revisiting Gears 5

Hello all!

Gears of Fall continues for Mitch 💀 and myself with GEARS 5! The first first entry where the “OF WAR” was dropped from the title. Why? Creative-heads said that fans shortened the title when talking about it so…they just took it out. Silly reason because people shortened things all the time when writing and speaking so like…

Gears 5 arrived in 2019 and The Coalition had lots to make up for with how Gears of War 4 ended and specifically, the introduction of JD Phoenix. Once again, as I have stated, how Anya and Marcus created this child considering how badass both of them are, is beyond me.

The other fight Gears 5 had is that this was going to be a big Gamepass release for Xbox so there was pressure to make this game approachable for a wide audience and would be, in theory, many folks’ first Gears-game.

In many ways, I think The Coalition makes up for 4 by developing a better game with Gears 5 (hold on, though). They realized the JD problem and lack of “epic moments.” and they tried to course correct…for about half the game.

When you get to Act 2 which is easily the strongest section of the game, the gameplay opens up and the “good” parts of the story take center stage. Once you acquire the skiff, you can explore around an arctic tundra doing side missions that reward you for your curiosity. Meanwhile, the story behind Kait’s origins is revealed and the overall Gears-lore is expanded on.

But then…

Act 3, while also fun to run around the desert area, drops the bigger story to focus on the Hammer of Dawn relaunch (once again). Paduk makes an appearance and it’s great to get those old Cog vs. UIR hatreds bubbling in the background but it’s forgotten to wrap up the game’s runtime.

Once Act 4 get around, the game drops anything interesting - JD, who was vilified earlier in the game, is just back on the team cracking jokes. Kait’s story morphs into a a retelling of Queen Myrrah from the first trilogy, and there is a silly boss fight.

I think the thing that bums me out about Gears 5 is all the potential I see and the great moments that are pushed aside in order to make the game simpler. When I first played Gears 5 back when it was released, I enjoyed it and I think that’s in part due to how lame Gears of War 4 is. After spending time reading the books and carefully revisiting the original games, the shine and shimmer is lost. The cracks are more noticeable.

Enjoy this episode!

There is a great interview with Rod Fergusson you can read HERE about Gears 5. Rod has since left The Coalition and now is with Blizzard - which is still part of the Microsoft family.

Next month, Mitch 💀 and I will be playing Gears Tactics which is bascially a first time play for me. I’m excited because I’ve heard great things!

Have a great Turkey Week and thank you for listening/reading!

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