Note: The following is a review for Gears of War: E-Day based on the campaign ONLY. We'll share our thoughts on multiplayer at a later date, as it wasn't made available during the pre-release period.
Gears of War: E-Day is the consequence of a studio that irrefutably gets what makes these games so special. The Coalition isn’t just delivering a world-class campaign, it’s raising the bar for Gears’ combat, pushing cinematic storytelling forward, and straight-up f***ing killing it.
I always knew pulling off Emergence Day was going to be a tall order. How do you turn the franchise’s most pivotal event into a campaign, especially with current-gen console hardware in its twilight years? And yet, this devastating prequel pulls none of its punches. It hardly misses a beat, and is relentless in its ambition to shock and awe.
My goal isn’t to blow smoke up something it doesn’t belong in. I've just spent the past week experiencing what could become my all-time favourite Gears of War campaign, and it’s making me feel quite emotional.
Personally, I’m not sure E-Day could be the blockbuster I believe it is without the influence of what came before it, and that’s what impressed me most. The Coalition has masterfully woven elements of what made the original trilogy iconic into their new game: the brotherhood between Marcus and Dom, the scarier tones of the original, and the heartbreaking toll of war.
Set fourteen years before the original 2006 release, long before General RAAM and lightmass bombs, E-Day follows a much younger Marcus Fenix - the iconic, grumbly Sergeant - as he mourns the loss of his best mate and comrade, Carlos. It’s been two years since his friend was killed in action against the UIR, with Fenix vowing to look out for his little brother, Dominic Santiago.
However, as Marcus and Dom share a few beers to honour the fallen and reflect on what’s important, their toast is interrupted by city-wide tremors. The ground opens beneath them, and nightmarish monsters are unleashed upon the streets of Kalona.
I’m fending off hundreds of starved Wretches with a Stillson pipe-wrench as ominous red beams streak out from cracks in the pavement, and my heart is pounding. Distant screams echo through alleys. Four-door sedans sink into the ground. Kalonites are being massacred every which way I look.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.purexbox.com/reviews/xbox-series-x/gears-of-war-e-day
