Previews

Re-experience Emergence Day

In 2006, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console was a year old and looking to dominate, but needed a must-have title to distract consumers from Sony’s PlayStation 3. Epic Games delivered with Gears of War, a gritty third person shooter set on a distant planet where humans battle the Locust Horde, aliens that surprise their victims by erupting from the ground. In addition to featuring addictive combat and legendary multiplayer, the original wowed audiences with over the top violence, with players cutting through enemies using the chainsaw attachments on their Lancer Assault Rifles, or curb stomping their heads while their adversaries helplessly crawled around.

The beautiful slaughter

Gears of War 4 won’t appear until late 2016, but in the meantime, Microsoft plans to unleash Gears of War Ultimate Edition 28 August. It is the original Gears reimagined for Xbox One. Yes, it’s another re-release added to the growing pile, but instead of merely enhancing the visuals to make a quick pound, the development team included a wealth of features to ensure this Ultimate Edition lives up to its title. If it’s been a while since you played the first chapter, we have a variety of reasons you should consider buying the game next month.

Speaking of graphics, the Gears of War reboot looks incredible. There’s a chance you have images in your mind of what the original Xbox 360 shooter looked like, and chances are these are fond memories of horrifying creatures, movie-quality cut scenes and a once grand city in disrepair. Well, Ultimate Edition makes that version look woefully primitive. Everything received a facelift and runs at 1080p. The cut scenes, environments and character models blow away what we’ve come to expect from the Gears franchise. Additionally, multiplayer moves at 60 frames per second, and on dedicated servers to help increase performance.

Thankfully the improvements don’t stop there. The Gears of War PC port came with exclusive campaign missions Xbox 360 players missed. Now all of this content will appear in the Ultimate Edition, adding an estimated 90 minutes of gameplay. You’ll also unlock new Xbox Live achievements for a total of 1,250 points.

The single player campaign, where disgraced war hero Marcus Fenix and his COG buddies slaughter Locusts features plenty of memorable scenes, including each encounter with General RAAM and the exciting intro of fellow COG warrior Augustus Cole Train. Of course, the campaign only lasts so long, and it’ll take roughly eight to nine hours to see everything single player has to offer. Multiplayer is where you’ll spend the bulk of your playing time, thanks to a wealth of enhancements that go beyond 60fps.

For starters, the game includes 19 maps encompassing DLC and PC exclusives, along with old favorites Courtyard, Canals and Gridlock. The game will attempt to match players based on skill, and you’ll have three new game types: King of the Hill with Gears of War 3 rules, Team Deathmatch and 2v2 Gnasher Execution.

Beyond that, there are 17 characters from Gears of War 3 you’ll unlock, as well as options to customize different matches. Among the customization tweaks, you’ll be able to adjust respawn time, weapon respawn and self-revive, to name a few. Finally, Microsoft gives players Tournament Controls and the ability to adjust controller sensitivity.

Finally, Gears of War Ultimate Edition will be available for a budget price so you don’t break your wallet before the highly anticipated fall video game rush. Of course, if you never experienced Gears of War, this is £27.85 you need to spend, and there’s also a £309.99 console bundle that comes with a 500GB Xbox One system and a copy of the game. It’s easily one of the most important shooters of the previous console generation, and with the vast number of improvements to the Ultimate Edition, we consider this one of the top games of the year.