If Halo is considered the Star Wars of the Xbox platform’s portfolio, then Gears of War could be compared to Terminator. It’s long been about humanity’s militant movement and revolution against a threat of their own making—the Locust horde is analogous to Skynet, in that sense. From the first ‘Mad World’ teaser and right through to the beginning of a second trilogy, Gears has looked intensely at the heavy toll of conflict, hubris, and, of course, brotherhood and loyalty—the latter two, I expect, will be an enormous narrative backbone for Gears of War: E-Day, which sees the series place Kait’s story on hold to quite literally return to its beginnings, the crisis point of Emergence Day itself.
Regardless of where you come down on the second trilogy’s future class squad, it’s likely you hold a reverence for Marcus and Dom that never quite felt met by the likes of James, Kait, or Del. Although it exists in opposition to my true feelings on most prequels, experiencing the events of E-Day is a tantalising prospect.
With betas and previews for the game’s versus and Horde Siege mode now in the rearview, this hands-on experience took us through most of the first two chapters of the game’s second act, straight after the showcase presentation’s ending, where Tai saves Marcus with a well-placed chainsaw through a drone’s solar plexus. We’re placed into the Gears’ boots right after they armour up, ready to back up the other squads in the area to hold the line against the invading Locust forces. The preview build also gave a good sense of the open, explorable Kalona map, which, if older previews prove right, will deteriorate and weather over the course of the campaign; it’s worth noting that only solo play was active during the build.
I might not have gotten hints of the horror the game’s first reveal perhaps alluded to, but I do think there’s an inherent, palpable desperation that underpins the tone of E-Day. Of course, with the bravado and comically chunky armour still a mainstay, it’s an unspoken panic and concern that can be felt in every set piece. Outside of showing us the moment Bravo Squad is officially put on record, as well as a nice moment where the squad reminisces about Carlos, Dom’s fallen brother, the hands-on didn’t show the game’s cards in terms of where the story might go. In terms of stakes and grit, it’s shaping up to be the Halo: Reach of Gears games.
Although Gears wasn’t the first game to have a dedicated cover system, I’d argue it did it best. It’s the central pillar that the remainder of the Gears combat experience is built around, and I’m glad that, save for a few additions, The Coalition has resigned to leaving well enough alone. The combat in E-Day is fierce, weighted, and kinetic, and there isn’t a skirmish in the preview that didn’t leave me breathless—and much of it is helped along by great improvements to the Locust’s AI, leading to an aggression and willingness to press or pinch in combat. The first big fight on Legacy Bridge, which is a multi-stage battle that sees you relieving Charlie Squad from suppressing fire before moving forward to lower the bridge and provide overwatch from a stalled train car, is spectacular and felt like Gears at the peak of its powers.
From a player perspective, battles are no longer just smashing into barriers and car shells, which rock satisfyingly as though a bear crashed into them; being able to jump and mantle ledges gives most scenarios a vertical element that needs to be kept in mind. Even a move as small as jumping onto the roof of a car that stands between a drone and you suddenly gives you the desirable higher ground. I thought I’d lament the loss of the old-school roadie run, with its tight camera angle, but the trade-off of being able to cover ground quickly, maintain good peripheral vision, and, most pivotal, slide into cover or around corners is more than worth it.
Also core to the Gears experience is guns—lots of guns. E-Day sees the return of the old faithful, default pairing of the Gnasher and chainsaw-affixed Lancer, the origins of which we see in this particular act of the game; though it isn’t given the fanfare I perhaps had hoped for, it’s born out of necessity, and its reveal felt more functional than hype. E-Day also sees the introduction of the Gutpuncher belt-fed grenade launcher, which, with its different trigger mechanics and required timing, took some getting used to. It felt like a Coalition-crafted Boomshot, though its in-lore function was anti-vehicle, so imagine what it does to the Locust. E-Day also sees the return of the Breechshot, which might or might not be anachronistic in terms of the franchise’s lore, but it’s a welcome addition to the roster—it’s effectively a scopeless sniper that pops heads like balloons. As someone who never played Gears of War: Judgment, where it made its debut, it quickly became a favourite of mine.
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The second half of the preview sent us out into the city blocks of Kalona to cross town to reach the next objective. At this point in the timeline, the city isn’t so far gone, although it’s clear it has been recently forsaken and that the evacuation effort is nearing its end. With E-Day being a return to roots, Kalona recaptures the war-torn, destroyed beauty aesthetic of the first few games, and it’s somber to patrol the streets, seeing the terrible wake left by the sudden invasion.
While en route to the main objective, which I felt as though I was funnelled to in a semi-linear manner, the game chucks fairly emergent opportunities to help soldiers and citizens in need. Perhaps it was due to the game tutorialising these opportunities, but those I engaged with—helping a squad defend their makeshift barracks against a couple of grubholes and freeing a family trapped in a powerless convenience store—felt quite fleeting, simple mechanically, and didn’t perhaps convey the importance of weighing in. The rewards, being bespoke weapon mods, mean the juice is worth the squeeze, but, as an experience, it felt a bit lesser and hollow.
Unsurprisingly, because The Coalition has always had a penchant for pushing the tech to its limits, the game performs exceedingly well on console, regardless of the visual mode opted for—it’s quite nice to see a balanced 40 frames per second mode, giving players the best of both worlds when struggling to pick performance or fidelity. I can tell early on I’m going to enjoy combing through every inch of Kalona’s network of roads and landmarks. The fact that the entire city is rendered at once does sell the scale of the struggle and gives the sense of a world on its knees. A zebra isn’t ever going to change its stripes, and E-Day is as bloody as ever; seeing a drone reduced to a cloud of viscera and red mist by a perfectly placed Gnasher shell never gets old.
Similarly, seeing a Locust head pop underfoot, or seeing their torso split in half by the Lancer’s chainsaw teeth remains the height of Gears’ hyper-violent action. While the game’s visuals deliver the horror of these acts of aggression, the audio design shoulders its share of the burden. There’s a gross slosh to every torrent of blood spilt, but I was most impressed by the deafening heft of the guns during combat—it’s as loud as a battlefield should be. It’s also cool to have John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro return to their respective roles as Marcus and Dom, although I felt an odd disconnect with DiMaggio’s on-point, gravel-throated delivery as Fenix and his prequel babyface—though I expect that to pass quickly.
It never ceases to amaze me the heart The Coalition can inject into a sci-fi franchise about meatheads shooting subterranean lizards to bits. Despite knowing what comes next, the stakes for E-Day feel sky-high, and I am eager to see the bond between Marcus and Dom galvanised through this game’s struggle. The combat is as visceral as ever, and the enhanced mobility is the shot in the arm Gears needed, particularly on a competitive level. The only question I have is about the quality of experience we’re expecting from Kalona, as the preview suggests an unexpected shallowness to anything found off the beaten path.
Gears of War: E-Day releases October 6 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Game Pass; early access is available on October 1 for Collector’s and Premium Edition owners.
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