Gears of Capitalism

Microsoft is announcing one new Xbox One bundle every day this week, starting with yesterday's Rise of the Tomb Raider set, which is only availab??le in Best Buy and Microsoft stores, at leas?t in the US.

Next is the Xbox One 1TB Holiday Bundle, out in October. $400 gets you a 1TB Xbox One, Rare Replay, Gears of War Ultimate Edition (you'll get the Xbox 360 Gears of War collection with that), and, somewhat incongruously, Ori and the Blind Forest "full game download." So does that mean the former ??two ?are physical discs and not just codes?

I guess this bundle is preferable if you really do not want Tomb Raider. Wonder what Microsoft Frankensteins together ??for tomorrow.

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At its best

For better and for worse, Gears of War helped shape the past generation of gaming. Bursting onto the scene in 2006, it helped solidify now-common tropes like chest-high walls,? brown and gray shooters, and muscle-bound space marines. It didn't invent any of those, but it certainly helped elevate them to the level of Hollywood blockbuster everyone wanted to m??imic.

Through that imitation, Gears of War's legacy has been diluted. A wealth of average games has caused people to proactively sneer at the disingenuity of this formula. It's easy to forget that Gears of War not only blaze??d th?e trail, but it did so in a tremendous and highly entertaining fashion.

There's something to be said for being able to revisit a title in 2015 that I originally played almost a decade prior, and still having a grand ol' time with it. All it takes is a fresh coat of paint to remind us of Gears of War's brilliance.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition (PC, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developer: The Coalition
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Release: August 25, 2015 (Xbox One), TBA (PC)
MSRP: $39.99 

The developers of Gears of War Ultimate Edition have called this "the first at its best." Turns out they aren't wrong, but they also aren't quite precise enough. This is Gears of War -- en??tire franchise included -- at its best. Gameplay at a steady 60 frames-per-second does wonders for the naturally clunk??y movement. These soldiers now feel less like the tanks they resemble.

That's not exactly the case in the campaign, however. Multiplayer over Xbox Live runs at 60FPS, but solo and cooperative play is locked in at 30. Regardless, it's a vast improvement over previous installments. It's immediately noticeable as soon as you pick the controller up. The Ultimate Edition is running on a mature version of Unreal Engine 3 -- the same engine the original Gears of War was built upon -- so this improvement can likely be chalked up to optimizat??ion and more powerful hardware in the Xbox One.

This newfound fluidity makes everything less frustrating. Cover-??based shooting works as it always has, but moving from spot to spot isn'??t as likely to end up with your character stuck to a wall you didn't intend. Navigating the game's many battlefields is quicker and more enjoyable.

While a slicker movement system is easy to appreciate, it's the combat -- the actual shooting of guns -- that's the real meat of Gears of War. Almost everything about it is perfectly intact. As many bullets as the enemies can soak up, there's resounding satisfaction anytime?? an enemy gets tagged with a torque bow or a pistol takes a head clean off. Hip-shooting with the Gnasher is still a frustratingly inaccurate prospect, as it seems like things work out in your favor about half the time.

But, the greatest compliment you can give Gears of War (and it holds true in Ultimate Edition) is that it makes fighting fun. That shouldn't necessarily be the case for a game that features pop-up shooting gallery one after another, but it is. Active reload is one of the better game mechanics of the past decade in that it constantly keeps the player's attention during a process that they'd otherwise be uninvolved in. The Lance??r (a/k/a "chainsaw gun") is iconic and unironically cool.

It's on the back of the combat that the rest of Gears of War gets by. A lot of the level design feels dated now. Settings are distinct through the game's five acts, but they're all used the exact same way. R??arely is there clever subversion to keep the player on their toes. More often than not, it's predictable what lies just ahead.

To be fair, there are attempts to break this mold; the second act holds two examples. A large swath of this part of the game asks the player to pathfind by blowing up propane tanks in order to illuminate the road. When mixed with fighting, these are some of the best moments in Gears of War, as it adds a puzzle-like element. Conversely, the end of this act dedicates a chapter to vehicle driving. It's? poor??ly executed, and it comes off as a forced and transparent bid at shaking up monotony.

Gears of War can be linear to a fault, but that's a trade-off for its cinematic nature. Chapter length is generally short, and a new cutscene is always just around the corner. Setpieces come about fairly frequently, but they're somewhat subdued when compared to other installments in the series. Rather, this Gears of War is t??he ??game that set the tone for the over-the-top action to follow.

Despite all the cinematics, Gears of War is notab?ly light on narrative. The story details the human struggle against the invading Locust on the planet of Sera. Things are bleak. Humanity has its back against the wall. Everything feels so down and out. This coalition of well-trained troops is the good guys' last chance.

For those who actually care, Gears of War's plot can be ef??fective yet simple. It lacks a lot of nuance, as does the dialogue. Most exchanges between characters are gruff one-liners, either ?overtly aggressive or sarcastic. To be blunt, the dialogue hasn't aged well but this was never the game's strong suit.

The greatest disconnect?? comes from the super??b gameplay and the subpar narrative. It's not only the disparity between the two that rings obvious, but also how they fail to work hand-in-hand. Gameplay often feels less like a means of accomplishing a story-specific goal, but more like a means to trigger a cutscene to advance the plot. Pacing is also an issue, as stakes are high and chaotic at all times.

There are plenty of faults, but Gears of War's greatest trick is that you don't notice them while you're playing. It's just a good time from start to finish. On a personal ??note: my roommate and I played through the entirety of the campaign cooperatively on Insane difficulty in two sittings in one day. I couldn't tell you the last time I dedicated that much of a day to a game. That speaks volumes.

For anyone looking to boil the Gears of War experience? down to its purest and (arguably) most enjoyable form, competitive multiplayer again serves a big role. There are 19 maps and nine modes (including newcomers team deathmatch, king of the hill, and two-on-two with shotguns). It's undeniably quite ?the large offering.

Again, Gears of War is fantastic when it's just unadulterated combat. By today's standards, eight-person multiplayer should seem tiny, but it really? doesn't. There's always plenty of fray to be found. Maps are designed in a nice, symmetric way so that everything's balanced. Although, the majority of weapons are immediately disregarded by most people in favor of constant use of the Gnasher, which feels like the way to go at almost all times.

Whether the campaign or multiplayer, Gears of War undoubtedly succeeds in constantly entertaining. The Ultimate Edition takes that to a new level through optimized gameplay, smoother controls, and updated visuals. Most importantly,?? it makes this?? classic relevant again.

Microsoft has a lot riding on the continued prosperity of Gears; after all, it is one of the publisher's largest properties. Gears of War Ultimate Edition effectively reminds why that's the case, just as it reminds why t?his is the game that partially influenced an entire generation of gaming. It just took a makeover to help us appreciate it again.

[Editor's note: At time of writing, the multiplayer component wasn't live for the general public. A handful of multiplayer games were played in a private room hosted by the developer. We'll report on the state of online play at launch and thereafter. If this aspect of the game sees significant problems in the weeks following release, we'll cover those issues.]

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Gears 1-4

Microsoft has announced that if you purchase Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, you'll be able to unlock the entire Gears Collection by way of backward compatibility, and now we have a few concrete details on the matter. If you play Ultimate on Xbox Live from August 25 until December 31, you'll be eligible to unlock the collection this fall when it hits. That includes Gears, Gears 2, Gears 3, and Judgment.

When said collection does arrive, anyone who owns it by way of the Xbox 360 will also be able to play their copies, and the original Gears will evidently drop later today for Xbox One preview members. Hav?ing played them all, I don't think I particularly want to r??eplay any of them again without a couch teammate.

&ldq?uo;Gears of W?ar: Ultimate Edition” Comes With Entire “Gears” Collection For Free [Xbox Wire]

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Hands-on with the rebuilt Gears of War

Gears of War was not alone in ushering in an era of grimdark, of re??pet??itive third-person cover-based shooting, but it ground our faces deepest into the dirt and grit.

At one point an officer yells at prison-broke Marcus Fenix, "you're not fit to wear that uniform," yet the army had no qualms about leaving him conveniently locked up in jail in that same armor. Why? The newly redone cutscenes don't answer this. The dialogue is all the same, but story segments have been otherwise re-directed, re-edited. None of this props up what is a lacking story and unintentionally funny characters, but I'm sure the people who made Gears of War: Ultimate Edition had fun making the original entry look its best.

Well, Rod Fergusson did. I can't imagine too many studio members of The Coalition, formerly Black Tusk, took a particular nostalgic pride in completely re-doing over 3,000 art assets after the studio canned the original IP it had been working on for near two years. They get to make Gears 4, at least.

Fergusson calls Ultimate Edition "the first at its best." The team didn't want to update the gameplay to reflect every change brought about by the second and third sequel. It's a "balance between modernization and breaking Gears 1." You still can't move while downed, for instance, but you can spot enemies. Still, the ten-year-old game could use some cleaning up. Fergusson has talked a?bout the slapdash putting together of the original. He noted that, "When you look at Gilligan's Island today, it's a te??rrible show that should never be watched." That it isn't really funny, "but Mary Ann was hot."

This comparison doesn't make a ton of sense because Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is a tech overhaul. It's a shot for shot, line for line remake, like that Psycho with Vince Vaughn. An HD, visually remastered Gilligan's Island would still be Gilligan's Island.

I played some Gears Ultimate last week in San Francisco. For shock value, the?y had Xbox 360s set up to play one round of multiplayer in the original. It is gritty and monotone. Characters feel appropriately like tanks and I struggle to discern between human and alien bug ground monster. This problem didn't go away completely when we switched over to Xbox One, but we can chalk that up to me being not particularly great. I think my team only lost one round, though the win piles were not me carrying folks.

Here's a more important question: why is the gruff marine third-person cover shooter the thing that feels most copied from Gears and not active reload? Active reload is still so fucking good. It engages the player when they'd otherwise be waiting for an animation to finish, it has practical advantages, more button presses (in repeatable timing ins??tances) makes for more rhythmic and fluid play. Why didn't everyone do th?is?

The rest of it is still fun, too. The insult of walking patiently up behind a sniper ??and casually chainsawing them dead. The hulking movement and exploding heads. That one level with a killer train in between halves. And there are new additions like TDM, differing "competitive" and "social" matchmaking, 4K displays if you buy it on PC, additional content if you never played the original PC release.

Playing Gears Ultimate will net you the previous Gears games when Xbox One sorts out its backwards compatibility, too, and you of course get early access to Gears 4 down the line.

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Curb stomp for the low price of free

Rod Fergusson, head of The Coalition, announced today at the Gears of War panel at San Diego Comic-Con that the base model of Xbox One will come bundled with Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.

The bundle includes a 500GB Xbox One, wireless controller with 3.5mm stereo jack, a digital copy of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, early access to the 2016 Gears of War 4 beta, the Superstar C????ole multiplayer skin, and a 14-day Xbox Live trial all for $349.

It's a??vailable for pre-order starting today an?d will release alongside the game on August 25, 2015.

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And 'THIS! IS! ANNEX!'

Gears of War is getting a remaster for Xbox One and PC, and of course it's bringing its most iconic Achievement with it. Whether you're gibbing people up close with the Gnasher or tearing them apart with the La??ncer's chainsaw, you'll need to kill a lot of opponents if? you want to pick it up.

Developer The Coalition released Gears of War: Ultimate Edition's Achievement list, and "Seriously..." is sitting right there taunting everyone. As those who picked it up back upon the game's 2006 release can att??est, killing 10,000 enemies? in online multiplayer is no small feat.

Another tedious Achievement named "THIS! IS! ANN?EX!" is also back. It requires playing one hundred or more games of Annex mode, each with three-plus rounds while capturing three objectives in each match.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition ships with 56 Achievements and 1250 Gamerscore. Despite the likes of "Seriously..." and "THIS! IS! ANNEX!" remaining intact, a fair number of the Achievements have changed, usually to better reflect the direction the series has taken over the years. For instance, Gears of War 3's "re-up" system is implemented, which means that hitting level 100 of??fers ??the option to start all over.

Here's Gears of War: Ultimate Edition's full Achievement list:

Prison Breakout (10)
Complete tutorial path on any difficulty

Welcome to Delta Squad (20)
Story?? Progression in Act 1 Chapter 1 (on any difficulty)

Cole? As in the Cole Train? (20)
St??ory Progression in Act 1 Chapter 6 (on any difficulty)

Yeah, Yeah, Group Hug (20)
Story Progression in Act 1 Chapter 7 ?(on any difficulty)

My Love for You Is Like a Truck (20)
Story Progression in Act 1 Chapter 8 (on? any difficulty)

No More Favors (20)
Story Progression in Act 2 Chapter 2 (on any di?fficulty)

Lights, Action! (20)
Story Progression in Act 2 C??hapter 4 (on any difficulty)

Taking Laverne for a Ride (20)
Story Progression in Act 2 Chapter 6 (on any difficul?ty)

The Biggest E-hole (20)
Story Progression in Act 2 Ch??????????????????????????apter 8 (on any difficulty)

Smell Good Too… (20)
Story Pro??gression in Act 3 Chapter 2 (on any difficulty)

Go Time, Show Time (20)
Story Progression in Act 3 Ch?apter 4 (on any dif??ficulty)

Broken Fingers (20)
Story Progression in Act 3? Chapte?r 5 (on any difficulty)

Lethal Acoustics (20)
Story Progression in Act 3 Chapter?? 6 (on any difficulty)

I Can See You! (10)
Spot 100 enem?ies resulting in assisted kills in Versus (social or competitive)

Raven Down (20)
Story Progress??ion in Act 4 Chapter 1 (o??????????????????????????n any difficulty)

Fry Up With a Side of Greens (20)
Story Progression in Act 4 Cha??pter 2 (o?n any difficulty)

Know Place Like Home (20)
Stor?y Progression in Act 4 Chapter 6 (o?n any difficulty)

YEEEEHAAAAA! (20)
Story Progression in Act 4 Chapter 6 (on any diff??iculty)

Power Up (20)
St??ory Progression in Act 5 Chapter 5 (on? any difficulty)

Marcus? Is That You? (20)
Story Progression i?n Act 5 Chapter 3 (on any difficulty)

Shock Therapy (20)
Story Progression in Act 5 Chapter 5 ??(on any difficulty)

All Aboard! Uh… We're Aboard! (20)
Story Progression in Act 5 Chapter 6 (on an?y difficulty)

A Dish Best Served Cold (20)
Story Progr??ession in Act 5 Chapter ??8 (on any difficulty)

Mercenary (50)
Complete all acts on Casual Difficulty

Classic Mercenary (50)
Complete all acts on Normal Difficulty

Soldier (50)
Complete all acts on Hardcore Difficulty

Commando (75)
Complete all acts on Insane Difficulty

Time to Remember (10)
Recover 11 COG tags (on any difficulty)

Honor-Bound (20)
Recover 22 COG tags (on any difficulty)

For the Fallen (30)
Recover all 33 COG tags (on any difficulty)

Zen and the Art of Reloading (10)
Perform 25 perfect active reload??s (on any difficulty)

Zen and the Art Part 2 (20)
Perform 5 perfect active reloa?ds in a row (on any di??fficulty)

Clusterluck (30)
Kill 3 ??enemies at on??ce 10 different times (on any difficulty)

Dom-curious (10)
C?omplete 1 co-op chapter in co-op (on any difficu??lty)

Domination (20)
Complete 10 different chapters in co-op (on?? any difficulty)

I Can't Quit You Dom (30)
Complete all acts in co-op (on any difficulty)

Don't You Die On Me (20)
Revive 100 teamma??tes in Versus multiplayer (soci??al or competitive)

Always Remember Your First (20)
Finish pla??ying a Versus match (social or competitive)

Don't Hate the Player (10)
Finish with the highest points in a Versus match (social or com??p??etitive)

Mix It Up (20)
Win a match in every Versus game type (social?? or competitive)

Around the World (30)
Win a ma??tch on every Versus map ??(social or competitive)

Can't Touch Me (20)
Win 10 V??ersus matches without losing a round (social or competitive)

Seriously ... (50)
Kill 10,000 people in Versus competitive matches

THIS! IS! ANNEX! (40)
Complete 100 matches of 3+ rounds in Annex and capture 3 objectives in each ??match

Nub Pwn3r (30)
Win 20 rounds in Annex by shutting out t?he oppo?sing team

CQC (20)
Win 25 matches in Boxes (social or competitive)

Level 5 (50)
Reach Level 5

Level 10 (10)
Reach Level 10

Level 25 (25)
Reach Level 25

Re-up (20)
Reach Level 100 and re-up

Handyman (25)
Killed an enemy with every weapon in Versus (so?cial or competitive)

G-reader (10)
Read one full comic

Brothers To The End (10)
Defeat G?eneral RAAM in co-op on Insane without either p?layer being DBNO

Gimme Some Skin (10)
Play one Versus Match with a Custom Weapon Skin

Better Late Than Never (20)
Win 25 matches in Team Deathmatch

Whack-A-Grub (10)
Closed all 4 e-holes around the fountain in Fish in a Barrel without any Locust fully e??merging

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Achievements List [The Coalition forums]

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Feedback from the beta is in

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is creeping up on me with that August 25 release date. I missed the beta for this Xbox One remaster, but plenty of you didn't. A million matches were logged in a week and, somehow, a single person claiming to be human participated in 597 of them. Darren tells me it has taken him six months to play about that many matches in The Last of Us Factions.

Some (but not all) ??of The Coalit??ion's takeaways from the beta:

• Multiple fixes and tuning for the Gnasher Shotgun
• Multiple fixes for Frag Grenades, Boomshot, and Torque Bow
• Tuning for footstep audio and other sounds around a player
• King of the Hill improvements, including ability for The Coalition to adjust more settings for competitive play
• Removed active down from Active Reloaded Longshot sniper rifle and added/tuned active bonus for sniper bloom/aim
• Bug fixes and tuning for skill-based matchmaking
• Tuned red/blue colours for team shaders (Locust/COG)
• Improved look of blood and gore in gameplay
• Improved game performance to reduce screen tearing
• Bug fixes and tuning for Controller Sensitivity Settings
• Various bug fixes on maps, weapons, matchmaking, audio, and controls

I'm primarily looking forward to Ultimate Edition for its multiplayer, but the story mode has also been retouched, so we'll see. The package sounds fairly comprehensive: "19 maps (plus special community map 'Boxes'), all the original game modes in Gears of War, plus Team Deathmatch and King of the Hill, split-screen support, party support, LAN support, private matches on ? dedicated servers, two spectator slots in private and LAN? matches (does not take up player slots), and 17 additional playable multiplayer characters unlocked with level progression in Versus."

Beta Recap and Upcoming Improvements [Gears of War]

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Comparison screenshots, too

I've mostly avoided the remaster trend, but Gears of War: Ultimate Edition might be one of the few to pull me in. Not so much for the campaign, whose revamped cutscenes are briefly sho??wn here, but as a way to get back into the multiplayer. Shotguns galore. And Gridlock, sweet Gridlock.

This is coming to ??Xbox One and Windows 10 on August 25 for $40, which sounds like a lot initially. Looking over these screenshots, there's more of a visual upgrade here than I was expecting.

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