[0:00] A cornerstone of the third-person
[0:01] shooter genre, Gears of War has been
[0:03] gory and grimy comfort food for everyone
[0:05] who loves ultraviolence since its
[0:07] introduction in 2006. The series has
[0:10] greatly expanded in the 20 years since.
[0:13] And with all the re-releases, remasters,
[0:15] collections, and updates, it can be hard
[0:18] to parse the best place to go to get
[0:19] your hypersp specific fix for big
[0:21] chainsaws on bigger guns wielded by big
[0:24] men and even bigger armor.
[0:29] Thankfully, we've booted them all up and
[0:31] did the hard work for you. Here's the
[0:34] best way to play each mainline Gears of
[0:36] War game on current gen hardware.
[0:38] Welcome back to the Army, soldier.
[0:43] [ __ ]
[0:44] >> First, let's talk about all the places
[0:46] you can play the Gears of War games. If
[0:48] you're a PlayStation owner, the only
[0:50] Gears of War game available on the
[0:52] platform is Gears of War Reloaded, a
[0:54] remake of the first game in the series.
[0:56] All other mainline Gears games can be
[0:58] played on Xbox. That's the original Xbox
[1:01] 360 versions of 1, 2, 3, and Judgment,
[1:03] as well as Gears of War 4, Gears 5,
[1:06] Gears of War Ultimate Edition, and Gears
[1:08] of War Reloaded. The two remakes of
[1:11] Gears 1, Ultimate Reloaded, can also be
[1:13] played on PC through the Xbox app. And
[1:16] finally, on Steam, only Gears of War
[1:19] Reloaded and Gears 5 are available.
[1:22] Lastly, all of the Gears games are on
[1:24] Game Pass Ultimate. If you have Game
[1:26] Pass Premium, you'll have everything but
[1:28] Gears of War Reloaded. That will come to
[1:30] premium after it's been out for a year.
[1:32] And if you have Game Pass Essential,
[1:34] you'll only be able to play Gears 5.
[1:37] >> So, straight's not an option. How much
[1:39] rocket bases even last?
[1:40] >> Let's find out.
[1:41] >> Let's go over how the different versions
[1:43] of the games play across the different
[1:45] platforms, including which ones have FPS
[1:47] boost and auto HDR.
[1:50] These are Xbox features that push older
[1:52] games to run at higher frame rates and
[1:54] improve dynamic range and can be toggled
[1:56] on and off in the my games and apps menu
[1:58] and then in manage and then the
[2:00] compatibility options.
[2:02] If either option is grayed out, it's not
[2:04] available for that particular game or on
[2:06] your display or you have all HDR options
[2:09] turned off for every game on the system
[2:11] level. First, we have the various
[2:13] versions of Gears of War 1. The best
[2:15] performing Gears 1 is definitely Gears
[2:18] of War Reloaded. It quite simply looks
[2:20] the best on whatever platform you're
[2:21] playing on. It comes with a bevy of
[2:23] performance and graphical improvements
[2:25] over the Ultimate Edition. And while you
[2:27] can play the Xbox 360 on Xbox Series
[2:30] consoles with FPS boost, it's at a
[2:32] noticeably lower resolution than the 360
[2:34] version of Gears 2, 3, and Judgment.
[2:37] Reloaded can be played in up to 120 FPS
[2:40] in multiplayer with variable refresh
[2:42] rate on consoles. as crossplay and cross
[2:45] progression and all the post-launch
[2:47] content that came to the original Gears.
[2:49] There are a few caveats, however, with
[2:51] our review noting that AI controlled
[2:53] partners in the campaign seem to go down
[2:55] way more often than the Ultimate Edition
[2:57] on higher difficulties, and some art
[2:59] style changes may not be to everyone's
[3:01] taste. For Gears of War 2, 3, and
[3:04] Judgment, all of these can now be played
[3:06] at 60 FPS thanks to FPS boost. And Gears
[3:09] 3 and Judgment also have auto HDR.
[3:12] Weirdly, I had to turn FPS boost on
[3:14] Gears 3 on manually, and the rest were
[3:17] on by default, so keep that in mind.
[3:20] Next, we have Gears of War 4. Since this
[3:22] was an Xbox One game originally, playing
[3:25] it on the Xbox Series X loads into the
[3:27] Xbox One X version, meaning there's an
[3:30] in-game toggle for performance mode.
[3:32] You'll want to use this in-game toggle
[3:34] rather than the Xbox system level FPS
[3:36] boost. So, you can have the option
[3:38] between higher resolution at 30 FPS or
[3:41] lower resolution at higher frame rates.
[3:44] Turning on the system level FPS boost
[3:46] removes this in-game option. If you're
[3:49] playing on Series S, it's best to turn
[3:51] the system level FPS boost on. And if
[3:54] your rig is strong enough, it also runs
[3:56] great on PC through the Xbox app, and
[3:59] you can take advantage of PC specific
[4:01] options such as increasing the field of
[4:03] view. Finally, we have Gears 5. There
[4:06] was a native update to the Xbox Series
[4:08] consoles when it was released, meaning
[4:09] it didn't just get an FPS boost and
[4:12] resolution bump, but more work was done
[4:14] to improve the actual graphical
[4:15] rendering. It also runs very well on the
[4:18] PC through the Xbox app and Steam
[4:20] versions, but your mileage will vary
[4:22] depending on whether or not your PC has
[4:24] better specs than an Xbox Series S or X.
[4:28] >> Who the hell does that [ __ ] think he
[4:30] is? All the mainline Gears games can
[4:32] also be played through cloud streaming
[4:34] if you have a version of Game Pass that
[4:36] supports this feature. I won't say it's
[4:38] the best way to play any of them, but
[4:40] depending on your internet situation, it
[4:41] could work well in a pinch.
[4:46] Gears of War Reloaded is Steam Deck
[4:48] verified.
[4:50] Gears 5 is rated as playable with user
[4:53] reviews claiming that it runs extremely
[4:54] well, but you may run into a few bugs
[4:56] along the way.
[5:00] For Gears of War 1, your best bet is
[5:02] Gears of War Reloaded on current gen
[5:04] consoles or on PC through the Xbox app
[5:07] or Steam. If the art or companion AI
[5:10] bugs you too much, you could always try
[5:12] the Ultimate Edition on Xbox or the Xbox
[5:15] on PC app or the Xbox 360 version of the
[5:18] original game on Xbox Series consoles.
[5:21] Nice.
[5:24] For Gears of War 2, 3, and Judgment,
[5:26] your only place for current gen
[5:28] platforms is playing the Xbox 360
[5:30] versions on Xbox Series consoles.
[5:33] Thankfully, with some major modern
[5:34] graphical enhancements.
[5:37] For Gears of War 4, it looks and runs
[5:40] great on Xbox Series consoles and the
[5:42] Xbox PC app. If you're playing on Series
[5:45] X, leave the FPS boost option toggled
[5:48] off. And for Series S, toggle it on.
[5:51] It's also a play anywhere title, meaning
[5:53] if you have access to both console and
[5:56] PC, you can switch to the other if one's
[5:58] not cutting it. And for Gears 5, Xbox
[6:02] Series consoles run it fantastically
[6:04] well thanks to the native releases, and
[6:06] the Xbox on PC app and Steam versions
[6:09] can look even better if you have a rig
[6:11] that's more capable than the consoles.
[6:15] Hopefully, you now know exactly where
[6:16] you want to play each of these games.
[6:18] When you do get started, make sure to
[6:20] check out our guides for them included
[6:22] as links in the description. And for
[6:24] everything else gaming, keep it right
[6:26] here on IGN.
[6:28] >> I expect you to give me 110%.
[6:32] Phoenix,
[6:33] >> I'm not doing this for you.