8.0
Average Score (adjusted)
Confidence: High
Divisive
Reviews: 8
Top Review: IGN (9.0)
Spread: 3.0
GameSpot thinks Gears of War: E-Day is a good but unambitious prequel. The Good: killing the Locust is as satisfying as ever, weapon mods add more combat options and customization, and Kalona's architecture is impressive. The Bad: the story falters as a prequel with nothing new to say, and the open areas are tedious and disrupt the game's pacing.
IGN concludes that Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel that returns to the heart of the series, with a campaign that stands toe-to-toe with any of the others. Pros: a heartfelt prequel with strong characters, strong new squadmates in Carter and Reyes, excellent enemy and weapon variety with satisfying classics like the Gnasher and Lancer, welcome Weapon Mod and Tactical Gear customization, memorable boss fights, and beautiful dense locations in Kalona. Cons: inconsistent ally AI that often fails to revive you when downed, and infrequent but noticeable framerate hitches even in Performance Mode on Xbox Series X. This review only covers the campaign and is unscored pending multiplayer impressions
Plus points: a hefty campaign with enormous battles, a semi-open world as a big step forward, plenty of different Locust and brutal fights, and around 14 hours of campaign plus extensive multiplayer. Minus points: side missions become repetitive, and co-op limits freedom during exploration.
GamingBolt thinks Gears of War: E-Day is amazing, calling it one of the series' best and most well-paced campaigns in years. The Good: Kalona is a great setting and watching it get destroyed is a ton of fun, a strong core cast, an excellently paced campaign with memorable set pieces and boss fights, spectacular encounter design, new movement mechanics making it the most dynamic-feeling Gears, great layered level design with verticality, enjoyable exploration, excellent core combat, and incredible visuals. The Bad: inconsistent writing and storytelling, Dom feeling underused, side content that can be repetitive and one-note, and some minor performance issues.
CGMagazine thinks Gears of War: E-Day is the series at its best and one of the best Xbox exclusives in years. Pros: the best Gears campaign in years, a humanized story, new and reimagined Locust, distinct bosses, a good balance of linear and open areas, and stunning visuals. Cons: late-game bosses feel like bullet sponges and the friendly AI is incompetent and often dies.
The Guardian thinks Gears of War: E-Day is boring, saying an alien invasion shouldn't be this boring. Pros: the best combat in 20 years of Gears, with less clunky movement, naturalistic cover, hefty guns, and great environmental destruction. Cons: everything around the combat disappoints, the story just fills in references, levels are repetitive, the setting holds it back, collectibles drown out emotional moments, and exploring on foot is tedious with out-of-bounds failures. No score was given.
Wccftech sees it as a step back from Gears 5 in several ways. Pros: visuals among the best yet in a UE5 game, the best third-person cover shooter on the market thanks to improved fluidity, and the longest game in the series. Cons: a narrative step back from Gears 5's intriguing plot, largely forgettable side content, and PC performance marred by UE5 traversal stuttering.
Multiplayer.it thinks Gears of War: E-Day is a brilliant relaunch of the historic Xbox exclusive. Pros: a brand new, substantial and gripping campaign, very solid gameplay with many new features, and technically a spectacle on PC. Cons: some small balancing uncertainties, Italian voice acting often out of sync and needing fixing, and the Xbox version is solid but struggles with UE5. The review covers the campaign only, with multiplayer impressions to come.