Gears of War: E-Day's verdict: an 88, and the best-reviewed Gears in 15 years
Gears of War: E-Day scored 88 on Metacritic, the series' best since Gears of War 3. What critics praised, what they didn't, and the PC caveat.
Stated by the maker, publisher, or platform holder.
The reviews for Gears of War: E-Day went live on 1 October, and the result is the best reception the series has had in fifteen years. It scored 88 on Metacritic from around 50 reviews. That's higher than anything The Coalition has made before, and second only to Epic's original trilogy.
What's confirmed
What critics praised
The combat, above everything. Pure Xbox gave it a 10, saying it "features the best combat in twenty years." GamesRadar+ called it "the best cover shooter I've played since Xbox 360," singling out a new adaptive cover system that "makes every shootout dynamically chaotic." VGC gave it an 8 and said that for gunplay, "very little beats it this year." GamingBolt gave it a 9 for the "tightest combat" in the series.
What they didn't
The story. Several reviews say it favours action over the relationship between a young Marcus and Dom, which is the reason a prequel exists in the first place. At the low end, Gamekult gave it a 5 and called it "bloated with loot and filler." Before the embargo, The Guardian accidentally published a 3 out of 5 early, calling the campaign repetitive, and then took it down.
Most reviews covered only the campaign. Multiplayer wasn't available to review before launch, so that part of the game is still unscored.
The context around it
That makes this an awkward success. The game came out of the restructuring we covered in the Xbox layoffs and studio moves, and it's scoring better than any Gears game in fifteen years.
Should you play it
Yes, if you liked the original Gears games or want the best cover shooting around. It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, so if you subscribe, it costs you nothing extra.
Check first, if you play on PC. The 84 and the performance complaints are worth reading before you buy, especially on mid-range hardware.
What you need
Space. The install is 115GB on PC, and you should plan for at least 100GB on Xbox Series X|S.
An SSD on PC. It's a hard requirement, not a recommendation.
What it is. A prequel set fourteen years before the first Gears of War, at the start of the Locust invasion, with a young Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago. The campaign runs about 14 hours, according to GamingBolt.