Microsoft’s decision to make Gears Of War: E-Day an Xbox console exclusive means many people haven’t played it, but one reader is definitely a fan.
The only game I felt the need to go out and buy on day one this year – despite it being available on Xbox Game Pass – was Gears Of War: E-Day. This was odd, because I’m not a Gears Of War fan.
I never really cared for the franchise and I had only ever played one of the previous titles: Gears Of War 2 back in the day on the Xbox 360, running through the campaign just once. I realised I may have been in the minority yet, despite this, I felt a strong urge to buy E-Day on launch day. Why was that?
Part of me just wanted a simple, run ‘n’ gun, point A to point B, no nonsense shooter that wasn’t trying to be anything else. Having now played through E-Day’s campaign, it is almost exactly what I hoped it would be, and I loved it. The gunplay, the sheer chaos of the action, the visual spectacle, and the gore were all fantastic.
The game doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not; it knows exactly what it wants to do, and I really respected that. It is also welcome that it has a lengthy campaign worth playing, and this is even before I have touched the online options. And so far bug free, without any issues, so it seems a well-polished product.
As an exclusive, it is clearly meant to draw people to Game Pass, so perhaps I also wanted to support an exclusive as another reason, especially considering this era of mass industry layoffs. Another major draw was that my friends and I wanted a couch co-op game.
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This is perfect for what we wanted long-term, as its adjustable difficulty levels suit us since we are not all that good. And it gives the game plenty of depth, along with, I’m hoping, any possible future free upgrades for people who bought it.
But there was another, subconscious reason. I realised a part of me was driven to buy this game because of an old title on the original Xbox that I played through over a single weekend years ago: Star Wars: Republic Commando. I absolutely loved it at the time, which was wild to me because I didn’t like Star Wars either, yet I loved that game.
Ultimately, that might be the real reason I wanted Gears Of War: E-Day. It feels like Republic Commando, but on steroids and with attitude. I just love having three companions watching my back the entire time, and I genuinely liked the squad.
Sure, some of the dialogue between Dom, Mags, Reyes, and Fenix tries a bit too hard to force the player to empathise with them, but at least the effort is there. It really makes me wonder: wouldn’t it be incredible to see a full remake of Star Wars: Republic Commando for current gen consoles?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go help Dom fight off a pesky Locust.
By reader Stephen
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