Recent months have proven there’s no red line when it comes to the games that were previously considered sacredXboxexclusives coming to other platforms. At first, things felt gradual as smaller titles likeOri and the Blind Forestarrived onNintendo Switch, before Microsoft went one step further withHi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Grounded, and Sea of Thieves.
Indiana Jones and The Great CircleandForza Horizon5 felt like the biggest commitment yet to this multiplatform strategy, with one being a recent triple-A blockbuster and the other being one of the few marquee first-party franchises Xbox has that can’t be played anywhere else.
Now, with the arrival ofGears of War: Reloaded, all bets are well and truly off.
Xbox Wouldn’t Be The Same Without Gears of War
While Halo is yet to make the jump to PlayStation or Nintendo consoles,it’s only a matter of time until Master Chief winds his way to pastures new, and I wouldn’t be surprised ifFable follows shortly afterward with a brand-new title in the works. Putting those aside, however, I don’t think there is an Xbox property bigger than Gears of War. Once upon a time, many considered it downright synonymous with the brand.
During the early years of the Xbox 360 generation, Gears of War was the first game ever to show us what the high definition era was truly capable of. What came before was impressive, but when we first saw Marcus Fenix doing battle with locust hordes in a photorealistic world amidst gorgeous explosions and environments, it felt like we had jumped forward in time. In mere moments, we were provided a glimpse of the future, and it was on the 360.
Cliff Blezinski became a celebrity video game developer as Gears of War ushered in a new era of third-person shooters where you patiently waited behind chest-high walls before you popped out to kill enemies and move onto the next section. Dozens of imitators came out to play, but none surpassed Gears of War, so whenever a sequel or spin-off came around, fans were ready for things to be taken to the next level.
I take that back actually; Vanquish is better than Gears of War. Fight me.
It’s Strange To Finally See Gears Of War Come To PlayStation
But as theXbox Onegeneration came to pass and Gears of War brought its original trilogy to a close, it failed to attract the same level of blockbuster status it once did. The Coalition was forced to make new characters in the same world without the guidance of Epic Games and the results were sadly not up to snuff.
Don’t get me wrong, Gears 4/5 are great, and I adore everything they added to the universe, but to act like they’re on the same level as The Last of Us or Halo is foolish. Gears isn’t that level of franchise anymore, but with the eventual jump to PlayStation, it could be.
And yet an odd nagging feeling remains in my mind when I try to entertain the idea of playing Gears of War on PS5 after the original Xbox 360 trilogy helped raise my siblings and I. The ergonomics of the controller, how the buttons respond to each individual action, and how even little things like gamerpics, achievements, and themes were tied into each game feels inseparable.
Now, out of economic necessity and the way the gaming winds are blowing, Microsoft will be making the irreversible decision of leaving console exclusivity behind for good. Gears of War is no longer an exclusive title whose sole reason to exist is to sell Xbox consoles, but instead a series that can spread its wings and pull in an entirely new audience.
I shouldn’t begrudge that, and deep down I know I don’t, but the lingering nostalgia in my gut will miss what once was. Gears of War: Reloaded coming to PlayStation isn’t a coincidence either, and is likely a precursor to the new mainline installmentE-Daylaunching simultaneously on all major platforms next year.
It’s strange that Gears of War: Reloaded wasn’t announced with a single trailer, just a bunch of screenshots and brief snippets of developer insight throughXbox Wire.
It’s a prequel that flows directly into the events of the first game, so if Microsoft has larger plans for this soft reboot of the series, it’s a vision that doesn’t just have Xbox in mind. Right now, we’re on the precipice of an era, not just for Gears of War, but Xbox in its entirety as the brand leaves traditional consoles behind and allows its catalogue of properties to find homes on new platforms with larger audiences than ever before.
Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable, and so on have always been big names, but with the help of PlayStation and Nintendo, they could be bigger than ever. Just bear with me if it takes me a while to get used to everything…
