Gears Of War is often considered to be one of the greatest franchises in gaming history. It started out in 2006, with Marcus Fenix at the helm of a powerful squad of humans fighting against the Locust Horde. Over the years (and six games) focus has moved gradually further from Fenix, and a variety of other enemies have been introduced. With these changes has, of course, come a lot of fluctuation in critical response and opinion amongst a constantly committed fanbase.
Taking everything from story to visuals to general playing experience, we’ve ranked all six of the main Gears Of War games below.
6 Gears Of War 4
Released back in 2016, Gears Of War 4 was a way for the franchise to reinvent itself after the conclusion of the main trilogy. It was the first installment of the game to not be developed by Epic Games, it was the first made available only on next-gen consoles, and it was the first to take our attention away from Marcus Fenix and towards a new generation of protagonists. It was and the first to show signs of a franchise dipping in quality.
Now, Gears Of Wars 4 is by no means a bad game, it’s just a disappointing Gears game. Set 25 years after the main trilogy and following Fenix’s son J.D., it loses some of the emotional connection we had been building for the last ten years. It also makes the fateful decision to introduce robots as enemies and force us to fight foes that are a million times less satisfying to kill than Locusts or Lambent. Still, it’s a lot of fun.
5 Gears Of War: Judgement
As a prequel (which followed a familiar character- Damon Baird), pretty much everyone was expecting a Gears game that didn’t quite match the quality of the three games that came before. That’s exactly what they got. What people didn’t expect, was to still find a rather brilliant game within. It wasn’t afraid to make changes to the franchise’s winning formula while also hitting us with a story that actually added a great deal to characters from the main franchise that were previously overlooked.
4 Gears Of War
The original Gears Of War game is the one that started it all, and has to be glorified thanks to the incredible impact on gaming its existence had. That said, it doesn’t hold up quite as well thanks to the advancements in technology that have arisen alongside its predecessors. The mechanics are a little clunky, certain weapons and characters we love from the future haven’t arrived yet, and the graphics aren’t great (unless you’re playing the remastered ‘Ultimate Edition’).
It’s still one of the best games ever, though. We meet our lovable protagonist and battle one of the most killable enemies in gaming over and over again on some truly masterful landscapes.
3 Gears 5
After the disappointment of Gears Of War 4, the franchise took the ‘Of War’ bit out of its name and made sure that we were thrown back in at the deep end of quality Locust-killing. The storyline follows straight on from Gears Of Wars 4 and the same characters are present, only now we have much more of a connection to them. Locusts are the primary enemy once more, gameplay is incredibly addictive and it has to be one of the most beautiful games ever made in terms of landscape. A true return to form that has us on the edge of our seats waiting for Gears 6.
2 Gears Of War 3
After the perfection of its predecessor, Gears Of War 3 had a huge amount riding on its shoulders. The story was written by Karen Traviss, who had already published a number of tie-in novels related to the franchise, so the journey of our heroes was always in safe hands.
Set two years after the destruction of Jacinto, Fenix and Delta Squad fight back against the Lambent, resulting in battle on a grand scale alongside the most emotional moment in the entire series. The frequent brightness of Gears Of War 3 contrasted the gloomy browns of the previous game, but it added a new angle to the destruction.
1 Gears Of War 2
Is Gears Of War 2 the greatest video game sequel of all time? Quite possibly. The Gears franchise had introduced itself two years earlier and impressed audiences with its large-scale warfare, beautifully destructive scenery, and interesting plot, so the second game in the franchise really had to cement its place in video game history. Luckily, it did that and more. Every act of the campaign is a masterpiece and you’d be hard pushed to find a single negative review of the game ever published. Possibly even more revolutionary was the introduction of Horde Mode. Epic Games didn’t invent anything here, but it was their exceptional usage of the survival mode that popularised the term and allowed it to be introduced into just about every multiplayer game that came afterward. From every angle, Gears Of War 2 is one of the best games of all time.