For the first Gears game on the one, I expected something big from the jump. I expected something original that was gonna blows my mind and spark my love for the series all over again. I never got that. Instead, I got a weak campaign that recycles the original series and a multiplayer that is ruined by micro-transactions.
The campaign left me very disappointed. I felt the story was too much of a recycle of the previous games without being its own thing. The new characters certainly have potential but there was too much focus on the past Gears squad and not enough on the new one. I felt having that step back hindered the characters' story development and didn't really allow us to get familiar with them. Instead, everyone was like "Ok, When is Marcus gonna show up?". It just doesn't work.
I have no issues with the graphics of the game. I think the game looks great, Easily the best looking one of the series. I liked the new Swarm enemies and felt their diversity was pretty enjoyable to fight against. The combat and gameplay is just as fun as it was in previous games. I also felt that they defined the horde classes a lot more than they did in Judgement so props to the huge improvement there.
As for the multiplayer, It's such a massive disappointment. A lot of lag and connectivity issues. These micro-transactions are a huge issue for me as well because it's such a rigged system. The amount of coins you earn per match is very low and it costs a lot of coins to buy any of these loot boxes. And because the turn out is so low, It pushes the player to spend real money on the in-game purchases and I absolutely hate that. And as a gamer, I find it really insulting. Especially when from the jump they were pushing for the $40 season pass and then to throw rigged micro-transactions on top of that. I can honestly say that I will not be buying Gears 5 if this trend continues.
Overall: 6/10
There's so much to be desired in the game. They need to re-work the multiplayer and find a way to keep players steadily interested without making it a pay to play situation. And they need to come with an original campaign next time around, A focus on a new adventure.