Gears of War: E-Day Campaign Impressions
For Gears fans, the arrival of Gears of War: E-Day is an exciting prospect. This Xbox-console exclusive features a never-before-told story of how the war with the locusts began. In this prequel, players will assume the role of Bravo Squad, featuring franchise favorite characters Marcus Fenix and Dominic “Dom” Santiago. We’ve played through the Gears of War: E-Day campaign and now we have some impressions to share.
Note: During the review period, we did not have access to online multiplayer features, aside from the co-op campaign. As such, we felt it wouldn’t be right to do a scored Gears of War: E-Day review until we had a chance to play the complete E-Day package. This article will discuss the Gears of War: E-Day campaign, including split-screen co-op. Our full review will come at a later date and will include online multiplayer aspects.
Emergence Day
Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel and takes place 14 years before the original Gears of War game. Emergence Day, or E-Day, is the moment the locusts first breach from below the planet Sera’s surface and begin their invasion. Players get to experience these initial hours first-hand from the perspective of Bravo Squad, a group of four COG soldiers that include series favourites Marcus Fenix and Dominic “Dom” Santiago. Two new-to-franchise characters round out Bravo Squad. In a franchise first, players will be able to select which of the four Bravo Squad members they play as throughout the campaign. The entire campaign will feature all four squad members fighting alongside each other.
The Gears of War: E-Day gameplay is very similar to what we’ve seen in previous Gears installments. The view is in third-person, just over the shoulder of our selected character. The classic cover system returns, alongside some enhanced movement abilities that give you access to more areas on the battlefield. You’ll work alongside your three other squad members, whether they’re human or AI controlled. As you fight the locust forces, you’ll make your way to each subsequent objective. In some chapters, additional optional side quests will be made available. There are plenty of firearms to choose from, many of which have appeared in previous games, including the shotgun like Gnasher and the assault-rifle styled Lancer. New weapons also make an appearance. Weapon mods and armour mods can be found in secret hard cases throughout the campaign, giving you the ability to customize your hardware. Reloading brings up a small mini-game prompt. Nailing a perfect reload gets you back to shooting quicker, and provides stronger ammo.
Fight Smart, Live Longer
E-Day, especially on higher difficulty settings, demands players take a more strategic approach to battles. If you’re a run-and-gun style player, you’ll often find yourself overwhelmed. Dropping behind cover and focusing on picking off the locusts is a much better approach. Taking out snipers and bigger, over-powered enemies first is often the way to go, otherwise players run the risk of an instant death. Even behind cover, a well-placed boomshot from a locust Boomer will lead to certain death. It can feel a bit “cheap” at times, but reworking strategies or finding an alternative vantage point is sometimes all that’s needed to turn the tides.
Gears of War: E-Day is an absolutely gorgeous looking game, even if the majority is covered in debris and dead people. The characters, especially during cutscenes, are among the best we’ve seen on the Xbox Series consoles. It’s clear that finally ditching last generation hardware has allowed the devs to really push the Xbox Series consoles to new limits. That’s not to say there weren’t some visual challenges along the way. During gunfights, it’s sometimes difficult to tell your fellow COGs apart from enemy locusts. Fortunately, “team killing” isn’t an issue, otherwise I’d have probably killed just as many COG soldiers as I did locusts. Generally, locusts have something orange on them and COG members have something blue on them – to help tell them apart – I just wish these coloured bits were a bit more distinguished and visible.
Stupid CPU-Controlled Characters
The biggest issues in Gears of War: E-Day is the brutally awful CPU-controlled characters. When playing alone, or via split-screen co-op, the remaining Bravo Squad members will be CPU-controlled. They’re dumb as dirt. While they might shoot in the general direction of the enemy, they’ll rarely bag any kills. They won’t highlight/tag any enemies. Often times, they’ll reposition themselves, running through your line of fire, or sometimes directly at you, leading to some frustrating “get out of my way” moments. When you go down, they will thankfully come to your aid, but if you’re playing split-screen co-op, they’ll rarely save the second player unless the first player is in close proximity.
During our playthrough, on two separate occasions, the game quit to the dashboard during a cutscene. Fortunately, in both cases, the game saved before the cutscene, so we didn’t lose any progress. Heck, the first cutscene failure was during the opening cutscene. What a first impression! Another issue we ran into during splitscreen took place during the third Act. There was a moment where Bravo Squad was separated; two characters went one way, two characters went the other way. During this moment, each pair engaged in a deep conversation about their pasts. But these conversations happened on screen at the exact same time. So we literally had two overlapping conversations. It was such a silly oversight and we couldn’t stop laughing. Sentimental moment failed.
Welcome Addition to Gears of War
Gears of War: E-Day is a brilliant addition to the Gears of War franchise. The story does an excellent job of bridging a gap between the Gears world before the locust invasion and after. The character development is excellent, and you can’t help but feel for the members of Bravo Squad and some of the supporting characters you encounter along the way. The gunplay is as solid as ever and the added weapon and armour mods help make us feel in more control of the outcomes. E-Day is not without it’s issues. There were drops to the dashboard, really stupid CPU-controlled Bravo Squad members, and some cheap deaths along the way. But overall, Gears of War: E-Day is an excellent shooter that will be an absolute blast to play alongside friends.
For more Gears of War: E-Day coverage, be sure to check out our Gears of War: E-Day Campaign Preview and our Gears of War: E-Day Horde Siege Preview.
***Gears of War: E-Day key provided by the publisher for the purpose of review.***