It's a blast with friends despite the bugs but honestly I expected so much more. I wanted Gears 5 to be Xbox One's swan song. Instead I got a solid Gears experience. Much better than the bland 4 but same or a bit worse than the old trilogy imo.
The Coalition are still way too afraid to shake things up. I feel like either they are time constrained due to the immense work they put in or they don't want to change the game completely in one title.
Well put, exactly my experience.
Rod Ferguson, the Head is a Gears guy in and out right from the OG Gears & the Coalition is still very focused on getting those core mechanics, weapons like Gnasher just right (rightly so) rather than revamping the entire franchise. Maybe Gears 4 did better than we all thought which might explain why they still kept it playing and feeling like Gears as much as 5 did.
I've talked about this to death in this thread itself but a few changes would have made it a truly new experience:
1. Open Levels: Integrate them into the story rather than a gateway between the different acts with big side quests, lore explorations etc. The Open Levels felt dead, barren and without soul and I didn't like that much.
2. RPG mechanics: It would have added a new way to play along with the Gears cover combat especially with Jack. Imagine that final level in Gears 4 playing as mechs but being able to upgrade them just like we did with Jack and the open world levels helping us acquire these upgrades.
3. Transportation: The Skiff would have been such a great way to create action set-pieces but instead became just a way to traverse as cool as it was. They should have had more vehicles like Skiff depending on the environments & you should have had the ability to upgrade them to travel longer distances.
4. Weather Systems: The world especially the weather systems should have been integrated in Combat which would have made it more fun & would have added a new way to play like the desert/snow storms.
5. Villain: Gears has still not found a formidable enemy like General RAAM, all the bosses in Gears 5 were shooting at a weak spot, we dont really feel that adrenaline rush we felt after beating General RAAM.
I felt Gears 5 would have been a true comeback with some of these changes atleast. Gears 5 is still in my Top 3 Campaign experiences on an Xbox One Console along with Ori and Sunset Overdrive this gen but they missed a chance.
