Gears Of War Reloaded Hands-On Preview
I love the Gears Of War franchise. While I’ve predominantly been an RPG, action or platforming game fan over 30+ years, Gears was a shooter that always struck a chord. The tone was on-point, the action exceptional, and the production value unreal, and as someone who was a huge PlayStation player, I was always longing for a scenario that would see me playing the game on PlayStation. Now, nearly 20 years after Gears of War first launched on the Xbox 360, and the game that started it all is returning, coming to a whole new audience on PlayStation in the process. Microsoft has been running a Multiplayer Beta this last couple of weekends, and PS5 owners can now get their first taste of the Gears of War world. Like many others, I jumped in to spend some time with the game, and with an old itch scratched, I’m more excited than ever to get into Gears Of War Reloaded this August.
The two multiplayer weekends were just that, multiplayer weekends, that said, booting up the Beta and and getting Myrrah’s opening monologue, with splashes of campaign action was already more than enough to grow the levels of anticipation. As for the Beta though, for better and for worse, it feels very much like 2006, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Gears Of War Reloaded Multiplayer weekend gave players new, and old, PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, the opportunity to discover or relive a host of favourite Gears Of War mulitplayer maps, from Gridlock, to Raven Down, and Gold Rush, as well as Courtyard, War Machine, and Canals which was added for weekend two of the Beta experience. These are all the old-school Gears Of War fare, with a tone of waist-high cover locations, tight corridors opening into huge open expanses littered with broken down tanks, fallen cargo, crumbling roofs, and fallen helicopters. Depending on which part of the environment you’re in, you need to be mindful of the level of aggression you display. While the player doesn’t need to worry themselves with 360 of potential attackers as they roady run through a corridor, you’re also a fish in a barrel for anyone who may be waiting, gun drawn at the end of the corridor, and open spaces are something of a free-for-all.
The Gears Of War Reloaded Mutiplayer Beta weekends offered Social and then Ranked allowing players of all levels of experience the opportunity to excel, and what would have been especially useful for PlayStation players who’ve yet to try out the Gears Of War franchise, the game also allows you to enable or disable crossplay, allowing you to filter out those pesky, ultra experienced Xbox gamers
Whether you like sawing through the opposition with the Lancer’s chainsaw bayonet, headshotting from afar with the Longshot, breaking hearts with a smooth grenade tag, or blowing people away with the overpowered Gnasher shotgun, Gears Of War Reloaded’s multiplayer suite is still going to please its players in 2025, the only thing they’ll need to contend with is the smoothless of the moving from cover point to cover point, one of the few warts that come with a respectful remaster of a nearly 20 year old game.
While it is the campaign that I’m eager to play Gears Of War Reloaded for, returning to the original’s multiplayer for the first time in nearly two decades was a thrilling experience, and my hopes are high for future Gears games to get the same ‘Reloaded’ experience so that my beloved Horde mode can return in all of its glory. PlayStation fans, buckle in, you’ve got a wild ride on the way.
Thank you to Xbox Australia for providing me with a PS5 code for the Gears Of War Reloaded Multiplayer Beta.
