Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

@Tasuki I think the fact that the 360 games are actually playable on the XB1 is the main reason. Plus they're still, imo at least, trying to gain as much good will as possible going into next gen so I doubt they'll stop offering them

Finally giving State of Decay 2 a shot thanks to Gamepass for PC. Not a great game by any means but I actually enjoy the grind in these kinda games. That said the limited inventory space is affecting my enjoyment some.

@LN78 I am going to give it a go this weekend as I like a bit of Gears and while I was underwhelmed by 4, I liked the Kait character who is most of the focus of 5.

Perhaps the best exclusive on Xbox this generation and perhaps one of the best looking games too - right up there with the best Sony games too - and running at a 4k 60fps. It's interesting to hear about the pipeline here - not render the whole image below the target and upscale but render all the geometry, up scale and then do all the post-processing etc to get the best image possible.

I know some are not as big a Gears fan as others but I would put Gears up there with Uncharted for me and whilst Gears 4 wasn't really a big leap forward, playing it too safe (understandably as 343 seemed to lose that 'something' that made Halo so good, didn't seem to know the series that well) which maybe they had to do to prove they understood what made a Gears game and 5 certainly has taken more of a step forward for the franchise.

Anyway, those of us on Xbox don't tend to get too much to celebrate - at least outside of the Forza Franchise which has continued to excel and rightly be regarded as the best Racing games on console - after all, the do win the best racing game at the Game Awards. Gears has easily been the best franchise story based exclusive game for Xbox with Halo and Crackdown both disappointing. Its great that the Coalition have taken on the Gears franchise and made it more their own now but still kept the elements that we as fans grew to love.

@LN78
I'm playing on the original model Xbox One I bought in 2014 on a 1080p tv and still think the game's visuals are brilliant but Gears has always excelled at that so I'm not shocked either. I bet if I were playing on an X1X, even on a 1080p tv, I'd say it's the best looking game this gen.

I've played pretty far into Act II and have experienced some of the open world stuff. Really well implemented. There's a lot to explore but it's not overwhelming. I don't love when linear games go this route but The Coalition is one of the few who has managed to find the right balance. The part I'm in it for, cover-based shooting, is still as fun as ever.

@LN78
PlayStation is my preferred console and I've been playing games a hell of a lot more on Switch since it launched than I have the Xbox One. But Gears of War is in my top 5 favorite franchises of all-time, everything else is put on hold while I play through the campaign. Should hopefully have my first run finished by Monday. Then I'll go back for a second time through to pick up the collectibles I missed.

@LN78
Gamepass. The $2 for 2 months offer was too good to pass up. But, I will be buying a physical copy at some point as well. I'm a collector and I have physical copies of all the other mainline Gears games.

@LN78 Well your on the Xbox thread posting about an Xbox game. I see no harm in it. Of course it would be a different story if you bought the smack down on the PS4 section lol.

@LN78 don't worry about it, you will be fine here, there are a few fanboys on the site but most of us are just gamers and many own both systems, it just that for one reason or another many of us also use the PS4 as our primary system

but i agree about that certain Nintendo site, it's really toxic over there, i once said i didn't like a certain Zelda game too (Majoras Mask if your wondering, i just don't like time constraints in my RPG's) and the amount of crap i got for it was staggering, so i stopped using the site altogether

@LN78 You might get that in some of that in the comments section of articles, some of them seem to attract trolls and fanboy ultras unfortunately.

@LN78 I have the Physical version of the Ultimate Edition Gears 5 with a nice Steelbook case too! Whilst you don't know me personally, you do know at least one person who bought the Physical edition. I also have some Exclusive Gears 4 items too - like the Gears 4 Elite and XB1s but unfortunately, that Console came with the ultimate Gears 4 digital version but generally, where possible, I buy Physical!

@LN78
The glitches I've experienced are check points not saving and losing collectibles I know I've already gotten. Didn't start until I got to Chapter 4 of Act 2.

I wish the Gears 5 advert would stop following me round the forum!

I've kind of ignored my Xbox for quite some time, since Resi 2 in fact so thought it was a high time I got back on it and £2 for Gamepass and Live for a couple of months was too good to turn down. It seems the games on there have improved and I'm looking forward to giving Devil May Cry 5 a go and I'm quite partial to Blazing Chrome, not only that I'll get to play The Outer Worlds too.

However the main reason was for Gears 5 and boy I'm not disappointed, first of all on the X and on my nice Samsung 4K HDR screen it looks phenomenal and a step above probably anything I've played so far, particularly now that they have gone with a brighter colour palette. The gameplay is even better with 60fps helping and the slight changes to how battles commence and of course Dave, I'm only a few hours in but a strong contender for GOTY so far and one that I'll be picking up physically

@carlos82 Got to say, I don't have an X (just an S) but Gears 5 is very impressive. The snow/sand texture is amazing.

Good news is, I also think the game is pretty darn good. I am up to Act 3 and I am invested in the story and characters which I wasn't at all with GOW4. I have been lucky and had no serious issues with bugs or anything. My character disappeared in a sand drift but I got out again.

Yeah Gears 4 took me a long time to get into and then it just ended, I don't think the start fighting the robots did it any favours. Although I did ultimately enjoy it and particularly the horror vibes midway through. This though has a much stronger start and I'm thoroughly impressed with it and the environmental damage that occurs.

I'm not far off where you are and have had no issues and a lot of fun, also played a bit of horde and vs which are great fun. If you ever get the chance to play this on X I'd highly recommend it but it's good to know the base console is doing well for itself

i'll be honest i never got into the Gears games, i tried a few games in the past but i could never get on with them, i found them clunky and slow and the lack of a targeting reticle unless your aiming is a pain

Mass Effect had a better gun combat and cover system than Gears, heck UNCHARTED had a better one

anyway that's my unpopular opinion on the subject, i'm expecting a load of comments saying how wrong i am or calling me a fanboy now

@FullbringIchigo Everyone is entitled to their opinion even if its not the same as the majority. Personally, I think the combat of the Gears games, with the perfect reload mechanic, cover and blind shooting, the chainsaw melee and the roadie running were innovative and set the bar for 3rd Person shooters and whilst others have come along and, in a lot of ways, simplified it, Gears has stuck to the formula that made it such a 'big' franchise for Xbox. In general, the most often comments I hear about Gears and the reason they don't like is more to do with the sc-fi setting and the overly brutish look of the human characters and rarely, if ever, the combat. That's not to say you are wrong for your opinion btw and if you don't like the combat, there is nothing wrong with that at all...

I am loving Gears 5 myself and the visuals are every bit as good as the big hitters on PS4. I liked Gears 4 and thought that deserved a lot more praise than it got. The weather mechanics were impressive but I do think they played it a bit too safe overall. The starting enemy were disappointing too after the Locust - robots and I wasn't that impressed with the couple of missions that were just Horde - defend with a fabricator for 3 waves. It really took you out of the game being so much like Horde instead of a more realistic situation where you wouldn't have a set time to fabricate some defences before the next wave comes.

Overall though I did enjoy it and thought it was probably the right thing for the Coalition to do for their first Gears game. The fact that they were accused of playing it safe also meant that they had nailed what a Gears game is, got the lore and combat right etc. It was safe but it was a Gears game and you know if they changed too much, the fans would have been complaining that they had 343'd it, lost their loyal fans and not understood what a gears game should be etc. The second half was better although I remember feeling surprised it ended after that boss battle - I felt like it should have had another act...

Anyway, I still have some way to go on Gears 5, but right now, I am really enjoying it!!

Apparently there is an Xbox State of Play thingy tonight at 11 UK time.

Yeah I'll be checking it out in the morning, I need my sleep