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This article contains spoilers for theGear of Warfranchise.
From the moment audiences worldwide viewedGears of War’s hauntingly enigmatic Mad World trailer, with Marcus Fenix running from mysterious creatures in a ruined city set to Gary Jules' cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” in late 2006, players knew this game would have an interesting story to tell. In November 2006, players got to play through that story as Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad defeated Locust General RAAM and deployed the Lightmass Bomb in the underground Hollow. WhileGears of War 1was universally praised for its third-person gameplay, online multiplayer, and co-op campaign, its core story left players wanting to learn more about Sera and its war with the subterranean Locust Horde in futureGears of Wargames.
Gears of Warsoon cemented its place as one of Xbox’s breakout exclusive titles with the release ofGears of War 2in 2008, which improved nearly all aspects seen inGears of War 1from its multiplayer to its narrative. Since these early eruptive beginnings,Gears of Warhas gone on to become one of Xbox’s most successful franchises, further exploring the wars of Sera in books, comics, and, of course, in nine games and two story DLCs. With the upcomingtenth entry in the series,Gears of War: E-Day, returning players to the origins of the Locust War, here’s a ranking of every priorGears of Warcampaign ranked by their gameplay and narratives.
S-Tier Gears of War Campaigns
The bestGears of Wargames are those that perfectly blend intense, overwhelming gameplay with engrossing, oftentimes tragic storylines. This is best exemplified by many fans withGears of War 2. Here, players got to witness the heartbreaking tragedy of Dominic Santiago finding his long-lost wife Maria, the origins of the Locust at the New Hope Facility, the society and Lambent War within the Locust’s Nexus, and the triumphant last stand of Jacinto. All of these events and more add up toGears of War’s best campaign, which still has yet to be usurped. It wasn’t justGears of War 2’s story that made it great, however, as new gameplay elements, such as Tickers, Kantuses, Sires, and the Centaur, solidifiedGears’ perfect gameplay loop.
Gears of War 3’s base climatic campaign is the runner-up best narrative seen inGearsgames. It not only concluded the Locust War and Lambent threat in a satisfying way, but also saw the tear-jerking sacrifice of Santiago and the true beginning of Fenix and Anya Stroud’s relationship in peacetime.Gears of War 3additionally introduced many welcome additions to its gameplay, such as the transformative Lambent creatures, as well as the Retro Lancer and Sawed-Off Shotgun. This storyline wasn’t the only one featured inGears of War 3, however, as players were able to further purchasethe RAAM’s Shadow DLC campaign, which had gamers embody both Zeta Squad and RAAM himself during the evacuation of Illima City nine years after Emergence Day.
A-Tier Gears of War Campaigns
SomeGears of Warcampaigns just barely miss the mark of being truly great. WhileGears of War 1started the franchise, its campaign lacks a lot of character depth for both its protagonists and antagonists. Each member of Delta Squad is distinct and memorable, but they wouldn’t become fully fleshed-out characters untilGears of War 2or3. Being the first game in the series,Gears of War 1also lacked gameplay variety with its limited number of Locust ranks and exhibited often frustrating encounters, particularly with the Armadillo and Kyrll. Despite these setbacks,Gears of War 1still proved to be a stand-out game in the early days of the Xbox 360.
Similarly, The Coalition’s first new game developed in theGearsseries,Gears of War 4, was received well by most fansbut received more criticism compared to prior games. Given the satisfying endGears of War 3had for Delta Squad, many fans had difficulty adjusting to JD, Del, and Kait as new, young, oftentimes overly comedic protagonists. Despite this, The Coalition still introduced interesting plot threads focusing on the re-establishment of the COG with the robotic DeeBees enemies and the rabid return of the Locust in the form of the Swarm. The Swarm’s impact on local environments and settlements was further explored in the DLC campaignGears 5:Hivebusters, with COG remnants exploring the South Islands and discovering the bird-like, venom-spewing Wakaatu.
B-Tier Gears of War Campaigns
NoGears of Warcampaign is truly bad, but some just have less engaging campaigns than others or seem rather repetitive.Gears of War: JudgmentwasGears of War’s first prequeland spin-off, but its story didn’t have much emotional or thematic depth compared to the original trilogy. While it did shed more light on the Union of Independent Republics through Garron Paduk and on COG’s internal structure through Colonel Ezra Loomis, it didn’t really add much else to the overallGearsstory.Judgmentadditionally forced gamers to play in certain ways rather on their own accord through declassified missions and introduced some canon issues via the Chainsaw Lancer’s appearance too soon after E-Day.
Gears 5continued the exploration of the Swarm, and their connection to the Locust’s origins through Kait, Mount Kadar, and Queen Myrrah. However, it also introduced some storylines that seemed to artificially shed characters in a negative light, namely JD with the elimination of civilians at Settlement 2 and the premature firing of the Hammer of Dawn.Gears 5additionally introduced more open areas to explore through the Skiff, but there wasn’t much to do in these areas. Similarly,Gears Tacticsexplored more of the early days of the Locust Warand displayed the origins of Kait’s family with Reyna and Gabriel Diaz. However,Gears Tactics’ turn-based tactical gameplay often made the game feel too repetitive and less intense than mostGears of Wargames.
The Coalition and Mediatonic’s 2019 Funko Pop! mobile real-time strategy game,Gears Pop!, is currently the onlyGears of Wargame to not feature a campaign.
