Best Sequels of 2019
First Runner-Up: Gears 5
Guides Editor Chris Jecks: I’ve been a fan of the Gears series ever since my feeble teenage arms could wield a chainsaw bayonet and I watched as it ripped through the flesh of a Locust. Six Gears games later, and we may well have just seen the resurgence of the series in the best way possible.
Up until Gears 5, the series had very much stayed the same. Its campaign was made up of a series of narrow, grey hallways filled with plenty of waist-height cover, and some enemies to shoot. Clear the hallway, run about a bit, and onto the next one.
Its multiplayer felt unbalanced with the poster boy weapon the Lancer cast aside for the overpowered Gnasher Shotgun. Well… everything was cast aside for the Gnasher. With Gears 5, though, The Coalition has got to work on putting its own mark on the series.
The campaign feels far more fleshed-out, with Gears 5 taking the half-step into an open-world design, with a couple of sandbox areas filled with side missions and unique Relic Weapons that’ll bolster your arsenal. The story’s engaging, the characters that make up Bravo Squad are just as likable as the iconic Delta Squad that still make the occasional cameo, and the gameplay is as tight as ever.
Heck, the campaign even threw a massive curveball with THAT decision towards the end of the game. On top of the campaign, we got a rebalanced and redesigned PvP multiplayer mode, a Horde mode that retains all the best bits of Gears 4’s refresh, and a new Escape mode that provides creatives an opportunity to flex their muscles with the map creator, and groups of friends a means of playing a PvE experience without it taking up their entire evening.
Gears 5 has got me more excited about the series than I have been since I wrapped Gears 2. If a resurgence of excitement isn’t the sign of a good sequel, I don’t know what is.
