Gears 5 lets you live out your '80s action movie dreams without feeling stuck in the past

There's a chunky sense of satisfaction to Gears 5. It's ludicrously over the top at times with blood and gore at a moment's notice. The complete antithesis of the likes of the Call of Duty franchise and its attempts at (very) loose realism, and a step away from the relatively sterile nature of the Halo franchise. The entire Gears of War series has been like that with every instalment – but nearly 20 years after the launch of the first game, it's Gears 5 that has aged the best.

It's not hard to play through the Gears franchise, whether through Xbox Game Pass, or physical copies (still easily found). I'm hanging onto the hope that the recently remastered Gears of War: Reloaded will lead to a full series of remasters. For now though, if you're new to the series, Gears 5 is the best place to start. It's a direct sequel to Gears of War 4 – I'm assuming the 'of War' moniker was lost in battle – but does a good job of helping newbies catch up with the story. Crucially, its game design is a ton more fun than the originals.

War machine

The original Gears of War games were very focused on tight areas where a wave of enemies would come at you, you'd kill them, run down a corridor, and move onto the next sequence. There are some notable exceptions but the basic structure remains the same throughout. Wrapped up in good-looking graphics for the time, satisfying gunplay, and none of us knowing any better, it didn't matter back then. It's noticeable now though. Times have changed and open-world games are a big deal.

Gears 5 doesn't go full open-world but it knows how to combine the original concept of set pieces with a wider sense of autonomy and openness. Growth is good. When it comes to finding collectibles, there's more variety in terms of where to look rather than being stuck poking around a narrow corridor. You can wander more and check out the surroundings. Some moments even provide a little more lore of what's going on. This isn't immediately apparent as the first act eases you in but it soon becomes a nice tweak to the usual format. Never fully open-world, it's just enough independence to ensure that Gears 5 is a lot of fun.

Besides that gentle tweak to the format, Gears 5 gets that women can be muscle-bound heroes too. Take a look at your favorite action movies. Remember how Arnie was the sole hero back in the day, or Sly? Gears 5 remembers that Ripley in Alien could be as much of a badass and this time, she's been working on those gains and consuming at least a cow's worth of protein a day. Enter Kait Diaz. She features in Gears of War 4 but in 5, she's the central character and it's refreshing to see. She's still as much of a gym bro turned gun bro, but with a modern take of 'shock horror, women can be like that as well'.

None of this would matter if it wasn't that Gears 5 is fun – but boy, is it fun. I replayed it recently following a 'first' playthrough of Gears of War: Reloaded and loved every second. It's 'switch your brain off' fun, just like those '80s action movies of days gone by. The first act eases you into the storyline and keeps fairly rigidly linear, but it gives you the chance to get into the groove. Each weapon is satisfying. There's seemingly no obvious weak point in your arsenal. Kill something with a headshot and their head explodes with a far too satisfyingly bleak squelch noise.

These creatures aren't human and are solely focused on your destruction so there's no moral dilemma here. It's just a good feeling to commit such potential atrocities. Similarly, fling a grenade and gore goes everywhere. Even your own character can end up covered in blood and gore. So, predictably, this isn't for the faint hearted but it does tap into that unrealistic and excessive vibe that action movies of old – think Robocop – did so well back in the day. Remember how fast things could escalate in The Expendables? This is what you get here, but without the iffy connotations of realizing other humans are dying because of such escalation.

It's somehow even more fun with a friend or two in tow. Everything is better with a friend, after all. You can team up against the Locust Horde and other enemies (no spoilers here!), and watch the blood fly. With the more open-world sequences, you can cover more ground together and come up with more strategies. Then team up again to slice, dice, and chainsaw your enemies (did I forget the chainsawing? Yes, you can chainsaw foes. Yes it feels horrifically awesome), before moving onto the next area of destruction and gore.

It's a curious mixture of old and new. Some games go too open-world and forget to fill that world up with stuff worth looking at, while others are far too tightly woven so you feel like you're on a fixed rollercoaster. Gears 5 juggles those ideas well – never going too far in one direction or the other. If a game makes you smile gleefully just thinking of a memorable moment then surely it's succeeded in everything you could want from such a game? That's Gears 5 all over. Well designed over the top machismo with a hint of a heart as needed.

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