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  1. Games

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition comparison screens go from grimy to gorgeous

News
By Connor Sheridan published 3 August 2015

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

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Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Social Links Navigation

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.

HD remakes always have nostalgia-polished memories of their source material to compete with, and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is the latest to try to outshine our recollections. But if you've found yourself thinking "what's the big difference?" this gallery of side-by-side environmental comparisons should answer that question quite thoroughly.

If you look in the right places, you can definitely get some of that "destroyed beauty" art direction from the original Gears of War, but otherwise it's a bit heavy on the fog, mud, and rebar. Even if they're still the same basic areas, little touches like improved lighting and foliage help Gears of War: Ultimate Edition's environments feel more like parts of an ailing world than a discrete series of post-apocalyptic maps.

Aside from visual improvements, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition also makes some subtle gameplay changes to bring the game in line with later games, both in single player and multiplayer. You can even catch its new cinematic intro before it hits Xbox One on August 25.

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  • Gears of War E-Day release date: A close-up of Marcus Fenix with his face covered in blood during the Gears of War E-Day trailer. Gears of War: E-Day – Everything we know about the upcoming shooter

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Read more
"If Gears 1 was Alien, the rest of the franchise was Aliens": Former Gears of War art director reckons the Xbox shooter franchise lost its horror edge over the years
 
 
Halo: Campaign Evolved screenshot
Halo co-creator says Campaign Evolved "looks and feels genuine": "It's gorgeous in a way I wish we could have built it originally back in 2001"
 
 
Gears of War E-Day release date: A close-up of Marcus Fenix with his face covered in blood during the Gears of War E-Day trailer.
Gears of War: E-Day – Everything we know about the upcoming shooter
 
 
Halo: Campaign Evolved screenshot
OG Halo: CE dev says the remake's changes are "like the dance remix of a classic song that skips the intro and the bridge and just thumps the chorus over and over"
 
 
Halo: Campaign Evolved screenshot
Halo: Campaign Evolved hands-on: Is this Unreal Engine 5 remake a bizzaro world Combat Evolved or an "opportunity to pave the way for the future of Halo"?
 
 
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