What more can be said about Gears of War, a very successful franchise over the years since it first released on Xbox 360 in November 2006. It has had a handful of series releases and a remaster back in 2015.

Regardless of the platforms you use or prefer, I would find it difficult for anyone to be unaware of these games. With the release of Gears of War: Reloaded on 26th August 2025, ahead of this, they released two beta weekends for multiplayer.

Weekend One: Team Deathmatch across the three maps: Gridlock, Raven Down, and Gold Rush.

Weekend Two (June 20th-22nd): King of the Hill on map Canals and maps, Courtyard and War Machine added to Team Deathmatch.

Gears of War: Reloaded is a remaster I feel was intended to bring it more in line with today’s standards for the PlayStation release, finally allowing PlayStation gamers to experience a strong game in the Xbox history to be experienced all over.

Off the bat, I didn’t see much difference from the initial remaster in 2015’s Gears of War Ultimate. The audio and UI are the same, but graphically, you can see an advancement; however, it still feels like it’s not a big enough leap.

But is this a bad thing? It’s hard to tell; as I said, it’s about introducing new players at the beginning of the franchise. It boasts 4K resolution and 120 FPS, which will be playable in Campaign, Split Screen, online Co-Op, and multiplayer.

In my experience, I encountered no lobby or connection issues, and everything ran smoothly. More than anything, my ego took a beating, as I was bad at GOW multiplayer in 2006 and have seen no improvement in my skills whatsoever. It also features cross-play, allowing all platforms to play together and helping to increase the player base and keep the matches coming.

It feels good to go back and relive some of the old days, but it doesn’t add much more than Nostalgia for fans of the series. Without a doubt, there are obvious visual improvements, and this can not be denied. But other than a few weapon skins, not much more is added as actual content. However, this is all based on the Multiplayer, and we have the campaign to come, which was my favourite part of the first instalment.

Bringing in PlayStation players was a great move to expand the player base and give people who haven’t experienced the title the chance to try it now!

Written by: Kevin Lal