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I think linear is better for Gears of War, Gears 5 didn't convince me it can work, I look back at Halo Infinite fondly but Gears 5 open world segments were bland and Gears doesn't lend itself well to open world design, it lacks the mobility of the player character to justify it, sure the characters don't look roided up anymore but they still feel like hulking ogres charging in a straight line, Lol.
Now I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I don't think it will be fun in an open world, the open world in Gears 5 had awesome weather effects but that's about it, there was nothing to do in it and it was largely explored using a large vehicle, look at something like Halo and the mobility options are far more extensive, Chief is fast, nimble, agile, he has a bunch of vehicles to use, equipment to use such as grapple hook, etc.
While Infinite convinced me open world is the way to go for Halo, Gears 5 didn't convince me of the same, I believe Gears is better as a tight close quarters shooter, it's more intense, it's better for Gears atmosphere which is traditionally closer to a horror like atmosphere, which Gears 5 had some of as well in the linear levels, I think Gears should go back to tradition in that sense.
Sure they could do a blend of open world/linear like Halo Infinite did but Gears 5 already did that and it didn't convince me a fully open world direction is the way to go, now I do think Coalition only put one foot slightly in the door because they were maybe afraid to go fully open world as it would be such a drastic change so maybe that's why Gears 5 open world feels underbaked but again I'm just worried the gameplay/mobility wouldn't fit it.
Maybe they could make it work but I feel the better option is simply back to linear, safer too, and safer doesn't have to mean boring but they'd take a big gamble with fully open world while they could do a brilliant tighter sequel instead. I also think it's risky from a financial standpoint because I don't believe an open world Gears would drastically increase its sales.
Sort of reminds me of Metro Exodus whose open world is kind of meh as well, Lol. It's a similar dead ass world with limited mobility options unlike again, something like Halo, which has Chief whizzing around the map, multiple ground vehicles and flight vehicles, etc. The limited mobility makes travelling the open world kind of tedious. The sandbox options are less and more complicated to work in.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 06 October 2023
