Eh, it's a decade old game and (IMO) the worst one of the series, the sequels really ramped it up a notch by comparison, even Judgement has more gameplay spice to it.

Now if they had released it at $20, then you'd probably see it closer to an 8.9 based on value alone. I hope they remake 2 & 3 and add the Halo graphics switching as well in the gaps between 4-6.

As price usually isn't much of a sticking point in a review, since reviews are about the content of the game and not the subjective value of it, any criticism surrounding it doesn't really apply here. $40 is basically par for the course when it comes to remastered older content anyways, so that's basically that. I don't think tacking on points because "omg it throws free 360 games at you" is exactly appropriate either.

Let's all acknowledge the fact that Gears of War came out in 2006. It came out while the seventh generation was still getting started, and where developers were first learning what it meant to develop HD games on powerful hardware (when compared to the previous generation). Many games that released around that time have not aged gracefully. Especially in series that got sequels like Gears of War, Mass Effect, Uncharted, etc., every sequel brought improvements that put the successors on a different level from the originals, and almost made the originals downright difficult to play in comparison. From a bit of reading, Gears of War did not escape this trend, with the biggest defenders simply being nostalgic, even if they attempt to claim otherwise.

In the end, this game is just a remaster. Nice for what it is, but a new coat of paint and some tweaks usually won't be able to hide the fact that a game feels old and has flaws that, although minor in 2006, are harder to ignore in 2015. This is an issue with every remaster that deals in older content. Settling around an 85 meta would be entirely respectable with that in mind.

Gears of War Judgement scored a 79. I am surprised a 10 year old game would score better.

Gears of War Judgment doesn't exist.  Stop pretending that game exists.

Lower than anticipated....

They cant include the BC content in the review because its technically not part of the package. They arent reviewing a bundle.

Those BC titles are going to be available to anyone that plays Gears Ultimate on their profile before the end of the year. My guess is codes are going to be sent out.

i played this game in 2007 and i really did love its new take on the shooting genre. i did try to play it maybe 3 years ago to achievement hunt, and man the game certainly did not age well at all. the framerate was horrible and the cutscenes did not look cool anymore and were atrocious. im sure this remaster fixes all those problems, but at the same time, i STILL dont understand why they limited the remaster to just one game? why not remaster the whole trilogy?

My guess is because they can remaster the others later and make more money that way.

ahh.. good thinking. its ok though, because it funds the bigger games like forza 7

Back in May I did a Gears marathon doing 1-3 and I also felt Gears 1 actually seems someewhat old compared to 2-3 with all the extra ploishing and improvements campaign wise and although Gears 2 took the multiplayer back 10 years and then gears 3 brought it forward 10 years the origional at the core was always the best online, With the Ultimate Edition beta the game felt so smooth and amazing and actually no lag what so ever ( yea you could aim your shotgun at someone rather than half a screen away predicting the host lag) My first impressions were "Damn how will gears 4 be able to beat this" I was that good.