Gears of War Art style and Atmosphere Degrading with each Re-release

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


All three versions of the original Gears of War game compared side by side. But this one is not about graphics, it's not about the graphical fidelity and it is not about realistic graphics. This game is about the art style, art direction and the atmosphere of the original Gears of War game, and how Ultimate and Reloaded editions failed to preserve it. As well as some lack of attention to detail, downgrades and glitches, questionable cutscene changes and more.
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I personally liked the art style of the recent release. There were a few specifics sections that could have been better in terms of mood (like the rain in act2) but I found the overall style an improvement over the original for the most part. Each to their own I suppose. I remember everyone complaining back then about games being mostly gray and brown and gears started the trend. Can't please everyone at every point in time.
 
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In favor of more colorful, generation z 'everything need to have more color', push to HDR. Everything become saturated, I can't even believe people survive with a OLED screen with such that amount of color space.


This mentality destroy every art direction.
 
You gotta make everything lighter and softer for the new generations so they don't start to cry and get severe trauma and PTSD from all the sharp edges and dark corners from a superior time when men like Cliffy B was more than a 50-year-old bro dude who rode Tim Sweeney like a stallion to gold and riches before he threw it in the drain called Lawbringers.
 
True, original gears 1 remain the best game on the series.

The gameplay barely evolving from 1 to 5 make it even easier to chose, it's not like borderlands where bl1 feels ancient gameplay wise compared to 4.
 
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Fake said:
In favor of more colorful, generation z 'everything need to have more color', push to HDR. Everything become saturated, I can't even believe people survive with a OLED screen with such that amount of color space.


This mentality destroy every art direction.
Click to expand...

Panzer Dragoon remakes are the epitome of this.
 
Feels a bit like:
DaQhlo_U0AIf7ow.jpg



It's always surprising how many of these remakes/remasters fail to capture the art direction and atmosphere of the original despite having higher fidelity assets
 
GymWolf said:
True, gears 1 remain the best game on the series.

The gameplay barely evolving from 1 to 5 make it even easier to chose, it's not like borderlands where bl1 feels ancient gameplay wise compared to 4.
Click to expand...
Very true. Played Gears 1-3 back in the day, and 5+Hivebusters a couple years ago. I picked up the re-remaster on release a few weeks ago and the gameplay is essentially the same between entries. Reloaded holds up okay to 2025 standards, but not as well as something like HL2 or Halo 1-3.
 
jmiller180 said:
Very true. Played Gears 1-3 back in the day, and 5+Hivebusters a couple years ago. I picked up the re-remaster on release a few weeks ago and the gameplay is essentially the same between entries. Reloaded holds up okay to 2025 standards, but not as well as something like HL2 or Halo 1-3.
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They didn't even improved how impactfull the shooting is, there was a famous video on yt showing the difference between shooting enemies in 1 vs 5 and g1 was better, the gore is the only thing that improved a bit but i would not call the gore of gears good or even decent tbh,not on 2025, it's...there i guess.

Gears1 really feel "as modern" as 5 with a light graphic glow up.
 
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True
Gears 1 sense of dirt was unprecedent in gaming. A dirt and unwelcoming world with enemies that come out from dirt. Remasters look like that world has been cleaned withouy any reason
 
I remember going back and playing Gears 1 on the 360 a few years later and still so impressed with how it looked, especially the lighting and overall dark and moody atmosphere. Always seemed weird they thought changing that aspect of it was an upgrade.
 
Literally soul vs. soulless as I called out when it came out.

I got this shit for free and didn't even redeem the code.

Fbh said:
Feels a bit like:
DaQhlo_U0AIf7ow.jpg



It's always surprising how many of these remakes/remasters fail to capture the art direction and atmosphere of the original despite having higher fidelity assets
Click to expand...
this picture should have a bloom light and some shitty screen space reflection to really bring the point home.
 
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I love bleak atmospheres in video games. Sadly, everything AAA these days has to be purple and happy-go-lucky. Just compare Fallout 1 to Fallout 76, or the recent Borderlands 4 to Borderlands 1.
 
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I totally understand that grey and brown tones were the mark of the 7th generatons and a lot of games of that epoch feels dates. This is NOT one of theses cases, these grey/brown tones are essential for GoW atmosphere.
 
Fess said:
Ultimate and Reloaded are mostly the same, the big difference happened between the 360 original and Ultimate.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Reloaded is just Unlimited running in higher resolution, so any difference between those two versions is anecdotal.

I mentioned this in the DF topic for the game as well but I wasn't a fan of how they changed some effects, especially the rain.



cjR3BQg.gif


cPpR7hR.gif
 
Fbh said:
Feels a bit like:
DaQhlo_U0AIf7ow.jpg



It's always surprising how many of these remakes/remasters fail to capture the art direction and atmosphere of the original despite having higher fidelity assets
Click to expand...

"HD Texture pack"... who would name a cat like that? Jeez.
 
adamsapple said:
Yeah, Reloaded is just Unlimited running in higher resolution, so any difference between those two versions is anecdotal.

I mentioned this in the DF topic for the game as well but I wasn't a fan of how they changed some effects, especially the rain.



cjR3BQg.gif


cPpR7hR.gif
Click to expand...
Yeah 😕

So what's the best way to play it?
Is it possible to play the 360 version on Series X with fps boost?
Or maybe emulated 360 version on a beefy PC for higher resolution?
 
Fess said:
Yeah 😕

So what's the best way to play it?
Is it possible to play the 360 version on Series X with fps boost?
Or maybe emulated 360 version on a beefy PC for higher resolution?
Click to expand...

Yes, it runs at 720p/60. Doesn't have res boost but at least it got fps boost.

Every released Gears game can be played at 60 on Series consoles.
 
For the most part. It's a big upgrade. But only things that sucks and is worst. Is the character models. They to clean looking in the new ones, like there faces need dirt and grime on them. They in war and battling like crazy. Then the rain section. It worst. Other than that, everything else is fine and better.
 
I remember they moaned years ago when it was too grey and dull, and now they moan when it's brighter and more colourful. Gears was probably the game that kicked off that whole long spate of grey "gritty" art in video games, it seemed to last a whole console generation.
 
I remember thinking way way back during the XB360 release that the game was too green and brown.
But comparing it too the newer release I think the older versions look much better.
 
The gloomy lighting of the original is brilliant and is actually pretty creepy at times. The ultimate/reloaded release is a decent remaster but out of the box the brightness is way too high, completely ruins the atmosphere so no idea what they were thinking there
 
adamsapple said:
Yeah, Reloaded is just Unlimited running in higher resolution, so any difference between those two versions is anecdotal.

I mentioned this in the DF topic for the game as well but I wasn't a fan of how they changed some effects, especially the rain.
Click to expand...
The more companies are reliant on AI upscaling and frame generation, the more lazy they appear to be getting. Art direction or "feel" be damned.

I would much rather have great art direction and using tech that fits the gameplay and feel that the player should have than have path and ray traced lighting everywhere while having to use scaling and frame generation just to make the game playable.

CP2077, those modern tech have a use case. They don't need to be in every game.

I hate that I'm even saying this right now but the devs behind Battlefield 6 have said they want their game running as well as it can for as many people as they can. Using baked lighting and the older tech like that is going to allow them to do that and the game still looks great and more importantly feels like it should.

TLDR: use techniques and technology to fit the feel, look, an direction of your game. Don't make your game to us tech. (looking at you Star Wars Outlaws which looks worse than RDR2)
 
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Fake said:
In favor of more colorful, generation z 'everything need to have more color', push to HDR. Everything become saturated, I can't even believe people survive with a OLED screen with such that amount of color space.


This mentality destroy every art direction.
Click to expand...
Properly calibrated OLED solves the saturation. But I do agree with you that games have become too saturated. Game the last few years look like they take place in fucking Mickey Mouse LSD land
 
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Old school art is way better. It might be low res, and the way there's always bright white shimmery spots everywhere might be unrealistic, but it looks good.
 
Gears of War is grimdark. The new versions look like a completely different genre or setting. That is not the way you remaster games.

This is like taking away all the green from The Matrix.
 
Watching the comparison the original atmosphere is still the best, very raw and gritty, almost like an horror game.
The main menu theme is so good, so many memories.
 
Fake said:
In favor of more colorful, generation z 'everything need to have more color', push to HDR. Everything become saturated, I can't even believe people survive with a OLED screen with such that amount of color space.


This mentality destroy every art direction.
Click to expand...
There is only one game we can blame this on....
 
Von Hugh said:
Gears of War is grimdark. The new versions look like a completely different genre or setting. That is not the way you remaster games.

This is like taking away all the green from The Matrix.
Click to expand...
The looks of the original gears of war is conditioned for the UE3, almost all UE3 games looks like gears of war.

qp1xAADNNDnaWZYG.jpg
iIpARJffrX6ISC29.jpg
 
Yeah, they don't know what they're doing. Just a tick and flicking tech upgrade without understanding the intent of the original's atmosphere
 
I did not realize there was such a drastic difference. The world seems way more ominous in the original.

That is what I get for not getting into the series back then.

It seems like there was a tonal shift from the original.
 
The problem is that they didn't bother to fix everything they fucked up in the Ultimate Edition for Reloaded.
Crazy to me that they swung and missed...twice in the graphics department, but tbf Reloaded doesn't really seem like they touched the assets very much, if at all, from the Ultimate Edition. A shame.

Anyone tried emulating the 360 version? Can 60FPS with a resolution bump be achieved?
 
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