The Verge Says Gears of War: E-Day Is a Great Game Launching at a Terrible Time for Xbox

Set 14 years before the original Gears of War, E-Day depicts “emergence day,” the moment the alien Locust Horde revealed itself with a surprise attack intended to wipe out humanity. Players control a younger but still gruff and experienced Marcus Fenix, a member of an elite group known as gears, as he and his squad fight back against the subterranean extraterrestrials. The human planet Sera is devastated by the horde, which attacks from holes in the ground and uses a labyrinth of underground tunnels to strike anywhere. Missions include attacking enemy strongholds, escorting important supply caravans and searching for survivors in rubble. Over the course of the game, Sera turns from a retrofuturistic paradise into the ruins of a lost civilization.

The Verge compared the game to a James Cameron film, saying every element serves a thrilling sci-fi spectacle and that it is as close to a playable Aliens as players are likely to find. The cover-shooter action remains visceral: Marcus moves slowly, shotguns reload with weight, and combat creates the sense of being pinned down in the middle of a war, surrounded on all sides and terrified of running out of bullets before the enemy does. The review described the tension as unparalleled.

E-Day varies its action so players are not always hiding behind concrete or burned-out cars. It includes huge set pieces in which the world crumbles around them as gigantic aliens lay waste to a city, and eerily quiet moments in dark tunnels or foggy cemeteries. The game has some side missions, but its world is largely linear, pushing players through one sequence after another with pacing that rarely lets up. The Verge praised lavish attention to detail, from blood splattering on the camera after a gruesome kill to the outline of a leather wallet in Marcus’s back pocket when he is forced into combat in civilian clothes.

The story is straightforward, according to the review. Cutscenes give enough detail to care about characters when dramatic events happen without getting in the way of the action. Much of the writing feels intentionally stupid, reinforcing that E-Day is at its core a dumb action game. Ridiculous one-liners punctuate pivotal moments, including “A giant floating ballsack with glowing eyes is trying to kill us!” and “Hold on to your dicks!” Characters also bark lines such as “Where are you going? I thought you wanted some of this,” “Rest in pieces,” and “It ain’t your day, asshole.” The Verge said there is a strangely joyous nature to the dialogue: the game is violent and the story dire, but players are still meant to enjoy firing big guns and using a chainsaw to cut aliens in half.

The review said that two decades after the original Gears of War, there is still nothing quite like the series’ brand of up-close cover shooter gameplay, and E-Day shows it still hits hard. But as Xbox enters a period of dramatic upheaval, the prequel’s launch timing is as troubled as its combat is assured. The Verge called E-Day a great game launching at a terrible time.