Gears 5 review: An obvious gaming recommendation—if you already paid for it

Enlarge / A changing of the guard, as Kait Diaz assumes the role of the Gears series' protagonist. And the results are pretty smashing. But does the full package deliver? (credit: The Coalition / Xbox Game Studios)

Last month, my feature-length Gears 5 preview hinged on the game's sales proposition: that Microsoft has positioned this shooter sequel to be immune to a standard game-review treatment. It's a living service. It's a four-in-one entertainment package. It's a no-brainer add-on for the Xbox faithful.

Those statements are true enough if you already pay for Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service, which currently costs $10/mo on Xbox consoles, $5/mo on Windows 10, or $15/mo combined. Thanks to a bullish promotional campaign, you can test the subscription service for less. Gears 5 lands this week as arguably XGP's first perfect storm of polish, breadth, and newness, so it's no surprise to see the game and the service holding hands, petting each other in public, and whispering into each other's phones at night: "No, you hang up."

That's the good news. If you're already enjoying an XGP subscription (and some people got a super-cheap path to this), Gears 5 has at least one great reason for pretty much any gaming fan to dive in. Or if you want to buy into XGP for two months, then Gears 5 is a perfectly fine $20 (or less) Trojan horse to get the service onto your PC or console.

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