History YMMV / GearsOfWar

** The UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS backwards compatibility (and [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne One X]] to a more limited degree) can use FPS Boost to change these games from their rough 30fps frame rates, to smooth 60fps without much issue. ''2'' benefits from a native 4K output, while ''3'' and ''4'' have a choice of 4K 30fps or 1440p 60fps. It's to the point that ''Gears 5'''s update for the Xbox Series machines was so optimized that the SX can play it in native 4K 60fps rock solid, making it look like a launch title of the next generation.

** The Xbox Series X backwards compatibility (and One X to a more limited degree) can use FPS Boost to change these games from their rough 30fps frame rates, to smooth 60fps without much issue. ''2'' benefits from a native 4K output, while ''3'' and ''4'' have a choice of 4K 30fps or 1440p 60fps. It's to the point that ''Gears 5'''s update for the Xbox Series machines was so optimized that the SX can play it in native 4K 60fps rock solid, making it look like a launch title of the next generation.

** The Xbox Series X backwards compatibility can't do much for the first game or Ultimate Edition, but does boost ''Gears 2'' to native 4K with 60 frames per second, and ''3'' gets a 4K [=30FPS=] or 1440p [=60FPS=] choice, making these games pop ''much'' more brilliantly than they ever could on the 360 or One hardware. The same holds true for ''5'', which is optimized enough to naturally support the full 4K [=60FPS=] suite and practically looks like a starting next-gen title as a result.

** Meanwhile story-wise, the first game [[ExcusePlot barely has a plot]] beyond vague world-building and loose references to past events, to the point that to some it comes off as a borderline RandomEventsPlot where there's no character nuance at all beyond their archetypes. Come the second, and Dom's [[spoiler:[[MercyKill tragic]] search for his wife combined with more character moments and story depth immediately turned heads in the gaming industry. The reason many fans felt the third game was a satisfying conclusion was because of actual stakes beyond "the Locust want to kill humanity" and a surprising amount of intrigue, solid writing and great set pieces; all the building blocks the first two games set up were delivered upon with a-gusto, firmly growing a damn fine beard.

** Rather infamously, unlocking ''Aftermath'' in ''Judgement'', an expansion-sized storyline that covers what Baird was doing during his absence in ''Gears 3'' and has none of the arcade mechanics or weirdness of the rest of the game. How do you play it? By playing through the game's main campaign and scoring high enough through the challenges and mechanics to unlock it, to which the game then just quietly notes that you unlocked the mode like any other piece of content and moves on. There's no workarounds, no cheat codes or shortcuts -- many didn't even realize ''Aftermath'' even existed as a result despite some considering it the highlight of the game.

** Revving up the chainsaw bayonet.

** Rather infamously, unlocking ''Aftermath'' in ''Judgement''. While the main story is often held in FanonDiscontinuity due to how frivolous and awkward the story's arcade-like focus and HowWeGotHere structure don't really lead for a good Gears campaign, ''Aftermath'' genuinely is on a ''Gears 3'' quality level and is considered an excellent compliment to that game's story as well as filling in a gap where Baird disappeared. How do you play it? By playing through the game's main campaign and scoring high enough through the challenges and mechanics to unlock it, to which the game then just quietly notes that you unlocked the mode like any other piece of content and moves on. There's no workarounds, no cheat codes or shortcuts -- you have to screw around in the ContestedSequel and do well enough within its bullshit to get the ''good'' shit, and many didn't even realize ''Aftermath'' even existed as a result.

* ScrappyMechanic: The class system in Horde for ''Gears of War 4''. In previous iterations of Horde, players could use any weapon and any strategy they wanted to get to the end. Now, every player is forced to choose a class that they are stuck with for the entire match. You can choose between a Soldier (a JackOfAllStats that is focused on core mechanics and protecting the team), an Engineer (builds fortifications), a Heavy (focuses on heavy weapons and explosives to deal huge damage to enemies), a Scout (focuses on picking up power during waves) and a Sniper (gets headshots from afar to thin out the Horde). If just one person isn't doing their job well, the entire team suffers. Got a lazy Engineer? No fortifications for you. Scout not bothering to pick up power? Your fabricator's gonna run out of power real fast. You can also find classes not playing to their strengths, such as a Heavy using ''sniper rifles'' and Engineers and Snipers thinking they are Soldiers and Scouts. Not to mention that there are far too many players that [[WhatAnIdiot will do everything they can to snatch the power before a Scout can grab it]]. And if you yell at them to stop, [[{{Griefer}} they will only continue to grab more power just to piss the team off]]. It's no wonder a large percentage of players consider this to be the weakest iteration of Horde yet.

** Judgement may not have been the [[FanonDiscontinuity most beloved]] entree in the series. The other two members of Kilo Squad (aside from Cole and Barid), Sofia and Paduk proved to be very popular characters. The Former due to being a [[ActionGirl female gear]] that is also a member of the Onyx Guard. The Latter primarily for being the first [[TokenEnemyMinority represenative]] of the Gorsani/Uir to appear in the games.
* EvilIsCool: Pretty much every named Locust character, but especially Queen Myrrah for being Marcus's archenemy, her accurate, if too cynical, speeches about humanity,and being voiced by Carolyn Seymour. Paduk's popularity was likley a factor as to why He would reapear in Gears 5.

** Judgement may not have been the [[FanonDisconinuity most]] [[Sequelitis beloved]] entire in the series. The other two members of Kilo Squad (aside from Cole and Barid), Sofia and Paduk proved to be very popular characters. The Former due to being a [[ActionGirl female gear]] that is also a member of the Onyx Guard. The Latter primarily for being the first [[TokenEnemyMinority represenative]] of the Gorsani/Uir to appear in the games.

* EvilIsCool: Pretty much every named Locust character, but especially Queen Myrrah for being Marcus's archenemy, her accurate, if too cynical, speeches about humanity,and being voiced by Carolyn Seymour.

** ''Gears of War 4'' climaxes with you [[spoiler:rampaging around in a HumungousMecha]], and there are ''still'' cover mechanics.

* AbridgedArenaArray: You'd be perfectly forgiven for thinking that Gridlock was the only map actually available in the first game, as it was just about the only one players wanted to play on. It's the first map in the default quickplay rotation and is a fairly large map, so most players viewed it as the most "balanced" in terms of cover and weapons availble. Occasionally, you could get lucky and play on War Machine or Raven Down. War Machine is a decent sized map as well and featured a Troika turret with BottomlessMagazines for easy kill-farming (although it's very vulnerable to sniper fire). And of course, Raven Down was the ultimate haven for the infestation of Gnasher users, since it's the smallest map in the series and only features 2 frag grenade spawns as weapons, making it a wet dream for StopHavingFunGuys who despised every other weapon. Any other maps were tragically forgotten.

** Oh, we’re not done yet. Not even the controller settings are exempt from complacency. This is actually more of a JustifiedTrope given the fast-paced combat of the series, but pretty much every single player plays with the highest Look and Target sensitivity on the controllers. If your sensitivities are higher, this allows your character to turn much faster, making it much easier to move around, track players while aiming and survive Gnasher duels. Inversely, if your sensitivities are low, your character will turn much more slowly and will struggle greatly trying to keep their aim concentrated on a player with higher sensitivities.

* PortingDisaster: The PC version of the first game's Ultimate Edition is apparently really poorly optimized.

* HolyShitQuotient: Much of the game is built on this reaction.
** Anya's reactions to Marcus's hijacking various Locust beasts definitely qualifies:
-->'''Marcus''': "Control! We've hijacked a Brumak and we're-"
-->'''Anya''': You ''what''?

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, with opinions on Chairman Richard Prescott being decidedly mixed. Most of the civilians love him until he abandons Vectes in ''Coalition's End'', and they begin to despise him and consider him a coward. Bernadette Mataki doesn't consider him one, wondering what exactly would make a "unlikable but brave man" abandon those who had led and protected for fifteen years. His motivations are extremely complicated, and some are still unrevealed, and even after [[spoiler:his return and death]], the ''Gears'' debate exactly what kind of man he is and try to figure out why he acted like he did.

** The original ''Gears of War'' campaign has one after it's revealed that the Resonator wasn't strong enough to map out the entire Locust tunnel network. How do they go about solving this issue? By having Baird suddenly pull out a never before seen Geobot from his supplies that he apparently hacked into awhile back. It actually reveals the exact information they need, which is to go searching for an object that has more mapping data than the Resonator at the Fenix estate.

** Chairman Prescott was always one of these given his ethos and personality, but the divide was [[{{Pun}} hammered]] home the hardest [[spoiler: when he turned the Hammer of Dawn on Jacinto and all the major points of infrastructure and population on Sera as a desperation move to wipe out the Locust. He single-handedly killed millions of people without actually accomplishing the stated goal of destroying the Locust, giving the Lambent more time to get to the surface and threw the remaining Locust into a frenzy permanently cemented him as either a megalomaniac who didn't understand or care about the human cost of his actions, or a wartime colonel with his back to the wall with seemingly only one horrendously bad option left to him.]]
** Pretty much every new character that was introduced in ''Gears 4'' has gotten this treatment. One camp thinks that JD and his squad actually have some good dynamics between them and simply haven't gotten their big moment to make a meaningful and lasting impression on people while the other camp believes that they're blander than vanilla and have simply been introduced too late into the series to ever make the same lasting connections with the audience that the original Delta Squad achieved.

** When part of Delta is about to [[spoiler: fall off a collapsing bridge]] in ''Gears of War 3'', we get this gem from [[DeadpanSnarker the ever sarcastic Baird]] to Samantha Bryne:
-->'''Baird''': "I suppose you want me to say I've always loved you. But I don't! I really, ''really'' don't!"

* AssPull: The first ''Gears of War'' campaign has one after it's revealed that the Resonator wasn't strong enough to map out the entire Locust tunnel network. How do they go about solving this issue? By having Baird suddenly pull out a never before seen Geobot from his supplies that he apparently hacked into awhile back. It actually reveals the exact information they need, which is to go searching for an object that has more mapping data than the Resonator at the Fenix estate.

*** That guy probably just did that for the lulz. Cliff was always very vocal about Sera simply being an "alternate Earth", not some colony world or the like. It was just a human-populated planet that they happened to call "Sera" instead of "Earth". Okay, a human-populated planet with a subterranean race living below and a sentient liquid fuel source, but you get the idea.

*** Kait in particular gets hit with this the hardest of the new cast. Some like her for being a competent ActionGirl and having good banter with the rest of the team while detractors point out how there have been far more interesting female characters in the series before, decry her hipster look as being incredibly out of place with the setting and accuse her entire inclusion as a case of SpotlightStealingSquad and PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad, especially since she will be the PlayerCharacter for ''Gears 5''.

* EvilIsCool: Pretty much every named Locust character.

* CompleteMonster: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Myrrah]] starts a war with the human race on Sera just six weeks after the 79-year-old Pendulum Wars ended. She orders the deaths of every man, woman, and child on the surface so the Locust can colonize, enslaving the human stragglers and lobotomizing them, as Dom found out happened to his wife Maria. She immediately turned down the diplomatic option when the [[Characters/GearsOfWarLambent Lambent]] wore down her forces underground, saying that the best thing to do is [[KillEmAll kill every human being]] instead of focusing on the Lambent. These actions caused billions of human deaths on Sera, forcing COG to use the [[KillSat Hammer of Dawn]] to scorch the earth so much it's an Apocalyptic World. Finally, after she loses at the end of ''Gears of War 3'', with both Lambent and Locust going extinct due to Adam Fenix's invention, she mocks Marcus on his father's HeroicSacrifice to stop the Lambent.