It seems that according to the latest rumor mill, the Gears of War series of third-person shooter games might soon be getting the Master Chief Collection treatment. Depending on how you define “soon”. Also, depending on how you define “might”.

The Marcus Fenix Collection at Long Last?

The relevant rumor starts at around 43:30.

During Ep. 109 of The XboxEra Podcast, right at around 43:30, journalist and podcaster Nick Baker mentions that he heard a rumor that another Microsoft franchise was going to get the “Master Chief Collection-type treatment” soon. Specifically: he believes that said “treatment” will come “this year” in 2022. Even more specifically: he guesses it’ll be at E3 2022 is when Microsoft will make this announcement. It’s a pretty reasonable guess, all things considered. Now, while Nick Baker makes no specific guess as to which franchise will get this treatment, to be honest, there are really only 2 options here: Forza or Gears of War. Guess which one people are more excited about?

"Gears of War" box art.
Maybe in addition to the HD remaster, Marcus Fenix can even get a likable personality in the process?

Bear in mind though that these are pretty shaky rumors. In effect, this is basically speculation on a previous rumor Nick Baker has heard before. To be fair, Eurogamer seems to take this speculation pretty seriously, so Nick Baker must usually be a pretty dependable source. Still, until we hear confirmation from Microsoft or The Coalition, it might be best to take this rumor with as many grains of salt as you like.

Gears of War Possible Remaster: Opinion

It’s amazing to think that this used to be “amazing graphics”.

I admit, I feel quite a bit of nostalgia for the Gears of War series of games, including the first one. It was the first third-person shooter game I had ever played, and it was one of the first of its kind that featured a well-developed cover system. The extreme amounts of blood and gore was also a weird selling point to me in my younger days. Back then, I was fascinated by it. Plus, the gorgeous graphics for its day didn’t hurt either.

The game did have some cool concepts, but…

Nowadays though, when I look at the Gears of War series with an objective eye, the allure of nostalgia kind of falls short. Yes, the game series had a very solid and fun gameplay. However, they also had an alarming tendency to lack a good story. If you look at the reviews for the first game, all of the acclaim was for the visual and the gameplay. None of them mentioned the story or the characters. This is because it barely had any.

At least there was more story as the games progressed.

The setting of Gears of War was dark, but vague. They don’t imply much, and the little they implied never went anywhere. The characters had only the barest of personalities, and what little personality they did have tended to not be likable. I’m looking at you Marcus Fenix. Yes, your downcast, grumpy, flat, and borderline psychopathic personality was not likable. The most emotion he ever showed aside from rage was when his friend and squadmate Dominic “Dom” Santiago died in Gears of War 3. Even then, he only had a briefly shocked look. Frankly, I think John-117 had a more likable personality, and he doesn’t even speak.

Still, if Microsoft does make a Gears of War remake collection, I think I would play it. For old time’s sake, if nothing else. If the collection lets me play at Xbox 360 levels of graphics, that is. My PC is nowhere near powerful enough to handle Xbox One graphics.

Source: Xbox Era YouTube, Eurogamer