Every Gears of War Game, Ranked Worst To Best

The best Gears of War game will always come down to player preference, but it's inarguable that Gears has always been a reliable hit for Microsoft's line of consoles. The third-person shooters feature football-sized men crouching down behind an inexplicable number of knee-high barriers and firing off weapons at glorified mole men who want to take over the surface, and somehow, lead designer Cliff Bleszinski made that premise believable and emotionally resonant, turning out a trilogy of great Xbox titles and leaving new developers The Coalition a blueprint for success when they took over in 2014.

No matter who the developer is, the Gears of War series has retained a loyal fanbase, and it's not just because players get to chainsaw Locust goons in half. Gears of War did for third-person shooting what Halo did for first-person shooting, providing the framework that others followed beat-for-beat in the years after its debut. The Coalition has tried to inject variety into the formula, but it's still very easy to tell when someone is playing Gears, and that reliability has kept players coming back for each entry

9 Gears POP!

Gears POP! Was Closed Down In 2021

It's arguable whether or not Gears POP! counts as a true entry in the Gears of War franchise, but the franchise has only had two spinoffs in its long history and Gears POP! deserves to be remembered after it closed forever in April 2021. Developed by Fall Guys developers Mediatonic, Gears POP! clones the popular gameplay of Clash Royale and combines it with Funko versions of the Gears of War cast.

Despite bringing Xbox achievements and the promise of cartoony violence, the rote gameplay of this mobile title couldn't draw in an audience, and Gears POP! is now nothing but a memory. The world of Funko returned to gaming again in 2024 with the pop culture-fuelled Funko Fusion, which sees characters pulled from the likes of Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, The Mummy, Invincible, The Thing, and more but failed to bring back the Gears characters seen in Gears POP!

8 Gears of War: Judgment

People Can Fly's Gears Entry Ultimately Fell Flat

Developed by People Can Fly following the release of Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment is a side story for the franchise in more ways than one. The new team attempted to shake up the formula with new weapons, new multiplayer modes, and distinct changes to how the combat functioned. Players could no longer tag grenades on walls and the "down but not out" state vanished from multiplayer, taking the over-the-top executions along with it. Players were not thrilled with these changes, and few of the new features carried forward into future titles.

The campaign's focus on tight arenas and its borrowed ranking system from Bulletstorm are interesting additions, but nothing could overcome the franchise fatigue many felt upon release. Ultimately, Gears of War: Judgment changed too much from what makes Gears worked and failed to find an audience at launch, making it the worst of the third-person shooters in the franchise. At least the developers had a practice run at this type of shooter before going all-in on a game like Outriders.

7 Gears Of War 4

The Coalition's First Gears Game Introduced A New Era

The first in the series from current developer The Coalition, Gears of War 4 served to prove that the studio could carry the franchise forward without its original creators. While the team did put its own spin on things, this transition period provided a game that felt like more of the same for much of its runtime. New elements like JD's run as a protagonist and the robotic enemy faction were simply unexciting additions, and many of the changes were reexamined in the next entry.

On the multiplayer side of things, the introduction of randomized loot boxes was met about as well as one might expect. Better received was the DLC setup that added maps into Gears of War 4's matchmaking rotation for free at regular intervals. The game was still selling these maps for private matches, but it was one step towards the setup many shooters implement today.

6 Gears Tactics

Splash Damage Took A Different Approach To The Gears Franchise, And It Paid Off

It is impressive how well developer Splash Damage transferred the Gears of War franchise to the realm of RTS and tactics, but it does make sense. With gameplay all about crouching behind cover and setting up enemy ambushes, they only really needed to shift the camera and add a pause button.

Gears Tactics provides some backstory to the characters introduced in The Coalition's two mainline Gears games, packing in impressive boss fights and memorable characters along the way. When compared to other titles in its genre, Gears Tactics doesn't really hold up, but it's a fine bit of variety for franchise fans.

5 Gears 5

A Solid Step Forward

The Coalition's second game — which experimented with just being called Gears instead of Gears of War — Gears 5 takes new steps forward to finally expand on the gameplay formula seen throughout the rest of the franchise. The campaign introduced open-world sections filled with collectibles, and Gears 5's alternate combat scenarios hinted at a future where the story could branch off in new and interesting directions.

The multiplayer and Horde modes removed many of Gears of War 4's more odious monetization elements and presented something streamlined for its dedicated fans, although most of them probably could do without The Terminator and all the other crossover characters. It's not the best Gears of War game, but Gears 5 is a solid entry in the series that foretold a bright future for Gears.

4 Gears Of War

The One That Started It All

The original Gears of War is a stone-cold classic that gave the Xbox 360 generation its very own Halo, but it's also much different than the franchise that followed in its wake. The dark undertones of Sera and its government were more on the surface, and the entire planet felt more hostile.

The Kryll sections, which had players sneaking through nighttime areas to avoid hungry bat-like predators, provided a great worldbuilding concept amid frustrating gameplay, and while the core members of Marcus Fenix's squad were memorable, the supporting cast had not yet risen to meet them.

More than anything else, the original Gears of War featured relatively primitive mechanics and movement compared to later entries. More recently, Gears of War: Reloaded updated the classic with some tweaks, but it also came with enough bugs to frustrate plenty of new and returning players. Whichever version you play, it's a formative entry with plenty of memories attached, but the best Gears of War game was yet to come.

3 Gears Of War: E-Day

While it might have taken a while for The Coalition to truly find its footing, Gears of War: E-Day proves that the series is in safe hands. Not only does E-Day continue to refine the ever-evolving gameplay of Gears of War, it also features one of the best campaigns the series has ever had to offer across the board.

Gears of War: E-Day leans heavily into the possibilities offered by telling a prequel narrative, setting the stage for the Locust Horde's onslaught with effective environmental storytelling. Strong pacing and set pieces keep things consistently engaging.

The online component still needs some time to grow, as the launch offerings are a bit anemic. It also arguably features a lower skill ceiling than some past variants, which can be fun for the average player but frustrating for some veterans. With a great foundation in place and a campaign that's worth the price of admission alone, though, E-Day has already earned a place among the best that the series has to offer.

2 Gears Of War 3

Epic Games' Trilogy Closer Still Packs A Punch

Gears of War 3 is probably the most content-packed package in the entire series: a full co-op campaign wrapping up the Epic Games-developed trilogy; a downloadable bonus campaign featuring the return of General RAAM; an expansive deathmatch mode with a massive roster of playable characters and modes.

There's also both Horde 2.0, an expansive upgrade to the original that let the player build defenses at their leisure, and Beast, a mode that cast players as the Locust in a reversal of Horde. All that and a playable character voiced by legendary rapper and Def Jam star Ice-T made Gears of War 3 a fitting end to Epic's time with the franchise.

1 Gears of War 2

The Best Gears of War Game

The best Gears of War game is clearly Gears of War 2. The Coalition has certainly come close, but nothing in recent times touches the heights that Gears of War 2 reached upon its debut. A refinement of the classic original, the second entry in the series proved how much room for expansion there was in the Gears of War universe.

The introduction of Horde mode was a revelation that other games wouldn't wait around to copy, the second time this happened in the franchise's short life. Outside of that innovation, the strong character introductions and various new environments led to a strong and memorable middle chapter in the original Gears of War trilogy.

Although Gears of War's second entry may be its best, the franchise is presumably far from over. The series still hasn't addressed the solid cliffhanger at the end of Gears 5, which led many to believe Gears 6 would be on its way. The Coalition took a different approach by pivoting to E-Day, but that doesn't mean it couldn't move back to the current-day storyline next.

At any rate, it's been an interesting journey so far. Successive entries have brought more depth to the affair with different weapons, gameplay tweaks, and newly introduced mechanics, even if every game retains that basic loadout of a Lancer rifle, Gnasher shotgun, and a pair of grenades. With high-quality action, a ragtag bunch of playable characters, and intense shotgun duels in its multiplayer, Gears of War has been a sturdy pillar of Xbox through good times and bad.