I'm very early into this via the PC version but the first things that hit you are two-fold. The first is that the reviews are absolutely spot on, player control is very smooth but the combat and movement has lost the series sense of weight and impact. It's hard to pinpoint why but my first thoughts lean towards a heavy reduction in recoil and there being light feedback from the rumble of the controller.
The second is that this runs like a dream, the game is running at 60fps with every setting on Ultra at 4K without even a sign of a hitch. I've read claims that it's the best looking game on the market, I'd immediately disagree with that because I feel it's fairly obvious how it's pulling this trick off. The game makes careful use of 2D elements and the much talked about impressive character models are done via the old trick of cutscene models being of greater detail than in-game ones. Animation may be smooth but it's not elaborate and a scrutinising eye can tell that many individual textures aren't that high res or detailed meaning it's not all that demanding on the system.
However this speaks to the optimising thoughts the devs have put into the game to ensure it runs so well, the image is incredibly clean and crisp with the series making use of more colour than before which means any spectacle is immediately impressive and makes an impact.
Otherwise, minus the weight of combat, it's more of the same in terms of the opening so I'm presuming that much of the single player experience will come down to how much of a spectacle and roller coaster the campaign is in comparison to the previous 5 games campaigns. First impressions though suggest this will be at the least a more self-confident title than Gears 4 was.
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