Gears of War Campaign Tier List

From the moment audiences worldwide viewed Gears of War’s hauntingly enigmatic Mad World trailer, with Marcus Fenix running from mysterious creatures in a ruined city set to Gary Jules’ cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” in late 2006, players knew this game would have an interesting story to tell. In November 2006, players got to play through that story as Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad defeated Locust General RAAM and deployed the Lightmass Bomb in the underground Hollow. While Gears of War 1 was universally praised for its third-person gameplay, online multiplayer, and co-op campaign, its core story left players wanting to learn more about Sera and its war with the subterranean Locust Horde in future Gears of War games.

Gears of War soon cemented its place as one of Xbox’s breakout exclusive titles with the release of Gears of War 2 in 2008, which improved nearly all aspects seen in Gears of War 1 from its multiplayer to its narrative. Since these early eruptive beginnings, Gears of War has gone on to become one of Xbox’s most successful franchises, further exploring the wars of Sera in books, comics, and, of course, in nine games and two story DLCs. With the upcoming tenth entry in the series, Gears of War: E-Day, returning players to the origins of the Locust War, here’s a ranking of every prior Gears of War campaign ranked by their gameplay and narratives.

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S-Tier Gears of War Campaigns

• Gears of War 2
• Gears of War 3
• Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow

The best Gears of War games are those that perfectly blend intense, overwhelming gameplay with engrossing, oftentimes tragic storylines. This is best exemplified by many fans with Gears of War 2. Here, players got to witness the heartbreaking tragedy of Dominic Santiago finding his long-lost wife Maria, the origins of the Locust at the New Hope Facility, the society and Lambent War within the Locust’s Nexus, and the triumphant last stand of Jacinto. All of these events and more add up to Gears of War’s best campaign, which still has yet to be usurped. It wasn’t just Gears of War 2’s story that made it great, however, as new gameplay elements, such as Tickers, Kantuses, Sires, and the Centaur, solidified Gears’ perfect gameplay loop.

Gears of War 3’s base climatic campaign is the runner-up best narrative seen in Gears games. It not only concluded the Locust War and Lambent threat in a satisfying way, but also saw the tear-jerking sacrifice of Santiago and the true beginning of Fenix and Anya Stroud’s relationship in peacetime. Gears of War 3 additionally introduced many welcome additions to its gameplay, such as the transformative Lambent creatures, as well as the Retro Lancer and Sawed-Off Shotgun. This storyline wasn’t the only one featured in Gears of War 3, however, as players were able to further purchase the RAAM’s Shadow DLC campaign, which had gamers embody both Zeta Squad and RAAM himself during the evacuation of Illima City nine years after Emergence Day.

A-Tier Gears of War Campaigns

• Gears of War 1
• Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
• Gears of War 4
• Gears 5: Hivebusters

Some Gears of War campaigns just barely miss the mark of being truly great. While Gears of War 1 started the franchise, its campaign lacks a lot of character depth for both its protagonists and antagonists. Each member of Delta Squad is distinct and memorable, but they wouldn’t become fully fleshed-out characters until Gears of War 2 or 3. Being the first game in the series, Gears of War 1 also lacked gameplay variety with its limited number of Locust ranks and exhibited often frustrating encounters, particularly with the Armadillo and Kyrll. Despite these setbacks, Gears of War 1 still proved to be a stand-out game in the early days of the Xbox 360.

Similarly, The Coalition’s first new game developed in the Gears series, Gears of War 4, was received well by most fans but received more criticism compared to prior games. Given the satisfying end Gears of War 3 had for Delta Squad, many fans had difficulty adjusting to JD, Del, and Kait as new, young, oftentimes overly comedic protagonists. Despite this, The Coalition still introduced interesting plot threads focusing on the re-establishment of the COG with the robotic DeeBees enemies and the rabid return of the Locust in the form of the Swarm. The Swarm’s impact on local environments and settlements was further explored in the DLC campaign Gears 5: Hivebusters, with COG remnants exploring the South Islands and discovering the bird-like, venom-spewing Wakaatu.

B-Tier Gears of War Campaigns

• Gears of War: Judgment
• Gears 5
• Gears Tactics

No Gears of War campaign is truly bad, but some just have less engaging campaigns than others or seem rather repetitive. Gears of War: Judgment was Gears of War’s first prequel and spin-off, but its story didn’t have much emotional or thematic depth compared to the original trilogy. While it did shed more light on the Union of Independent Republics through Garron Paduk and on COG’s internal structure through Colonel Ezra Loomis, it didn’t really add much else to the overall Gears story. Judgment additionally forced gamers to play in certain ways rather on their own accord through declassified missions and introduced some canon issues via the Chainsaw Lancer’s appearance too soon after E-Day.

Gears 5 continued the exploration of the Swarm, and their connection to the Locust’s origins through Kait, Mount Kadar, and Queen Myrrah. However, it also introduced some storylines that seemed to artificially shed characters in a negative light, namely JD with the elimination of civilians at Settlement 2 and the premature firing of the Hammer of Dawn. Gears 5 additionally introduced more open areas to explore through the Skiff, but there wasn’t much to do in these areas. Similarly, Gears Tactics explored more of the early days of the Locust War and displayed the origins of Kait’s family with Reyna and Gabriel Diaz. However, Gears Tactics’ turn-based tactical gameplay often made the game feel too repetitive and less intense than most Gears of War games.

Game

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Systems

Released

2025

ESRB

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Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios