In 2005 I had the chance to play brand new unknown IP at E3 that I had no idea would become the juggernaut of a franchise it has become. Gears of War debuted at the annual media frenzy. I still remember playing the multiplayer demo and I chain sawed my opponent for the first time.

It's been almost 10 years since we first loaded our guns to fight the locust, and a generation later gamers get to revisit the original as The Coalition reworks one of Microsoft's biggest franchises in the past decade. This is Gears of War: Ultimate Edition .

This review was updated on 9/14/2015 to reflect the multiplayer portion of the game, the score did not change. The original Gears of War, in my opinion, is one of the greatest action games ever made.

When Vancouver-based developer The Coalition (formerly Black Tusk Studios) was entrusted with the Gears of War franchise in 2014, the team decided that the best way to learn Gears would be to revisit original developer Epic's work on the game that started the series.

Back in 2006, the original Gears of War was the killer app for the Xbox 360. Cliff Blezenski, the designer, took gameplay concepts and ideas from tried and true titles like Kill Switch 's cover-based mechanics that were not popular at the time, as well as the off-centre, over-the-shoulder camera...

Last year, Microsoft went big with the incredible Master Chief Collection , which included remakes of the first two Halo games, 1080p versions of Halo 3 , and Halo 4 as well as a bevy of extras.

Very polished 1080p / 60fps; Tons of extras; Will make any fan of the series excited for Gears 4

Stuttered loading; original game problems persist

Great remaster of a fantastic game. However when I purchased it I believed it to be a remaster of the first three games I was wrong (Should have read the fine print) this is only the first game that has been remastered but does include all of the DLC and an extended campaign.

Damn near essential if you've yet to experience the horror that followed Emergence Day, and very heartily recommended to those who've forgotten just what a special time that was.

Still the most brutal; intelligent; affecting cover-shooting around; A fantastic; sympathetic visual update; The new chapters make this the most complete version to date

Only really excels on Hardcore difficulty; A few missed opportunities for improvements