Gears of War: Ultimate Edition arrived on thursday and I then proceeded to complete it in one single sitting, with the occasional break for me to grab another can of pepsi max or to fuel me up with a quick bowl of cereal.

I played it in coop on Hardcore mode with fellow GB user @gunstarred and to put it simply I had an awful lot of fun. Gears of War as a series is always effective at providing some really engaging cooperative experiences, and the original is no different. While the original Gears is much less set-piece-y than its successors, the core gameplay in itself still makes the simple act of being dropped into a wide open environment with waist-high stacks of cover to maneuver around with creepy snake/lizard/rock monsters to kill incredibly fun. Plus, it's not like it doesn't mix it up here and there, either. The part where you have to travel throughout the krill-infested streets, carefully sticking to the light to avoid an instantaneous devouring from a murder of demon crows, can get to be rather nerve-wracking and makes for a great change of pace to the rest of the game. The part where you're huddled inside a minecart while trying to kill the lambent wretches before they drop on to you like an explosive rock makes for another highlight, too. But truth be told most of the game does involve the somewhat 'mundane' act of the aforementioned combat arenas. And yet that never got in the way of how fantastic the gameplay is and only serves to prove how well put together it all is to be able to carry so much of the game. The weapons feel powerful to wield, from the awesome feedback of turning a locust into ''nothing but bits'' with a boomshot, to chainsawing another in half with the Lancer's chainsaw. Gears of War also undoubtedly has some of the most gruesomely satisfying headshots in all of gaming. The enemy AI is pretty dumb, but they get by with sheer aggression and force of numbers, which in some certain scenarios resulted in me and my coop partner having to put our heads together to strategise and work things out. Getting through that opera house combat arena after taking what was maybe like 15 attempts made for an incredibly satisfying victory.

The 'Ultimate Edition' re-release has made a few adjustments to allow it to more closely resemble the latter Gears games, though they admittedly didn't take it quite far enough. While moving about still feels intuitive, there's most definitely a certain degree of clunk to it all. Getting around cover can sometimes prove to be a little more cumbersome than it should, especially in relation to the buttery smooth controls of Gears 3. Little things like not being able to vault over cover to stun an enemy should one be on the other side stand out as well. Spotting enemies even in the campaign and being able to switch weapons mid roadie run is certainly welcome, but why must you still run out of breath after roadie running for so long? Why can't I stick grenades onto surfaces to act as proximity mines? There's no denying that more could have been done, though despite my misgivings in that regard I still came away immensely enjoying my time with Gears of War, even when put against multiple past completions throughout the years.

Graphically it's not quite to the standards of new games being released in 2015, but it's still a vast improvement from how it originally looked. The character models in particular look much more human this time around, with the new and improved textures of certain characters like Cole and Baird in particular finally elevating them from resembling a pair of mutant corpses. The environments too carry a lot of atmosphere to them, most importantly the segments set during night time like the krill-infested streets and the abandoned factory that's drenched in rain. Though to be fair rain at night makes most of everything look evocative and moody, but it works all the same! The cutscenes are what was clearly given the most attention, as they all look stunning to watch in motion, with really solid animation, facial expressions, and lip syncing.

I do really wish they could have added a Horde mode or something, though. With only the multiplayer left once the campaign's done and dusted, it's a little tougher to find reasons to stick in. I've most definitely had much higher success with this MP offering than I ever did with, say, Gears 3, but it still involves a lot of frustration as I'm shotgunned from side to side like an ever gibbing ragdoll by players that have clearly been playing the MP of these games for a really long time. Even the 'social' modes don't fair that much better, despite their intended function of pairing you with other, more casual-minded players. Unfortunately as is expected what it's clearly resulted in is top-level players using it as an opportunity to thrash newer players for the sake of their ego. There is the occasional match where I end up at the top of the match results, but still, it's ever so demoralising to have most matches result in the exact same Gnasher shotgun duels with so many other weapons being virtually ignored in relation. The Lancer in particular simply takes far too many bullets to down an enemy player and it's no wonder most tend to rely on the pistol instead as a result.

Nonetheless! I shan't let all of that get in the way of the awesome time I had blasting through the campaign. I'll likely want to give it another run eventually on Insane mode, if not just for the sake of playing through it again. It still makes for a really fun time, especially in coop - which is honestly the way to play if I'm being honest. You don't get very many shooters quite like this anymore - shooters that are confident enough in their gameplay that moving you from combat arena to the next is enough to suffice the majority of your game. It often feels as if big budget always have to try and wow you with epic, high-octane action constantly filling the screen, and it's a welcome change of pace to play a game that primarily rests on the laurels of its gameplay to keep you playing to the end. RAAM is still a pitifully easy end boss fight, though, but then he's still more fun to fight than Queen Myra in Gears 3!