Gears of War Ultimate edition for Xbox One coming August

A remastered Gears of War collection had been rumoured for months in the run-up to E3, with word that Microsoft was planning to re-release a collection of Xbox 360 titles in lieu of a new Gears game in 2015. That proved to be only partially correct, when the company revealed Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on-stage at its Xbox One E3 press conference.

Ultimate Edition is a remastered version of the original Gears of War, running at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second on the Xbox One. It will include 90 minutes of ‘new’ content – assuming you never played the PC version, as it’s merely the extra content already available in that edition of the game. Essentially filling in the gaps between acts IV and V, where Delta Squad has to escape a marauding Brumak, it represents about a 20% addition to the length of the campaign.

Of course, it’s the remastered multiplayer that will have most gamers excited. Widely regarded to have some of the finest mutliplayer action on the Xbox 360 outside of the Halo and Call of Duty franchises, the four v four competitive modes were intense, hard-fought battles on truly memorable maps. Although Microsoft didn’t confirm as such during the presentation, it’s widely believed that characters from the two sequels will be playable in the multiplayer mode. We’ve only seen the original maps in leaked gameplay videos so far, so it’s unknown whether the additional maps available in the PC version will make the cut too.

Gears fans eager to give the remastered version a try are in luck; Microsoft confirmed that an early access public beta would be made available later today. It’s only due to last for a week though, so you’ll need to move fast if you want to experience gnasher rushes, chainsaw melee attacks and the oh-so-satisfying ‘pop’ os a Longshot headshot from across the map.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will be going on sale on the 25th of August, exclusively on Xbox One.