Gears of War: E-Day and Star Wars: Galactic Racer review roundup

October 6 brought two very different launches. Gears of War: E-Day is The Coalition's prequel to the 2006 original and one of Xbox's biggest games of the year. Star Wars: Galactic Racer is an arcade racer from Fuse Games, a new studio that few people expected much from. Both are reviewing in the high 80s on Metacritic and OpenCritic.

The difference is in how critics agree. Galactic Racer is close to unanimously loved, with 96% of critics recommending it and a single, consistent complaint about repetition. Gears of War: E-Day has a real split: everyone loves the shooting, and the argument is about its story, its pacing and its new open areas.

Scores below were taken at the time of writing and are still moving.

Gears of War: E-Day and Star Wars: Galactic Racer at a glance

Gears of War: E-Day review scores: 87 on Metacritic

Gears of War: E-Day is set on Emergence Day, when the Locust Horde first breaks out from underground. Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago have just returned from war and are caught in the middle of it. The campaign supports four-player online co-op and two-player split-screen, and the game is on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one.

Metacritic lists it at 87 on Xbox Series X from 51 critics (92% positive, 8% mixed, none negative) and 82 on PC. OpenCritic has a Top Critic Average of 87, with 91% of critics recommending it. Most reviews cover the campaign only, because the Versus and Horde Siege multiplayer modes weren't fully available before launch.

What critics love about Gears of War: E-Day

The shooting. Almost every review, high or low, says the cover-based combat is as good as the series has been. TheSixthAxis's Nick Petrasiti calls it "a reminder of just how bloody good this series can be," and TrueAchievements says it "hits all the right notes for veteran Gears and newcomers alike." Several outlets gave it a perfect score and called it the best campaign in the series.

The higher scores like the story too. IGN's Ryan McCaffrey says E-Day pulls off "a heartfelt prequel with strong characters even when we know how it ends." Co-op is another strength: MonsterVine played the whole campaign in split-screen and says it "runs smoothly and still looks incredible."

Where Gears of War: E-Day reviews split: story, pacing and open areas

The more measured reviews push back on the same campaign. GameSpot's Richard Wakeling (7/10) had a good time "even if the story is disappointing," and found the new open areas "fairly dull." Wccftech's Alessio Palumbo (7.4) says it "feels like a step back from Gears 5 in several ways."

Length is the other sticking point. Eurogamer's Dom Peppiatt finished in "between 20 and 25 hours" on Hardcore. PC Gamer's Abbie Stone (77) loves the shooting but says the "20+ hour campaign is also waaaaay too long considering how one-note it is."

Gears of War: E-Day on PC and in multiplayer

On PC, Worth Playing's Cody Medellin hit 60fps at 4K on ultra settings, but on a top-end RTX 5090 rig. On most hardware he expects you'll need upscaling and some tuning.

Early multiplayer impressions are positive but measured. PC Gamer's final review calls Horde Siege "a fun, smart evolution of what came before," though its open layout means "a lot of commuting between the actual wave-battling bits." MonsterVine thinks Horde Siege inherits the campaign's open-level problems and leans too hard on upgrades. TheSixthAxis shrugs: "I'm not convinced Horde needs reinventing every time it appears."

Star Wars: Galactic Racer review scores: 88 on Metacritic

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is an arcade anti-gravity racer set in the Outer Rim after the fall of the Empire. You race in an illegal league funded by crime syndicates, and the campaign is a roguelite: each tour runs across three (later five) planets before a final knockout event, and the story plays out over repeated runs. There are four modes: Campaign, Scenarios, Arcade and Multiplayer.

Metacritic lists it at 88 on PS5 from 65 critics (97% positive, 3% mixed, none negative), 86 on Xbox Series X and 84 on PC. That PS5 score is one of the best for any Star Wars game in decades. OpenCritic has a Top Critic Average of 87, with 96% of critics recommending it.

What critics love about Star Wars: Galactic Racer

Speed, and a campaign built to make you master it. TheSixthAxis's Dom Leighton calls it "the best arcade racer in years." GameSpot's Jordan Ramée describes it as a racing game's "absolutely perfect 10 minutes expanded into a full game." Eurogamer's Christian Donlan calls it "both a surprisingly fun Roguelite campaign and a racing treat for Criterion fans," and Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb says Fuse "built a campaign that keeps giving me reasons to master the tracks."

The online mode gets its own praise. Up to 12 players race in a six-event championship (eight in podracers), and Polygon's Oli Welsh, in a separate multiplayer review, calls it "the best multiplayer racing mode in years."

Where Galactic Racer reviews split: repetition and run length

There isn't much of a split, but the complaints are consistent. IGN's Luke Reilly (8/10) says it "gets a little repetitive" because it keeps revisiting the same slim selection of planets. Game8 counts seven planets and notes that "a few of the courses just recycle the same layouts in reverse," and says "sub-10 hours isn't a ton of time to spend on a sixty-buck game."

The roguelite structure has a sharp edge, too. GameRant warns that "losing an hour or more of progress because of a split-second mistake can be frustrating." And if you were hoping to race on the sofa, IGN confirms there's no split-screen multiplayer.

Which one to play

Gears of War: E-Day is the pick if you've been waiting for a return to classic Gears combat, especially with a co-op partner, and it's an easy try if you already have Game Pass. Set aside 20 hours or more. If story matters most to you, read GameSpot first.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the more unanimously loved of the two, and it's on every major platform. You don't need to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy it. Just know that campaign runs can be long and unforgiving, and it has no local multiplayer.

If you're trying to keep space clear for GTA 6 on November 19, both are manageable. Galactic Racer is the shorter of the two, under 10 hours for the campaign. Our plan for clearing your backlog before GTA 6 has more on choosing what to play this autumn.

Sources

• Metacritic: Gears of War: E-Day
• OpenCritic: Gears of War: E-Day
• Pure Xbox: Gears of War: E-Day release and Game Pass guide
• Wikipedia: Gears of War: E-Day
• Gears of War: E-Day reviews: Pure Xbox, IGN Spain, TechRaptor, IGN, GameRant, Screen Rant, GamingBolt, TrueAchievements, Tom's Guide, TheSixthAxis, Worth Playing, PC Gamer, Wccftech, GameSpot, MonsterVine, Eurogamer, Polygon
• Metacritic: Star Wars: Galactic Racer
• OpenCritic: Star Wars: Galactic Racer
• Polygon: Star Wars: Galactic Racer multiplayer review
• StarWars.com: Star Wars: Galactic Racer
• Wikipedia: Star Wars: Galactic Racer
• Star Wars: Galactic Racer reviews: Eurogamer, Giant Bomb, GameSpot, Push Square, Shacknews, TheSixthAxis, GameRant, Cubed3, Hobby Consolas, DualShockers, Game8, IGN, Wccftech, PC Gamer, TechRaptor