The Gears of War: E-Day Limited Edition Xbox Wireless Controller is Microsoft’s themed controller for the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day, priced at $89.99. It pairs a cracked, battle-worn design with a glowing crimson Xbox button, and underneath it is a standard Xbox Wireless Controller. I picked one up because Gears of War holds a special place for me, and it joins two older Gears controllers in my collection. This first look covers what comes in the box, the design, how it feels, and whether the price makes sense.
UPDATE What’s new since publishing
The sealed-off expansion port is a wider change, beyond this edition. Microsoft is removing the port from new Xbox controllers, starting with the Forza Horizon 6 edition, and its store page now notes that not all versions of the controller include one, according to Engadget. The port mostly served accessories such as the old Chatpad keyboard, and Engadget notes that no new accessories were made for it this generation.
Fans who want a Gears controller with a different look can also build one through Xbox Design Lab, which added a Gears of War: E-Day design by heavy metal illustrator Luke Preece on September 30, according to VGC. It shows two crossed Chainsaw Lancers surrounded by skulls, with options such as metallic triggers, rubberized grips and engraving, and its price depends on the options chosen. That said, my black-and-red habit dates back to about age nine, so the Limited Edition gets my vote without a second thought.
Two questions keep coming up from new owners: whether the seam where the rubberized back grips meet the shell is sharp, and how the textured finish will wear. On my unit, the seam sits flush, with no sharp edges. Wear is harder to judge, because the controller has been out for less than a week, so nobody can say yet how the textured top and the rubber back will hold up. The real test starts on October 6, when Gears of War: E-Day launches, according to Pure Xbox, and I plan to play it with this controller, which brings it full circle.
What is in the box
The controller arrives in standard Xbox controller packaging, with the E-Day artwork on the front. The back of the box highlights four features: Emergence Begins, the glowing crimson red Xbox button, a rubberized, leather-like grip, and Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity. Inside are the controller and two AA batteries, which are a welcome inclusion. There is nothing else, so the unboxing takes less than a minute.
The design
The design is where the money goes. Xbox describes it as having “3D molded, laser-etched details of cracked asphalt with red, glowing cracks,” and the black shell is covered in raised fractures that glow red along their edges, according to Xbox’s announcement. The centre of the front is translucent red plastic, with the Crimson Omen, the series’ skull emblem, visible beneath the surface. The D-pad is transparent, the triggers are red, and the X button is transparent red among blacked-out face buttons.
The most distinctive detail is the Xbox button itself, which glows crimson red where standard controllers glow white. It is a small change that ties the controller to the game’s red-and-black look. There are hundreds of Xbox controller designs, and this is one more of them, albeit a beautifully designed one.
Grips and feel
I expected the top of the grips to have a rubberized texture, but it is textured plastic. That is arguably an advantage, because rubber tends to peel and crack over time, while textured plastic should hold up better. The rubber is on the back, where the grips have the rubberized texture the box describes as leather-like. In the hands, the controller feels like any other Xbox Wireless Controller, which is a good baseline.
The buttons are standard Xbox fare. The D-pad has the usual clicky feel, and the face buttons are somewhat clicky, although they are not mechanical switches. The triggers and shoulder buttons are the same as on any current Xbox controller. Nothing about the controls changes from the standard model.
COG tags and E-Day
The battery door carries a dark silver COG tag, which Xbox says signifies the series’ motto, “Never Fight Alone.” Fans of the franchise will recognise the tags as the identification worn by the COG soldiers in the games. The controller is themed for Gears of War: E-Day, named after Emergence Day, the day the Locust invasion began, and the game is set as a prequel to the original Gears of War. The expansion port on the bottom, which older Xbox controllers used for chat headsets and keyboard adapters, is sealed off on this one.
Is it worth $90?
The E-Day controller costs $89.99 at pre-order and at retail. Microsoft’s recommended pricing puts the standard Xbox Wireless Controller at $64.99 in black or white, and standard controllers are often cheaper used or on sale. That makes the E-Day edition about $25 more for the same hardware. The premium pays for the design and nothing else. Anyone after better sticks and haptics should look at what has leaked about the next Elite controller.
Whether that is worth it depends entirely on the buyer. For a fan of the series who wants a controller that reflects it, the design is the product. For anyone hoping it will improve their play, it will not, since it performs exactly like a standard controller. I see it as a collector’s item that happens to be a perfectly good controller.
Why Gears of War matters to me
Gears of War holds a special place for me as a gamer. The original Gears of War was the last game I was playing as a high school and early college kid, before I joined the military in 2008 and my life changed considerably. My cousin and I spent months playing it on the Xbox 360, and the chainsaw, the online matches and the local multiplayer made it a lot of fun. I am a late-1980s baby, so those memories mark the end of a particular era for me.
That is why I collect Gears of War controllers. The E-Day edition joins the red and black Gears of War 2 Limited Edition controller from the Xbox 360 era and the grey Gears 5 Limited Edition controller from the Xbox One era. Plenty of games defined my youth, and Gears of War 1 is one of them. These controllers take me back to it. The collection now reaches my desk, too: I have pre-ordered 8BitDo’s Gears of War: E-Day keyboard and mouse, which ship at the end of October.
