When Gears 5 first launched, Dr Disrespect was pretty down on the game. The popular Twitch streamer and former game developer was quick to share his criticisms about the game. Now, however, a new video from Doc seems to indicate that he’s changed his mind about Gears 5.
While most people associate Herschel Beam IV with his online persona, the man who would become Dr Disrespect also has a background in game design. Specifically, he spent some time working as a level designer for Sledgehammer Games, working on titles such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. When he switched careers to become a full-time streamer, Dr Disrespect drew from this background to start ranting about certain game mechanics and the games that use them on his stream.
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The latest target of Dr Disrespect’s ire was the Coalition’s newly released Gears 5. On a stream the day before it launched, Doc launched into an angry tirade about Gears 5 and about how it was “the exact same thing over and over.”
“It’s time for the series to be dead. Let’s move on from Gears of War, can we. It’s not bringing in millions and millions of people, it’s not groundbreaking, it’s nothing,” stated Doc. “It’s just a whole bunch of over the top, Triple A marketing and PR on top of this game. That’s all it is.”
He followed this up stating that “I’m looking at gameplay and I am not impressed! I’ll say it ok, I’ll be the one to step out since no one else is saying it on social media. Gears of War 5 don’t waste my time. Not gonna ever play you, not gonna look at you.”
He ended the rant with a suggestion to the Coalition and Xbox Game Studios. “Let’s start a new brand, new company,” he offered. “I know all the developers working at that studio want to move on to something unique.”
Based on his own statements, folks would probably expect that Dr Disrespect would never revisit the game again. However that wasn’t the case, in the September 16 broadcast of his show, the Two-Time, not only was Doc playing the game, he was also singing a different, if still somewhat critical, tune about the game.
“Yeah, I like the s*** mechanics. It’s one of those games where it has horrific player mechanics but if you learn, it’s actually kind of fun to play horrible game mechanics,” he stated on the show. “It’s interesting. It really is. Like, it f***s with your mind a little bit, you know?”
While its a backhanded compliment for sure, Doc’s comment does seem to show that he’s changed his mind about the game. The rest of his comments have him talking about how it takes awhile for the game to grow on someone. “You’ve got to go through that phase, trust me. I went through it,” he explained.
“Once you get past that stage of knowing that you’ve got to deal with the clunkiness and horrific programming of player mechanics, anyways, then you start feeling out what the game’s potential is truly about,” stated Doc. “And that’s… I’m telling you. It feels really good. I haven’t felt that in a long time.”
Based on his statements, it looks like Dr Disrespect just needed some time to get a grip with the game. Most reviews of the game, including our own, have been quite positive. At the time of writing, the game has an average metascore of 85% from critics on Metacritic, with an average user score of 8.7. Does this mean that Doc’s initial impressions of the game were wrong?
Regardless of his thoughts about Gears 5, Dr Disrespect seems to be doing quite well in it. The footage of him playing the game on his channel show Doc dominating in a game that, just a few weeks back, he stated should die.
