[HEADING=2]'An insight into Gears of War'[/HEADING]
Gears of War. A series loved and hated by many. Those that enjoy it praise its visceral combat and fast paced action, those that hate it criticise its shallow story and over-masculine characters.
The problem, however, is that the series is very rarely looked at for what it is. It is actually much more than a story about some muscular dudes sticking chainsaws into muscular aliens; it is a story about loss, hope and redemption, about survival and what it costs. About love, betrayal and family.
What I am going to try and do is attempt to show the naysayers what they are missing when they look at the Gears of War universe as just another space marine cliché. I warn you now that this will be a long one, and it won't even scratch the surface.
[HEADING=3]The world and the setting[/HEADING]
Gears of War is set on a planet known as Sera. The details are not extensive but basically humans inhabit it and it's a planet very similar to Earth. The one major difference from the beginning is that the planet has an energy source known as Imulsion buried beneath it's surface. This energy source, much like oil on Earth, is not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Some countries are rich with it, while others struggle to get what they can.
Naturally this results in war. The poorer countries attack the richer ones in the hope that they can get the energy that they need to sustain themselves effectively. These wars (known as the Pendulum Wars) last for 79 years, resulting in every living human having been alive during wartime.
This I think, is an important point. Imagine having lived your entire life when your country is at war, where every able bodied man is expected to be in the army and potentially die for it. Not only that, but the chances are that their fathers and grandfathers shared the same fate. We are not unfamiliar to war as a race, but we have never had every country at war at once. Pretty much every family would have someone close to them die, and resources would constantly be strained. For an entire planet to suffer this for 79 years is a pretty grim concept. Eventually peace reigns, the Coalition of Ordered Governments is formed (The COG) and the planet is united under one banner.
Then E Day begins. 79 years of war, 79 years of sacrificing millions of lives for valuable resources, but when things start working out a new threat emerges from the ground and slaughters around a quarter of the human population in days. Not only that, but no reason is given as to why, women and children are not spared and no prisoners are taken. The enemy is cold, relentless and determined to destroy all human life. Humanity is not prepared for the massacre and is forced to decimate every city on the planet except one (Jacinto) in order to prevent the Locust from using their resources.
This is another important point to be made. Imagine if our world was so threatened that we had to use nuclear warheads on every part of the planet except one small area which would be used to defend the remaining population. Imagine having to make that decision. It is this which shows how loss and survival are focal points of the Gears universe, humanity isn't forced to destroy colonies or fight newly discovered enemies in the far regions of space, their are forced to destroy their own world in order to survive.
The last defence of humanity.
[HEADING=3]The characters and their stories[/HEADING]
People frequently claim that Gears of War is full of macho, obnoxious bastards who have no depth or characterisation, an insight into them shows that this couldn't be farther from the truth.
Marcus Fenix, the protagonist of the games, is a soldier for the COG army, refusing to join as an officer despite being the right class, as well as being highly intelligent, he chooses to fight as a normal soldier rather than leading from the safety of a base. Marcus fights for his country and becomes a decorated war hero after helping win a decisive battle at a place known as 'Aspho Fields' during the Pendulum Wars. Upon Emergence Day he continues his duties and helps fight back the Locust horde for 10 years. He gains information that his father (A respected COG scientist named Adam Fenix) is in trouble and abandons his post in order to save him, but is too late.
He is then accused of dereliction of duty and would have been sentenced to death, were it not from the defence given by his best friend Dominic Santiago (more on him later). He is instead given 40 years in maximum security and left to rot.
4 years into his sentence humanity is desperate enough to free everyone due to numbers being too low. He is rescued again by Dom and returns to active duty. Upon doing so he is asked to join a squad that's mission is to map the Locusts homes in order to destroy them. Now consider this for a moment: You are a war veteran of over a decade, you are loyal to your country but fail in your duty once in order to save the last member of your family. The military treats you like a criminal and would have you killed but settles for life in prison. After leaving you for dead for 4 years they then ask you to step back up and fight for them again. How pissed off would you be?
I think it is fair to say that the aggressive, angry attitude shown by the character is justified given the circumstances, not only having lost his father but to then suffer the consequences of his actions. This is where his name comes from, and what I meant by redemption. Fenix meaning 'Phoenix' and Pheonix meaning re-birth is used to show how he is starting from the beginning and redeeming himself for his past mistake.
A true friend always has your back.
Then there is Dominic Santiago. Dom joined the military at the age of 16 and took commando training. Having married his childhood sweet heart and having two children he is starting to live the life wanted, along with Marcus he is awarded the 'Embry Star' for his service during the battle of Aspho Fields and is highly respected among the military.
On E-Day however his world is thrown into chaos and despair. His two children are with their grandparents when the Locust attack and are both killed, his wife Maria cannot cope with their losses and refuses to believe her children are dead. Dom has to then cope with the loss of his children and his wife's growing mental instability while fighting for humanities survival on the front-line. Eventually the grief results in Maria leaving the sanctuary of Jacinto to search for them, which leads Dom to search frantically for her whenever he is able to.
10 Years into the war he is forced to defend Marcus at his trial. This costs him any chance of advancing ranks due to him being considered to hold his friendship higher than his duty as a soldier, he is willing to do so despite knowing this.
He is then challenged once again during the time-line of the second Gears of War game when he discovers his wife has been captured by the Locust. Upon finding her wasted away and insane he is forced to kill her himself in order to end her suffering, adding onto not only the grief of his two dead children, but the belief that if he had gotten there sooner he could have saved her. Despite all this he has to remain strong and carry on fighting. This highlights how Gears of War is also about love. To search for a loved one for years, and upon being reunited having to end their life is a tragedy most humans would never have to even consider, let alone do.
The end.
Assuming you are still reading I congratulate you, it is quite a chunk of information but I really could not see what to cut out in order to get my point across, I haven't even gone into details about the 'Stranded' or any of the support characters, but were I to do so I sincerely doubt anyone would be left reading it by the end, as there's a lot of information to go into. Assuming the response is a positive one, I may very well make this a two-part discussion.
The universe the games are set in is extremely dark and far deep, and I am fully aware that all of this is put across extremely poorly in the games. However, I am not trying to convince anyone that the game-play is any less shallow than it appears, I am simply trying to let people realise that the story, the characterisation and the emotion is there, it's just buried beneath the rubble.
Constructive criticism is welcome as always. I must admit I found writing this in an interesting way extremely difficult though.
