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"Emergence Day"
—Gears of War slogan

Gears of War is a third-person shooter video game created by Epic Games. It is compatible for the Xbox 360 and is rated M in the USA, 18 in the UK and MA15+ in Australia. It's platforms included the Xbox 360 console and the PC and sold over 3 million copies since it's release on November 7, 2006. As of E3 2007, Gears of War was ported to PC as one of the many 'Games for Windows'. The PC edition has new features and five new single player chapters. For further information, please regard the specific article, Gears of War (PC).ㅤㅤㅤ

It was the most played game on Xbox Live in the terms of the unique users, ahead of Halo 2 before being beaten by its sequel, Halo 3. There are 4 different game types for multiplayer, Warzone, Assassination, Execution and Annex with 10 multiplayer maps and 6 new ones available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace free of charge. These maps are named Old Bones, Raven Down, Garden, Subway, Bullet Marsh and Process.

Background[]

The Pendulum Wars

Emergence Day

Inside the Mind of Marcus Fenix

The Gears of War Trailer[]

Main article: Mad World

The teaser trailer features Marcus being chased through the streets by the Locust forces until he is cornered by a Corpser. The solemn tone set by the background song, Mad World as performed by Gary Jules would be a continuing theme through the later Gears of War trailers.

Game Basics[]

Getting to grips with the game's basics:

Plot[]

Act 1: Ashes - As the game opens 14 years after Emergence Day, a former soldier named Marcus Fenix is freed from the Jacinto Maximum Security Prison by his close friend, Dominic Santiago who needs Fenix's help in the fight against the Locust. Both managed to escape from the prison moments before it is destroyed by a Corpser and met up with the other members of Delta Squad, Anthony Carmine and Minh Young Kim. They received orders to find Alpha Squad and secure the possession of the "Resonator", a device intended to map the Locust underground tunnel network out for the Lightmass Bomb. En route to Alpha's last known location, Carmine is killed by a Locust sniper. Marcus, Dom and Kim are able to meet up with a Private from Alpha Squad, Augustus Cole who said that the rest of Alpha are at the Tomb of the Unknowns and their transmissions are blocked by the Seeders. Marcus eliminates the Seeders by using the Hammer of Dawn. After finding three more Privates from Alpha, Damon Baird, Gyules and an unknown Gear, they are ambushed by the Locust forces. Kim is separated from the others and is killed by General RAAM. While retreating into the Tomb, the unknown Gear is killed while providing cover fire. After Marcus defeats a Locust Berserker which kills Gyules, the team confirms with Headquarters that the Resonator is safe and are ordered to the Lethia Imulsion Facility, ten kilometers from their position. Marcus is also put in charge of Delta Squad in place of Kim.

Act 2: Nightfall - Dom suggests that the fastest way to reach the mine would be to borrow a Junker from a Stranded named Franklin who owes Dom a favor from the deals in the past. After reaching the camp, Franklin reluctantly agrees to give him the Junker on the condition that Cole and Baird should stay behind at the Stranded camp to help them defend against the Locust. Dom agrees and he and Marcus head across the ruined city as nightfall descends, bringing the Kryll out, the carnivorous bat-like creatures that attack anything in the dark. The two fight through the Locust forces to reach Aspho Gas Station where the Junker is kept and drive it back to the camp, defending themselves from the Kryll with an ultraviolet light equipped on the Junker that can kill the Kryll. The two arrive at the Stranded camp just in time to help defend it from a large Locust onslaught. Once the situation is secured, the team moves onward towards the mining facility in the Junker.

Act 3: Belly of the Beast - Delta Squad reaches the outskirts of the mining facility just as the Junker ceases to function. They make their way on foot through the abandoned facility and into the Imulsion mine tunnels, heading towards a pre-determined location where the effect of the Resonator should have maximum effect, all the while defending themselves against constant Locust onslaughts. The team eventually reach their target destination after Marcus defeats a Corpser and after securing the area, Baird setted the Resonator device off and they narrowly escape back to the surface. Unfortunately, the team quickly learns from HQ that the data collected from the Resonator blast was much too little to be of use for the Lightmass Bomb. However, a device found by Baird seems to already contain a near-complete map of the tunnel system with the data linking back to Marcus' father, Adam Fenix and his home, the East Barricade Academy.

Act 4: The Long Road Home - Delta Squad rides a King Raven helicopter to the East Barricade Academy, now ruined and heavily controlled by the Locust, losing a second King Raven to an attack by Nemacyst air spores in the sky. The team is dropped off just outside the Academy and are forced to fight their way through massive numbers of Locust on their way to the mansion where Adam Fenix lived. Baird discovers an APC in need of repair at the back of the manor and he and Cole rush off to repair it while Marcus and Dom search the manor for the data. After finding the hidden laboratory in the basement, they leave their cloaked robot, Jack to download the data and defend the house against the waves of Locust attackers. As Jack finishes downloading the tunnel maps, the two soldiers rush for the newly repaired APC behind the manor with a gargantuan reptilian-like Locust called a Brumak already charging towards them. Delta Squad and Jack reach the APC just as the Brumak smashes through the manor, escaping from the pursuing monster.

Act 5: Desperation - The team now rushes for the train station to get aboard the Tyro Pillar, an armored freight train carrying the Lightmass Bomb at the front. Along the way (Only in the PC version), they are held up by an open bridge with the busted controls thanks to the downed power lines. Using the fried corpse of the Brumak to connect the two transformers, they get the bridge down and make it to the station. The Locust attack them at the station and prevent Cole and Baird from jumping onto the train as it speeds past, leaving only Marcus and Dom to battle through to the front of the train as it travels across the wasteland towards the Locust stronghold. Unfortunately, they encounter General RAAM at the front of the train, guarding the Lightmass Bomb, though Marcus and Dom are able to defeat him. With a destroyed bridge quickly approaching as the train speeds ahead, Marcus uploads the tunnel data into the Lightmass Bomb and activates it, escaping from the train by jumping into a nearby King Raven with the help of Dom and Colonel Hoffman, seconds before the train falls off the tracks and into the Imulsion below. The bombs from the Lightmass launch into the Locust tunnels beneath, successfully eradicating most of an important Locust stronghold and almost all of the Kryll breeding grounds. Hoffman announces their victory to the rest of the world, but the haunting voice of the Locust Queen clearly says that the Locust have not been defeated and will continue to fight back.

Appearances[]

By type
Characters Creatures Events Locations
Organizations and titles Vehicles and vessels Weapons and technology Miscellanea

Characters

Creatures

Events

Locations

Organizations and titles

Vehicles and vessels

Weapons and technology

Miscellanea

Multiplayer[]

Multiplayer Characters[]

COG[]

Locust[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Gears of war

A piece of concept art.

  • Gears of War started off as a game called "Unreal Warfare" and was to be the next Epic Games-developed Unreal game after Unreal Tournament was released.[1] It was to be a large multiplayer game set in the Unreal universe. The problems during it's development caused the team to delay it and instead release an Epic-modified version of the Digital Extremes-developed Xbox game, Unreal Championship which is called Unreal Tournament 2003.[2] After UT2k3 was shipped, the early development on Unreal Engine 3 began. The development team decided to move Unreal Warfare to Unreal Engine 3 and placed what they finished with the Unreal Engine 2 in Unreal Tournament 2004 which became the Onslaught game mode in UT2k4.[1][3] During the transition, the team decided to split "Unreal Warfare" from the Unreal series because of how different that it was from the established Unreal universe. It was there that Unreal Warfare began to evolve into Gears of War.
  • The inspiration was taken from World War II and the Gulf War when designing the game.[4]
  • The multiplayer itself was tacked on late during the game's development. 90% of the development cycle was spent on the campaign.[5]
  • The materials from Gears of War while it was still on the Unreal Engine 2.5 can be found in Unreal Tournament 2004's game files, such as a weapon model called "warcoggunner" which is a portable Chain Gun that has an early version of the Gear logo on it.
  • Epic originally planned on calling the Locust "Geist", but couldn't ship with that name since Nintendo had a game with the same name.
  • Originally, Epic had a traditional FPS without cover, but after a friend of Cliff showed him the game kill.switch, he changed the design to a "Resident Killswitch" type of game design, combining aspects from both games.
  • The old ideas included the thought of "Combat Cash" which you could loot and get cash and a "Morale Meter" where if the teammates are depressed, they could kill themselves. The game Blacksite Area 51 has something similar to the morale meter. Both ideas were thrown out because they got in the way of the action.
  • Gears of War started as a first person game, but after seeing tech demos of Unreal Engine 3, Epic decided that it was a shame to not be able to see the character's actions. They wanted to do something different from Unreal Tournament.
Gears of war 2

Another piece of concept art.

  • As far as positioning the camera goes in making a third-person game, much of the inspiration for the camera system came from Resident Evil 4's Over-The-Shoulder camera system.
  • On another note, they decided to go with a toggle cover system instead of using the left stick to push the player into cover. It was rather difficult for the system to decide if the player wanted to enter cover or merely walk past a wall.
  • The Y button was originally unassigned until the idea of "Point of Interest" was conceived.
  • There were a few key ideas that were adhered to throughout the design:
    • Slower paced game based on trade-offs, i.e. not having a crosshair unless the player is aiming directly at something.
    • No aliens from space.
    • Low tech and high tech.
    • Embracing some clichés, but shedding others.
  • In the options menu on the main menu, there is an extreme content filter option that removed the gore and tones down the stronger profanities.
  • In SP, the last bullet in each magazine is 25% stronger so the chances of "oh shit" fighting a bad guy are high in the game.[6]
  • The game came very close to having a lot of rap/hip hop in it's soundtrack.[7]

Gears of War (Windows)[]

For more info on this version, see Gears of War (PC).

Gears of War was developed for Windows PC about one year after the Xbox version with the following additions:

  • Games for Windows achievements.
  • Act 5 extended: Not tagged on, but a bonus addition to the story that fits well which after an APC is obtained, one will come across a draw bridge. The objective is to travel on foot through an additional 4 chapters to activate the power plant and drive to the Tyro platform.
  • Additionally, there is the chance to fight a Brumak in the PC version. (In act 5) Also, an achievement is unlocked.
  • The Longshot Sniper Rifle like in Gears of War 2 had affiliation zoom in (Red zoom in for Locust, blue for COG)

Also, the three exclusive multiplayer maps are added for the PC Version:

  • Sanctuary (Now included in Gears of War 2 Dark Corners Map Pack)
  • Courtyard (Now included in Gears of War 2 Snowblind Map Pack)
  • Gold Rush (Now included in Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Pack)

As well as a new game mode:

Awards[]

"2006 goes down in gaming history as the year of Gears of War. With hundreds of awards and nominations to its credit, no other game that year had as much commercial and critical impact as Gears. All of the big gaming sites had their say and it turns out that they liked it a lot. Gears also received a hefty helping of acclaim from the games industry, picking "best" awards up left and right."
—Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) DICE AwardsAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) DICE Awards
  • Overall Game of the Year
  • Console Game of the Year
  • Action/Adventure Game of the Year
  • Outstanding Achievement in Animation
  • Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
  • Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay
  • Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering
  • Outstanding Character Performance — Male
  • Finalist: Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
  • Finalist: Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay

British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA)

  • Nominee: Best Action and Adventure
  • Nominee: Best Gameplay
  • Nominee: Best Technical Achievement
  • Nominee: Best Use of Audio
  • Nominee: Best Game

Game Developer Choice Awards

  • Best Game
  • Visual Arts
  • Technology

IGN

  • Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • Xbox 360 Best Action Game
  • Xbox 360 Best Graphics Technology
  • Runner-Up: Xbox 360 Best Artistic Design
  • Runner-Up: Xbox 360 Best Original Score
  • Runner-Up: Xbox 360 Best Offline Multiplayer Game
  • Runner-Up: Xbox 360 Best Xbox LIVE Game

1UP

  • Best Shooting Game
  • Nominee: Game of the Year
  • Nominee: Best Online/Multiplayer Gamer

GameSpy

  • Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • Xbox 360 Gamer’s Choice Award
  • Xbox 360 Action Game of the Year
  • Xbox 360 Offline Multiplayer Game of the Year
  • Overall Multiplayer Game of the Year
  • Top 10 Xbox 360 Game of the Year (#1)
  • Overall Top 10 Games of the Year (#4)
  • Console Top 10 Games of the Year (#3)
  • Top 5 Offline Multiplayer Games (#1)
  • Top 5 Online Multiplayer Games (#3)

GameSpot

  • Game of the Year
  • Best Xbox 360
  • Best Graphics (Technical)
  • Best New Character(s) (Delta Squad)
  • Best Multiplayer Game
  • Best Shooter
  • Readers’ Choice — Game of the Year
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Shooter
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Original Music
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Sound Effects
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Multiplayer Game
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Graphics (Technical)
  • Readers’ Choice — Best New Character(s) (Delta Squad)
  • Readers’ Choice — Best Original Game Mechanic (Active Reload)
  • Nominee: Best Original Music
  • Nominee: Best Xbox 360 Game
  • Nominee: Best Sound Effects
  • Nominee: Best Voice Acting
  • Nominee: Best Graphics (Artistic)
  • Nominee: Best Game Mechanic (Active Reload)

TeamXbox

  • Game of the Year
  • Best Graphics
  • Best Action Game

Electronic Gaming Monthly

  • Best Gore

Game Informer Magazine

  • Game of the Month

Official Xbox Magazine

  • Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • Best Special Moves of 2006 (2 out of 5 awards)
  • Top 5 Life Lessons We Learned From Gaming in 2006 (#2)
  • Weapon of the Year: Chainsaw (1 out of 4 mentions)
  • Enemy of the Year
  • Controller Throwing Moment of the Year
  • Readers’ Choice: Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • Readers’ Choice: Best Xbox Live Multiplayer Game
  • Readers’ Choice: Best Sci-Fi Shooter

Gamepro

  • 2006 Editor’s Choice Award: Combat/Shooter
  • 2006 Editor’s Choice Award: Game of the Year

Gametrailers

  • Best Graphics
  • Nominee: Game of the Year
  • Nominee: Best Xbox 360 Game
  • Nominee: Best Online Game
  • Nominee: Best Shooter

GameFly

  • Game of the Year
  • Xbox 360 Game of the Year

Spike TV Video Game Awards

  • Best Multiplayer Game
  • Best Graphics
  • Best Shooter
  • Nominee: Game of the Year
  • Nominee: Most Addictive Game

Golden Joystick Awards

  • Nuts All-Nighter
  • Editor’s Choice
  • Ultimate Game of the Year
  • Xbox Game of the Year

Entertainment Weekly

  • The Best Video Games of 2006

Blender

  • Games of the Year

Associated Press

  • Game of the Year (#4)

GamesRadar

  • Platinum Chalice Award for Most Satisfying Gore
  • Game of the Year (Honorable mention)

GameDaily

  • Best Game of the Year
  • Best Online Multiplayer
  • Best Guilty Pleasure
  • Best Creepy Game
  • Best Should-Be-A-Movie Storyline
  • Best OMG That Looks Hot! Game
  • Nominee: Your Game of the Year

Game Revolution

  • Shooter of the Year
    1. 2 Game of the Year

Gamezone

  • Outstanding Award

Wired

  • Year’s Best Console Games (#3)

Washington Post

  • Best Games of 2006 (#1)

Voodoo Extreme

  • Game of the Year (Runner up)

Next-Gen.biz

  • Top 50 Games of 2006 (#1)

Gamasutra

  • Most Important Games (#3)

Yahoo! Video Games

  • Best Shooter
  • Best Video Game of the Year
  • Nominee: Best Online Multiplayer Game
  • Nominee: Best Original Game

References[]

External links[]

Gears of War series
Main Games: Gears of War () • Gears of War 2 () • Gears of War 3 () • Gears of War 4 () • Gears 5 ()
Other Games: RAAM's ShadowGears of War: Judgment () • Gears of War: Ultimate EditionGears Pop!Gears TacticsGears: Hivebusters
Books: Aspho FieldsJacinto's RemnantAnvil GateCoalition's EndThe SlabKilo Squad: The Survivor's LogAscendanceBloodlinesEphyra Rising
Comics: HollowBarrenA Pendulum Wars StoryDirty Little SecretsThe Rise of RAAMHivebustersStand-Alone Issues
Booklets and Guides: Destroyed BeautyBeneath the SurfaceThe Art of Gears of WarThe Art of Gears of War 3The Poster CollectionThe Art of Gears of War 4RetrospectiveThe Art of Gears 5Gears Tactics: The Art of the Game
Films and TV: Gears of War (film)Gears of War (TV Series)
Canceled Games: Gears of War: ExileGears of War: Tactics
Other Media: Gears of War: The Board Game
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