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Gears of War (franchise)

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Gears of War is a science fiction video game franchise, created by Epic Games and owned and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The two games that currently make up the series take place on the fictional planet Sera and focus on a war between humans and creatures known as the Locust Horde. In Gears of War, the protagonist Marcus Fenix, a soldier or "Gear" in the Coalition of Ordered Governments, leads his squad on a mission to deploy the Lightmass bomb and destroy the Locust Horde in their underground strongholds. The sequel Gears of War 2 takes place six months after the events of the first game, and follows Delta Squad and the COG army as it launches an assault directly against the Hollow in an effort to end the war.

Contents

[edit] Setting

The Gears series takes place on the planet Sera. The planet Sera has a history of conflict that took the planet to the brink of destruction. This shocked the people into a rejection of their destructive ways, leading to a golden age. Although most conflict was solved peacefully, civil liberties and crime remained as troublesome social issues. A golden age of culture, science, and the arts.[1] Yet one problem stood prominent above the rest: energy. Sera's sources of petroleum and nuclear fuel were not sufficient to meet the global demand. Imulsion-with its promise of near limitless energy - was thought to be the solution to mankind's great need. [2] humans discovered the liquid Imulsion that flows underground that became a key power source. The value of Imulsion led to a seventy nine-year war over the substance, until the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) was formed to put a stop to the war. Shortly after peace settled, however, humans were attacked across the planet from the Locust, a race of beings that dug their way out from underground. Much of humanity was wiped out on the first Locust attack, otherwise known as "Emergence Day", and the remaining humans gathered their numbers on Jacinto Plateau, a mass of hard rock the Locust could not burrow through; the humans that could not make it became known as the Stranded, and took shelter among the ruins. COG then employed a "scorched earth" policy by turning orbital lasers across the surface of the planet to deny the Locust any spoils of war. The COG forces and the Locust continue to battle, each side desiring the complete destruction of the other.

The campaign mode of the series has focused on the character of Marcus Fenix, a COG soldier formally imprisoned for abandoning his duty post during the early Locust attacks to save his father, Adam Fenix, a key scientist studying the Locust. At the start of the first game, Marcus is rescued from the abandoned prison facility by his best friend, Dominic "Dom" Santiago, who had lost his wife Maria during the Locust attacks and has been looking for her since. Marcus, after his rescue, is readmitted to the COG force and promoted to lead Delta Squad. They are later joined by Augustus Cole, a star "thrashball" player before Emergence Day, and Damon Baird, the squad's mechanic.

[edit] Gameplay

Gears of War is a third person shooter game, with its core concepts being derived from Resident Evil 4's "over the shoulder" perspective, kill.switch's cover system, and Bionic Commando's swinging action akin to moving between points of cover.[3] The series focuses on using cover to tactically engage the enemy in battle to avoid taking damage. While behind cover, the player can fire blindly and inaccurately at their opponent, or can look around the cover and aim carefully, though exposing himself to enemy fire; the player can also sidle along cover, move between nearby cover, or vault over cover to race to a new point of cover. While 'roadie-running', if a player hits a piece of cover, they will automatically slam into cover against it. As the player takes damage, the "Crimson Omen" appears on the HUD, becoming more defined as the player nears low health levels. The player can regenerate their health by staying out of harms way for a short bit. Should the player take too much damage, they will become incapacitated unless revived by a teammate; depending on game mode, the player may be able to recover from this state on their own, or may die after a short amount of time if not revived. When a combatant is down, a member of the other side may also attempt to execute the downed player via a "curb stomp" or other brutal method. Some types of damage will immediately kill the player with no chance of revival, such as explosive damage or a headshot.

Players in Gears can only carry four different weapons: one pistol-type weapon, up to four grenades of a specific type, and two other weapons which include assault rifles, sniper rifles, and rocket launchers. Players can either obtain ammo or swap out their current weapons with any weapon dropped by a downed foe or from those scattered around the various maps. Most weapons feature the "Active Reload" ability: either after a weapon has run out of an ammo clip or when the player starts a manual reload, a meter is shown on screen, and the player can attempt to stop the meter in a certain marked area. If the player stops the meter in the marked area, their reload will be completed faster than if they didn't attempt an Active Reload, and if the player can stop the meter at a specific section of the marked area, they will gain a slight damage boost with each reloaded shot. If the player stops the meter outside this area, their gun will become temporarily jammed and slow down the reload time. While most of the weapons are based on standard shooter archetypes, Gears's signature weapon is the Lancer, an assault rifle that has a mounted chainsaw bayonet which can be used in close quarters combat to instantly kill a foe. The chainsaw bayonet, however, will lower itself if the player is taking damage. Most other weapons also can be used to bash opponents in melee, or in the case of grenades, can be stuck to a foe, exploding a few seconds later.

Both Gears games feature a single player mode that can be played co-operatively with one other player. The two players take the roles of two COG soldiers, Marcus Fenix and Dominic "Dom" Santiago, respectively, as they fight the Locust. At various times, the campaign will offer a choice of paths the first player can select; if the second player is present, they will forced to take the other path. In these areas, both players generally have to work together to get them both through the section, such as by one player providing covering fire while the second player opens a switch that allows the first player to then proceed. The campaign mode features several levels of difficulties.

The competitive multiplayer mode in both games feature up to ten players split between COG and Locust forces in a number of gameplay types. Modes include "Warzone" and "Execution", both similar to a typical deathmatch, and "Annex" and "King of the Hill" where teams have to control a marked zone on the map.

[edit] Games

[edit] Gears of War

Main article: Gears of War

Gears of War is a tactical third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was initially released as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 on November 7, 2006 in North America, and on November 17, 2006 in Europe.[4] Gears of War follows Delta Squad's efforts to help deploy a Lightmass bomb deep in the Locust tunnels to wipe out the Locust threat.

[edit] Gears of War 2

Main article: Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is a tactical third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios.[5] It is the sequel to Gears of War, and was announced by lead designer Cliff Bleszinski during the February 20, 2008 Game Developers Conference. The game uses a heavily upgraded version of the Unreal Engine 3.[6] Gears of War 2 takes place after the first game, where the Locust are now attempting sink Jacinto Plateau, and the COG forces have decided to launch a counter-offensive to stop them before they can complete their attempt.

[edit] Music

The video game music for Gears of War was composed by Kevin Riepl, who has previously worked with Epic Games on soundtracks for Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Championship.[7]

In Gears of War 2, the music was composed by Steve Jablonsky.[8]

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Books

Main article: Gears of War: Aspho Fields
Main article: Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant
Main article: Gears of War: Anvil Gate

Gears of War: Aspho Fields is a science fiction novel by Karen Traviss, set in the Gears of War universe. The novel is the first in a trilogy.[9] Aspho Fields focuses on the history of the characters and the battle at Aspho Fields, but will also take place during the events between Gears of War and Gears of War 2.[10]

Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant is a Karen Traviss's second novel in the Gears of War Book trilogy, and takes place after the sinking of Jacinto in Gears of War 2.

Gears of War: Anvil Gate is Karen Traviss's third Gears of War novel, and takes place after Jacinto's Remnant. It will be introduce the Lambent Horde invading the surface of Sera.

[edit] Comics

Main article: Gears of War:Comic Series

Epic Games and DC Comics announced on April 18, 2008, that a comic book based on Gears of War will be published. The comic will be published under DC's Wildstorm imprint and will be written by Joshua Ortega, with art by Liam Sharp.[11][12][13]

[edit] Film

On March 20, 2007, it was announced that New Line Cinema had purchased the rights to make a Gears of War film, with Stuart Beattie writing the script along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, who will be producing it.[14] Producer Wyck Godfrey said of the film adaptation, "I'm not a gamer, but what blew me away about Gears was how it captures the mythology of a war mission and how high the stakes are."[15] On August 3, 2007, AICN.com reported that Len Wiseman was to direct the movie adaptation of Gears of War.[16] though on March 30, 2007, Godfrey stated that they have "a director we're about to attach" in order to film the movie during 2009 and release in 2010.

Wiseman was officially signed on in June 2008 with Chris Morgan performing script rewrites.[17] Morgan hinted on G4's televised coverage of Comic Con 2008 that the film would be a prequel to the first game, "it could explain how Marcus (Fenix) got his scar."[18] According to Morgan, Wiseman "wants to make it as realistic as possible, and to blur those lines where your mind says, 'Oh, it's a big CGI film.[19]

[edit] Merchandise

Main article: Gears of War Merchandise

TriForce Sales has obtained a license from Epic Games to create full-scale replicas of the armor and weapons from the game, with assistance of sculptor Sid Garrand of Nightmare Armor Studios. The units will be available for advanced order in July 2008.[20]

In July 2007,[21] NECA announced they would be producing Gears of War merchandise, including action figures. The first series, available in the second quarter of 2008, included Augustus Cole, a Locust Drone, a Locust Sniper and Marcus Fenix.[22]

Mindzeye Studios has created foot high statues of Gears of War characters.[23]

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Gears of War 2 booklet
  2. ↑ Destroyed Beauty page 1
  3. ↑ GameSpot - GDC 07: Cliffy B disassembles Gears, mentions sequel (accessdate=2007-07-05)
  4. ↑ No Gears of War release for Germany (publisher=GamesIndustry.biz; date=2006-10-19; accessdate=2006-10-19)
  5. ↑ Gears of War 2: Epic's tactical shooter gears up for round two (publisher=GamePro; accessdate=April 2008)
  6. ↑ Gametrailers.com - Epic Games - GDC 2008: Unreal Engine Tech Demo (publisher=Gametrailers.com; accessdate=2008-11-03)
  7. ↑ Review of "Gears of War" soundtrack (publisher=Movie Music UK,by Jonathan Broxton; accessdate=2007-08-20)
  8. ↑ Gears of War 2 Soundtrack News (date=2008-10-07; accessdate=2008-11-28; publisher=IGN)
  9. ↑ Epic Games and Del Rey Announce Novels in the Gears of War Video Game Universe
  10. ↑ SDCC 08: Gears of War 2 Panel Report
  11. ↑ Epic Games and DC Plan Gears of War Comic Book (date=2008-04-18; accessdate=2008-04-18; publisher=Shacknews; by Aaron Linde)
  12. ↑ Ortega & Sharp on Gears of War Comic, Newsarama, July 24, 2008
  13. ↑ Sharp's Exclusive Gears of War Comic News, Comicon, August 11, 2008
  14. ↑ title=Gears of War Novel Update. Movie Script Confirmed (date=2008-01-02; publisher=TeamXbox; accessdate=2008-06-01)
  15. ↑ IGN: Gears of War Gearing Up at New Line (publisher=Movies.ign.com; author=IGN Staff; accessdate=2008-10-27)
  16. ↑ Len Wiseman officially announced as "Gears of War" director (publisher=Cinema Confidential; date=2008-06-17; accessdate=2008-09-21)
  17. ↑ Wiseman suits up for 'Gears of War', June 16, 2008
  18. ↑ A Day In The Life: Chris Morgan(publisher=G4tv.com; author=Jonathan Hunt; date=July 24, 2008; accessdate=2008-09-21)
  19. ↑ 'Gears Of War' Screenwriter Aims For 'Gritty And Real' Big-Screen Version Of Video Game (date=2008-10-29; publisher=MTV; accessdate=2008-10-30)
  20. ↑ Company to Produce Wearable Gears of War Armor, Weapon Replicas (date=2008-05-30; publisher=Shacknews)
  21. ↑ NECA signs with Epic Games
  22. ↑ Gears of War: Marcus Fenix
  23. ↑ "GI's 2008 Holiday Buying Guide," Game Informer 188 (December 2008): 40.

[edit] External links

Gears of War series
Games: Gears of War · Gears of War 2
Printed Media: Novels: Gears of War: Aspho Fields · Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant · Gears of War: Anvil Gate
Comics: Gears of War: Comic Series
Other Media: Soundtracks: Gears of War Soundtrack · Gears of War 2 Soundtrack
Film: Gears of War (film)
Fiction: Characters · Weapons · Locations
Retrieved from "http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Gears_of_War_(franchise)"