I've been disappointed by the Carmines being killed in the two current Gears of War games. They were the only sort of characters that felt more like normal people unlike all those insecure warmongerers that you were stuck with.
Now, I didn't play Gears of War beacuse of the story, but if the developers would have wanted to make a more compelling story and character progression they really should have made one of the Carmines as the protagonist. A society on the brink of doom forces all abled citizens to experience the horrors of war, caring little to nothing about turning its back on the system of morality it once had and expecting Carmine to meet a horrible fate while all he wants is to return home and eat cookies baked by his mother or something like that.
Oh, and he had a helmet! What's with all these action games having to give a face to everything? Helmets just make everything cooler. Why have an ugly Human face when you can have metallic layering with glowing eyes!? Not to mention all the modern day comforts such devices provide, like air-filtering equipment!
I hope the third Carmine will live, that will let some spark of Humanity remain on that caved in planet.