After seeing this thread:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.354010-Bleszinski-Gears-Became-a-Negative-Stereotype
I got pretty mad.
And I wrote this:
(Quick note: I haven't read any other Gears books or other items surrounding the series. This is purely based off just playing through the three games.)
A lot of negative things have been said about the Gears of Wars series, mostly complaining at it's macho aesthetic, over the top weapons and enemies, and general lack of real characters, plot or narrative. I expect you feel the same way about Gears, but let me take a moment to tell you a few things you probably missed.
In the Gears universe the planet of Sera is at war, and has been for a hundred years. First human on human in the Pendulum Wars, followed by the emergence of the locust from beneath the planets surface. The characters we see are perhaps the third generation born of a society caught in a bitter war. They have to be tough, they have to be strong physically to survive. All those who looked like an average Joe would likely have been killed in combat, lacking the physique to make it through. If we look at the Gears weapons and technology we can see that it is not complex or subtle, it is based on brute strength and as such takes brute strength to use. Another reason why scrawny Gears would not survive the battlefield. Remember, by following Fenix and his squad we only get to see the most battle hardened of soldiers, and see nothing of those who do not fight.
The famous lancer with it's chainsaw bayonet is a product of the war against the locust, these are numerous creatures often engaging at close range with many a tentacle- A chainsaw bayonet makes logical sense as it allows for close quarters combat as well as saving on ammunition, which is likely to be scarce on a world torn apart.
Everything the Gears are and do is influenced by this vast history of war, but they are not without emotion. As soldiers fighting a war to save the world it is only natural that they must keep their emotions in check, but they are shown to posess them in the way Dom talks about his wife, or Marcus about Anya. When Dom is reunited with the tortured and tormented Maria he slips into a dream and imagines her as she was, happy and smiling. Only to be confronted with the reality that she has been destroyed. Throughout the third game Dom is continually suffering emotional issues over the loss of his wife, but his anger is not targeted at the locust who captured her, but at himself for participating in the war against them.
In the third installment the Gears come across a small settlement of humans, living away from the cities. The inhabitants ask the Gears to leave, implying that they live peacefully alongside the locust and that it is not the locust, but rather the Gears whose undying agression has perpetuated the war and lead to the destruction of the planet, including the loss of Doms wife. As the game progresses the Gears become increasingly aware that it was they who sent the world into ruin. The game is scattered with hints that the locust are a peaceful race, betrayed by the COG and turned upon by a society so tuned for war that it is incapable of anything else. In the introduction to Gears 3 it is stated that in the COG burnt human cities and murdered civilians in it's original quest to kill the locust. As the game progresses Marcus becomes increasingly desperate to fix the damage that he and the Gears have caused, but he is so twisted by war that he cannot comprehend a peaceful solution.
Marcus sees a locust victory as the end of the planet, but the existence of the aforementioned human settlement proves that this is not the case. What Marcus is actually fighting to preserve is his soul, his belief that what he is doing is right and will save the world. The sad truth for him is that the world doesn't need saving. He and the Gears are fighting a battle that only exists between themselves and the locust. He is not saving the world or protecting humanity, that is a fiction that the Gears have invented to justify their own existence, because without an enemy, what use are soldiers? And if they're not soldiers, what can they be? The Gears don't know how to survive, they can't exist without war, they have been brainwashed by the COG all their lives to fight and fight and it has turned them into a dark spectre of humanity, shunned by all yet still believing themselves to be virtuous. Only when the COG is destroyed does the truth begin to emerge- that they are in fact part of a political movement dedicated to the genocide of a peaceful race. That they are the evil blight upon the world and the locust are the cure, a victory for the Gears is a victory for an evil, destructive regime.
I guess that's why Gears 3 wasn't all that much fun.
Plus where were all the huge creatures Cliffy B? I hardly felt like I killed anything all game.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.354010-Bleszinski-Gears-Became-a-Negative-Stereotype
I got pretty mad.
And I wrote this:
(Quick note: I haven't read any other Gears books or other items surrounding the series. This is purely based off just playing through the three games.)
A lot of negative things have been said about the Gears of Wars series, mostly complaining at it's macho aesthetic, over the top weapons and enemies, and general lack of real characters, plot or narrative. I expect you feel the same way about Gears, but let me take a moment to tell you a few things you probably missed.
In the Gears universe the planet of Sera is at war, and has been for a hundred years. First human on human in the Pendulum Wars, followed by the emergence of the locust from beneath the planets surface. The characters we see are perhaps the third generation born of a society caught in a bitter war. They have to be tough, they have to be strong physically to survive. All those who looked like an average Joe would likely have been killed in combat, lacking the physique to make it through. If we look at the Gears weapons and technology we can see that it is not complex or subtle, it is based on brute strength and as such takes brute strength to use. Another reason why scrawny Gears would not survive the battlefield. Remember, by following Fenix and his squad we only get to see the most battle hardened of soldiers, and see nothing of those who do not fight.
The famous lancer with it's chainsaw bayonet is a product of the war against the locust, these are numerous creatures often engaging at close range with many a tentacle- A chainsaw bayonet makes logical sense as it allows for close quarters combat as well as saving on ammunition, which is likely to be scarce on a world torn apart.
Everything the Gears are and do is influenced by this vast history of war, but they are not without emotion. As soldiers fighting a war to save the world it is only natural that they must keep their emotions in check, but they are shown to posess them in the way Dom talks about his wife, or Marcus about Anya. When Dom is reunited with the tortured and tormented Maria he slips into a dream and imagines her as she was, happy and smiling. Only to be confronted with the reality that she has been destroyed. Throughout the third game Dom is continually suffering emotional issues over the loss of his wife, but his anger is not targeted at the locust who captured her, but at himself for participating in the war against them.
In the third installment the Gears come across a small settlement of humans, living away from the cities. The inhabitants ask the Gears to leave, implying that they live peacefully alongside the locust and that it is not the locust, but rather the Gears whose undying agression has perpetuated the war and lead to the destruction of the planet, including the loss of Doms wife. As the game progresses the Gears become increasingly aware that it was they who sent the world into ruin. The game is scattered with hints that the locust are a peaceful race, betrayed by the COG and turned upon by a society so tuned for war that it is incapable of anything else. In the introduction to Gears 3 it is stated that in the COG burnt human cities and murdered civilians in it's original quest to kill the locust. As the game progresses Marcus becomes increasingly desperate to fix the damage that he and the Gears have caused, but he is so twisted by war that he cannot comprehend a peaceful solution.
Marcus sees a locust victory as the end of the planet, but the existence of the aforementioned human settlement proves that this is not the case. What Marcus is actually fighting to preserve is his soul, his belief that what he is doing is right and will save the world. The sad truth for him is that the world doesn't need saving. He and the Gears are fighting a battle that only exists between themselves and the locust. He is not saving the world or protecting humanity, that is a fiction that the Gears have invented to justify their own existence, because without an enemy, what use are soldiers? And if they're not soldiers, what can they be? The Gears don't know how to survive, they can't exist without war, they have been brainwashed by the COG all their lives to fight and fight and it has turned them into a dark spectre of humanity, shunned by all yet still believing themselves to be virtuous. Only when the COG is destroyed does the truth begin to emerge- that they are in fact part of a political movement dedicated to the genocide of a peaceful race. That they are the evil blight upon the world and the locust are the cure, a victory for the Gears is a victory for an evil, destructive regime.
I guess that's why Gears 3 wasn't all that much fun.
Plus where were all the huge creatures Cliffy B? I hardly felt like I killed anything all game.
