At one time, when the xbox 360 was still a relevant platform, I had my own console, which at that moment was also flashed, so I could easily buy discs for 40 rubles and record downloaded games on them. And one of my favorite game series was the console exclusive, namely the Gears of war series. I’ve played through the original trilogy and the spin-off Judgment multiple times, both solo and in co-op mode. True, then I had to sell the console. And then I switched to the Japanese side of game development and bought myself a Playstation. But recently, having acquired a certain amount of money and thinking about where I could spend it, I remembered that continuations of the series were released in the form of numbered parts 4 and 5, but I missed them. And then there was a desire to remember everything that happened before and see what was new there. So I bought myself an xbox one, a subscription and set off to conquer the planet Sera.
Part 1. The world before.
Planet Sera has always been an inhospitable place, and the people on it lived accordingly. From the very beginning of its existence, the planet was mired in numerous wars and strife that lasted for dozens of centuries, which is why this period was called the era of Armageddon.
But humanity realized that this was the path to complete destruction, and the people of Sera were ultimately able to reject the war and come to peace. Thus began the golden age on Sera. Industry and scientific discoveries have made great leaps, but happiness cannot last forever and there is a shortage of energy resources on the planet.
If humanity’s thoughts and energies were no longer wasted on war, we could end world poverty in one generation.
Bertrand Russell
A way out of this situation was found thanks to the discovery of Sulfur Emulsion in the depths. Humanity has learned to extract and process it, obtaining fuel from it. It was only after this that humanity split into two camps: the Coalition of United States (COG) and the Union of Independent Republics (USR), which began to wage war among themselves for the possession of the valuable emulsion. The war that followed was called the Pendulum War, which lasted 79 years.
Wars are fought for two reasons. One of them is power, the other is money.
Andrzej Sapkowski
One of the most important events was the “leveler” operation, which took place across the Asfo fields. COG forces learned of the development of a new weapon capable of turning the tide of the war – the Hammer of Dawn. An orbiting satellite that struck from space. As a result of the operation, the weapon drawings were stolen by COG soldiers, after which COG scientist Adam Phoenix created a working weapon based on the drawing data. The Pendulum War ended in victory for the COG after its use.
However, just 6 weeks after the end of the Pendulum Wars, the earth opened up and a new enemy, previously unseen, emerged from it, which was called locusts (aka locusts). This event became known as Breakthrough Day (E-day in the original). Within a few days of the attack, 25% of Sera’s population was destroyed. The locusts spared no one.
In the past, we fought for Emulsion. We fought for the country. We fought for freedom
Richard Prescott
A year after the locust invasion, the COG command decided to carry out a large-scale strike on the surface of the planet with the aim of completely destroying all life. There were a few places left that the locusts could not invade, one of these places was the Jacinto Plateau, which became one of the main strongholds of humanity. As a result of the hammer blows of dawn, most of the planet turned into scorched ruins. Those who did not manage to reach a safe place turned into ashes, and those few who survived rejected the COG government and became outcasts. However, the locusts that took refuge in the underground tunnels remained alive, and the fighting continued.
10 years after the day of the breakthrough, locusts attack the COG capital – the city of Ethera. During the defense of Ephyra, Marcus Fenix receives a distress call from his father, Adam Fenix. Leaving his combat post, Marcus rushes to his father, but does not have time to save him and sees Adam covered in debris. The battle for Efira was lost, Marcus lost his father, and for failure to comply with orders he was sent to court and sentenced to 40 years in prison in Jacinto.
Part 2. Light Mass Offensive.
14 years after his breakthrough and 4 years of his imprisonment, Marcus is in his cell when his best friend, Dominic Santiago, comes for him. Marcus has been pardoned and is sent back to the front lines. After shooting down the locusts in prison, Marcus boards a helicopter and flies to the COG base, where he is reinstated to army rank and given the task of finding the sound resonator and the alpha squad, which was supposed to deliver him to the tunnels.
Under the command of Sergeant Kim, Delta Force consisting of Marcus, Dominic and Anthony Carmine are sent to the rescue of Alpha Squad. True Anthony Carmine quickly gets shot by a Locust sniper and dies. The depleted Delta Squad moves towards Alpha and finds embroidered squad member August Cole, a former trash-ball star, and provides him with support. After which the squad helps the second surviving member of the alpha, Daymond Beard. But during the fighting, the fighters are ambushed, and the commander of the detachment, Kim, dies at the hands of a particularly large locust, who is known as General RAAM. Phoenix is entrusted with leadership of the squad. This is how the “Delta” detachment is formed, which will go with us the entire way of the war against locusts.
The squad has a goal – to deliver a sound resonator to the caves where the locusts live, install it, get a map of the tunnels, and then destroy them with a light-mass bomb. The path ahead is not close and the delta decides to take the help of local outcasts and take their armored car. Unfortunately, night falls on the planet and flying creatures called krills go hunting. The only thing that can save them is light. Making his way through the city, Delta reaches a gas station and receives an armored car equipped with a light cannon to repel Krill attacks.
Having reached the outcasts and assisted them in repelling the Locust attack, the delta squad in an armored car moves towards the emulsion plant. At this plant we will meet new enemies that look like creatures, except that they glow orange and explode upon death. However, their origin will become clear to us in subsequent parts of the series. Making their way through the plant, Delta descends into the mines and fends off furious attacks from locusts and larger creatures such as the Corpser (aka Corpser), they install a sound resonator. But the plan didn’t work and the map is not complete. But in the heat of battle, Beard managed to grab a geobot from the ground, on which he found a map of the locust tunnels. Even more surprising is the fact that Marcus’s father, Adam, is related to this card. Which means it’s time to return home.
Fighting off an ever-growing army of locusts, Delta fights their way into the Phoenix estate, where they find a basement laboratory and obtain a diagram of the locust tunnels. The job is done, the plans are in place, all that remains is to prepare the bomb. Fighting their way through the city and destroying hordes of locusts, huge brumak and other creatures, the squad arrives at the train station, after which Marcus and Dom jump onto the departing train to repel the last attack of the locusts.
Moving along the train platforms, Marcus and Dom, under the cover of Cole and Beard in a helicopter, make their way to the lead train, where they protect the light-mass bomb and engage in battle with General RAAM, whom they kill. After which, Marcus activates a bomb, which is dropped onto the emulsion lake by train. The ensuing explosion burns out the locust tunnels, destroying the creatures. It would seem that the enemy is defeated, but no.
Today you, Soldiers, successfully used a light-mass bomb. We destroyed the enemy fortress. This war cost us all dearly, it split our world. But I give you my word: we will rise again.
Colonel Hoffman
Part 3. Into the enemy’s lair. Operation Storm in the Hole.
The second part begins in the last stronghold of humanity – the city of Jacinto, when a new fighter – Ben Carmine – arrives in Marcus’s squad. There is no time to train a newcomer, since locusts are attacking the hospital and the delta squad must repel this attack. Teaming up with Tai Kaliso, the delta were able to protect the hospital, after which the COG forces prepared to go on the offensive and organized an operation to storm the Nexus, the main city of the locusts.
The drilling platform to which our heroes are moving is controlled by the former exile Dizzy, who agreed to join the army. Making their way through the locust forces, the squad reaches the entry point, but suddenly they are attacked by a previously unprecedented enemy, armed with a staff with two chainsaws, with which he literally cuts apart tanks. Tai jumps out of the drilling capsule to apprehend the creature, and the rest of the fighters follow into the underground tunnels.
Marcus, Dom and Ben explore the locust tunnels and find a giant rock worm – a riftworm, which the locusts use to collapse cities. Following longer through the tunnels, the squad is ambushed, but an old acquaintance, Cole, comes to the rescue, helps the delta and reports that the locusts have begun to steal people and take them to an unknown direction. Later, Delta finds steel coffins containing kidnapped people. The squad finds Beard in one of these coffins, after which they work together to make their way through the locust tunnels. Stealing a locust barge, the heroes find an exhausted and broken Tai, who, after being released from captivity, is unable to bear everything that happened to him and shoots himself in the head with a shotgun.
Having lost a friend, Delta Squad moves through locust tunnels and a destroyed city, calling in a helicopter for evacuation and holding off the enemy onslaught. And so, when it seemed like salvation was close, and the delta was evacuating by helicopter, a riftworm appeared from under the ground, which swallowed the helicopter with the delta team. While inside the worm, Marcus teams up with the rest of the team, but Ben Carmine is found too late and is killed by the creatures that live inside the worm. After this, the deltas find 3 hearts of the monster and cut the arteries, from which the latter dies, and the fighters escape to freedom.
Having avoided the fate of becoming the stone worm’s lunch, Delta receives a new task, to go to the secret facility "New Hope" to obtain information about the Nexus – the capital of the locust empire, and as support they receive a tank. Upon arrival at the facility, Marcus and Dominic set out to explore the heavily defended complex, making their way through security turrets and flamethrowers. And there was something to protect. In the depths of the complex, Marcus finds strange creatures that look like hybrids of locusts and humans. However, not everything goes according to plan and hybrids begin to wake up from sleep and attack the squad. Making their way to the exit, the squad stumbles upon locust fighters and unpleasant weather conditions, in the form of razor-sharp hail.
Having made their way through all the obstacles, the delta squad heads to Mount Kaddar, where they find a descent into the locust tunnels and a group of survivors. Dom asks about the fate of his wife and learns that locusts are kidnapping people into slavery. After this, Marcus and Dom make their way to the Nexus, while Cole and Beard help with the evacuation of survivors. Marcus and Dom fight their way down the river, repelling the attacks of locusts and a huge monster – Leviathan.
Finally reaching the labor camp, Dom and Marcus begin searching for Maria and find her in one of the metal coffins. At first Dom sees his beautiful Maria, but the reality turns out to be terrible. Maria now looks more like a walking corpse. Gray skin, gaunt appearance, numerous scars. Dominic finds only one way out of this situation and kills Maria.
After this, Marcus and Dom find the locust capital – the city of Nexus, where a signal is given for the start of the offensive of the COG army. Drilling elevators begin to make their way into the city, and then Cole and Beard come to the rescue. Delta is back in full force. But new discoveries never cease to amaze, because it turns out that the 3rd force is involved here. The locusts are waging a war on two fronts and repelling the attack of the “luminous” locusts – lambents. Lambents are locusts that began to mutate under the influence of the emulsion. In addition, the squad again comes across a mention of Marcus’s father, Adam Phoenix. He knew about the locusts and the threat of the lambents and proposed a plan to flood the city of Jacinto and the locust tunnels. Actually, Queen Mirra now wants to use this plan, distract people, and then flood Jacinto and the Lambent tunnels.
They don’t understand. They don’t know why we’re fighting this war. Why can’t we stop. We won’t stop. Why will we fight and fight and fight. Until we win. Or we won’t die. And we haven’t died yet.
Queen Myrrh
Moving through the palace, Delta reaches the throne room, where they meet the queen, who, however, looks more like people than locusts. She talks about the plan to flood Jacinto and get rid of the enemies, after which she leaves the hall, leaving her henchman – Scourge, the same one who sawed the tank. Having engaged Scourge and put him to flight, Delta realizes that they need to rush to Jacinto before he is destroyed. Then the Delta hijack two rivers and use them to get to the last city of humanity, finally dealing with Scourge along the way.
At this time, the city is already under a massive attack of locusts and Colonel Hoffman decides to flood the city himself in order to get rid of locusts and lambents. Marcus and Dominic make their way through a city that has begun to collapse, after which they capture an enemy Brumak, in which they break through to the site of the explosion. Once in the source of the emulsion, the Brumak begins to mutate, after which Marcus, using a blow from the hammer of dawn, explodes it and collapses the Jacinto Plateau, flooding both the city and the tunnels.
Part 4. Azura Island.
17 months have passed since the sinking of Jacinto. Marcus suffers from nightmares about how he failed to save his father. Dominic is still grieving for his wife. And the COG fighters, left without a place to live, began to be based on ships, where they try to lead a normal life, grow food.
One day, the chairman of the COG, Prescott, arrives on the aircraft carrier on which Marcus Phoenix is located, who reports sudden news – Marcus’s father is alive, and gives him a disk with a message. At the same time, the aircraft carrier was attacked by Lambents, who were able to survive after the sinking and mutated even more. Glowing shoots grow from under the water, from which mutated creatures crawl onto the ship, and a huge monster appears – leviathan. And while Marcus, Dominic, Anna Stroud (formerly a signalman, now a full-fledged soldier) and Jason hold the line, at this moment Cole, Beard, Clayton Carmine (brother of the dead Carmines) and Samantha Byrne go to the survivors’ camps, hoping to find supplies.
Cole’s squad finds survivors’ camps, receives supplies from them, helps them repel attacks by Lambents, after which they receive a message from Marcus and learn about the situation on the ship. We must somehow help out our comrades. Moving through the city, Cole’s squad comes to the bridge, where they find defensive structures. Suddenly it turns out that the remains of locusts have dug in here and survive on the surface after the tunnels are flooded. Having penetrated their defenses, Cole’s squad finds tickers, creatures that the locusts stuff with explosives, after which they drop them onto the leviathan.
Leviathan is killed, but the COG ship is badly damaged, and the fighters are thrown onto the nearby ground. Having united, the delta finds Prescott, but he is dying. He tells Marcus that he must find Azura. After examining the disk, Marcus learns that his father is on that very island – Azura, that his death was staged, that the emulsion is to blame for the locust invasion.
The party has to fight their way through the remnants of the locust forces, meeting Queen Myrrha again along the way. Finally, Delta Squad hijacks the flying barge and moves towards Colonel Hoffman, who is holding the Anvil Gate. Along the way, the squad helps an old friend of Dizzy, who finds himself surrounded by locusts and also attacked by Mirra. However, despite everything, the deltas reach the Anvil Gate.
However, their situation is difficult. The fortification is attacked first by locusts, and then by lambents. And only thanks to the fact that Beard was able to repair the hammer of dawn is it possible to hold back the onslaught of the attackers. After the battle, Delta decrypts the disk and learns the coordinates of Azura Island, and that it is hidden behind an artificial storm. The only way to get to the island is by submarine. After this, the delta is separated and Marcus, Dom, Anya, Sam, Jason and Dizzy (who was previously a sailor) go after the submarine, and Beard, Cole and Carmine go to Halvo Bay for reinforcements.
Before you go after the boat, you need to find fuel, and Dom suggests going to the town of Mercy – Mary’s hometown, where after the locust attack, Dom buried his parents and children. Arriving in the city, the detachment notices that the city is empty, there is no one on the streets, and the pipeline through which the emulsion flows is mined. Having stumbled upon local residents, the squad learns that most of the residents were exposed to the emulsion and began to mutate. Fighting off the luminous ones, the heroes move towards the pump and pump the emulsion for the submarine.
While returning to the truck, the squad is ambushed by Lambents and Locusts. The situation is heating up to the limit. Dom finds himself cut off from the squad, after which he makes a difficult decision. Dom gets into the truck, accelerates and crashes into the emulsion tanks, sacrificing himself to save the squad.
After this, the thinned Delta squad heads to the ruins of the city of Char, which are the remains of ashes, where the ashy silhouettes of the city’s inhabitants are forever frozen. Once upon a time, this city was subjected to a massive fire from the hammer of dawn, in the hope of destroying the locusts, as a result of which everything turned to ashes. Delta stumbles upon local outcasts led by Griffin, a former emulsion corporation executive and big shot. His men have captured Dizzy, but he will let him go if we return him the emulsion cargo that is stuck on one of the towers.
Delta moves through the ruined city, fighting off attacks from Lambents and ends up in an emulsion purification building, where they are attacked by mutated people. Having reached the cable car with fuel, Delta goes back to Griffin’s tower and sees that the latter has been attacked by locusts led by the queen. Having repelled the locust attack and taken Dizzy, Delta leaves the once destroyed city and moves to the port.
In the port, the squad finds a submarine, repairs it and sets off according to the coordinates to Azura Island. However, both aggressive local fauna and defensive structures in the form of minefields and turrets stand in their way. However, the delta safely reaches Azura, where they fight with the locusts that have captured the island. During one of the breaks, Adam Phoenix gets in touch and helps the delta on the way to the storm generator, which the fighters turn off and provide reinforcements for the coalition forces.
The squad is joined by Cole and Beard, who have brought a fleet with them, after which a full-scale attack on the island begins. Delta, consisting of Marcus, Anya, Beard and Cole, goes to the main tower of the complex to help Adam. And from the air they are covered by Clayton Carmine in a helicopter.
Fighting with locusts and lambents, the delta squad gets to Adam Phoenix. He says that the emulsion is not just a substance, it is an intelligent creature, a parasite that takes over organisms. But Adam has developed a weapon that can kill both the parasitic emulsion and the locusts. But the most important thing is that Adam knew Mirra, he knew about the existence of locusts even before the invasion. Moreover, he tried to prevent it.
Having reached the top of the https://misterxcasino.uk/withdrawal/ tower, Adam activates the counter-emulsion weapon, but Queen Mirra tries to stop him. Delta confronts Mirra and with the help of the Hammer of Dawn they manage to defeat her and turn on the weapon. As a result, the horde of locusts and lambents die. But Adam, who injected himself with the emulsion to study it, also begins to die from the effects of the weapon. Adam falls apart, and all that remains in Marcus’s hands is his army badge. After this, Marcus goes ashore, takes off his bandana and looks at the dawn of a new, peaceful sky.
Don’t worry. Once this war is over we can go back to trying to kill each other. Like normal people.
Paduc
Part 5. Phoenix Jr. and the return of the enemy.
25 years have passed since the destruction of locusts. Humanity is quietly recovering, under the leadership of First Minister Jinn. But victory over a common enemy did not unite humanity and rogue groups continue to reject the COG government and live their own lives. We meet one of these groups, namely James Dominic “JD” Phoenix (son of Marcus Phoenix and Anna Stroud), Del Walker, Kate Diaz and her uncle Oscar. A small detachment of them sneaks into a COG settlement under construction in order to steal the fabricator and power their settlement with it.
Making their way through a settlement under construction, the outcasts come across robots of the DB model, which perform security functions. Having killed the robots on their way, JD and his comrades get to the city center, where they steal the fabricator, but at the exit they are already waiting. Minister Jin projects her face onto one of the robots and accuses the rogues of kidnapping her people. True, her speech is interrupted by a trolley, which suddenly knocks down the robots and orders them to get into it.
The squad makes their way through the settlement under construction and with the fabricator, after which they leave for the outcast settlement, which is run by Kate’s mother, Reina. Jin again sends robots to negotiate, although Reyna destroys him, then the first minister sends robots to capture the settlement, but with the help of the acquired fabricator, the settlers manage to defend their land. Only at night a new enemy comes. Unknown creatures attack and kidnap people, and a particularly large monster covered in crystals kidnaps Reina. Only JD, Kate and Del were able to survive. They understand that there is no way out and go to the only person who can help them.
Guys, it looks like there were dozens of them. Hundreds. How. like a swarm.
Del
JD finds the father who was waiting for him and who is angry at his son for joining the COG army, that he deserted and went to the outcasts. First Minister Jean sends a robot to Marcus and offers to hand over his son and his friends. But of course an old warrior can’t do that. They make their way to the cache, where the armor and weapons are located, after which, shooting at the DB robot, the squad leaves the Phoenix estate on motorcycles.
Having reached the town, Marcus says that after the war and his father’s weapons, the locusts did not decompose, but began to crystallize, and since there was no way to destroy them, the remains of the locusts were thrown into common graves underground. And if the locusts have returned, then we need to check it. Making their way through the city, the squad finds cocoons, from which emerge creatures that resemble a cross between a human and a locust. The squad understands where people disappeared. And then the squad is attacked by a kidnapper who wounds Marcus and takes him to an unknown direction.
Following the kidnapper, Phoenix Jr. encounters a new locust called a swarm. Making his way deeper underground, JD finds a fresh cocoon, from which he takes his father out. Marcus is no longer breathing, but he can be saved. Having come to his senses, Marcus says that these cocoons are a single network that connects all the locusts, enclosing people in cocoons from which they get locusts, and also that all the inhabitants of the settlement are dead, except for Reina.
Having escaped from the swarm’s shelter, having destroyed a large number of locusts, a crystallized brumak and the very locust that kidnapped Reyna, the squad realizes that they cannot cope without reinforcements. Their path lies to the radio station from which the squad sends a signal to old friends. Withstanding the attack of the swarm, Marcus sees that his “old guard” August Cole and Damon Beard have come to the rescue, who arrived on giant robots (Beard is now a scientist, it was he who developed the DB model robots, and they bear his name), as well as Samantha Byrne, who controls the helicopter.
JD and Kate mount the robots while the others provide them with air support and make their way into the swarm’s hideout, destroying the giant mutant in the process. After this, the squad is led to a shelter, where they find Reyna, who is “connected” to the swarm and is part of it. To end her mother’s suffering, Kate kills her. After this, she comes out into the air and shows the squad her mother’s pendant, which belonged to her grandmother, and which depicts the Locust symbol.
Part 6. Kate and the Locust Revelations.
After the events, Marcus, JD, Del and Kate join the COG. A squad consisting of Marcus, J.D., Kate, Del and the robot Dave, under the leadership of Beard, in secret from Jean, goes to the island of Azura, the very place where the war ended 25 years ago. They do this for one purpose – to find the satellite of the hammer of dawn. The island is already occupied by a swarm and the squad enters into battle with them. Finally, they discover a working satellite, launch it, but the flap of the rocket silo does not open and J.D., risking his life, gets into the silo, opens the flaps manually and at the last moment manages to hide in a safe zone. The satellite successfully enters orbit, and the squad returns to the capital.
While in the capital, Jean receives information that one of the COG settlements has been attacked, JD, Marcus, Kate, Del, Cole, Phase (JD’s old comrade), Clayton Carmine and his niece Lizzie are sent to help with the evacuation. When evacuating the population, the squad encounters new creatures – flying leeches, a swarm of which tears a person to pieces, and which can intercept control of the COG robots.
In the heat of battle, another secret is revealed, namely the shooting of civilians in settlement 2, after which JD and Del left the COG. Faz reveals that it was JD who gave the order to shoot the protesters. He tries to make excuses, but everything is in vain, trust in him is undermined. Finding himself in a difficult situation, JD asks to activate the hammer of dawn and calls fire on himself. Using the hammer, it is possible to destroy a large detachment of the swarm with Brumaks, but the weapon malfunctions and begins to fire indiscriminately. In an attempt to save civilians and Lizzie Carmine, J.D. is hit by a hammer, resulting in Lizzie’s death and J.D.’s coma.
After 4 months, Kate and Del arrive at an outcast settlement, which is located in the mountains in the skeleton of a riftwork. This settlement is run by Kate’s uncle Oscar. He refuses to join the COG, after which the settlement is attacked by a swarm. One of the kidnappers grabs Kate. While in the abductor, Kate begins to see the world through the eyes of the swarm and control them. However, she fails, and her uncle dies, and they manage to pull her out of the kidnapper.
After this, reinforcements arrive, including J.D., who has changed after everything that happened. Kate talks about what happened to her and Marcus advises her to go to the New Hope complex. Kate and Del go to the complex, where they learn about experiments on people, as well as about another secret laboratory in the depths of Mount Caddar. In this laboratory it becomes clear where the locusts came from.
Even during the pendulum wars, when extracting emulsion, people began to get sick with a disease called “rusty lung.”. It was mainly miners and their families who suffered from it, which is why children began to be taken to laboratories for experiments. At the New Hope complex, scientist Niles Samson conducted experiments on crossing the DNA of humans and the underground inhabitants of Sulfur (who should be immune to the emulsion). As a result of these experiments, the hybrids that Marcus discovered in the second part appeared. But after the government learned about the experiments, the project was canceled. But the secret government of the COG was interested in the scientist’s work, because it could become an invincible army and the experiments continued on Mount Kaddar.
One of the test subjects was a girl named Mirra, who was immune to the emulsion. As a result of working with Mirra’s DNA, a female locust was bred, which became the matriarch, and which gave birth to the first generation of locusts. But in the laboratory, Mirra fell in love with an employee named Torres and they had a daughter, Reyna, Kate’s mother. Torres escaped from the laboratory with Reyna, and Samson told Mirra that they died during the escape. Because of this, Mirra flew into a rage and started a riot in the complex. Samson turned on the freezing system and transferred his consciousness into the robot. But Mirra, along with a squad of locusts, was able to get out of the complex and settled in the mountains, where the Locusts built the city of Nexus.
Later, upon contact with the emulsion, the locusts underwent mutation, which is why lambents appeared. A civil war broke out between the locusts and the lambents. Around the same time, Adam Phoenix finds the locusts and Mirra gives him a choice: a large-scale invasion of locusts on the earth to gain new territories, or Adam creates a cure for the emulsion epidemic. Adam agrees, but due to work on the hammer of dawn for the pendulum wars, he does not have time to create a vaccine, and Mirra invaded the surface of Sera.
So Kate learns the past of her family, that Reyna was kidnapped because she is the queen of the swarm, but since Reyna is dead, she is now the queen of the swarm, and is connected with them by a common mind. Niles shows the matriarch, after which he connects Kate to a machine that immerses her in the mind of the swarm. The Matriarch rips out her mind, but Reyna’s mind is preserved in the swarm, and she becomes queen again. After this, Kate and Del escape from the collapsing laboratory, simultaneously killing the matriarch.
Kate and Del travel to Vasgar, a desert area where an SNR missile launch site is located. According to information received from Paduk, a rocket remained here, on which there are satellites of the dawn plane. Our task is to find them and put them into orbit. Kate, Del, and JD and Faz, who join them, head out into the desert to get the rocket ready. During the operation, they learn that the swarm has become more organized, using new weapons and armor.
Having successfully assembled the rocket and satellites, and also discovered the guidance beacons for the hammer of dawn, the team prepares everything for launch, after which they are attacked by a huge creature of the swarm – the kraken. Risking their lives, the squad lures the creature under the rocket nozzles, and is evacuated by helicopter, under the control of Paduk. After this, the detachment returns to the capital – New Ephyra.
The capital is under massive attack by a swarm and the soldiers need to install beacons for the hammer of dawn. Fighting their way through hordes of locusts, the squad sets up beacons, after which Kate, JD and Del are attacked by Queen Reyna, who looks more like an interweaving of tentacles and forces Kate to choose which of the squad to kill. Together with her surviving comrade, Kate has to make her way through a collapsing and besieged city. During the battle on one of the walls, the party is attacked by a kraken and the robot Jack uses himself as a beacon to call the hammer of dawn to strike and destroy the creature.
After this the city is in ruins. Maybe they were able to withstand this attack, but the war is not over yet.
And that’s where the story ends. The sixth part has not yet been announced and the story has not yet been completed.
Part 7. Outside the room.
In addition to the 5 main parts, the series also received several spin-offs. And perhaps most worthy of mention is Judgment, dedicated to the first years of the war. The plot tells how old friends Beard and Cole, as well as Garron Paduk and Sophia Hendricks, shown for the first time, used an experimental COG missile during the Battle of Halvo Bay. For this they were put on trial, where Colonel Loomis listened to their testimony.
The four say that during the defense of Halvo Bay they met resistance from the locust army general Karn, as a result of which Kilo’s squad decides to obtain the access codes and launch a missile at Karn. After the launch, Kilo’s squad is taken into custody, but the courtroom is attacked and the squad has to repel locust attacks, make their way to the evacuation site, and then finally kill Karn. This is enough for the plot.
The basic mechanics of the game have remained virtually unchanged, but the gameplay now consists of short missions, which boil down to the fact that we either have to fight our way somewhere, or hold a certain point by placing automatic turrets. (Then this will move to part 4). We will complete all missions by counting, receiving stars at the end of each. For 40 stars we will open another storyline. Also, additional difficulty modifiers are available on missions, which speed up the accumulation of points. Often it all comes down to the fact that we must complete a mission with a certain weapon, complete it for a while, or with poor visibility, and sometimes the opponents simply become stronger.
But the second campaign, called “Consequences” (the same one for 40 stars), shows us the events that took place in parallel with Part 3, when Beard, Cole and Carmine went to Halvo Bay, where they meet Paduk. Well, in general, nothing remarkable happens in the plot, we find out everything is about the same Lambent people, and in the end we find a boat and go to Marcus on Azura.
Here I also wanted to include the plot of “Hive Busters”, which tells about a trio of assorted heroes who, under the command of Colonel Hoffman and with the support of Cole’s daughter (yes, we learn that he has a daughter here) are looking for a gas formula to destroy locust hives. The campaign is short and serves as a lead-up to the multiplayer mode, where the trio will infiltrate locust hives, detonate gas grenades in them, and escape. You can complete the story for the beautiful scenery of the island where the expansion takes place. The rest is passable.
Gears tactics was also released, the events of which take place 2 years after the breakthrough. The game is a turn-based strategy in which we, controlling Gabe Diaz (Kate’s Father from gears 4 and 5), must stop the locust scientist Ukkon. Tried it but didn’t succeed. Not a fan of this genre.
Well, then to talk about everything, it’s worth mentioning Gears Pop. A mobile game made in the style of Funko pop toys, where we have to participate in battles with other players, sending units at him in order to recapture his fortification. She was there, she came out and to hell with her.
Part 8. Gameplay and mechanics.
Gears of war is a third-person shooter that focuses on the cover system. Markus takes cover to hide from enemy fire, can jump from one cover to another, go around corners, jump over obstacles, and in order to quickly get into cover there is a sprint, in which Markus bends his body to the ground. The camera takes a cinematic angle and shakes, adding effects to all this action. While in cover, Marcus can either conduct aimed fire or fire blindly. Grenades can also be thrown aiming or from behind cover for good luck.
Parts 4 and 5 went further in terms of mechanics, adding new elements. So, Phoenix Jr. can grab opponents through cover and instantly kill them with a knife. Or, jumping over cover, fly into the enemy’s carcass with both legs, and then also finish him off. But the enemy can also grab JD in the same way or stun him by jumping over cover, after which, if he does not counterattack, he will instantly kill him.
If our hero is caught by an enemy bullet, the hero does not die immediately, but falls to his knees and begins to call for help. At the same time, we can crawl to get to our allies for resuscitation. But there are also shells that kill instantly, for example, explosive bolts in the first part are guaranteed to send you to the last save point.
But the enemy you shot and who is crawling on his knees, you can either grab him and use him as a human shield, or epically execute him, and each weapon has its own finishing animation. Well, I’d like to say something about the Lancer, how nice it is to saw through opponents in close combat, and sometimes even duel with them on saws.
Speaking of weapons, we have 4 slots available, of which 2 are allocated for the main one, 1 additional and 1 for grenades, which allows you to choose those barrels that suit a given situation or your playing style. If we talk about the first part, the weapons were not particularly diverse. There were 2 machine guns available: a Lancer (the choice of a real man, true COG soldiers even shave with an underbarrel chainsaw) and a Hamersburst, a shotgun – a gnasher, a sniper rifle – a longshot, a grenade launcher – a boomshot, a pistol – a snub, a revolver – a bolt, a crossbow with explosive bolts and the most destructive weapon – the hammer of dawn. But in subsequent parts new types of weapons were added: an old Lancer model with an under-barrel bayonet, a repeating rifle, a semi-automatic pistol, a double-barreled shotgun, as well as more exotic things, for example, shields and flamethrowers. In addition, stationary weapons were available, such as machine guns and even siege monsters that resemble a catapult, as well as heavy weapons that we could move around with, such as machine guns or a circular saw.
If we talk about parts 4 and 5, then in addition to the old weapons, they also offer new ones. A shotgun that fires when the trigger is pulled and released, a submachine gun, an energy rifle, a rocket launcher, a model 3 Lancer that has an under-barrel grenade launcher. Games really show the progress that has happened over 25 years. The weapon is specifically different from the previously presented models.
And we will shoot both small creatures and soldiers of the locust army, which, however, also has its own characteristics; they use various weapons and armor, as well as larger and more dangerous creatures, for example, boomers armed with a grenade launcher, flying rivers, and a huge brumak, similar to a prehistoric tyrannosaurus, which is equipped with two machine guns and a rocket launcher. Separately, I would like to highlight as an enemy the berserker, who appears only in the first part and is a huge blind creature that hunts by sound, as well as sowers, large creatures that crawl out of the ground, jam communications and shoot living bombs – nemacists. The Berserker and the Sower can only be killed by a blow from the Hammer of Dawn.
But in terms of opponents, I would like to criticize parts 4 and 5. Firstly, robots became the very first enemies, and instead of the usual splashes of blood on the screen, everything is now filled with machine oil. And there are not many robots, ordinary ones, large ones with heavy weapons and flying ones with a protective screen. Secondly, the main backbone of the enemies consists of swarm soldiers, who are the same locusts, although thicker-skinned, which requires them to fire much more ammunition at them. But the worst thing is with large opponents, who are much more difficult to kill. Killing kidnappers and jumpers is exhausting and boring. And the amount of health of locust carriers simply causes righteous anger. To cause more harm to them, you need to shoot in certain places, for example, the belly, which kidnappers and jumpers usually hide below, and carriers generally cover them with plates and open only at the time of their attack.
But in part 5, at least a health bar was added to such enemies, and you can see that your actions cause at least some harm. True, they also added new enemies, among which the caretaker, whose skin is covered with impenetrable crystals and has a metal helmet on his head, is especially distinguished. And you first have to knock off the helmet with headshots, and then destroy his ton of health with headshots. But at least part 5 has a good way to counter all this.
Part 9. Variety of situations.
Although often the entire gameplay comes down to positional skirmishes, which can lead to an assault, the game has a variety of situations, which has a positive effect on the dynamics. If we talk about the first part, then starting from a shootout in the city, the delta squad fights until the night, when krills fly out of their holes. They kill Marcus in a matter of seconds if he is not in the light, and now we have to fight our way through the locusts, simultaneously looking for light sources, or creating them ourselves. After this, we acquire an armored personnel carrier and move along the destroyed roads of the city, simultaneously repelling Krill attacks with a light gun. After this, we explore the factory filled with exploding creatures, then we go underground, explore the Phoenix estate, shoot enemies on a moving train. The game offers the maximum variety of locations and situations along the way.
The second part offered the same gameplay formula, the same characters, but took it all an order of magnitude higher. The game tries to present new, unusual situations, ranging from the defense of drilling rigs, to driving vehicles (tank) and locust creatures (river and brumak). Forces you to shoot back from locusts, while at the same time hiding from murderous hail. But the most epic moment is the murder of the riftwork. As Delta Squad advances on the giant beast and saws through its hearts, flooding everything with rivers of blood. But with all this, the plot does not forget about the tragedy, because first of all, war is death and destruction. Here we had time to get used to Carmine, and we perceive his loss in a completely different way. And Dom’s personal tragedy makes me cry even now, after so many years.
In my subjective opinion, the second part is one of the best game sequels and the most powerful part of gears of war.
The third part left almost everything unchanged, the locations try to be varied, the city destroyed by the hammer of dawn is especially impressive. Then we also dive under water and defend the submarine. Yes, somewhere the game, in my opinion, lost its epicness, but in tragedy it was able to outshine all parts. The moment when Dominic sacrifices himself to “Mad World” brings only tears. This is Marcus’s best friend. A man who has experienced so many losses, and who was ready to sacrifice everything, and his loss is felt by every character, some are angry, some are sad, but everyone is ready to go to the end so that Dom’s death is not in vain.
The fourth part began a new story, with new heroes who, in my personal opinion, were weaker than in the original trilogy, but with whom you begin to empathize. But what a feeling of nostalgia that awakens when you see old Marcus (but not useless). And how much I worried about him when he almost died. And when the old gang appeared in the person of Cole and Beard. And you find out that Beard was looking out for JD, and he calls Beard uncle. Damn it, I just melted here. And after this comes an episode with a huge robot, where you shoot a horde in a relaxed state, after which you saw a mutant with helicopter blades.
But what I didn’t like were the defense segments. Several times during the game (now I can at least remember 3), we are given a fabricator, on which we create fortifications and turrets for certain points and prepare for a protracted attack, which usually takes place in 3 waves, and which is taken from the spin-off about Beard.
But the fifth part brings much more changes to the usual gameplay. Firstly, the game introduces control of a drone that constantly flies with you. And if earlier he could only open doors during plot moments, now he brings weapons, shocks opponents with electricity, and also uses abilities on command. There are two groups of abilities to choose from that can be upgraded, and for which a special boost is available, obtained during the completion of side quests. And thanks to Jack’s abilities, it becomes much easier to kill heavy opponents. Especially after you upgrade the flash to freezing. Ordinary opponents will immediately crumble, while thick-skinned ones can have almost their entire health bar destroyed.
The arsenal of techniques consists of: a locator, which highlights enemies and then increases the damage incoming to them; the previously described flash, which then begins to freeze opponents; stim, which temporarily grants invulnerability, allows you to raise wounded comrades and enhances melee attacks; an electric trap that damages enemies; invisibility, which after leveling up does not disappear during actions; interception of enemy equipment; impenetrable barrier. And thus, when leveling up Jack, the difficulty decreases.
The second feature is the addition of semi-open locations. As if there are only 2 such locations per game, and their sizes are not very large, and you can move around them quickly on a skiff (a sort of sleigh with a sail), but still they unnecessarily delay the game. They only make sense to complete side quests, for which we get special upgrades for Jack. But these tasks boil down to the fact that we will arrive, shoot at opponents, receive part of the improvement and go to the next point. And so 3 times to get one improvement. And it would be fine if these points were marked on the map, but no. You need to go around the map specifically, focusing on the flags. And yes, you don’t have to do them, and then you won’t make the game easier for yourself. In my opinion, this is a rather controversial decision.
Part 10. Not just games.
If we talk about the Gears of war series as a whole, then I cannot get by with games alone, since books are important parts of the universe, some were even officially published in Russian through the efforts of ABC.
“Aspho Fields” (“Aspho Fields” in the original) in Russian localization “Combat Brotherhood”. The plot of the book tells about the events that took place between the first and second parts of the game, immediately after the explosion of a light-mass bomb. It also talks about the battle on the fields of Asfo, in which Marcus Fenix took part, as well as Dominic and Carlos Santiago. (Yes, Dom had an older brother).
“The Remains of Jacinto” (“Jacintos remnant” in the original) in the Russian localization “Island of Survivors”, talks about the events that occurred after the sinking of Jacinto, and also talks about the events that preceded the hammer of dawn hitting the planet in the first years of the war with the locusts.
“Anvil Gate” (“Anvil Gate” in the original) in the Russian localization “Horror of the Deep” continues the storyline begun in the previous book and talks about the war with the Lambents, as well as the siege of the Anvil Gate, which took place during the Pendulum Wars.
The fourth book “Coalitions End” (can be translated as “The End of the Coalition”) was not officially published in Russian and tells about the events between the previous book and the third part of the game, at the same time it tells about the events that occurred from the moment of the breakthrough until the hammer of dawn hit.
The fifth book, “The slab” (can be translated as “Stove”) was also not published in Russian and tells about the imprisonment of Marcus Fenix in Jacinto prison (nicknamed Slab), as well as about Adam Fenix, who at this moment is on the island of Azura.
The next book, Gears of war: Ascendance, closes the gap between parts 4 and 5 of the game. The book was officially published in Russian.
After this, the book "Bloodlines" was released, which tells about the events that occurred from the moment of the attack by the hammer of dawn, when J.D. was injured, and until the arrival of the outcast settlement in the mountains in Kate. Not published in Russian.
And the final book “Ephyra Rising” tells about the events that happened after part 3 of the game.
In addition to books, the Gears of war universe expanded with comics that told about the adventures of the delta squad between the events of the original games. 24 issues, which are combined into 3 stories: "Cavity", "Wasteland" and "Dirty Little Secrets".
In addition, a separate mini-series was published about the formation of General RAAM. The collection, entitled “The Rise of RAAM” in the original, tells how RAAM rose through the ranks and led an army of locusts. The comic was officially published in Russian.
They also released a separate mini-series dedicated to the “Hive Fighters”. The comic tells about one of the tasks to destroy the swarm hive. The comic was not published in Russian.
Okay, I should also mention the board game, Gears of War, in which a squad of 1-4 people, playing as a coalition soldier, must fight their way through a squad of locusts.
Part 11. What’s next?
The Gears universe doesn’t even think about retiring, that’s what’s most important. Gears 5 left behind more questions than answers, and the story arc of the confrontation with the swarm did not reach its logical conclusion.
And so far we have no news about Gears 6, but in the summer of 2024 a new part of Gears of war was announced with the subtitle E-Day. A prequel to all the games should show the day of the breakthrough and the first days of humanity’s war against the locusts, thus closing some of the gaps in the chronology. And the main characters should be young Marcus and Dominic. And personally, I would like to see part of the company dedicated to the pendulum wars, since this is also an important event for the universe, and Marcus and Dom took an active part in it. Unfortunately, there is not even an approximate release date yet, but perhaps it is because of this game that I will buy myself a new xbox.
You can also remember that they wanted to release a film based on the universe. Rumors about a film adaptation appeared back in 2007, when the first part of the game was released, New Line Cinema was supposed to be responsible for the film, but gradually news about the project began to disappear and the information was very different. The last mention of a film adaptation dates back to 2022, when it was announced that Netflix and the Coalition would be developing a film based on the universe. And also that after the film they are planning to release an animated series based on the universe. But unfortunately, there are no specifics on this issue yet.
At the request from the comments, I am writing an approximate chronology of the universe:
Combat Brotherhood (book. Events about the battle on the fields of Aspho).
Terror of the Deep (book). Events about the capture of the Anvil Gate).
The Making of RAAM (comic).
Gears of war E-Day (game. Not published yet, but must talk about the day of the locust invasion).
Gears of war: judgment (game. Main Campaign).
Gears tactics (game).
Island of Survivors (book). Events about preparation for the strike with the hammer of dawn).
Gears of war (game).
Combat Brotherhood (book. Events after the light-mass offensive).
Gears of war 2 (game).
Island of Survivors (book). After the sinking of Jacinto).
Terror of the Deep (book). Events of the Lambent Invasion).
The End of the Coalition (book. Continuation of the previous one).
Dirty Little Secrets (comic). Events parallel to the books).
Gears of war 3 (game).
Gears of war: Judgment (game. Chapter Consequences, occurs in parallel to Part 3).