I'm Still Waiting For The Gears Story To Grow Up

13 years since it's debut, the Gears series continues to allude to fascinating topics without really addressing them--or challenging its characters.

[Mopedgames]

I don't think Microsoft trusts it's developers and fans enough to tackle any serious issues. Microsoft can replicate God of War as they did with much of Gears of War, but can't replicate the kind of deep narratives that God of War has.

[EmperorDalek]

Microsoft didn't write the story for Gears 5. It's not like Coalition came up with a super dark, brilliant story that MS refused because they think their fans are morons... That's ridiculous.

If we're going to go that route, Uncharted 4 ended up having a rather happy, fairy tale story. No consequences for any of the characters, and the only hero to die in four supposedly perilous adventures was Jeff the Camera Guy.
It was originally supposed to be darker, until the director changed. Shall we blame Sony for believing their fans needed a simple story, with a happy ending? No... That's insane.

Not trying to put UC4 down or anything, but Gears 5 has a good enough story, probably the best in the series.

[RizBiz]

My Microsoft I presume they mean Microsoft 1st-party developers.

[EmperorDalek]

@RizBiz - He said MS doesn't trust its developers to tackle serious issues, so he's implying it's Microsoft, not the developers.

@Sampsonon - I assume there's a pretty similar mix of intelligence levels among all console communities... so unless you have proof against that, I'm not sure what you're saying.

[rainslacker]

Having a character die doesn't make a story mature or grown up. Being grown up means that it addresses any issues it brings up in a human and realistic way. Having them talk about, or be in a world affected by some serious topic that we could relate to in some way, is not mature on it's own. But, if it affects them, and makes the watcher think about the topic, and handles the topic with respect or realism in a way that is meaningful, then it can be mature.

[DaDrunkenJester]

@rain

*SPOILERS*

So there is a big focus in Gears 5 that shows how facist the COG are or becoming. We find out that the reason JD, Del, and Kait deserted the COG was because of orders to shoot down large groups protesting the COG. Turns out JD actually made the order. This caused quite a rift in the group and why Del and Kait go off by themselves. There is plenty of dialogue and collectables and things around the city were it happened to memorialize what happened.

Del is Kaits best friend and is obviously with her this whole game to help her find her path so you do get to like Del as well even if I do wish they got into his story more.

So when the decision comes later to save Del or JD it's a much more important decision then just letting one die. And that topic above is even relevant in today's world so it plays well I thought.

[Tapani]

Games like Gears and Uncharted are difficult to have a good story for. You'd have to really start tackling all sorts of stuff if you go deep, and that is why I think Uncharted's story is absolute crap. A trigger happy psycho and co kills hundreds if not thousands of people and in the end lives off a balanced happy life on a paradise island as a united family. The way the story bounced between archaeological discovery (my favourite bits) and suddenly going back to killing killing and killing, you can't just take any of the relationship stuff seriously. Why would anyone have such a sensitive side to human relationships after killing a thousand people? Psychologically, it is simply unbelievable (=bad writing.)

Uncharted would have benefited much more from similar take to killing and surviving as TLOU, which is entirely on its own league in terms of story and character development. TLOU is phenomenal with its small nuances and touches, and the way people talk about what they do, makes it incredible. Uncharted isn't just believable. In fact, I think Gears is more believable.

[generic-user-name]

In what way was 4 supposed to be darker, who was originally going to be killed off by Hennig? Uncharted has always been a light hearted pulp action adventure series. Killing off main characters wouldn't have fit the series tone.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Gears doesnt need to replicate a deep narrative.

[gamer7804]

gears of war isn't trying to be god of war, its a fun coop shooter experience with a great vs modes. couldn't be more different games. Second, MS isn't driving the vision of the game, the Coalition is.

[Kumakai]

Except for almost every dev explains how ms gave them complete creative control....

[UhOh]

Yeah some on here say they don't have the talent and some say microsoft keep getting in their way and some say both and more. Every studio out here can mess up with enough ambition and time and limited budget even if a huge budget.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I think the series pretty blatantly explains why so many people in the Gears universe hate the COG. It’s obvious that the COG is the overarching villain of the franchise, if you pay attention to the story.

[fonger08]

Personally I thought the series took a huge leap in story telling (particularly in writing). I thought 4 was wry cliche with horrible action hero catch phrases. Though 5 has some of those moments too, it’s still far and away better at story telling and most importantly character building.

[DaDrunkenJester]

I disagree. The story is a good balance between tough and emotional. There are still some hard hitting points in Gears, always have been, but it doesnt dwell too long before getting back to the good stuff.

It dives deeper into locust origins and cog characters, we get more of how the outsiders view the cog as fascists, we got actual character development for some characters (wish they would have done a bit more), we got a lot more details on places we only ever heard of... I thought it did well, with still being fun and action packed and not hour long cutscenes.

[bluefox755]

I don't think anyone plays Gears expecting a deep and engaging story.

[TheColbertinator]

Exactly. Big monsters appear so you shoot them. Take cover and shoot. Take cover and shoot. You win and credits roll.

[DaDrunkenJester]

There is enough story moments for you to enjoy and get involved in some lore and characters, but the focus is action and I'm okay with that.

[LordJamar]

I think the game is just not for you do us a favor and stay away from the series

[mogwaii]

I liked the first 2 gears but I was much younger, I tried to play 4 and 5 and they just bored the liver out of me.

[Petebloodyonion]

I have yet to understand why Gears need to have a perfect cinematic story to have great score on Gamespot (it's the only flaws that the reviewer found in his review of the game) when a game like Zelda get 10 for barely having a story.

Now I don't recall the Gears franchise to be known for the storytelling of your main character and some intriguing plot with a surprise bad guy betrayal with a hidden agenda (like Hoffman doesn't turn on you in Gears 1 to 3) but about the cost of war on some small soldiers.
And the beauty, these aren't directly fed in your mouth via a cutscene or a main storytelling plot but you can feel the impact on our heroes. We never saw Marcus romancing Anya in old Gears but we can feel Marcus bitterness about losing her, How Dom feels about his wife, the impact of the pendulum war, How the COGs are viewed by stranders, JD's actions, etc. and none of them were directly shown to you. (except Dom' wife in a flash when she gets rescued )

A testament to the game is just how the game manages to make you care for DEL, putting some weight and consequences on some of the choices you're gonna make in the game.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Well, we gotta complain about something

[rainslacker]

i don't think any game needs to have a deep and strong story. The quality of the story is based on what they're trying to achieve with said story. If the dev makes the game, and presents the story as if it's a serious story meant to be taken seriously, then I would expect it to be good. If they make the game with more of a summer flick style presentation, then I'm more forgiving. I don't go to see movies like Transformers expecting to see Citizen Kane. games are the same way. I expect more from The Last of Us 2, than I do from Dead or Alive.

But, based on my expectations from the story, I can find both of them to have good stories, even though the scope of them is much different.

[MadLad]

Still waiting for most "opinion" pieces not to usually boil down to whiney contrarianism for clicks.

[SyntheticForm]

I'm waiting for 'journalists' to grow up.

Between expecting Gears of War to morph into something deeper than brutes killing aliens with Ric Flair woos and a little interhuman drama thrown in for measure, and silly people bemoaning "immoral" kill streaks in video games, I've pretty much had it.

Stop the stupid.

[EDKICK]

As someone who didn't play any of the Xbox 360 Gears games I always assumed the Gears games were just big dumb shooters with non-existent stories.

But I got into the series with Gears 4 and was pleasantly surprised at the story. It wasn't incredible, its not some award winning story but it was pretty good. And I enjoyed Gears 5 even a bit more, I thought there were a number of interesting and impactful moments. Again it's not gonna win narrative of the year or anything but I thought it was Gears.

The Gears of War, God of War comparison/forcing the strengths of one on another has never worked and will never work. It didn't work last gen when both trilogies had 90+ Metacritics and were on the same level. And it still doesn't work now that God of War is clearly the better game.

[Noskypeno]

I've heard lots of great reviews on shows like Game of Thrones and Shameless. Havent seen any of them. Do i want every show to replicate or even take inspiration from them !!! No, sometimes i just want a laid back campy tv show like 911 or some other generic show like Brooklyn 99 or superstore and Good Place. Not everything has to be super serious hardcore edginess 24/7.

[timotim]

Its Gears! It doesn't need a "grown up" story...whatever that means. Gears has never been about tackling political or social issues...that's the exact thing we fans of the series dont want. It needs to be Gears and Gears 5 pulled that off wonderfully. Stories like Last of Us 2 that look to tackle social issues and call itself "grown up", is not what Gears is about.

[Kumakai]

Give me a f***king break. In gears 6 Kait confronts her past, the betrayal of an abusive father and the repercussions of substance abuse, all while trying to win custody of her son while working a full time job in the city.

It’s a sci-fi action shooter. I think it’s about as deep as they get, and that’s exactly fine.

[Prubar]

Why are you still waiting? If it’s not your thing move on. I mean JRPGs aren’t my thing but I’m not going to make an article about why I’m not a fan.

[Ricegum]

Because people love to have their opinion heard nowadays as it somehow ties into their self worth. Very sad.

[capjacksparrow]

The first Gears was enough for me. Great graphics though. Top notch at the time. I’m sure this new one looks great too.

[Bigman4k]

Gears 5 was much better then gears of war 4

[Acecalibur]

Every game doesn't have to be Shakespearian political story. It's Gears. Shut up.

[AK91]

It won't