Gears of War: Difference between revisions

* [[Adrenaline Makeover]]: Anya

* [[After the End]]: The visual design is built like this, the story is about what has to happen for something ''to be'' [[After the End]]. Before Emergence Day, human civilization endured the Pendulum wars. After about 85 years of destructive, sometimes nuclear war, Sera could be described as post-apocalyptic; the people left are just fighting for the ashes. ''Gears of War 3'' embraces it in full, and it's likely to the point that even if the fighting stopped today there wouldn't be an infrastructure left to rebuild the civilization they once had.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The first game throws you right into the conflict with little elaboration, in fact the opening cinematic doesn't play when you press start; it kicks in if you idle on the title menu for a while making a lot of people eager to play the game missing it altogether. The most comprehensive backstory detailing is ''in the concept art book that comes with the collector's edition''. The key events that are not explained within the game involve: this is not Earth but a planet called Sera, the Pendulum Wars was a world-wide conflict over control over a super-fuel called Imulsion (started before the characters were born), Emergence Day was so devastating that the COG turned the Hammer of Dawn on their own cities just to fry the Locust and keep them at bay and leaving pockets of survivors called the Stranded. Fortunately, the current comics and novels are doing this job for everything, although for those who haven't read those, Epic was nice enough to put a "Previously on Gears..." video in ''Gears of War 3'', which describes the relevant events over all the games, books, and comics, though in the end, Epic resorted to posting explanations for some of the unanswered questions from ''Gears of War 3' on their official forums.

* [[Alphabetical Theme Naming]]: '''A'''nthony Carmine, '''B'''enjamin Carmine, and '''C'''layton Carmine. Since there are four Carmine brothers in total, the last one will most likely be D. Carmine.

* [[Artificial Stupidity]]

** In the first game, combined with [[Suicidal Overconfidence]]: your A.I. teammates will often vault over a perfectly good piece of cover to charge straight into enemy fire, resulting in them being shot full of holes. Locust Drones also do this sometimes, but they can pull it off since they're [[Made of Iron]], whereas your teammates are not.

** In the third game, {{spoiler|during the fight with the Lambent Beserker}} at the point where it starts leaking Imulsion, the first thing Marcus says is to avoid said Imulsion. Your AI teammates will ignore this piece of advice and spend the rest of the fight walking into the Imulsion and screaming for help. Especially frustrating on Insane difficulty.

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Of a sort, while not technically the same character the Carmine brothers through the three games have identical personalities and much more screentime in each installment.

** The expediency of a helmetless Corpser takes a sudden drop [[Go for the Eye|when they can't see]].

** The bigger Lambent foes broadcast their soft and soon-to-be bullet-ridden weak spots with glowing tumors, and in the case of the more mutated Drudges, shoot the tentacles.

** Marcus...sort of. He's more concerned with proving himself a reliable soldier once more than trying to apologize. Chairman Prescott in ''Gears of War 3'' comes back after being AWOL for almost 2 years, and delivers the [[MacGuffin]] that gets the game going.

** Adam Fenix is revealed to be like this, since he was the driving force of the Hammer of Dawn, which is what the COG used to scorch their own cities. {{spoiler|Of course, he still ends up committing genocide in his attempts to atone, but he makes it very clear there was just wasn't enough time...}}

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]

** General RAAM personifies this trope. Skorge, a bit less so, but cutting a tank in half is still pretty badass.

** Marcus plays with this: prior to the games, he was a decorated soldier and war hero, but after abandoning his post to try and rescue his father, he gets sent to prison. At the start of the trilogy, he's technically only a private, though within an hour, he gets back up to sergeant.

* [[Ax Crazy]]: Anthony's very popular character for multi-player, likely because of his ''very'' enthusiastic quotes while fighting, practically to the point of this trope. The tendency of many players to use the chainsaw bayonet at every possible opportunity also counts.

* [[Bad Boss]]: In ''Gears of War 3'', Aaron Griffin is the former CEO of an Imulsion energy corporation, now the leader of a Stranded group taken up residence in the high rise Griffin tower. Within the campaign he talks a lot about keeping his "employees" safe and doesn't like the COG because they tend to bring the Locust war with them. But an in-game collectible carries a note from one of his Stranded members who comments that Griffin ''always'' refers to them as Employees, which many resent because they were obviously not getting health insurance anymore. Plus he largely kept the best stuff for himself (gold plated weapons can be seen in his office) and everyone was afraid of being chosen for the next near-suicidal Imulsion run.

* [[Bald Black Leader Guy]]: Griffin in the third game. Former energy magnate, current ruler of a post-apocalyptic city, always ruthless.

** All of Delta Squad, but especially since cooperative play allows you to be Marcus and your friend be Dom.

** In-universe, Baird and Cole were really tight before they ever met Marcus or Dom, and still are as far as can be seen.

* [[Big Bad]]: Myrrah. Note that Epic Games use the term "[[Big Bad]]" to refer to the final bosses of each game (General RAAM in the first, and Skorge in the second), but they are more like [[The Dragon|Dragons]] in trope-speak.

* [[Bigger Bad]]: {{spoiler|Imulsion itself, which is really a single, planet-wide parasitic organism}}.

** Cole has a ''one man'' [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment in ''Gears of War 2''. Dom has one in ''Gears of War 3'', {{spoiler|albeit one that doubles as a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}.

** {{spoiler|Clayton shows up during the final battle of ''Gears of War 3'' in a King Raven and starts tearing into the Lambent and Therons with a gatling gun. He gets shot down by Myrrah's Tempest [[Screw Destiny|but survives]]}}.

** The Command Center fortification for Horde 2.0 gives you the opportunity to call in support, starting with a quick sniper support and being able to upgrade through mortars and the [[Kill Sat|Hammer of Dawn]]. Unsurprisingly it is quite satisfying to call in for help and see the screen light up with kills.

* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: The more the [[Expanded Universe]] sheds light on the COG, the less light you want shed on them.

* [[Black Dude Dies First]]: Although subverted and never stated outright, Marcus is seemingly paranoid of this in the first game. Every time he orders Delta Squad to split up, he never tells Cole to come with him. By the second game he appears to be over this and does have Cole come with him. {{spoiler|In fact, Cole, Jace Stratton and Samantha, all dark-skinned people of color, make it out of the trilogy alive. Dom doesn't}}.

* [[Bond One-Liner]]: "[[Your Head Asplode|Look, ma, no face...]]" and ''many'' more.

* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: In ''3'' Myrrah discovers Delta Squad emerging from the underground corpser nest while she is riding her flying, death-dealing beetle. This thing is so vicious that it is ultimately the big boss fight of the game. Instead of attacking them with it while they are cornered in a box canyon, she calls some piss-weak Shriekers to do it and flies away.

** The opening of ''Gears of War 3'' is very similar to the opening scene of ''Gears of War'', only Dom's role is filled by Anya instead and there are Lambent Polyps instead of Locust Wretches. {{spoiler|It turns out this is simply a [[Flashback Nightmare]]}}.

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]

** After losing a multi-player match on the COG side in ''Gears of War 2'', Chairman Prescott will deride you. He might say: "Reload, refocus, ''respawn''!".

* [[Chunky Salsa Rule]]

* [[Clipped-Wing Angel]]: The final boss of ''Gears of War 2'' is {{spoiler|a regular Brumak who walks into Imulsion and mutates into a massive Lovecraftian Lambent Brumak}}. It's basically a giant tree that stands still in one spot, and lasts all of 2 or 3 seconds as you vaporize it with the Hammer of Dawn.

* [[The Comically Serious]]: Marcus. The guy ''never'' cracks a smile. He does smirk occasionally, but it certainly isn't meant to be a "nice" smirk. [[Word of God]] states Marcus pretty much never smiles. Even at his birthday party, he didn't smile when they gave him the cake.

* [[Command Roster]]: Technically, until the third game most of the group consists of multiple squads, largely Alpha and Delta. But they still come together sometime into the story and stay together as though they were one group.

** The Second Game

*** [[The Captain]] - Marcus

*** [[New Meat]] - Carmine (Benjamin)

*** The Scientist - Baird (In-game collectibles of various kinds are provided with some text commentary by Baird)

*** [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] - Prescott, although in this case he was trying to undo all the government secrets he had been hiding

* [[Compilation Rerelease]]: The ''Gears of War'' Triple Pack, which bundles the first two games, as well as the "All Fronts" map pack.

** Skorge is a fairly tough boss ''only'' because he's unaffected by any form of attack other than a chainsaw duel. It's certainly there to show off the new chainsaw duel feature but it comes across as a frustrating [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]. It's not a terribly difficult fight otherwise, unless you're {{spoiler|bad at dodging falling pillars, ink grenades, and Tickers}}. The pillars don't just fall in a straight line: you have to run to the other side of the hall, because these things will ''alter the direction of its fall to the point that it will somehow fall completely horizontally from a vertical position to kill you''.

** Insane difficulty is just a license for the game to be a cheating bastard.

** This can actually be used to the player's advantage in campaign. AI squadmates never run out of ammo and can trade weapons with the player. This means that players can trade empty power weapons like the Torque Bow and Boomshot to an NPC, wait for the NPC to reload it, then take it back. Alternately, just give all your squadmates Boomshots and watch the carnage.

** ''Gears of War 2'' explicitly refers to things said in the last game as jokes to ''each other''. [[Lampshade Hanging|Therefore...]]

** It seems like half the dialogue with Benjamin are nods to his brother Anthony's death.

* [[Corpse Land]]: The area where the Hammer of Dawn was used on the Locust to halt their attacks. In a disturbing mirror of Pompeii, there are ashen remain of every man, woman and child who were unable to reach the safe zone.

* [[Crapsack World]]: Sera is reduced to a total hellhole in the aftermath of the Human-Locust War; the planet's surface has been scorched to cinders and its water sources contaminated by orbital Hammer of Dawn bombardment, nerve gas killed whatever the satellites didn't, fallout from the end of ''Gears of War'' causes terminal respiratory illness in the survivors, all the human cities have been destroyed, and according to the official tie-in novels, {{spoiler|99% of the human population was killed in the war}}. Becomes a [[World Half Full]] at the end of Gears Of War 3 though. {{spoiler|The Locust and Lambent are all dead, the parasite in Imulsion is destroyed, and the world actually has a ''future'' now, as it is implied that humanity can now recover.}}

** Played straight to an extent, as explosives will blow apart someone when it kills them, but not if the damage isn't enough. The games use invisible [[Hit Points]], and when characters lose them, they become "down, but not out" in multi-player, meaning they can only lay on the ground to bleed to death unless someone revives them, or they are finished off. Enemies can be downed in the campaign (though not always); likewise, so can characters. In ''Gears of War 2'', downed players can crawl away instead of being totally immobile. Curiously, bots that manage to get chainsawed in the campaign will generally be downed. The same is not true of players who are chainsawed. This is likely to compensate for [[Artificial Stupidity]].

** Generally, any explosive that is in range to damage a downed player will gib them.

* [[Cross Playing]]: [[Enforced Trope]] for male gamers, as ''Gears of War 3'' has playable female characters for the first time and a medal for playing as them in a very large number of matches (required for [[One Hundred Percent Completion]]). Also, Queen Myrrah is the Locust leader in the Capture the Leader mode.

* [[Custom Uniform]]: There are some slight variations in the armor designs between major characters (regular COG Gears look exactly like [[Red Shirt|Carmine]]), but in the first two games they were all similar enough that it was likely there was some mild customizable options (Dom has a shoulder light and combat knife to [[Distinctive Appearances|distinquish him from Marcus]]). In ''Gears of War 3'', everyone has made significant alterations to their armor that takes it further away from being a uniform, including [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|color coding]]. Marcus has orange highlights, Cole green and Baird blue as always. Hoffman has several medal-like markings on his suit to represent his command authority.

** Heavily subverted with the female Locust Berserkers, vicious and fugly 10-foot tall stone-skinned monsters.

** Played straight in ''Gears of War 2'' with the Locust Queen Myrrah, who strangely looks like a human woman wearing a squid on her back. Although this appears to be a plot point, this is never explained in game. {{spoiler|On the forums, it was revealed that Myrrah was experimented on as a child up until some point prior to the games, eventually becoming a Human-Locust-hybrid. The facility she was in got destroyed, with her being the only survivor. [[Excuse Plot|Guess who found her?]]}}

* [[Deal with the Devil]]: {{spoiler|Adam Fenix makes one with Queen Myrrah before the events of the trilogy. Myrrah promised Adam that she would not invade Sera should he find a way to destroy the Lambent. He fails to do so, thus Myrrah is forced to kick-start the Human-Locust War.}}

** Its highly, highly implied she was ''going to do it anyway''.

** The Hammer of Dawn [[Kill Sat|satellite laser]], required to use with a laser marker.

** In Horde 2.0 the Command Center fortification allows you to upgrade to calling in a mortar or Hammer of Dawn strike. Since you have no direct control over where it drops, it can surprise both you and your teammates.

* [[Elite Mooks]]: In the first game it was Theron Guards, tougher Locust Drones with the Torque Bow. In the second game it is the Kantus Priest, wielding a semi-auto pistol, can [[Shoot The Medic|heal]] enemy troops and can summon explosive Tickers. In the third game it is the Armored Kantus, immune to virtually any small arms fire and thus requiring explosives to take down

* [[Enemy Civil War]]: ''Gears of War 2'' reveal the struggle of the Locust Horde against the insane Lambent Locust mutants. Not much use to the player, as the game mostly has them both trying to kill you instead of fighting each other. This is made MUCH more prevalent in the third game.

** Bolo Grenades are really explosive maces. [[Epic Flail]] indeed, though they can only be used to blow things up, and the melee animation to stick grenades onto enemies looks like a swing, but it doesn't do any damage aside from sticking the grenade and watching them explode spectacularly.

** Played absolutely straight with [[Personal Space Invader|Maulers]]. These Boomer variants with Boomshields and heavy armor carry what appear to be larger versions of Bolo Grenades. ''Much larger''...and reusable...and they don't throw them: they simply run up and hit you explosively with it.

* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: Nearly everyone of Delta Squad gets their moment, but no one beats Cole's introduction in the first two games. The first game has him challenging an entire squad of Locust by himself until he gets reinforcements. In the second game, well, he ''is the reinforcements''. ''Nobody'' stops the Cole Train, baby!

** Cole is the soldier version of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzToNo7A-94 Terry Tate, Office Linebacker], a joke character from a series of Reebok commercials. Of course, they're [[Hey, It's That Voice!|played by the same person.]]

** The Kryll bear more than a little resemblance to the nocturnal creatures in ''[[Pitch Black]]''.

** The Locust Queen Myrrah, {{spoiler|up until 75% of the second game, that is}}.

** The Carmines play the straighter example: each bear a striking family resemblance... considering their tendency to wear helmets. The third game actively teases us with it: {{spoiler|the final scene actually shows Clayton picking up his helmet, dusting it off, and putting it on... ''without showing his face''}}.

* [[Game Breaking Bug]]: A bug currently making the rounds in ''Gears Of War 3'' will accidentally dump a 5-man Horde team into Wingman mode. Since Wingman's typically played by 4 teams of 2 in a free-for-all setting, dumping an ''entire'' group of 5 onto a single team is '' slightly'' unbalancing.

* [[Gatling Good]]: The hand-cranked Mulcher is man-portable and can... well, ''mulch'' soft targets at close range. The Silverback mounts what seems to be a more powerful variant, and gatling turrets appear occasionally in COG bases. There's also the Vulcan Cannon, which is more like an actual modern-day gatling gun and sounds like a cross between a chainsaw and thunder.

** When Baird is asked to improvise a bomb with few parts available, he replies, "Regular or extra strength?"

** Marcus, too, was meant to be an "intelligent badass" by the design team. Even though he doesn't show it as much as Baird, he seems to be able to come up with complicated military tactics on the fly in stressful situations, and he definitely has motivations beyond those of the average [[Space Marine]] action hero.

** In fact, most of Delta Squad applies according to Baird himself, as he states the reason he sticks with them is because they're the only people he knows who have above a single-digit IQ.

** Then there's Adam Fenix, the man himself. Back-story shows he's both a super-genius [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]] (generally considered "The Smartest Man On The Planet"), as well as a former military officer and war hero. Granted, he's aged quite a bit and by the time he's mentioned in the games, he's more of a [[Badass Bookworm]].

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: A medal that can be earned in ''Gears of War 3'' multi-player is "Loot Courtesan".

* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: Myrrah

* [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic]]: The easiest way to see if someone is going to die? He wears a helmet. {{spoiler|Except Clayton Carmine. His helmet actually ''saves'' him from friendly fire.}}

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Sadly, ''Gears of War 3'' has {{spoiler|''Dom''}} of all people pulling one of these at the end of {{spoiler|Act 3 to save Marcus, Anya, Sam, Dizzy and Jace from the never ending hordes of [[The Virus|Lambent]]. Adam Fenix dies not long after reuniting with his son by using himself as a test subject in his quest to eliminate Imulsion, then activating a world-affecting bomb that he knows will kill him as well as all Lambent and Locust}}.

** There's also indications in the ''opposite'' direction; more than one scene in ''Gears of War 2'' and production interview gave us signs that Marcus and Anya [[Ship Tease|have more than a strictly professional relationship between them]]. Naturally, the novelizations and subsequent ''Gears of War 3'' outright confirms this.

** Baird and Cole are also very close, to the extent that Cole was the only person Baird really cared about before he met Marcus and Dom.

** Averted in ''Gears of War 3'' while visiting Char. ''Many'' of the ash-corpses are too small to be adults.

** Averted again in the "RAAM's Shadow" DLC. A fair chunk of the campaign takes place in a high school which has been attacked by the Locust. Many corpses of civilians who are at the very least teenagers are shown in several rooms.

* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: In several cutscenes you can see Gears and Locust standing completely out in the open with no cover, exchanging full-auto fire at distances of less than 50 feet, and completely failing to hit each other with even a single bullet. Kim's last stand and the helicopter evac from Ilima City are both particularly egregious. Also applies in game as, by design, the typical combat ranges and effectiveness of weapons in Gears is very, very short.

* [[Inferred Holocaust]]: {{spoiler|Collateral damage caused by The Lightmass Bomb after ''Gears of War''. The bomb evaporated a lot of the Imulsion in the Locust tunnels; on the surface, it causes a fatal disease called "rustlung"}}.

** In the novelization "Jacinto's Remnant", a brief flashback reveals a battle taking place in a department store, where Tai grabs a circular saw to fight with after his old-school Lancer bayonet breaks. This inspired the creation of the chainsaw bayonet, so if you think the chainsaw is cheap, blame Tai.

** A lot of Locust weaponry and "vehicles" are kitbashed gear made from animals living in the Hollow, looted COG weaponry, and Locust-engineered small arms. Tickers, for example, are just normal animals with bombs strapped to their backs, Locust "Siege Beasts" are some kind of turkey-like animal converted to launch artillery, and so on. The heavier Locust weapons like Brumaks and Seeders are just massive animals bred for combat with weapons strapped on them; even Corpsers are fitted with helmets to protect their eyes. Locust in the third game make crude Troika turrets out of multiple Retro Lancers strapped together and attached to a Troika mount to make a surprisingly effective suppression weapon.

* [[It Got Worse]]: Living on Sera ''sucks''.

* [[Jerkass]]: Baird. He gets better in the sequels, becoming more of a [[Deadpan Snarker]]. It's explained that he was initially resentful that Marcus was given command over him or Cole who, at least at the beginning, ranked higher than either Dom or Marcus.

** The second game has a major case of this, introducing multiple unexplained plot elements (the secret COG experiments creating the Sires, a lot of what the Locust Queen was yammering about, {{spoiler|Adam Fenix being alive and ticked off you sunk Jacinto}}, etc.) that are not resolved. Most of these are covered in ''Gears of War 3'', but the {{spoiler|origin of the Sires}} remain a mystery.

** It's also never explained why the Locust Queen {{spoiler|looks human}}, even after they keep dropping the topic into conversation.

* [[Large Ham]]: The Cole Train, baby!

* [[The Last Dance]]: ''Gears of War 3''. Ominously, the "Brothers To The End" tagline fades to just "The End" in trailers and commercials.

** A number of Onyx medals in ''Gears of War 3'' take a lot of time to get, even if you boost them in private matches. To claim the "Seriously 3.0" achievement, you need to have them all.

** The "Foreshadowing" achievement added by "RAAM's Shadow": to get it, you must execute players playing as Lieutenant Kim while playing as General RAAM. This ''cannot'' be done privately, only in public multi-player, where nobody ever played as Kim to begin with, even in the last two games, and certainly won't now since doing so will make them a highly sought-after target.

* [[Left Hanging]]: ''Gears of War 3'', confirmed by [[Word of God]] to be the last game in the series, has a definite [[Grand Finale]] vibe to it, and ends with a big question mark regarding {{spoiler|1=who or what Myrrah really was. This even gets lampshaded by Baird during one of the final levels. The New Hope Facility/Sires sub-plot from ''Gears of War 2'' is also left unaddressed}}. [[Word of God]] is that the developers found several of the fan-speculated explanations to be incredibly lame, which may explain their decision to just leave it a mystery.

* [[Lost Forever]]: In ''3'', the Trashball Drone multi-player skin was unlocked briefly to celebrate the [[Super Bowl]]. It was taken away after that, and Epic has not revealed plans to ever unlock it again.

** The Locust have become gradually weaker as the series has progressed. In the first game it took almost a full 60-round mag of Lancer assault rifle fire to kill a single basic Locust drone, making them one of the toughest basic FPS mooks ''ever''. In the second game, it only takes about two dozen assault rifle rounds to kill a Locust drone. By the time of the 3rd game, they can be dropped with only about a dozen bullets on Normal difficulty (about 15-20 rounds on Hardcore), making them on par with "standard" FPS soldier mooks.

** Boomers are somewhat weaker in ''Gears of War 2'', going down after only 1-2 clips from the Lancer (even on Hardcore) instead of 3-4 clips like in the first game. They're even weaker in ''Gears of War 3'', going down after only a little over 2/3rds of a full mag from the Lancer. This is largely due to the fact that in the first game they were basically [[Boss in Mooks Clothing]] and always showed up in pairs. The sequels would have more "Boomer" types (including the Mauler, Grinder and Butcher) and more would appear at one time.

* [[MacGuffin]]: The Resonator in ''Gears of War'', {{spoiler|Maria}} in the sequel and {{spoiler|Adam}} in the last game. Some moreso than others.

* [[Made of Explodium]]: All Lambent creatures explode when killed with varying degrees of force, {{spoiler|which is used by the team when they needed a big bomb and there was a Lambent Brumak in front of them}}. Regular drones don't harm you much, drudges sometimes run ''after'' you when about to explode, wretches are like grenades, Grunkers and Lambent Berzerkers look like a tactical nuke.

** In the first game it takes close to a full magazine of assault rifle fire just to kill a single Locust Drone on every difficulty setting except the very easiest. Bear in mind that Lancer assault rifles have 50 rounds per magazine!

** A bit less so in the second game, which has a) a Normal difficulty that falls between Casual and Hardcore, with appropriate enemy strength and b) an improved Hammerburst assault rifle that's actually stable and accurate enough to score headshots at mid-range.

* [[Made of Plasticine]]: A lucky shotgun blast can blow a target to [[Ludicrous Gibs]].

* [[Male Gaze]]: Sam gets the sexy pan-up shot while a Stranded ogles her.

** The game series embodies this through the use of the Carmine brothers (Anthony, Ben and Clay), where the original was a [[Red Shirt|faceless member]] of the team who got killed early on while complaining about his gun jamming. Due to [[Ensemble Darkhorse|his unexpected popularity]] they brought him back as his brother in Gears 2, still faceless but lasting longer through the campaign and a more fully developed character. Bringing in the third Carmine, still helmeted, they actually allowed the fans to choose whether he lived or died in the end through an X Box marketplace charity drive. As such most fans were wondering when/if he would die.

** Other characters in this mold include {{spoiler|Kim and Tai}}.

* [[Mayor of a Ghost Town]]: {{spoiler|Griffin, after your trip to Char.}}

* [[Melee a Trois]]: The second game introduces the Lambent, mutant Locust [[Enemy Civil War|who are fighting against the original Locust]]. By the third game, humans, Locust and Lambent are all duking it out with each other on the planet's surface.

** {{spoiler|Dom to Maria}}

** When you fight the {{spoiler|Lambent humans}} in Mercy, some can be clearly heard screaming "Kill me!" when they attack you.

** [[Elite Mooks]]: Theron Guards; smarter, faster, tougher and armed with one-hit-kill Torque Bows.

** [[Praetorian Guard]]: The Palace Guards in the second game, who guard the Nexus Palace instead of regular drones, and are just as tough as Theron Guards. The third game has Chairman Prescott's Onyx Guard, elite Gears personally loyal to him, although you only fight them as the "final boss" of Beast Mode when playing as the Locust.

*** ''Gears of War 3'' feature {{spoiler|Lambent Stalks that sprout from the ground, changing the landscape but also depositing any number and multiple types of Lambent Locust in your path}} while also doing away with Emergence Holes, presumably because the Locust have {{spoiler|lost control of the underground to the Lambent}}.

** [[Mooks Ate My Equipment]]: Wild Tickers

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: The "Ashes to Ashes" trailer. Features the group fighting in Char. {{spoiler|Dom never made it there in the game.}}

* [[New Meat]]: Benjamin in the second game, who also stands out as a [[Red Shirt]] by being the only main character who wears the face concealing helmet. The tutorial has the [[Player Character]]s training him.

** Smoke Grenades in multiplayer; at launch for ''Gears of War 2'', these grenades instantly drop players to the ground, much like the Kantus scream, to allow for an easy kill. Following title updates, they momentarily stun players to stop them from firing or moving away, but recover much faster than the former effect.

** A "Stopping power" feature from firearms was programmed into Gears 2 in order to encourage players to play more strategically rather than just rushing at the enemy. In particular with the Gnasher players developed a tactic where they run into a forward dive then fired the Gnasher at the tail end of the roll, which was ridiculously effective (using grenades was also done similarly). Thus trying to rush at someone would end up with you coming up short.

*** Gears of War ''3'' rectifies it - getting hit while reving the chainsaw up will mess it up, but after you've managed to rev it, you'll keep it up despite getting damaged.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: "Ashes to Ashes" trailer showed the Delta Squad fighting in Char {{spoiler|completely intact. In the actual game Dom dies before you visit Char}}.

** Developers have said the difficulty, particularly at the lower difficulties, turned out a lot harder than they had wanted for the first game. This is what led to ''Gears of War 2'' getting a [[Sequel Difficulty Drop]].

** You don't go "down but not out" in ''Gears of War 3'' on Insane: you just DIE. This includes co-op, meaning you have to load a checkpoint if ''anyone'' is downed.

* [[Noob Cave]]: "Casual" multiplayer for ''Gears of War 3'' is just straight-up Team Deathmatch. Notably, those who have earned certain achievements in the first two games or participated in the beta on their profile are locked out of "casual" and are forced into "standard" multiplayer. Somewhat justified by Epic Games, as they cite ''Gears of War 3'' being the most accessible title, thus giving newcomers to the series a place to practice before joining the "big leagues".

* [[Once an Episode|Once A Game]]: Every game so far has featured one "horror movie" level, with plenty of tense atmospheres, foreboding scenery, and nonstandard enemies. It was in the Lethia Imulsion Facility in the first, the New Hope Research Facility in the second, and Mercy in the third.

** In the first game, the Torque Bow kills anything any all difficulties that isn't a boss in one hit, including you. It even works on Boomers, who can take multiple rounds from the Boomshot or 3 full magazines of assault rifle fire. [[Nerf]]ed in the sequels, where it's no longer this trope. The third game does still allow single kills with it on Boomer-class Locust, but only with [[Boom! Headshot!|headshots]].

** The One Shot in the third game; [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|it's faithful to its name]].

** In multiplayer, Boomshots, One Shots, Torque Bows, Mortars and Frag and Incendiary Grenades will [[One-Hit Kill]] if impacting close enough to a player. [[Boom! Headshot!]] is a guaranteed kill with the Longshot sniper rifle.

** Technically a squad of four, but just two of the squad still ended up practically ''single-handedly deploying the destruction of the enemy'', {{spoiler|twice}}, barring the occasional need for transportation (although they end up transporting themselves more often then not).

** {{spoiler|The consistency of the trope towards the final missions in the third installment is somewhat averted with it being clear that supportive elements are on the island - though not right with you - probably stopping the entire rest of the Horde from getting to you, which you'd assume Myrrah would probably be trying to do in such a desperate situation}}.

** {{spoiler|The Imulsion turns the Brumak you've hijacked into a Lambent Brumak, which serves as the final boss for ''Gears of War 2''}}.

** ''Gears of War 3'' introduces Drudges, a Lambent creature that mutates once it takes enough damage (unless you consistently hit the glowing Imulsion "belly"). It sometimes sprouts a flame throwing snake head, turns into a tree with three branches throwing Imulsion fireballs at you, or remains mobile but has two arms throwing smaller Imulsion fireballs.

* {{spoiler|[[Our Zombies Are Different]]}}: {{spoiler|Formers, who show up in Act 3, are ''Lambent humans'', who act similar to stereotypical zombie fashion. It doesn't help that all they seem to be focused on is attacking the living and that one guy even seems to have been eaten alive. [[Red Shirt|Poor bastard]]}}.

* [[Pardon My Klingon]]: "Suck my blithe!"

* [[Powered Armor]]: Theorized to be the reason Gears can do all the acrobatics the game allows them, but it has yet to be stated.

* [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner]]: "[[Kill It with Fire|Let's turn up the heat!]]"

** In spades with ''Gears of War 3''; {{spoiler|sure, the Locust and Lambent are finally gone, but the vast majority of humanity is dead, their cities destroyed and ruined and their primary source of energy used to build them up in the first place no longer exists because it was mutating beyond its control. The future is going to be very, very hard, but at least there IS a future for humanity}}.

** Surprisingly, the events of "RAAM's Shadow" turn out as one for the Locust. Yes, the COG has lost hundreds of Gears and civilians, but the evacuation of Ilima City was largely successful and RAAM was nearly killed by Zeta Squad.

* [[Quad Damage]]: The Mutators in ''Gears of War 3'' has one called "Super Reload". If you manage a perfect active reload you get several powerful effects: the affected ammo from the reload does not drain from your primary ammo cache, once the affected ammo is depleted it still gives you a full clip of regular fire (single shot clips like the Boomshot basically gives you two shots back to back), there is no time limit on using the affected bonus and instead of a 10-20 percent damage increase it does literally about a '''500 percent''' damage increase. It's so powerful it makes regular assault rifles (especially the Lancer due to high firing rate and clip size) more valuable than the Silverback minigun.

** Everyone is absolutely enormous, and spouts [[One-Liner|OneLiners]] without irony. They have ''chainsaw machine guns''. If you hit a button at the right time, they can reload their gun '''hard''' and make the bullets come out stronger. This game will make a man out of you, even if you're a woman.

** Anya and Samantha are every bit as manly as their male teammates. Seeing Anya scream and cuss as she chainsaws a Locust in half will remove whatever doubt you may have that her upgrade from [[Voice with an Internet Connection|control operative]] to [[Action Girl]] may be a plot contrivance.

* [[Red Shirt]]: Aside from the two Carmine brothers already mentioned, the "We're fucked! We're fucked!" Gear who is mauled by the first Berserker in the first game is listed in the credits as "Redshirt Gyules". The Carmines lampshade their [[Red Shirt]]-edness in the multiplayer.

{{quote|'''Anthony Carmine''': *gets a headshot* "NOW who's expendable?!"}}

** Chainsaw bayonets?! Are you serious?! They actually make sense given how much armor almost everyone wears. A normal bayonet is only useful against unarmored targets.

** The sequel has ''chainsaw duels''. [[The Dragon]] can only be damaged by this because he has a ''[[X on a Stick|double-edged chainsaw staff]].'' [[Rule of Cool|Hell yeah]].

* [[Robot Buddy]]: Delta Squad has a floating robot following them called JACK (that frequently utilizes a cloaking device to avoid damage from their firefights), in reference to the phrase "[[Meaningful Name|Jack-of-all-trades]]". Some wonder if it's something of an [[Expy]] of [[Star Wars|R2-D2]], claiming to see some scenes which indicate emotion, such as waving its arms as if it's frightened. In the third game, JACK even gets an electrical self-defense mechanism.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: Many, many (if not all) things, but most notably '''Chainsaw''' '''''Bayonets'''''

** Canonically, the chainsaw bayonet was developed because the traditional blade bayonets break on Locust skin. In ''Gears of War 3''. the Retro Lancer is integrated into the gameplay, [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|yet the blades don't ever break]].

** The "active reload" mechanic within the game consists of a minigame while reloading: press the reload button within a specific and small window of time and the weapon will reload faster. Press it within an even smaller, more specific window will give the weapon a temporary stat bonus (increased range, firing rate, damage...) and reloads the weapon instantly if pressed correctly. However, missing it causes the weapon to jam and ends up taking much longer to reload. This minigame is never explained, not even [[Hand Wave|HandWaved]], and is quite obviously just there to make reloading more fun.

** Dom intially, even more so in the third game.

* [[Sand Worm]]: The Riftworm

* [[Scary Black Man]]: Twice averted with Cole. "The Cole Train" looks to be the most musclar character in a game full of bulky-armoured men, and one probably wouldn't want to fight him, but he's probably also among the nicest characters as well. Jace is black, and pretty big (although by comparison to Marcus and Cole, he's notably small) and has cornrows, yet he's written as the sweetest character in the games and [[Expanded Universe]] (notably, Michael B. Jordan portrays Wallace in ''[[The Wire]]'', who's known for playing that type of character). Probably the straightest example of this trope is [[Jerkass|Aaron Griffin]], who even seems to frighten the men under him.

* [[Screaming Warrior]]: Pretty much everyone, especially when chainsawing, executing, or retro charging an opponent. Special mention goes to Tai, the Carmine brothers and Savage Drones.

* [[Sergeant Rock]]: Marcus, when Benjamin's part of Delta Squad. Hoffman counts, as well.

** The second game is much less insanely difficult than the first, even if you still play on Hardcore instead of the newly added Normal difficulty. You can take noticeably more damage before going "down but not out", Locust are slightly less durable, the range and accuracy of the Hammerburst assault rifle has been increased to make it a viable long-range weapon, and the overall level design is more user-friendly and forgiving than before. Most notably, your A.I. squadmates are ''MUCH'' smarter and more useful, actually capable of holding their own even in heavy firefights, compared to the first game where they would charge the enemy suicidally and end up going down in the first 10 seconds, leaving you all alone and surrounded by Locust.

** Also worth noting is that A.I. squadmates gained the ability to revive other characters in ''2,'' while downed characters gained the ability to crawl. In the first game, reviving a downed character involved running straight to whatever (presumably dangerous) spot he had been in when downed, and caused a game over if all the human players dropped (which was especially frustrating when playing solo). In ''2'' and ''3,'' this is no longer the case, as a downed character can slowly crawl away from the action and be revived by player and A.I. alike. The "down=dead" rule was brought back on Insane difficulty in ''3,'' but playing campaign in Arcade Mode swaps out the automatic mission failure for a 25-second respawn counter, with the defeat only triggering if all human players are dead simultaneously.

** In ''Gears of War 3'', the medal for 500 MVP awards is [[Brutal Legend]].

** The "Architect" medal has a picture of the skull from the Crimson Omen wearing a white suit, like the Architect from ''[[The Matrix]]''.

* [[Shrug of God]]: As explained by David Nashty and Karen Traviss, the writers actually ''did'' have a confirmed backstory for Myrrah, New Hope, and the Sires. However, Epic went to the effort of deleting the Q&A post by Nashty revealing this backstory, leaving its "canon" status up in the air (see the Discussion section for details).

* [[Sigil Spam]]: The Crimson Omen. ''Gears of War 1'' and ''3'' both use it as a marker inexplicitly to let you know a COG Tag is nearby. The other collectibles in ''3'' don't get them, unfortunately, and in ''2'' the COG Tags don't even get them.

** The mutators in added in ''3'' are divided into 'easy' 'hard' and 'fun' categories. The latter is composed of [[Big Head Mode]], Flower Blood (which, sadly, disables ''all'' gore as well), Laugh Track (which is INCESSANT, like a terrible sitcom), Headless Chicken (which causes decapitated enemies to run around in a berserk rampage for a short time) and Pinata (which adds a collection minigame of sorts).

** There are several multiplayer events that ramps up the silliness. Two prominent examples are the Halloween event that turns everyone's head into a jack-o'-lantern, and the "Thanksgibbing" playlist, where everyone starts with a Cluckshot that shoots explosive chickens!

** Fairly blatantly used in ''2.'' While talking about Skorge, Marcus states he "makes RAAM look like a Goddamn pushover". Somewhat justified by {{spoiler|linking the emergence of a "GIANT WORM!!!" to the Lightmass Bomb}}.

** Played with in ''3''- you start off against the new and explode-y Lambent, and fight them and the Locust in varied intervals. By the end of the game, though, the Locust you fight are loads and loads of Myrrah's Guards along with the bigger Boomers, Grinders, Armoured Kantus, etc. Possibly a [[Justified Trope]] that Myrrah only managed to get her elite forces to keep up with her and the main Locust force is kept at bay on Azura by the COG reinforcements.

** Joseph Kosinski's famous commercial for the first game where scenes of carnage are set to the tune of "Mad World". The sequel's commercial has Delta Squad drilling into Locust territory as "How It Ends" plays in the background. The main trailer for ''Gears of War 3'' has ''Into Dust'' playing in the background.

** {{spoiler|Just to show how things are going full circle, "Mad World" gets an instrumental [[Dark Reprise]] as Dom sacrifices himself in ''Gears of War 3''. The calm piano melody is offset by the carnage of the act}}.

* [[That Makes Me Feel Angry]]: Marcus sometimes shouts "Now I'm pissed!" upon being revived, and some Locust in Campaign may shout "RRRRRAAAAAGE!" while attacking you.

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: ''Gears Of War 2'' allows characters to use mortars, miniguns and a multitude of over-the-top weaponry to kill mere infantry. Not to mention multiple characters can chainsaw a single enemy at the same time. That's not counting the ludicrous amount of overkill inherent to {{spoiler|using a Brumak}} against hapless Locust.

** One segment in ''Gears of War 2'' gives you free reign to snipe Locust from a ridge. Achieving five kills in a row with the sniper rifle, and Marcus will yell: "That's one. That's two! [[Large Ham|That's THREE! THAT'S FOUR! THAT'S FIVE, MOTHERFUCKERS!"]]

** Delivered straight by Marcus {{spoiler|when he guts Myrrah in ''Gears of War 3''}}:

{{quote|'''Marcus''': " {{spoiler|You feel that? That's from Dom... and everyone else you killed you bitch!}}"}}

** Averted in the racial sense, as the series is very diverse, since the humans of Sera are shattered remnant of dozens of nation.

** The third game makes sure that there is always at least one female in your squad in the Campaign. The only time that you get a squad of 4 men is when {{spoiler|Alicia is killed by RAAM in ''RAAM's Shadow'' and gets replaced by a young Jace}}.

** The Carmine family name, via the introduction of Clayton in ''Gears of War 3''.

** JACK gets upgraded to be helpful in combat late in the third game.

* [[Updated Rerelease]]: The PC version of ''Gears of War'' features several new levels in the last act that make the overall plot flow more coherently, as well as a new boss battle against a Brumak. If it's any consolation to console gamers, these levels are unoptimized and tend to lag even on bleeding edge hardware.

* [[Vehicular Assault]]: Although they're technically more of a mount, all the {{spoiler|non-Lambent}} Brumak fights go this way. Likewise on the various occasions that Delta has to fight Reavers on foot.

* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: Downed characters crawl on the ground in the sequels until death. In the first game, you could leave them there, unmoving, until death via blood loss. In every game, executions are possible and encouraged, with the second game introducing weapon-exclusive executions that look excruciatingly painful. Oh, and then there's the [[Kill It with Fire|Scorcher flamethrower]].

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Baird and Cole. Baird and Marcus too, prevalent throughout the first game, and while toned down in the second and third it's still there.

* [[Voice with an Internet Connection]]: Anya

* [[You Are in Command Now]]: Marcus

* [[You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!]]: Marcus' reaction to having to fight a Berserker onboard a train.

** Done by headshots from almost all weapons in ''Gears of War'' if they hit your head when [[Critical Existence Failure|it does enough damage]] to deplete your [[Hit Points]]. They even sell ''an action figure'' of a Drone with its head a-sploding.

** ''Gears of War 3'' hilariously introduces a "Mutator" for Arcade Mode and Horde 2.0. What does it do? Enemies victim to would-be-fatal headshots frantically run around the map attacking anything without mercy. Makes for funny moments when all that's left of their craniums is a bloodied stump while managing to continue screaming.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: A lot of the characters, but Baird does it the most.

* [[December–December Romance]]: Hoffman and Bernie.

** While the townspeople of Pelruan and the Gorasini have every reason to hate Stranded, thats no reason to be mean to and attack Dizzy and his daughters.

** The COG also heavily discriminated against any non-COG ethnic groups, and even some of those allied with them.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: [[Friendly Sniper]] Padrick Salton begins suffering one after the death of his spotter. It becomes even worse after he scouted the areas hit by the Hammer of Dawn counterattack that killed most of the human population.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: During the Battle of Aspho Fields, {{spoiler|Helena Stroud, Anya's mother,}} sacrifices herself to take out an Indie anti-aircraft vehicle so COG air support could assist in the battle. Somewhat averted in that she didn't mean to die on the Asp; her armor just caught on the vehicle, which exploded before she could cut herself free.

** After E-Day and the Hammer of Dawn counterattack, all civilization outside of the COG except for two instances devolved into gangs of Stranded fighting each other over territory and supplies. Rape, murder, and other crimes are the normal behavior among a lot of Stranded tribes, and are often regarded as worse than the Locust by the COG because they have the capicity to be civilized, but aren't. On the other hand, there are also plenty of Stranded who are not complete bastards, and simply can't bring themselves to join the COG because of the Hammer strike and just want to be left alone.

** Also counting the Hammer strikes themselves, the COG breeding farms, and what the Indies did to Tai's home village, this trope is hammered home many times.

* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: Lt.Draper

* [[Guns Akimbo]]: Happens several times, most notably with Michael Barrick and shotguns.

** {{spoiler|Michael Barrick}} stays behind in the Hollow to allow the rest of Delta Squad to escape.

** {{spoiler|Matron}} detonates a bomb in Jilane to allow Delta to escape with the survivors of a Locust massacare.