by Jonah Grimes and Kaleb Fullbright

Gears of War is classic third person shooter series for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, created by Epic games studios. The Gears of War series has been a much loved and ambitious series by Xbox gamers everywhere. There have been four installments in the series: Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, and Gears of War: Judgment. This year a fifth installment will be released continuing the series, taking place 25 years after Gears of War 3. Gears of War 4 is being developed by The Coalition, a brand new development company, who developed the HD remake of Gears of War for Xbox One. With the upcoming release of Gears of War 4, some people were sad about the older games not being as popular as they were, and some people talked of their love for the old games.

A few students expressed what really got them interested in the series: “I guess the different style for a shooter and when I first saw it it just looked so unique and gritty which was different from a game like Halo. It had a good horror aspect,” stated Junior Jared Rohe.

The Gears of War series is set on the planet Sera, and the humans who have formed the Coalition of Ordered Governments (or C.O.G for short) are in a never ending war with the native aliens known as the Locust. The series follows main protagonist Marcus Fenix, and the other members of Delta Squad Dominic Santiago, Damon Baird, and Augustus “Cole Train” Cole. Throughout the series many people die and some are former members of Delta squad; this includes but is not limited to Anthony and Benjamin Carmine, Minh Young Kim, and Tai Kaliso.

The first two games in the series are very dark and gritty with a unique horror vibe to them; while 3 and Judgment were a lot brighter with a shimmer of hope. Many fans were upset when the series took a lighter tone and dropped the darker tone that made fans fall in love with it.

“I really like the character development and the story and I love the lore behind it,” stated Senior Joseph Grimes when asked what he thought made the series great.

The gameplay of Gears of War is a third person shooter that uses the Unreal engine; the unreal engine is a really good engine that many games run off such as Alice: Madness Returns Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Borderlands, which are all great games. The control scheme of Gears of War is a bit odd but it doesn’t bother most gamers.

“The  best parts were the combat and how fun it was to chainsaw people. Worst part in my opinion was the control scheme,” stated Sophomore Brennan Capicchioni. Most of the game is based on the story but there are some quick time events, which are moments in the game which require the player to press certain buttons at specific times. Overall the gameplay is good and fun. The fact that there is a multiplayer mode makes the game even more fun because you can play with your friends.

With the newest installment in the series releasing this year, many fans are excited and worried. Gears of War 4 will have a beta released in April to give the fans a taste of what to expect in the final product. Many fans hope this Gears of War will live up to expectations and breath new life into this much loved franchise.

“I’m really excited because it’s a brand new story that continues from where the last game left off,” stated Junior Cody Watkins. Hopefully Gears 4 will live up to expectations and make Gears of War a great game on the next gen-consoles. Gears of War 4 will release some time this year for Xbox One and rumor has it PC.