Man this Gears story back and forth is weird.
Gears isnt so much about the plot as much as it is how the story occurs.
Reminds me alot of Predator 1 ((which they were clearly inspired by)).
Gears 1 was this dreary washed out world that really mixed horror and sci fi. The story was thrown together but the delivery , the characters personas , weapons , the curbstomp ,and the imagery was all top grade and extremely memorable.
Gears 2 got fucked over by Josh Ortega ((comic book writer)) he basically ass raped Halo for all its worth and took the franchise in a bad direction. The lab , the sires , the queens origin. All these stupid things that were needless and left us with pointless unanswered questions (which remain unanswered). Barring ONE stage with two scenes that were ballsy , fucked up , and memorable the whole story was a wash.
Gear 3 FINALLY got Karen Traviss on board and was phenomenal. It certainly could have been better but frankly she had to minimize the damage Josh did.
Anyone whos read the books knows she does a great job and can fill the characters very well without the needed fluff. IMO if Josh didnt go screw it up with the lambent they could have just as easily played up the rust lung and stayed with emulsion being a parasite and contagion. Instead of stupid zombies could have just been rotting humans and locusts like super lepracy and killing off both populations.
Enough rambling. BOTTOM LINE I dare anyone to find a campaign where FOUR of the characters were as memorable as Delta Squad. A series that can match the death scenes in GOW. And did it with balls to the wall action throughout the 3 games.
Im sure theres a few rpgs and random games with rich story lines but over 3 games ? With characters that go WOOOOOO AINT ENOUGH FREAKS TO STOP THIS MAN !! THATS 5 MOTHERFUCKERS !! and SUP BITCHES!
If you read any of the books it adds alot of depth to the series. You know how Dom and Marcus grew up , what happened to Carlos , why Dom and Marcus considered themselves brothers , why the Queens origin was so fuckin suspicious ,why Tai killing himself was such a fuckin shocker ,why the UIR stuff at the end was relevant , why Bernie Mataki is awesome , why Hoffman is such a bad ass , and why the stranded and cog cant stand each other.
If I have to nitpick on part 3 it would be this..
One cool thing I noticed and confirmed online
Anyways I only play "name" games and not a hardcore gamer as many are so my selection is a shallow pool. But Gears 3 best campaign and best story telling since Halo 1. My favorite trilogy ever. Portal 1 was a better plot this gen but Delta squad and curbstomp > Cube and Glados holes in the wall.