While modern shooters tend to play similarly, the first Gears introduced several gameplay mechanics that differentiate it even to this day. The story works because the characters work. We learn precious little of the overall narrative in the first Gears. These guys might argue and tease, but they also care about their squad-mates. Yet, each possesses an endearing personality.

Our heroes Marcus, Dom, Baird, and Cole are impossibly huge and muscular, gruff in demeanor, and foul-mouthed to boot. Gears sometimes catches flack for its 'dudebro' story and characters. Marcus will join Delta Squad, a small team of soldiers who must attempt to map out the Locusts' subterranean tunnel network and then detonate a bomb that could defeat the monsters once and for all. As the game begins, muscle-bound protagonist Marcus Fenix is rescued from imprisonment by his totally-not-doomed best friend, Dom Santiago. Sera's remaining population is governed by the militarized Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG). In the first Gears, nobody knows why the Locusts hate humanity so much. On the fateful day known as Emergence Day, the Locusts erupted from beneath the ground and wiped out the majority of Sera's human population. Gears of War takes place on the planet Sera, where humanity has endured a 14-year war with an inhuman race known as the Locusts.