Why Gears of War is all about Mental Instability

It all dawned on me when Gears of War 2 came out. The very mental fabric of both the COG and the Locust was revealed to me with one simple phrase.

"Revive me!"

This cry for help made me realize so many things about the way the citizens of Sera function.

In Gears of War 1, characters never shouted out to be revived. They started doing this in Gears of War 2, and continue to do it in Gears of War 3.

The first time I heard this a lot of questions came into my head.

How exactly are they being revived after falling to their hands and knees from taking to much gunfire?

None of the characters in the game are medically trained. The only thing they have training in is killing and flexing.

The act of reviving a downed teammate is as extensive as slapping him on the ass and saying something encouraging like "Get back in the game!" "Stand up like a man!" "Fight through the pain!" and other such things.

After that the downed player stands up and they are perfectly fine, ready to keep fighting.

This can only be explained one way: Getting shot does more emotional damage than physical.

It's all in their minds.

Let's use Dom as an example to demonstrate what I'm talking about here.

Dom is taking fire from a Locust. As he is getting shot, his morale is rapidly dropping. His mind is telling him that he can't last like this. It's getting hopeless to press on.

If the fire is concentrated on him for long enough, these mental attitudes will cause Dom to give up hope and just fall to his hands and knees, mentally vanquished, his self confidence stripped of him.

If he takes any more gunfire while on his hands and knees, he will give up all hope. He will become so despondent that his body will just shut down and he will die a sad depressed death.

However, if one of his teammates comes to his side in time, they can extend their hand and tell him to man up.

NO MEDICAL ATTENTION REQUIRED.

Dom is now back on his feet, fit, and ready to fight as ever. His self confidence has been restored by his teammate.

The denizens of Sera exist in a constant fragile mental state that can be tipped to the point of complete physical shutdown after being shot for a short while.

Mentally Stable? Not likely.

This mental instability governs the field of battle. If they had proper counseling, perhaps they would be invulnerable to bullets. A trained psychologist could be the secret weapon the COG need to restore humanity.

The only thing a mentally stable soldier could potentially be harmed by are explosives or bayonets. Though even deaths due to these weapons are theorized to be results of extensive physio-mental entanglement shutdown.

Further research on this is yet to be conducted.




Thanks for reading! I know it's a bit of a departure from what I normally write, but it's something funny I always think of when I play Gears online.

Don't forget!

Enjoy your game.

Enjoy your life.

And please stay mentally stable.

Who Wants Toast!? My take on the Gears 3 Beta

I’ve been with Gears of War since the beginning.

I had Gears of War 1 pre-ordered.

I played on Emergence Day.

I’ve been through it all when it comes to Gears of War.

I have two Gears action figures, my favorite hat was a Gears of War hat, until my awesome girlfriend got me a new one for Christmas. Now my new favorite hat is still Gears. She also bought me an awesome Gears shirt in addition to the one I already own.  I also own and have read all three Gears of War novels. They’re great.  Oh yeah, I also have a Crimson Omen belt  buckle.

Despite all of this, I do not consider myself a fanboy, just a big fan. (I consider myself a Mass Effect fanboy.)

I will be the first to tell you how much shit I’ve had to put up with being a fan of this series. A fanboy would deny the presence of any bullshit in Gears.

Gears of War 2 online was rife with bullshit. It drove me crazy at some points. Gears 2 online was the game that made me change the way I think about playing games.

Regardless of all the bullshit and times it drove me mad, I still love Gears. I like to think I'm pretty good at it too.

My biggest enemy is lag.

This brings me to the present (A wonderful place to live.)

Currently the only game I've been playing is the Gears of War 3 beta. I was excited when I found out that Epic would be holding a beta to test out the game’s multiplayer, since the previous have had quality issues on day one of release.

How would I describe the beta?

Two words: Me Gusta.

It is by far the smoothest, least bullshity, most fun Gears of War online experience I have ever played.

I have enjoyed the time I’ve been playing it immensely.

It’s still the same old Gears we know and love, but at the same time it’s so much more.

Little additions and changes make a huge difference. Changes such as having to hold down the ‘X’ button to pick up a weapon/ammo rather than just tapping it. This saves you the agony of picking up ammo when you actually wanted to revive your buddy. Pulling your buddies out of tight spots is always fun. 

The satisfaction of getting a headshot is back for me. I didn’t like the headshot in Gears 2. The headshot in Gears 3 is much more akin to how it was in Gears 1. I’ve been getting them like crazy with my Gnasher shotgun, something I really missed. I don't even care if I'm the one getting his head shot off. It's still great. 

The whole experience is much less laggy. I've only had problems with lag once since playing the beta. This makes for a much smoother experience. Which also means I do better. Lag is my enemy remember?

The Seravend vending machines we all know and love (or is that just me?) are still around soaking up bullets for us.

There are a good number of new weapons in the beta. 

New new special executions are loads of fun too. The default COG and Locust execution are the best. Mostly because if you keep mashing the 'Y' button you can drag it on and on and on. It's always good for a laugh, even if you're on the receiving end. 

There are lots of small additions and tweaks that set Gears of War 3 apart from its predecessors. All of which make it the best Gears experience so far.

That means a lot coming from me.

I haven’t even played Gears of War 3 with friends yet. I would refuse to play Gears 2 without anyone I knew. If I didn’t I had a hard time having fun and would just end up getting frustrated.

Not the case with Gears 3. I have no problem enjoying it without anyone to share it with. Thought that’s not saying it doesn’t get even better with others, even if they’re just sitting watching you, laughing at how you just plowed through 3 guys with your shotgun, or skewered an enemy on your retro lancer’s bayonet.

It’s good fun.

If you haven’t had a chance to play it yet, you should. On May 8^th I should be getting a few beta codes to give away as a reward for playing the beta and previous series entries.

If I have enough, I would be happy to give you one! Just message me and I’ll let you know if I can get you a beta code.

Enjoy your Gears.

Enjoy your life.