I don’t see any comments mentioning this so, the tomatoes in gears 4 ARE the tomatoes Dom was growing. If every one gets destroyed Marcus has additional dialogue where he laments the loss of Dom’s tomatoes. He was growing them as a way to remember Dom specifically
Yes, the reasons why he gets angry are actually two: one is that he loses the last connection he had to his best friend (Don's tomatoes, even if after 25 years those are seeds he got from Don's original tomatoes) and the other that his serene, peaceful life is over and he has to go back to fighting. I think that one of the main reasons why I like Marcus Fenix so much compared to other action heroes is that Marcus actively hates fighting and war. He is good at combat, but he doesn't enjoy conflict at all. He hates it. He's the contrary to characters like Doomslayer.
@jdsgmeg Not really, there are few fps characters that actively hate being drawn into conflict, most are just dour "it must be done" types whose aversion to violence is only a moral signifier to indicate that the violence they commit is righteous, proportional,.and necessary. The call of duty franchises has this character template in spades.
It's nice to see Noah finally using those Patreon bucks to have a decent microphone, editing software, and that he's finally out of that dumpy, depressing apartment (though that might just be for the holidays)
The brilliance of this work is how Noah begins by saying, "what is there to say about Gears of War?" Then he goes on for over 3 hours to say some truly insightful things about the games in a way that made me feel like I hadn't wasted my time at all. And I've watched it twice. (So far)
"That this world of ours was destroyed by the greed of people who'd lived and died long before we were even born, and their poisonous legacy will one day waft up from the sewers and dead places to finish the job, no matter how we strive to escape it." Holy shit, I was not ready for that line.
THis is not earth, and these aren't probably humans. THey are aatleast neanderthal buil level.. @0% stronger at the least base form human, neanderthals could litterally get hit by a rinocharge and it's anything as bad is if you got rmmed by a rino. Theya re super strong, not as good at the stamina running, and can tank a serious hit. You can be a muscle buidler all you wan,having a muscle man tank a rino will only go so well. The durability of the neanderthals was off the charts compartively. they may have been 20% stronger, but the toughness was probably atleast double. THe strongest muscle man might be able to get close. All these dudes in gears of war can take more a hit than just a strong man. These guys aren't humans.
As an old fan, it lends itself to be discredited, even the cover seems to shout those snarky comments, and yet here it stands 15 years proud after seven games and a crazy amount of side content. I think that part of it is the gaming critics and influencers wanting to shake off that juvenile era of dudebros shooters, accepting Doom reboot because it's so over the top to be a parody, but I hope that in the future people will admire the monumental amount of care, love and craft in creative the most cohesive package in AAA history.
A lot of it is also not wanting to give MS or their properties the credit they are due in terms of influence and inspiration, unless it can be cast as a negative.
I’ve always found it interesting that according to the people who chose to save JD over Del at the climax of Gears 5, they did so not for his own sake, but because they didn’t want Marcus to lose the only family he’s got left.
Yeah thats why i chose JD, if JD wasnt Marcus' only living family left in a world that has repeatedly given Marcus a raw deal, i would've chose del in a heart beat. That being said im not saying JD deserved to die, ideally neither of them would have to die but they make you choose and JD has done some horrible things while as far as we know Del hasnt. Thinking on it though that was what i chose as a player cause i have this 4th wall experience and knowledge with Marcus that Kate doesnt have. Considering all that kate has been through i do feel like she would've chose Del over JD.
I agree wholeheartedly. I just couldn't do it to Marcus. And that makes me feel so, so bad for Del. Nepotism I guess killed Del for me. I knew the moment I was given the choice, my first thoughts were of Marcus.
Anthony, Benjamin, Tai, Dom, his dad, Anya, multiple other friends, and now his son? They’re gonna get death threats from a lot of people if they make JD dying canon.
That section where you compare how the characters feel about JD's actions with your own relationship to veterans, war, and the underlying two-way hypocrisy of it all was really bloody good, Noah. A typical example of the fantastic writing that so many of your videos are filled with. I have a feeling this is gonna be yet another video of yours that I rewatch a bunch of times.
I completely disagree with his sentiment about veterans. We live in the 21st century. An individual who chooses to be part of the ceasless US war machine knows what they're doing, because propaganda and sweet talking recruiters can't hide the global consequences like they used to. For someone to want to take part, they'd have to be either an idiot or a sociopath with genuine disdain for the rest of the world
@@ileutur6863 “ether a idiot, a sociopath, or have distain for the rest of the world” That’s a long way to go and say ‘I hate democracy’ (sarcasm) Or they could just be drafted or trying to get better living conditions? Let’s look at what we did in the middle east. First… neglect our allies the Tajiks who took out the USSR. Now we go in… because ‘hey aiding the Tajiks looks bad because they made drugs’ So how do we justify it? ‘We’re setting up a democracy to end terrorism.’ Now… Well democracy didn’t get us all that we wanted so we bribed their officials, and started exporting feminism to end terrorism. Remember the ‘being back our girls’ BS. These continued under trump, but Trump added democracy, feminism, and LGBT into the Middle East. Later generals lied and tried to keep people in the middle east, and then biden for political stunt pushed for his date ‘oh this is a great date for posing!’ But now let’s say we completely disband the military including the navy… now, we don’t secure trade routes of pirates, on top of other nations who have disbanded their military because of ours protecting them (now spending taxes for the military on welfare now) are gonna have a rough time… do the words ‘open season’ ring any bells? Now let’s loo at our policy under the USSR: build back nations after war so the USSR has more difficult conquering them. USSR is gone, so why do we keep doing that?
@@silent_stalker3687 yes, the common counter argument is that the US military offers help and protection to unstable areas, but that help only comes after the area was strategically destabilized... by the US os US funded puppets.
@@ileutur6863 I don’t think I mentioned ‘stabilize’ or ‘destabilized’ areas, we shouldn’t be there! Edit: maybe the USSR rebuilding stuff was stabilize reference now that I think of it I was referring to trade routes, and other nations which demilitarized because we offered protection. To put it into perspective look at all our bases and apply that to naval trade routes. Cut all of those off. Now roughly 1-2 billion people can exist on the planet. Why it’s so high is that we have complex trade, so now we just let open season for pirates upon the trade routes.
@@ileutur6863 Or just a high school kid that wants to help. Pretending propaganda still isnt shipping off kids to war just because we ourselves can see past it is horeibly unempathetic.
I learned of Noah from hbomb's 100k subscriber Q&A video. So thanks to Noah for so many amazing essays, and thanks to hbomb for many amazing essays and for introducing me to Noah. Two best creators on this platform, without question. Edit: I'm still waiting on hbomb's response to Noah's critique of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines...
I've been a defenders of Gears against its supposed 'brain-dead bro game' image for years, and I'm very happy to see someone express what I couldn't, with such detail and thoughtfulness. Excellent work as always.
Do you know what. I'll hold my hands up and say I've never played this because of my prejudice of it being another "brain dead bro game", I've downloaded it this morning and looking forward to playing it now. Only thing is I can't watched all the way through this video because of spoilers!
@@grantd165 27:00 Try to find someone to play with, a friend or even someone online. Try to tackle it on Insane. You will find the challenge substantial enough to require a lot of coordination and cooperation. It'll be a good bonding experience. Enjoy.
Me and my bro played it co-op this weekend. To be honest we tried insane and didn't do too good, turned it down and now we're really enjoying it whilst finding it still very difficult.
I've always felt that the first three Gears of War games had a very strong "Band of Brothers"-vibe to it: a group of soldiers fighting and in the end winning the war, but at such a heavy cost that makes you wonder whether it was really worth it. Gears of War 1 had Delta Squad go through some terrible situations to do pretty much nothing at all in the grand scheme of things. The resonator didn't do nearly as much mapping as everyone had hoped it would and the lightmass bomb did turn out to not do very much in the grand scheme of things. Gears of War 2 has the COG destroy the locust capital at the cost of thousands of lives and sinking their own last remaining city. It left both humans and locusts unable to effectively deal with the new lambent threat, and at the start of Gears of War 3 it is clear that both former parties are fighting a losing battle with the latter. Gears of War 3 finishes both the Lambent and Locust parts of the story, but once again at heavy cost. Dom dies, and all immulsion on the planet has essentially evaporated, which I assumed catapulted the humans back a few centuries in terms of technology. Gears 4 would make clear that didn't happen at all (on the contrary), but to me it felt like that at the time. It's genuinely good stuff for those who are willing to look beyond the dudebro buff characters. Gears 5 even deals with the emotional aftermath of a life of non-stop fighting. That first conversation between Kait and Marcus at the beginning is quite chilling if you think of it, and DiMaggio delivers it with the necessary gravitas as well: Marcus: "Nightmares?" Kait: "Does it get better?" Marcus: "It gets tolerable" Marcus is both a physically and psychologically scarred man who has no choice but to keep fighting, knowing full well that sooner or later he will end up losing even more comrades and loved ones. Marcus Fenix is one of the best developed video game characters in existence for me and the main reason I keep coming back to the Gears franchise.
I understand what Marcus means by "It gets tolerable". At this point waking up at least thrice a night to check weapons and do a sweep is just routine. It's a fact of life, right alongside needing to eat to stay alive.
@@aravindpallippara1577 Re: fatal for watching in one sitting: *rant about individual's right to choose* Re: order of magnitude bigger (not a great abstract term to use for this, but I know what you mean): I'm aware.
I've watched your whole catalog. As a retired veteran, to me, this video is your best work. The commentary surrounding Gears 5 and the theming around it and JD just hit me like a bag of bricks.
That's happened twice for me and it's been equal parts wonderful and vaguely off-putting each time. Noah's got a main line plugged directly into the universe or something.
Thank you for making me realize how much I underestimated these games. I played the first one as a kid but very quickly wrote them off as emblematic of everything wrong with 360 era game design. In truth, I think they were everything *right* with 360 game design. They are fast-paced, hard hitting, unpretentious games but still manage to have meaningful things to say and powerful emotions to convey. They're like a really good burger. Too much fanciness ruins the bite. The things that make a great burger a simple, and because they're simple they're so often overlooked, even by chefs who ought to know better. All you really need is a good bun, a good patty, one sauce and one or two toppings. Do all of that as well as you possibly can, and you've got a great sandwich. That's Gears of War. A really, really good sandwich.
In a way, looking back now with all the weighty wisdom that my long 29 years of living have brought me, the 7th generation -- Wii, PS3, X360, was the last generation where games were allowed to be games and that was good enough. The 6th generation had wanted games to be movies, and the 7th generation I think was the first to really have the power and sophistication to truly let games be games mostly unbound by technical limitations. The Gears games are quintessential video game. Highly interactive, based on challenge and iteration, fast paced, and all about delivering that satisfying experience. The clever commentary was always there. The theme of the first game was destroyed beauty, and if you played more slowly, you would get plenty of moments to contemplate the game, the environment, the latest conversation, and so on. Overall throughout the series, they made a number of choices to keep a more artistic vision in the subtext. For one, none of the heroes are all that good looking or even traditionally heroic. For another, they make a point of using classical orchestral music rather than some rock, rap, electronic, or pop soundtrack. I could go on, but Noah already beat me to literally everything and then some.
@@Mortablunt Buy this kinda ignores a lot of of games even superior to these in maturity and complexity before the 7th gen...silent hill, Max Payne, Deus Ex, Gabriel knight, legacy of kain, forbidden siren, fatal frame among others... If anything 7th gen onwards games became more and more (there are still exceptions) pretentious culminating in modern snotty and misguided immature games acting up "adult". And designed for "whales" too :/
@@Mortablunt I think it was just a matter of being at the right level of technical capacity, along with a desire for both 'this is art' AND 'this is NOT movies/TV', combined with being before the self destructive greed we see going on to this day.
The Maria scene still disturbs me greatly for some reason. It has a bunch of flaws but the way they modeled her makes the scene extremely scary to me. Her face has that same kind of utter disconnection and suffering that you can see on the faces of dementia patients. Where you know they're still a person but they've been largely erased and only tatters remain of what they once were.
I haven't played any of these games, but watching Noah's analysis, I was struck by the same sort of thing you're talking about. The most strongly I've ever been hit by this particular sort of horror is reading what happens to a minor character in H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Colour Out of Space'.
Yeah the scene is a little heavy handed and clunky, but Noah still refers to it as a scene that works and I agree. You're right I think that the character model of Maria does a lot of work in as to why it works.
What gets me is when Dom starts whimpering. It grows in intensity until he shoots her. Up until that, I mostly agree that it's pretty heavy-handed, but the voice preformance is surprisingly subtle and it gets more and more real as Dom realizes what he has to do and hesitates. The scene is kinda emblematic of the whole franchise in that way. It's kinda obvious and blunt on the surface, but there are layers upon layers to everything in these games, and that's why I love them so much. They're enjoyable no matter what you want from them. They've got a lot of real emotion, surprisingly human characters and dialogue, and the best world-building I can think of in a game like this, but you can ignore all of that and still have a fucking blast because the games are brilliantly designed and just flat out fun to play. It's the best of both worlds.
@@elvisneedsboats7856 it makes the game more replayable & bingable too. If i get tired of analyzing everything, i can sit back and chill. But, that also means each replay lets me catch details i overlooked previously. Idk if it's something they always intended on doing, or if they just stumbled they're way into it, but it's remarkable to say the least
XCOM seems right up his alley. It would be strange if he had never played any of the series. I would love a video from him on the modern games. There isn't a lot of thematic meat to them, but there is an incredible amount of play.
@SpoonyBard88 I think XCOM: Enemy Within does have a compelling theme of modification, i.e. your soldiers becoming something perhaps stranger through their augmentation, and how it mirrors the aliens who've also been aggressively modified. It nicely works itself into the gameplay, since you'll likely be using those augmentations. That said, I do think there is a dissonance between its presentation vs gameplay - the game presents the change as potentially concerning, whereas it's more an expansive upgrade gameplay-wise, meaning a player will be like 'nice, more upgrades, machine people here we go!' I still think it all does work, but the dissonance is there [Edit: spelling]
You are one of my most anticipated creators, even when you write about games I don't play. You have writing style of Mark Danielewski and a wonderful, dry, sneaky humor that I love. Thank you for continuing to create videos.
That's interesting. I've only ever read HoL by Danielewski; i've always thought of Noah as more of a travel writer, say like a Geoff Dyer or a Bill Bryson type.
2:38:00 "I don't believe in war, but war sure as hell believes in me." Considering that you started this video by admitting you weren't sure what to even say, I think you've found a pretty darn compelling reason to analyse the themes in these games.
In Gears 5 I believe that even though it does demonize JD to make it more of an easy choice to kill, it also makes him more heroic when you think about it. He's the son of the most famous war hero in history and I believe that it isn't his pride behind his choices but more of his fear of failing to live up to his father's legacy. He joined the COG like his father (probably to make him proud even though Marcus said don't do it), and attained a position of command likely due to his parentage. As mentioned in the video, Gears 5 is all about the continued damage of Legacy on the new generation. JD is not Marcus, but everyone sees him as that, even the player is inclined to save him due to his legacy. The video claims that killing JD doesn't allow him to atone for his crimes, but I don't think Atonement is like a community service punishment where you put in an allotted amount of hours. His atonement is a single action or choice that takes him off of his fathers path. For killing the protesters, JD left the COG which is something Marcus never chose. For the Hammer of Dawn activation, he resigned himself to assisting Kate. Becoming a secondary player unlike Marcus who was always the main character. Every Bad choice, is a choice he made attempting to follow in Marcus' footsteps. Every good choice is one he makes to turn away from what his father would have done. Del was a great side character, and maybe I'm missing a lot of lore on him that I didn't pick up. But Del has never had the struggle that JD was put into, Del wasn't at the protestor rally, Del wasn't talking to Baird to decide whether the HoD was a good idea. Del is a new blank character who is capable of making his own mistakes and just hasn't had the position to make them. In the end, my point is that Del and JD are the exact same person, one just has the most famous Mother and Father of all time.
Del actually was at the Settlement 2 protest, he chose not to fire unlike JD and Fahz. But that doesn't invalidate your overall point, which is a good one
I don't know if you're wrong, or if you're right and that's an indictment of the COG as a whole. Where living up to warriors legacies means killing protestors and using orbital lasers on unarmed civilians.
Like I wouldn't call it heroic, but I believe that JD believed those actions were heroic at the time, and that says something about the world he was raised in.
Ultimately JD is seemingly the "best case" scenario. I haven't played Gears 5, but in JD I see some similarities with a character in the novel After the Revolution (I won't finish my point because you should read it, it's free both in text and audiobook form via Iheart Radio)
The mentioned linear order: - Ram's Shadow - Gears of War Judgement (first campaign) - Gears of War Tactics - Gears of War - Gears of War 2 - Gears of War 3 (first 2/3rds) - Gears of War Judgement (second campaign) - Gears of War 4 - Gears 5 - Hiveclusters
@@86Fallowcp Gears Judgement (base campaign) : 6 weeks after E-day Gears Tactics: 1 year after E-day Raams Shadow: 9 years after E-day Gears 1: 14 years after E-day Gears 2: 6 months after Gears 1, 14 or 15 years after E-day Gears 3: 17 years after E-day Gears Judgement (Aftermath campaign): 17 years after E-day Gears 4/Hivebusters/5: 42 years after E-day
Gears one helped me quit smoking. My flat mate and I stayed up all night playing it. All the nicotine withdrawal symptoms, the sweats, the rage, the anxiety… it all just got soaked up into the atmosphere of the game. Made the experience peak and took the negative out of the withdrawal. Thank you gears of war. The only game that helped me overcome addiction 🙏
A tendency I've noticed in watching Noah's retrospectives is that I often end up playing through an entire franchise. Happened with Mass Effect, Dead Space, Half-Life, and now Gears of War and I always end up with a bigger appreciation for these games than I did before, Gear of War especially. I've always liked Gears of War, but between playing 3 and 4 was an almost ten-year gab and after playing through almost all of them now (stilling missing Gears Tactics) it's honestly become one of my favourite game franchises.
I always knew Gears was more than everyone else reduced it too. That the dudebro father of cover shooters wasn't restrained to the 2000s and that in many ways it outmatched it's contemporaries. I really feel this review has done it justice. This world, characters are so unbelievably consistent and constantly exciting that Gears has justified it's existence as a AAA game long ago. The boldness of the Coalition reminds me of how static 343 were in the beginning and how they finally had the balls to step out of the shadow with Halo Infinite. Hope the Gears developers see this and know how special their new trilogy is because I'm tired of it getting brushed off.
2:01:00 - 2:01:27 is the greatest section of writing and voice over you have ever done. It's the perfect representation of how sometimes, even the most eloquent writing, sharp points, and keen observations can be thrown out the window and sometimes - just sometimes - all you need is to vocalize our lizard brains.
Gears 5 gutted me. Handing JD's cog tags to Marcus and in that moment realizing the full scope of what I had chosen and that their relationship ended "strained" just killed me. Padua says something about how a just war is better than an unjust peace in Act 3. At the time I thought that he had a point. Act 4 made me question and hate myself for thinking this.
I've come to the odd duck conclusion that there is no such thing as a 'just' war. But there do seem to be necessary ones, and maybe that's what the intention of the phrase is at the end of the day. The idea that the necessity justifies what is otherwise unacceptable. (It logically follows that War would be the last stop on the problem solving chain.)
From the DLC’s, to the campaign, to the multiplayer, Gears 3 was undoubtedly my favorite if I had to pick only one, with Gears 2 as a runner up. Now, as for the future of the storyline, I really want to the what unfolds after the events of Gears 5, since they gave the players to choose between Del and JD. My assumption is they’ll most likely make Del’s death canon for narrative purposes. Really curious where the story is headed to for Gears 6.
Did Del ever have enough of a character to die, tho? JD's arc was all about redemption, he was throughly developed in this game, his death kinda feels the most fitting even if it didn't do anything cuz i fucking hate that ending
"Honey, come down for the New Years toast." "I can't, Noah is talking about video games." Happy New Year Noah, and happy new year to all of us! What a WONDERFUL way to ring in 2022!
I couldn't let JD die. The guilt of having Marcus lose the only family he had left in life, I couldn't. He lost friends, his father, his brother-in-arms, his wife. A feeling I myself fear.
Years ago I remember asking Noah if he would ever consider covering the Metal Gear Solid series and he responded saying something along the lines of not being interested in buying a console in order to play through them. So seeing this video was a very welcome surprise. His analysis is always great and he often brings up points that almost no one would have even considered which makes him stand out so much as a content creator.
The Gears 2 Prescott speech is an editing masterpiece. The slow fade-in of the Gears of War 2 logo right as the choir reaches the crescendo sends chills.
Maybe my favourite video of yours yet. Whenever I recommend Gears I inevitably sarcastically talk about explosions and buff guys, because pulling apart the subtle craftsmanship, weirdly brilliant writing and thoughtful direction is tough and makes you come off as silly when talking about “the games with the chainsaw gun”. So glad I have this as a resource, and it’s so impressive seeing you successfully break apart these games.
Interesting thing about GoW series is that I recall absolutely loving it 12-15 years ago and we had multiplayer tournaments at work at the time, where half the office would compete. We even had matches against other office branches in our company, with interest that peaked with GoW2. A lot of people specifically bought X360's, for some of whom those were their first, and to date, the only consoles they had ever purchased, just to be able to take part in those tournaments. However as soon I got my fill both I and probably nearly everyone else from around my circle forgot this series even existed, which happened sometime shortly after GoW3 got released. I have not heard anyone mention this franchise even in passing in the past decade. Actually it's this very video that reminded me of its existence for the first time in years.
Mainly because the next entry after gow3 didn't sell as well and wasn't very liked by the fans, then a small gap from 2013 until 2015 with GoW: UE which is a GoW1 remaster and Gears of War 4 in 2016 which I would say was another peak at least in multiplayer and it's esports. Also most of the franchise's audience is in Latin America now, ever since the start of the series, but gow was huge in usa with latam on the side, tho now it's the very area that keeps it up. Try finding a highly viewed video of Gears 5 that isn't a trailer or a bigger youtuber that dipped their toes in for a video. Mainly Mexican channels have videos with 100,000+ views and gow4 had even higher views. The esport events in Mexico were like the superbowl. Gears 5 really hurt the series, it did well for MS and The Coalition, but it died off in its relevance like a month into it. Many didn't like the campaign and the mp went too noob friendly and a strict pve setting. Legit it's first 5 "operations" fixing the game and only after the studio lead, Rod Fergusson, left in Season 3. It took until January 2021 (game launched in sept. 2019) to get it up to a "good" area for its mp and pve. And died down with season 6 being kinda a letdown and s7-8 being the last to add content. Season 9 ended a day ago with no content and from now until the next game, no maps, characters, skins, or content. It's on autopilot already. It's esports didn't fair either due to covid 19 ofc with many pros leaving. The series is good and the memories can't be taken away, but it just hasn't reached a high relevancy with Gears of War 4 being it's closest. Hope Gears of War finds itself again.
@@SpartanChief2277 We were not based in any of the American continents and none of us was even primary English speaker. The lack of interest was not due to GoW3 being bad or anything, it just simply waned with time as we all collectively got older.
@@SpartanChief2277 This is such a curious perspective on the MP community to me, having never touched 4 or 5 beyond the campaign - 5 felt much better composed to me at almost every level in the campaign
@@gregorysteffensen3279 the 5 campaign is just launch rocket, play as "ow my head" Kait, 2 Acts of boring skiff rides to launch another rocket. Then a final Act that felt like actual Gears (and The Coalition forgot to include Clayton Carmine in the final cutscene, lol). 4 was just them discovering the swarm in 1 day and night tho it had cooler levels. Go woke go broke. The Gears 5: Hivebusters DLC is better than the main Gears 5 Campain, and that barely 4 hours long
Exactly what I needed to pull me out of this lonely, depressing existence where I can hear fireworks and other neighbors’ cheers and happiness around me. Thanks for all that you do, Noah. Your calming voice and thoughtful critiques are a true gem. Happy new year.
Your thoughts on Gears 4 feeling dragged out rang so true for me. I replayed it with a friend new to the franchise and I was like holy shit this is taking a while to get to the good shit. Luckily we were high as a kite the entire time so was still super fun!
Simple is actually a very good way to describe this series. The mechanics have never evolved much beyond polishing what was already great in the first place. Gears 5 feels closest to me, to the original than it does any of its sequels. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Maybe chainsaw it, but goddamnit don't fix it!
I used to kind of look down on this series, it just kind of seemed juvenile and very mid-2000s but the video actually got me to try the series out, and I'm so glad it did, I was so enamored by everything in this series that I pretty much binge played the entirety of it in the span of about a month. It's the definition a beautiful simplicity.
Noah these last few retrospectives have gone to another level of quality. I've watched you for the better part of a decade and I think the stuff you are putting out now is the best it's ever been! You're a true inspiration on the platform - the true spiritual father of the long form analysis video
Thank you so very much for making this retrospective. I played Gears of War 1 and 2 with my dad when I was very young, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I appreciate you digging into what truly worked about these games, and especially appreciate you highlighting their explicit anti-war themes, which really stood out to me as underdiscussed even at the time. Gears as I experienced it felt like a very different game from Gears as people talked about it, and it's nice to hear someone talk about the game I played for once.
This game was the start of my brother and I playing Co-op. I’ll never forget the experience I had playing with my brother over the first three campaigns. I don’t really remember liking the characters or the story or caring much at all for either - but I remember having fun with my brother and I’ll always be grateful to Epic games for giving me that.
I'm hoping Microsoft gives this the halo treatment and make a Gears collection, for better graphics and finally being able to play all games on PC without XCloud or something like that. Would also be cool if they scatter all the weapons from the series across the game in a lore friendly way.
I've never played gears and I didn't plan on it, but you made such a compelling argument for why I should dive in. I love these videos and I love your commitment to your script. Stay awesome brother.
Just went through Noah's video backlog again to realise ive been listening to this guy for the last 8 years and not once have i been disappointed with any of his videos.
Im so glad to get this retrospective, Ive always felt there was more to Gears than just an explosion gore-fest, especially with 3, I'm so glad you gave it the focus it did cause Ive thought on it similarly
This video accurately conveyed the internal contradictions one has regarding living in the imperial core. We can look down at what other countries do, but that ignores how we benefit from the imperialism that those countries try and fight against.
i'm so happy you specifically got into the voice acting, and John Dimaggio's role in particular. I've loved John's work for many years and he seems less well known (as is so often the fate for voice actors) than i think he deserves
This is my favorite game series of all time, and you did it justice. And I know some people don’t like the Coalition era of Gears games, but I love them. And this has to be one of my favorite video essays on this series.
Only you could make me legitimately interested in GoW. Your sensitivity in discussing the perilous relationship between the United States military, its soldiers, and its citizenry brings to mind something someone once said about Hunter S. Thompson, its sentiment being one of regret that he was not present in the modern era to provide the scathing reaction to its hypocrisies and absurdities he would have been so expertly equipped for. While your style is one of quite a bit more optimism than that of Thompson, something about the eloquence with which you frame some of these intricacies of the American experience that are so often either ignored or entirely denied by the respective 'teams' of contemporary American political and cultural expression. Happy New Year, ya filthy animal!
Every single time I decide to replay some beloved series and want to watch a retrospective to kinda hype for playing through them again, I can always count on a nice long video from you. Absolutely adore your content. You are up with Jacob Geller as one of the best gaming writers on this site, if not just the best writers altogether. Keep it up friendo. It's appreciated.
Gears is probably the most Me franchise that I never played. It is exactly the kind of crazy action and mayhem that appeals to me but due to me never owning an XBOX and for the longest time not owning a gaming capable PC I had to resort to the next best thing, I bought the novels. And I was very surprised to learn how good they are. The novels are written by a former war correspondent and you can tell. They have this feeling of just franticness and chaos that you probably can only really convey if you actually have witnessed war.
A recent novel has just came out too back in November, it takes place right after gears of war 3, with it being about rebuilding humanity, the COG, and rumors of surviving locust tho the summary of it says the enemy might be all too human, I haven't read it
Nice touch with the Tears For Fears version of Mad World. Hearing the Gary Jules version play as Dom comes to terms with his mortality and calls out to Maria was so heart breaking, especially if you've stuck with the series and remember the trailer for the very first game back in like 2005. What a great moment of finality.
As someone who is undoubtedly more of a fan of Halo than I am of Gears, Gears is significantly more willing to look at the flaws of its 'good guys'. An indirect comparison would be interesting as hell.
It's really refreshing to hear an articulate analysis on this series that doesn't frame the game as a "meathead dude-bro shooter", or a series that is somehow intellectually inferior because major components of its design became the inspiration for a lot of middling imitators in the 360 era.
I would love to see your take on connecting and distinguishing themes between the apocalyptic grand shooters of that era: Gears, Halo, Killzone and Resistance.
"It's like DnD D-Day; big monsters and bigger caves replacing the Normandy coast." - Just one of many brilliant lines here. Thank you for spending so long contextualizing and re-contextualizing my favorite franchise. You raised points I never realized, and hammered home others I'd never thought about "that way" before. It's inspiring. It matches my thoughts and feelings... Hell, it explained to me something I already knew, but in better detail than I'd managed on my own: JD *is* the fictional embodiment of my brother, who was our outwardly-confident (yet quietly wounded) golden boy of blue eyes, square jaw, and willingness to endanger himself for others... Before he did something "unforgivable" and shot himself. Jimmy was my Player 2, and in Gears 4 he was Player 1. Gears was our shared hobby, and I replay it sometimes to keep that bond alive... And you bet your ass I let JD die in Gears 5, because saving Del was the better choice in the moment, and the regret I feel over that is exactly why it worked. That choice didn't need to be a choice. It completely forgot JACK, who could've made the scene more badass, emotional, *and sensible* without changing it. But dammit, even if it was a mistake to make that a choice, the choice turned the death (whoever you choose) into the kind of mistake that clues gamers in on the plight of the characters. That's the exact kind of bullshit, didn't-know-it-was-a-mistake-until-it-was-too-late kind of Crossing the Rubicon that war veterans make every year. Having met and worked with many veterans of many wars, from the Big Red 1, to MACV-SOG-turned-SEAL, to Recon Marines, to scouts and drivers and mortarmen... All I can say here is *you get it.* And so do the teams behind Gears of War (mostly). I can only hope that Gears 6 lets us play two different versions with two different Player 2s, one of whom is a better man, the other of whom is a better leader... But I know it's better for dev-time, resources, and *boldness* if The Coalition just nuts up and chooses one canon. Del is, if you pay attention, *the adopted son of Marcus and brother of JD since childhood.* Marcus loses a son no matter which choice, it's just that JD was the one with Anya's hair, Dom's name, and Fenix eyes. If one canon must be chosen, The Coalition should not go the "Save/Kill Carmine" route. It shouldn't be a popularity vote. Let JD die a soldier's death: sacrificed in the rain, unable to wash blood off his hands, having fought to the last bullet and blade for his friends. Let Del have his time to shine, and dedicate every possible resource to making it work. Del is the one who actually inherited Dom by watching Marcus and supervising JD. And Del is every bit the heroic everyman we all wish to be... The heroic everyman that JD wished to be. But you're wrong about RAAM's Shadow. It takes place *ten years* after E-Day, shortly before the battle where Marcus abandoned his post to save Adam. The writers and most of the devs knew this, but marketing (and even a couple higher-up devs) didn't get it. Or worse, the higher-ups tried to turn it into an E-Day DLC at the last split second. And Gears Judgement takes place almost a year after E-Day, with the Mk2 Lancer being shoehorned in for gameplay reasons alone.
Awesome video and summary of the games. The points you made about gears 5 definently helped me look at the game differently, I liked the campaign but now I feel the need to replay it and appreciate it some years removed from the gameplay changes influencing my view on it.
This is easily the most important TH-cam channel I’ve ever found. I put on old episodes to fall asleep, I get ridiculously excited when a new one drops. I’m extremely hungover on New Years Day and watching this right now is everything I needed
In terms of video game reviews, Noah, you're at the head of the pack. I get excited when I see another 2-hour video review (or longer) of yours has dropped. I know it'll be a well-researched, well written, well paced video detailing things I never would have considered before about the game and/or games you're reviewing. I've been a fan a while but have never spoke up before! Can't wait to see what's next.
Noah: There's not much to say about gears. Also Noah: *3 and a half hours later* just play it. Great video, seriously. I went from "I don't care about Gears" to " Why is there not a collection yet?" In about an hour
What I love most about your work is that it is both insightful AND passionate. There are others who do in-depth analyses/critiques but they often sound as though they have lost all joy for the video game medium. By contrast there are some who are clearly in love with what they do but aren't willing to truly dig into things. You somehow pull off a perfect balance. This video is a perfect example, where you offered an enlightening example of the pros and cons of the Gears franchise but ultimately ended up in a place of admiration. It even made me want to go back and replay the games. Great stuff!
You are consistently one of the most insightful, erudite, and overall excellent game analysts that I've ever "read". I regularly suggest your videos to other academics who are working on aesthetics of videogames. Thank you so much for all of your work!
Another excellent piece, Noah. Your work has retained the depth and spark that first drew so many of us in, and the execution, technique, and production quality keep improving. You’ve set an admirably high bar-one that I makes it so easy to continue to support your work! I hope you continue to explore the topics you find interesting because we all benefit from watching the result.
21:10 one of the best Gears trailers was the into dust one for gears 3, really emphasises what you were talking about at this point. The team running from monsters, moving and fighting, while the real enemy for everyone is the environmental destruction of the planet. The locusts and humans collectively being crushed by tidal wave upon tidal wave, even as they keep fighting each other pointlessly.
Me describing Gears now: The bleak tonality and carefully crafted atmosphere of Gears of War makes for a truly unique story driven experience. Me describing Gears in Middle School: Dude your gun has a fucking chainsaw
really cool how a script you couldn't figure out how to write materialized in one of my favorite videos of yours. i do genuinely feel a small sense of pride to be contributing to your work in the very tiny way i am by being a patron.
Dear Mr. Gervai, I have been following your video`s for some time. You talk about games very thoroughly and analytically. I also have quite a bit of love for this type of entertainment. My exposure to video games started rather late. I`m visually impaired (basically nearly blind). What I like is that I get to experience adventures that are beyond my imagination or physical capability. Anyway, keep up the good work. I thank you for your informative content.
@@gregorysteffensen3279 Idk, knowing there is that semi-open world aspect of it kinda turns me off. Also the choosing which teammate gets sacrificed doesn't sit well with me. Better I just stay away.
Thank you so much for treating us to 3+ hours of such a thoughtful and enthusiastic Gears retrospective! I've known about this video since you posted but didn't let myself watch all the way through until i finally played Hivebusters lol. It was a pleasure watching this and feeling like you are communing with people who feel the same way about Gears as yourself. It's truly one of my top 3 video game franchises of all time. You put such time, effort, and care into making this video, thanks again 😊
Noah, thank you for the hours and hours of content, across all your videos; for speaking so clearly and elegantly for such extended periods of time, for editing together ALL of the gameplay, all for us to share in your mutual passion for video games, writing and knowledge. Thanks for the unique intros, the research and for reading the credits of every single benefactor. Happy 2022 Noah. You made 2021 that much better, and we're so happy to have you with us.
Your section on JD and forgiveness put a whole different spin on Gears 5 for me. It also made me take a second to recognize my pace and complicity in the violence that our lives and societies have built their foundations on. I love your insightful takes on the franchise. I never considered taking such a fine scalpel to how these games are built and written. I always enjoyed them, but never really took the time to consider them beyond the surface level machismo I saw when I first encountered them as a kid/teen.
At 2:39:45 you mention that if we are seen as our cruelest deed that there is no redemption for anyone. Sometimes the strongest form of redemption is that forgiveness, for both the victim and the one being condemned. The saying "Forgive but don't forget" has more power than just condemnation ever could. It could be the redemption of two souls, not just one.
I actually really like Gears Judgement. I like that they went to a two weapon system with an actual grenade button. It streamlined the combat. Plus I kind of liked the bite sized level segments. It just distilled Gears down and sped the pacing up.
Nice to see someone who played these games and came up with more than "hurr durr big guys shoot monsters". Gears has great characters, great lore and amazing atmosphere on top of crisp gameplay. Thanks for covering this Noah.
"ah but in case I stand one little chance, I'll ask that funny jackpot question in advance: what are you doing new years eve?" "Okay so there's this TH-camr named Noah who constantly puts out feature length analysis videos and..."
So, I have a problem with the way gears 5 tries to portray JD’s decisions. His ego is for sure a problem and leads to his greatest failures, but I think your analysis kinda misses context behind his decisions. I tried to put myself in his shoes for the two biggest moments in his life, settlement 2 and the hammer of dawn misfire. Settlement 2. I don’t know if I would have made a different decision in his shoes. If we’re to believe what the games says is true, what the hell was he supposed to do? Let the people he’s in charge of be in danger, and likely get people he’s in charge of die? It’s easy to look back at this situation in our gamer chairs and think “Mmm, yes, JD was wrong because the game says so”, but when you scrutinize it for a second it kinda falls apart. It’s a terrible situation where everyone loses no matter what decision is made, and JD was the one who had to make a call. Either protect the people he’s leading but kill innocent people in the process, or let his squad get torched by violent protesters to not kill innocents and likely get court marshaled and executed. It’s awful. The hammer strike. An unstable weapon that could save the lives of everyone you’re trying to help and the swarm bearing down your throat, probably going to kill everyone there anyway if you don’t do something about it. Jesus christ, what a shitty situation. I ask again: what was he supposed to do? If he didn’t fire it, the swarm were entirely likely to massacre everyone there, but if he does, he puts them all in danger anyway. As far as the game tells us, there isn’t another worthwhile option that could get everyone out there. Yet another terrible situation he would come out of scarred no matter what. So what’s my issue? The game tries to paint these decisions as clear cut when it’s not that simple. He was put in awful, heart destroying situations that no human should ever have to be in and had to choose between a rock and a hard place. No matter what he did, he would suffer for it, and the game tries to point the finger at him for it. Like it was all his fault and there was a clear “Nah, JD’s a piece of shit and can’t learn from his mistakes.” Also Del was a nothing burger of a character imo. I didn’t even hesitate to save JD, I couldn’t make Marcus suffer more, not after what he’s gone through.
I've absolutely loved this video, finally someone giving a solid and fair critique to gears 4 & 5 and seeing them as what they are continuation of a history that now follows new characters and i defend that despite being and old fan of the franchise and gears 2 being my favorite but i gotta say ,1 thing: it totally triggers me that you don't vent the turrets or heavy weapons in your gameplay
I distinctly remember being up late with the gang in like, elementary school, watching spike TV and when the gears commercial would come on I'd tell everyone to shut up and not interrupt the commercial. Resonated with me so much the first trailer is my PC wallpaper.
Gears 2 is my favorite. The scale and everything expands. The dive into the world, story. Love it. Really long game too. I kind of wish they'd remaster it on PC like original. 56:05 Always loved the animation of chick in back left when Cole asks if they have anything to trade. She like pats herself down hahah I just never loved GOW3's story or how it wrapped up the series. Never really liked many of the story beats across the entire series honestly. But love the verse and setting.
Gears 2 is legitimately my favorite game of all time. I have the fondest memories of my sister and I playing through the Road to Ruin DLC stealth scene. I remember how much we screamed and laughed whenever we did something stupid that got us exposed. Even to this day she and I can quote Gears 1 and 2 all but perfectly to each other. Edit: not to mention that I literally can't play shooters anymore without thinking about how fucking GOOD it feels to active reload.
Gow 2 had that locust city under the mountain at the end. I absolutely fell in love with the baroque aesthetic. It's got some chaos marine in there but still keeps it original.
"The game is perfectly accessible on Cole's level of 'murder as touchdown' alone, which is what allowed it to be a bro culture lighting rod." I am in awe of the phrase "murder as touchdown." It is so god damn funny my body does not know how to react. I am simply stuck here. Note: I've never played any of the Gears games in spite of owning every generation of Xbox. Third-person shooters really throw me. I did not like playing RE4, so avoided the entire genre to follow. But, this essay is so fun I'm almost compelled to play. Yet, I am certain that actually playing the games won't be as fun as listening to Noah talk about them. This is a phenomenal pickle.
Play 'em with a friend. If you don't have one interested in it, go for matchmaking or a LFG discord or something. Genuinely, these games are way, WAY better than people gave them credit for, and I think taking advantage of the ubiquitous 'games are always better with friends' trait to give the game's genre a minor pass is more than worth it.
Holy shit! Shout out to the TH-cam algorithm for introducing me to this video. Such incredible writing and editing, I can't believe I haven't noticed how long I've been watching this without noticing the total length of the video. Great job bro!
One of the few times, despite supposed dudebroiness of those games I actually think most of themes you talk about are very much genuine on part of creators,it's a wierd franchise, just like Halo, there's not that much on surface and I play both for shooting evil monsters but they all actually convey pretty thoughtful themes throughout.
First of all, love the content; it truly is a good day anytime a Noah video drops. Secondly, this is perhaps the only positive take on Gears of War I've heard on the platform; every other person who has covered the series talks down about it being a mindless 'jock shooter'. It's tough to hear all that negativity and remain unaffected; even in my own mind I had wrote it off and didn't even realise it until I watched this video. My older brother and I used to play the Gears of War games couch-coop and we loved them. Though (much) time has passed, we even managed to get together and play through Gears 5 online during the worst of the pandemic. I had forgot how good it was to play these games with him until this video. Thank-you for that Noah.
![A Thorough Look At Half-Life [Revised/Expanded/HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_bsIXA8lNZc/mqdefault.jpg)
![A Thorough Look At Half-Life [Revised/Expanded/HD]](/img/tr.png)
I don’t see any comments mentioning this so, the tomatoes in gears 4 ARE the tomatoes Dom was growing. If every one gets destroyed Marcus has additional dialogue where he laments the loss of Dom’s tomatoes. He was growing them as a way to remember Dom specifically
Yes, the reasons why he gets angry are actually two: one is that he loses the last connection he had to his best friend (Don's tomatoes, even if after 25 years those are seeds he got from Don's original tomatoes) and the other that his serene, peaceful life is over and he has to go back to fighting.
I think that one of the main reasons why I like Marcus Fenix so much compared to other action heroes is that Marcus actively hates fighting and war. He is good at combat, but he doesn't enjoy conflict at all. He hates it. He's the contrary to characters like Doomslayer.
AW MY FUCKING TOMATOES
I want a movie with vin diesel and Channing Tatum
@@adriandelatorreebro9555bro like every character in games has the description you just listed, the Doomslayer is the exception to that rule lmao.
@jdsgmeg Not really, there are few fps characters that actively hate being drawn into conflict, most are just dour "it must be done" types whose aversion to violence is only a moral signifier to indicate that the violence they commit is righteous, proportional,.and necessary. The call of duty franchises has this character template in spades.
Writing is as sharp as always, and the video editing is looking better than ever!
Is there like a club of YT VG essayists? Do ya'll get together under gazebos, sip tea and brutally mock each other with Nietzsche quotes?
Hey Jacob, love your content. Cool to see you supporting other creators
@@IconoclastDX The yt videogame essayist cabal is my new favourite secret society.
It's nice to see Noah finally using those Patreon bucks to have a decent microphone, editing software, and that he's finally out of that dumpy, depressing apartment (though that might just be for the holidays)
wish you two would do some stream or chat / colab together man.
The brilliance of this work is how Noah begins by saying, "what is there to say about Gears of War?" Then he goes on for over 3 hours to say some truly insightful things about the games in a way that made me feel like I hadn't wasted my time at all.
And I've watched it twice. (So far)
"That this world of ours was destroyed by the greed of people who'd lived and died long before we were even born, and their poisonous legacy will one day waft up from the sewers and dead places to finish the job, no matter how we strive to escape it."
Holy shit, I was not ready for that line.
I had to pause and step away for a bit after that one.
It’s going to happen to us
THis is not earth, and these aren't probably humans.
THey are aatleast neanderthal buil level..
@0% stronger at the least base form human, neanderthals could litterally get hit by a rinocharge and it's anything as bad is if you got rmmed by a rino.
Theya re super strong, not as good at the stamina running, and can tank a serious hit. You can be a muscle buidler all you wan,having a muscle man tank a rino will only go so well. The durability of the neanderthals was off the charts compartively. they may have been 20% stronger, but the toughness was probably atleast double. THe strongest muscle man might be able to get close.
All these dudes in gears of war can take more a hit than just a strong man.
These guys aren't humans.
@@bobsterclause342 By that logic every buff action hero is actually a neanderthal. More likely they are fictional homo sapiens.
Fictional homosapiens? Fake and... @@jasonfenton8250
I've never played any of the Gears games but it's refreshing to hear a review of them that isn't just snarky or dismissive.
As an old fan, it lends itself to be discredited, even the cover seems to shout those snarky comments, and yet here it stands 15 years proud after seven games and a crazy amount of side content. I think that part of it is the gaming critics and influencers wanting to shake off that juvenile era of dudebros shooters, accepting Doom reboot because it's so over the top to be a parody, but I hope that in the future people will admire the monumental amount of care, love and craft in creative the most cohesive package in AAA history.
Definitely agree! I would say that could stand true for almost all "review"s.
A lot of it is also not wanting to give MS or their properties the credit they are due in terms of influence and inspiration, unless it can be cast as a negative.
@@xBINARYGODx You live in a console war bubble and you need to look outside every once in a while.
@@matteodigallo561 exactly the story is so good and on the surface, like you said look like dude bros, but there's sooo much depth
I’ve always found it interesting that according to the people who chose to save JD over Del at the climax of Gears 5, they did so not for his own sake, but because they didn’t want Marcus to lose the only family he’s got left.
Yeah thats why i chose JD, if JD wasnt Marcus' only living family left in a world that has repeatedly given Marcus a raw deal, i would've chose del in a heart beat. That being said im not saying JD deserved to die, ideally neither of them would have to die but they make you choose and JD has done some horrible things while as far as we know Del hasnt.
Thinking on it though that was what i chose as a player cause i have this 4th wall experience and knowledge with Marcus that Kate doesnt have. Considering all that kate has been through i do feel like she would've chose Del over JD.
I agree wholeheartedly. I just couldn't do it to Marcus. And that makes me feel so, so bad for Del. Nepotism I guess killed Del for me. I knew the moment I was given the choice, my first thoughts were of Marcus.
That's the main deterrence for choosing JD imo. If he wasn't marcus's son I would've not thought about it for a second.
Anthony, Benjamin, Tai, Dom, his dad, Anya, multiple other friends, and now his son? They’re gonna get death threats from a lot of people if they make JD dying canon.
@@austinfowler2707 I didn’t like that Del was basically Baird and Cole mixed into one character. It felt like he was trying too hard.
That section where you compare how the characters feel about JD's actions with your own relationship to veterans, war, and the underlying two-way hypocrisy of it all was really bloody good, Noah. A typical example of the fantastic writing that so many of your videos are filled with.
I have a feeling this is gonna be yet another video of yours that I rewatch a bunch of times.
I completely disagree with his sentiment about veterans. We live in the 21st century. An individual who chooses to be part of the ceasless US war machine knows what they're doing, because propaganda and sweet talking recruiters can't hide the global consequences like they used to. For someone to want to take part, they'd have to be either an idiot or a sociopath with genuine disdain for the rest of the world
@@ileutur6863 “ether a idiot, a sociopath, or have distain for the rest of the world”
That’s a long way to go and say ‘I hate democracy’ (sarcasm)
Or they could just be drafted or trying to get better living conditions?
Let’s look at what we did in the middle east.
First… neglect our allies the Tajiks who took out the USSR.
Now we go in… because ‘hey aiding the Tajiks looks bad because they made drugs’
So how do we justify it?
‘We’re setting up a democracy to end terrorism.’
Now…
Well democracy didn’t get us all that we wanted so we bribed their officials, and started exporting feminism to end terrorism.
Remember the ‘being back our girls’ BS.
These continued under trump, but Trump added democracy, feminism, and LGBT into the Middle East.
Later generals lied and tried to keep people in the middle east, and then biden for political stunt pushed for his date ‘oh this is a great date for posing!’
But now let’s say we completely disband the military including the navy… now, we don’t secure trade routes of pirates, on top of other nations who have disbanded their military because of ours protecting them (now spending taxes for the military on welfare now) are gonna have a rough time… do the words ‘open season’ ring any bells?
Now let’s loo at our policy under the USSR: build back nations after war so the USSR has more difficult conquering them.
USSR is gone, so why do we keep doing that?
@@silent_stalker3687 yes, the common counter argument is that the US military offers help and protection to unstable areas, but that help only comes after the area was strategically destabilized... by the US os US funded puppets.
@@ileutur6863 I don’t think I mentioned ‘stabilize’ or ‘destabilized’ areas, we shouldn’t be there!
Edit: maybe the USSR rebuilding stuff was stabilize reference now that I think of it
I was referring to trade routes, and other nations which demilitarized because we offered protection.
To put it into perspective look at all our bases and apply that to naval trade routes.
Cut all of those off.
Now roughly 1-2 billion people can exist on the planet.
Why it’s so high is that we have complex trade, so now we just let open season for pirates upon the trade routes.
@@ileutur6863 Or just a high school kid that wants to help. Pretending propaganda still isnt shipping off kids to war just because we ourselves can see past it is horeibly unempathetic.
This has the smoothest-written intro you've ever done, I love it
Not shocked that you two overlap, almost certain your Fallout content is how the algorithm pointed me at Noah
@@Vote4Drizzt th-cam.com/video/5-qccQbgH6I/w-d-xo.html
@@Trillykins Thanks!
you're alive!
I learned of Noah from hbomb's 100k subscriber Q&A video. So thanks to Noah for so many amazing essays, and thanks to hbomb for many amazing essays and for introducing me to Noah. Two best creators on this platform, without question. Edit: I'm still waiting on hbomb's response to Noah's critique of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines...
I've been a defenders of Gears against its supposed 'brain-dead bro game' image for years, and I'm very happy to see someone express what I couldn't, with such detail and thoughtfulness. Excellent work as always.
Do you know what. I'll hold my hands up and say I've never played this because of my prejudice of it being another "brain dead bro game", I've downloaded it this morning and looking forward to playing it now.
Only thing is I can't watched all the way through this video because of spoilers!
@@grantd165 27:00
Try to find someone to play with, a friend or even someone online. Try to tackle it on Insane. You will find the challenge substantial enough to require a lot of coordination and cooperation. It'll be a good bonding experience. Enjoy.
@@StephenYuan insane is gonna be impossible tho. That difficulty unlockes after playing it whole once
@@StephenYuan I don't think that's good advise, Insane is called Insane for a reason, hardcore is appropiate
Me and my bro played it co-op this weekend. To be honest we tried insane and didn't do too good, turned it down and now we're really enjoying it whilst finding it still very difficult.
I've always felt that the first three Gears of War games had a very strong "Band of Brothers"-vibe to it: a group of soldiers fighting and in the end winning the war, but at such a heavy cost that makes you wonder whether it was really worth it.
Gears of War 1 had Delta Squad go through some terrible situations to do pretty much nothing at all in the grand scheme of things. The resonator didn't do nearly as much mapping as everyone had hoped it would and the lightmass bomb did turn out to not do very much in the grand scheme of things.
Gears of War 2 has the COG destroy the locust capital at the cost of thousands of lives and sinking their own last remaining city. It left both humans and locusts unable to effectively deal with the new lambent threat, and at the start of Gears of War 3 it is clear that both former parties are fighting a losing battle with the latter.
Gears of War 3 finishes both the Lambent and Locust parts of the story, but once again at heavy cost. Dom dies, and all immulsion on the planet has essentially evaporated, which I assumed catapulted the humans back a few centuries in terms of technology. Gears 4 would make clear that didn't happen at all (on the contrary), but to me it felt like that at the time.
It's genuinely good stuff for those who are willing to look beyond the dudebro buff characters. Gears 5 even deals with the emotional aftermath of a life of non-stop fighting. That first conversation between Kait and Marcus at the beginning is quite chilling if you think of it, and DiMaggio delivers it with the necessary gravitas as well:
Marcus: "Nightmares?"
Kait: "Does it get better?"
Marcus: "It gets tolerable"
Marcus is both a physically and psychologically scarred man who has no choice but to keep fighting, knowing full well that sooner or later he will end up losing even more comrades and loved ones.
Marcus Fenix is one of the best developed video game characters in existence for me and the main reason I keep coming back to the Gears franchise.
I understand what Marcus means by "It gets tolerable". At this point waking up at least thrice a night to check weapons and do a sweep is just routine. It's a fact of life, right alongside needing to eat to stay alive.
This is a late reply but I love the way Gears 5 handles how characters communicate with each other, feels very genuine and raw
This man has given us over 20 hours of content this year and I couldn’t feel more grateful. Thank you so much, Noah!
He might end up killing himself with that kind of schedule. But, again, he might just be incredibly productive.
@@АлексейЛогинов-ж1ц I'm glad he's found help with production so he can focus on writing, hopefully it gives him a break.
Now if I could just get Joseph Anderson to finish / post / whatever's going on with it (I have no idea) his Witcher 3 video.
@@keithp7325 now that will probably kill anyone who watches it one sitting
3 is atleast an order of magnitude bigger than 2..
@@aravindpallippara1577 Re: fatal for watching in one sitting: *rant about individual's right to choose*
Re: order of magnitude bigger (not a great abstract term to use for this, but I know what you mean): I'm aware.
"Here they are, in the basement of the past, looking at the dusty brown box with Genocide printed on the side" phenomenal and correct!
This is honestly a better Holiday gift than I could've wished for. Cheers everyone, and a happy new years to you, Noah.
I couldn't agree more!
Agreed
Love this mans videos. The way he articulates his opinion about my favorite recreational activity is second to none
I've watched your whole catalog.
As a retired veteran, to me, this video is your best work. The commentary surrounding Gears 5 and the theming around it and JD just hit me like a bag of bricks.
What's funny too is that I went through all the campaigns and finished yesterday thinking, "Man would be great if Noah can cover this."
POWERFUL wishing!
That's happened twice for me and it's been equal parts wonderful and vaguely off-putting each time. Noah's got a main line plugged directly into the universe or something.
Thank you for willing this into existence.
Noah has a way with things like this. This always happens to someone with every video. Truly a sage our beloved Noah
Same. Just started 3 tonight after going through all the other games.
Thank you for making me realize how much I underestimated these games. I played the first one as a kid but very quickly wrote them off as emblematic of everything wrong with 360 era game design. In truth, I think they were everything *right* with 360 game design. They are fast-paced, hard hitting, unpretentious games but still manage to have meaningful things to say and powerful emotions to convey.
They're like a really good burger. Too much fanciness ruins the bite. The things that make a great burger a simple, and because they're simple they're so often overlooked, even by chefs who ought to know better. All you really need is a good bun, a good patty, one sauce and one or two toppings. Do all of that as well as you possibly can, and you've got a great sandwich. That's Gears of War. A really, really good sandwich.
In a way, looking back now with all the weighty wisdom that my long 29 years of living have brought me, the 7th generation -- Wii, PS3, X360, was the last generation where games were allowed to be games and that was good enough. The 6th generation had wanted games to be movies, and the 7th generation I think was the first to really have the power and sophistication to truly let games be games mostly unbound by technical limitations. The Gears games are quintessential video game. Highly interactive, based on challenge and iteration, fast paced, and all about delivering that satisfying experience.
The clever commentary was always there. The theme of the first game was destroyed beauty, and if you played more slowly, you would get plenty of moments to contemplate the game, the environment, the latest conversation, and so on. Overall throughout the series, they made a number of choices to keep a more artistic vision in the subtext. For one, none of the heroes are all that good looking or even traditionally heroic. For another, they make a point of using classical orchestral music rather than some rock, rap, electronic, or pop soundtrack. I could go on, but Noah already beat me to literally everything and then some.
@@Mortablunt
Buy this kinda ignores a lot of of games even superior to these in maturity and complexity before the 7th gen...silent hill, Max Payne, Deus Ex, Gabriel knight, legacy of kain, forbidden siren, fatal frame among others...
If anything 7th gen onwards games became more and more (there are still exceptions) pretentious culminating in modern snotty and misguided immature games acting up "adult".
And designed for "whales" too :/
@@Mortablunt I think it was just a matter of being at the right level of technical capacity, along with a desire for both 'this is art' AND 'this is NOT movies/TV', combined with being before the self destructive greed we see going on to this day.
The Maria scene still disturbs me greatly for some reason. It has a bunch of flaws but the way they modeled her makes the scene extremely scary to me. Her face has that same kind of utter disconnection and suffering that you can see on the faces of dementia patients. Where you know they're still a person but they've been largely erased and only tatters remain of what they once were.
It makes you wonder what the Locust did to her to get that result, which is chilling. Leaves a lot to the imagination
I haven't played any of these games, but watching Noah's analysis, I was struck by the same sort of thing you're talking about.
The most strongly I've ever been hit by this particular sort of horror is reading what happens to a minor character in H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Colour Out of Space'.
Yeah the scene is a little heavy handed and clunky, but Noah still refers to it as a scene that works and I agree. You're right I think that the character model of Maria does a lot of work in as to why it works.
What gets me is when Dom starts whimpering. It grows in intensity until he shoots her. Up until that, I mostly agree that it's pretty heavy-handed, but the voice preformance is surprisingly subtle and it gets more and more real as Dom realizes what he has to do and hesitates. The scene is kinda emblematic of the whole franchise in that way. It's kinda obvious and blunt on the surface, but there are layers upon layers to everything in these games, and that's why I love them so much. They're enjoyable no matter what you want from them. They've got a lot of real emotion, surprisingly human characters and dialogue, and the best world-building I can think of in a game like this, but you can ignore all of that and still have a fucking blast because the games are brilliantly designed and just flat out fun to play. It's the best of both worlds.
@@elvisneedsboats7856 it makes the game more replayable & bingable too. If i get tired of analyzing everything, i can sit back and chill. But, that also means each replay lets me catch details i overlooked previously. Idk if it's something they always intended on doing, or if they just stumbled they're way into it, but it's remarkable to say the least
I'm kind of surprised that Noah got all the way through the Gears Tactics section without once saying the word "Xcom".
XCOM seems right up his alley. It would be strange if he had never played any of the series. I would love a video from him on the modern games. There isn't a lot of thematic meat to them, but there is an incredible amount of play.
@SpoonyBard88
I think XCOM: Enemy Within does have a compelling theme of modification, i.e. your soldiers becoming something perhaps stranger through their augmentation, and how it mirrors the aliens who've also been aggressively modified.
It nicely works itself into the gameplay, since you'll likely be using those augmentations.
That said, I do think there is a dissonance between its presentation vs gameplay - the game presents the change as potentially concerning, whereas it's more an expansive upgrade gameplay-wise, meaning a player will be like 'nice, more upgrades, machine people here we go!'
I still think it all does work, but the dissonance is there
[Edit: spelling]
That has to be deliberate. I can respect that decision, but it's still funny.
You are one of my most anticipated creators, even when you write about games I don't play. You have writing style of Mark Danielewski and a wonderful, dry, sneaky humor that I love. Thank you for continuing to create videos.
That's interesting. I've only ever read HoL by Danielewski; i've always thought of Noah as more of a travel writer, say like a Geoff Dyer or a Bill Bryson type.
Wow that’s quite a compliment
@@robzs8388 I agree with the Bill Bryson comparison!
2:38:00 "I don't believe in war, but war sure as hell believes in me."
Considering that you started this video by admitting you weren't sure what to even say, I think you've found a pretty darn compelling reason to analyse the themes in these games.
I feel like he should read War is a Racket by Smedley Butler.
"wAr NeVeR cHanGeS" zzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
In Gears 5 I believe that even though it does demonize JD to make it more of an easy choice to kill, it also makes him more heroic when you think about it. He's the son of the most famous war hero in history and I believe that it isn't his pride behind his choices but more of his fear of failing to live up to his father's legacy. He joined the COG like his father (probably to make him proud even though Marcus said don't do it), and attained a position of command likely due to his parentage. As mentioned in the video, Gears 5 is all about the continued damage of Legacy on the new generation. JD is not Marcus, but everyone sees him as that, even the player is inclined to save him due to his legacy. The video claims that killing JD doesn't allow him to atone for his crimes, but I don't think Atonement is like a community service punishment where you put in an allotted amount of hours. His atonement is a single action or choice that takes him off of his fathers path. For killing the protesters, JD left the COG which is something Marcus never chose. For the Hammer of Dawn activation, he resigned himself to assisting Kate. Becoming a secondary player unlike Marcus who was always the main character. Every Bad choice, is a choice he made attempting to follow in Marcus' footsteps. Every good choice is one he makes to turn away from what his father would have done. Del was a great side character, and maybe I'm missing a lot of lore on him that I didn't pick up. But Del has never had the struggle that JD was put into, Del wasn't at the protestor rally, Del wasn't talking to Baird to decide whether the HoD was a good idea. Del is a new blank character who is capable of making his own mistakes and just hasn't had the position to make them. In the end, my point is that Del and JD are the exact same person, one just has the most famous Mother and Father of all time.
Del actually was at the Settlement 2 protest, he chose not to fire unlike JD and Fahz. But that doesn't invalidate your overall point, which is a good one
I don't agree with all of that, but you wrote it compellingly. Well-said. *This* is the kind of discussion I've yearned for since 2018.
I don't know if you're wrong, or if you're right and that's an indictment of the COG as a whole.
Where living up to warriors legacies means killing protestors and using orbital lasers on unarmed civilians.
Like I wouldn't call it heroic, but I believe that JD believed those actions were heroic at the time, and that says something about the world he was raised in.
Ultimately JD is seemingly the "best case" scenario.
I haven't played Gears 5, but in JD I see some similarities with a character in the novel After the Revolution (I won't finish my point because you should read it, it's free both in text and audiobook form via Iheart Radio)
The mentioned linear order:
- Ram's Shadow
- Gears of War Judgement (first campaign)
- Gears of War Tactics
- Gears of War
- Gears of War 2
- Gears of War 3 (first 2/3rds)
- Gears of War Judgement (second campaign)
- Gears of War 4
- Gears 5
- Hiveclusters
Good bot
Incorrect.
The correct order:
Gears Judgement (base campaign)
Gears Tactics
Raams Shadow
Gears 1
Gears 2
Gears 3
Gears Judgement (Aftermath campaign)
Gears 4
Hivebusters
Gears 5
@@funkyreapercat5280 didn't Raam happen just a few weeks after E-Day compared to Judgement being a month later? I can't remember correctly
@@86Fallowcp Gears Judgement (base campaign) : 6 weeks after E-day
Gears Tactics: 1 year after E-day
Raams Shadow: 9 years after E-day
Gears 1: 14 years after E-day
Gears 2: 6 months after Gears 1, 14 or 15 years after E-day
Gears 3: 17 years after E-day
Gears Judgement (Aftermath campaign): 17 years after E-day
Gears 4/Hivebusters/5: 42 years after E-day
@@funkyreapercat5280 Ahh well then I would trust you then, I was transcribing what Noah said but I may have slipped up.
Gears one helped me quit smoking. My flat mate and I stayed up all night playing it. All the nicotine withdrawal symptoms, the sweats, the rage, the anxiety… it all just got soaked up into the atmosphere of the game. Made the experience peak and took the negative out of the withdrawal.
Thank you gears of war. The only game that helped me overcome addiction 🙏
Ironic
A tendency I've noticed in watching Noah's retrospectives is that I often end up playing through an entire franchise. Happened with Mass Effect, Dead Space, Half-Life, and now Gears of War and I always end up with a bigger appreciation for these games than I did before, Gear of War especially. I've always liked Gears of War, but between playing 3 and 4 was an almost ten-year gab and after playing through almost all of them now (stilling missing Gears Tactics) it's honestly become one of my favourite game franchises.
i plan on rewatching and doing the exact same when i get my life in order!
Noah is the reason I gave Mass Effect a second try after I had a rough early game followed by getting stuck with Beneziah.
I always knew Gears was more than everyone else reduced it too. That the dudebro father of cover shooters wasn't restrained to the 2000s and that in many ways it outmatched it's contemporaries. I really feel this review has done it justice. This world, characters are so unbelievably consistent and constantly exciting that Gears has justified it's existence as a AAA game long ago. The boldness of the Coalition reminds me of how static 343 were in the beginning and how they finally had the balls to step out of the shadow with Halo Infinite. Hope the Gears developers see this and know how special their new trilogy is because I'm tired of it getting brushed off.
2:01:00 - 2:01:27 is the greatest section of writing and voice over you have ever done. It's the perfect representation of how sometimes, even the most eloquent writing, sharp points, and keen observations can be thrown out the window and sometimes - just sometimes - all you need is to vocalize our lizard brains.
Gears 5 gutted me. Handing JD's cog tags to Marcus and in that moment realizing the full scope of what I had chosen and that their relationship ended "strained" just killed me.
Padua says something about how a just war is better than an unjust peace in Act 3. At the time I thought that he had a point. Act 4 made me question and hate myself for thinking this.
I've come to the odd duck conclusion that there is no such thing as a 'just' war. But there do seem to be necessary ones, and maybe that's what the intention of the phrase is at the end of the day. The idea that the necessity justifies what is otherwise unacceptable. (It logically follows that War would be the last stop on the problem solving chain.)
From the DLC’s, to the campaign, to the multiplayer, Gears 3 was undoubtedly my favorite if I had to pick only one, with Gears 2 as a runner up. Now, as for the future of the storyline, I really want to the what unfolds after the events of Gears 5, since they gave the players to choose between Del and JD. My assumption is they’ll most likely make Del’s death canon for narrative purposes. Really curious where the story is headed to for Gears 6.
To shit, clearly.
I hope Del's death isnt canon. Id love to see Marcus at his worst but also at his most angry. Lost his wife, his kid, and his best friend.
Did Del ever have enough of a character to die, tho? JD's arc was all about redemption, he was throughly developed in this game, his death kinda feels the most fitting even if it didn't do anything cuz i fucking hate that ending
@@francesco3772 Honestly yeah, Sera seems like it's destined to be restless in a cycle of endless apocalypse, gears 6 should end with them leaving it
@@Azoedud Sera is Ares(the god of war from Greace) backwards intentionally. So this world is destined to be fucked.
"Honey, come down for the New Years toast."
"I can't, Noah is talking about video games."
Happy New Year Noah, and happy new year to all of us! What a WONDERFUL way to ring in 2022!
I was on duty during a blizard at New Year. Noah made cooling carryout Waffle House in the car a pretty good time.
I couldn't let JD die. The guilt of having Marcus lose the only family he had left in life, I couldn't. He lost friends, his father, his brother-in-arms, his wife. A feeling I myself fear.
I feel that, but narratively I don't think that Kait would have Chosen JD Over Del. She spent most of 5 thoroughly pissed at him
Tbh it came out of nowhere and I panicked like nobodies business.
I wanted Kait to die and let em both live, but nope, you should decide
@@Okamiden15 JD survived now its canon
@@emulation2369 where was that made canon?
I hope this means we will see halo eventually
i hope this means we get to hear a bit of respect of this game on your end other than when you dipped your toes in multiplayer for gears 5.
A man can dream.
Years ago I remember asking Noah if he would ever consider covering the Metal Gear Solid series and he responded saying something along the lines of not being interested in buying a console in order to play through them. So seeing this video was a very welcome surprise. His analysis is always great and he often brings up points that almost no one would have even considered which makes him stand out so much as a content creator.
Or Killzone, which he did name-drop.
He nerda to get an Xbox one if he wants to do the entirety of the franchise though
The Gears 2 Prescott speech is an editing masterpiece. The slow fade-in of the Gears of War 2 logo right as the choir reaches the crescendo sends chills.
Maybe my favourite video of yours yet. Whenever I recommend Gears I inevitably sarcastically talk about explosions and buff guys, because pulling apart the subtle craftsmanship, weirdly brilliant writing and thoughtful direction is tough and makes you come off as silly when talking about “the games with the chainsaw gun”. So glad I have this as a resource, and it’s so impressive seeing you successfully break apart these games.
Interesting thing about GoW series is that I recall absolutely loving it 12-15 years ago and we had multiplayer tournaments at work at the time, where half the office would compete. We even had matches against other office branches in our company, with interest that peaked with GoW2. A lot of people specifically bought X360's, for some of whom those were their first, and to date, the only consoles they had ever purchased, just to be able to take part in those tournaments. However as soon I got my fill both I and probably nearly everyone else from around my circle forgot this series even existed, which happened sometime shortly after GoW3 got released. I have not heard anyone mention this franchise even in passing in the past decade. Actually it's this very video that reminded me of its existence for the first time in years.
Mainly because the next entry after gow3 didn't sell as well and wasn't very liked by the fans, then a small gap from 2013 until 2015 with GoW: UE which is a GoW1 remaster and Gears of War 4 in 2016 which I would say was another peak at least in multiplayer and it's esports. Also most of the franchise's audience is in Latin America now, ever since the start of the series, but gow was huge in usa with latam on the side, tho now it's the very area that keeps it up. Try finding a highly viewed video of Gears 5 that isn't a trailer or a bigger youtuber that dipped their toes in for a video. Mainly Mexican channels have videos with 100,000+ views and gow4 had even higher views. The esport events in Mexico were like the superbowl.
Gears 5 really hurt the series, it did well for MS and The Coalition, but it died off in its relevance like a month into it. Many didn't like the campaign and the mp went too noob friendly and a strict pve setting. Legit it's first 5 "operations" fixing the game and only after the studio lead, Rod Fergusson, left in Season 3. It took until January 2021 (game launched in sept. 2019) to get it up to a "good" area for its mp and pve. And died down with season 6 being kinda a letdown and s7-8 being the last to add content. Season 9 ended a day ago with no content and from now until the next game, no maps, characters, skins, or content. It's on autopilot already. It's esports didn't fair either due to covid 19 ofc with many pros leaving.
The series is good and the memories can't be taken away, but it just hasn't reached a high relevancy with Gears of War 4 being it's closest. Hope Gears of War finds itself again.
@@SpartanChief2277 We were not based in any of the American continents and none of us was even primary English speaker. The lack of interest was not due to GoW3 being bad or anything, it just simply waned with time as we all collectively got older.
@@SpartanChief2277 This is such a curious perspective on the MP community to me, having never touched 4 or 5 beyond the campaign - 5 felt much better composed to me at almost every level in the campaign
@@gregorysteffensen3279 the 5 campaign is just launch rocket, play as "ow my head" Kait, 2 Acts of boring skiff rides to launch another rocket. Then a final Act that felt like actual Gears (and The Coalition forgot to include Clayton Carmine in the final cutscene, lol). 4 was just them discovering the swarm in 1 day and night tho it had cooler levels. Go woke go broke. The Gears 5: Hivebusters DLC is better than the main Gears 5 Campain, and that barely 4 hours long
@@SpartanChief2277 The skiff rides and Kait are my favorite things about 5. Different strokes I guess
Exactly what I needed to pull me out of this lonely, depressing existence where I can hear fireworks and other neighbors’ cheers and happiness around me. Thanks for all that you do, Noah. Your calming voice and thoughtful critiques are a true gem. Happy new year.
You are not alone my dude
Stay well friend
Heh, same here
That shit is overrated. It only matters to the temporally challenged. Unstick yourself from time and these types of holidays are meaningless.
Hey happy new year buddy, we're here for ya
Your thoughts on Gears 4 feeling dragged out rang so true for me. I replayed it with a friend new to the franchise and I was like holy shit this is taking a while to get to the good shit. Luckily we were high as a kite the entire time so was still super fun!
Woah. Never thought you'd review the gears games. They are simple, but damn are they fun and the characters have so much heart and personality.
Also chainsaw bayonet and John DiMaggio’s Marcus Fenix voice. Cannot beat either.
@@benwasserman8223 yeah they are.
Simple is actually a very good way to describe this series. The mechanics have never evolved much beyond polishing what was already great in the first place. Gears 5 feels closest to me, to the original than it does any of its sequels. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Maybe chainsaw it, but goddamnit don't fix it!
@@kupokinzyt indeed
@@benwasserman8223 Sebastian Llapur for the spanish dub for me. Both are so great at the role, holy shit
I used to kind of look down on this series, it just kind of seemed juvenile and very mid-2000s but the video actually got me to try the series out, and I'm so glad it did, I was so enamored by everything in this series that I pretty much binge played the entirety of it in the span of about a month. It's the definition a beautiful simplicity.
Noah these last few retrospectives have gone to another level of quality. I've watched you for the better part of a decade and I think the stuff you are putting out now is the best it's ever been!
You're a true inspiration on the platform - the true spiritual father of the long form analysis video
Thank you so very much for making this retrospective. I played Gears of War 1 and 2 with my dad when I was very young, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I appreciate you digging into what truly worked about these games, and especially appreciate you highlighting their explicit anti-war themes, which really stood out to me as underdiscussed even at the time. Gears as I experienced it felt like a very different game from Gears as people talked about it, and it's nice to hear someone talk about the game I played for once.
This game was the start of my brother and I playing Co-op. I’ll never forget the experience I had playing with my brother over the first three campaigns. I don’t really remember liking the characters or the story or caring much at all for either - but I remember having fun with my brother and I’ll always be grateful to Epic games for giving me that.
I'm hoping Microsoft gives this the halo treatment and make a Gears collection, for better graphics and finally being able to play all games on PC without XCloud or something like that. Would also be cool if they scatter all the weapons from the series across the game in a lore friendly way.
@@TheLazyFinn: I am honestly baffled as to why they have not already done something like that.
@@gabrielpadro5589 My guess:they are waiting untill Gears 6 and then they have both trilogies done and unreal 5 ready,at least i hope so
I've never played gears and I didn't plan on it, but you made such a compelling argument for why I should dive in. I love these videos and I love your commitment to your script. Stay awesome brother.
Just went through Noah's video backlog again to realise ive been listening to this guy for the last 8 years and not once have i been disappointed with any of his videos.
You have a way to make games that I initially pass off seem like things I cannot miss. Amazing work forever and always.
I have no idea how you put out so much long form, well written content. Your vids have help keep me sane during a chaotic year. Thank you.
As someone who has spent many hours watching many people talk for hours about video games, you are the best at it.
Im so glad to get this retrospective, Ive always felt there was more to Gears than just an explosion gore-fest, especially with 3, I'm so glad you gave it the focus it did cause Ive thought on it similarly
This video accurately conveyed the internal contradictions one has regarding living in the imperial core. We can look down at what other countries do, but that ignores how we benefit from the imperialism that those countries try and fight against.
dont worry just dont get bothered by sins you have not commited
i'm so happy you specifically got into the voice acting, and John Dimaggio's role in particular. I've loved John's work for many years and he seems less well known (as is so often the fate for voice actors) than i think he deserves
This is my favorite game series of all time, and you did it justice. And I know some people don’t like the Coalition era of Gears games, but I love them. And this has to be one of my favorite video essays on this series.
I think the Coalition era is WAAAAAAAY better than the EPIC era.
Only you could make me legitimately interested in GoW. Your sensitivity in discussing the perilous relationship between the United States military, its soldiers, and its citizenry brings to mind something someone once said about Hunter S. Thompson, its sentiment being one of regret that he was not present in the modern era to provide the scathing reaction to its hypocrisies and absurdities he would have been so expertly equipped for.
While your style is one of quite a bit more optimism than that of Thompson, something about the eloquence with which you frame some of these intricacies of the American experience that are so often either ignored or entirely denied by the respective 'teams' of contemporary American political and cultural expression.
Happy New Year, ya filthy animal!
Same with George Carlin
Every single time I decide to replay some beloved series and want to watch a retrospective to kinda hype for playing through them again, I can always count on a nice long video from you.
Absolutely adore your content. You are up with Jacob Geller as one of the best gaming writers on this site, if not just the best writers altogether.
Keep it up friendo. It's appreciated.
Gears is probably the most Me franchise that I never played.
It is exactly the kind of crazy action and mayhem that appeals to me but due to me never owning an XBOX and for the longest time not owning a gaming capable PC I had to resort to the next best thing, I bought the novels. And I was very surprised to learn how good they are. The novels are written by a former war correspondent and you can tell. They have this feeling of just franticness and chaos that you probably can only really convey if you actually have witnessed war.
A recent novel has just came out too back in November, it takes place right after gears of war 3, with it being about rebuilding humanity, the COG, and rumors of surviving locust tho the summary of it says the enemy might be all too human, I haven't read it
@@SpartanChief2277 Different writer, though
Nice touch with the Tears For Fears version of Mad World. Hearing the Gary Jules version play as Dom comes to terms with his mortality and calls out to Maria was so heart breaking, especially if you've stuck with the series and remember the trailer for the very first game back in like 2005. What a great moment of finality.
The man delivers in the waning moments of the year! never been a franchise fan but I'm excited to hear this analysis
I deadass just spent the past few weeks playing through gears of war 4 and 5 just so I could finish the rest of this video. Absolutely worth it!
Didn’t expect a gears of war video, interested to hear your thoughts.
Maybe you could even do a Halo retrospective sometime.
It'd be interesting to see him compare it to Gears and Jedi Knight in the story department. Definitly would be interesting.
I second this
As someone who is undoubtedly more of a fan of Halo than I am of Gears, Gears is significantly more willing to look at the flaws of its 'good guys'. An indirect comparison would be interesting as hell.
@@aurelionight True. I've always think that Gears is better at plot, drama and themes while Halo is better at tone, worldbuilding and concepts
@@desanctisapostatathat’s a great way to put it
I was not expecting a philosophical lens when I started this video, especially of Gears 5. Phenomenal work man!
The competitive scene is also so good, the game is easy learn and hard to master
It's really refreshing to hear an articulate analysis on this series that doesn't frame the game as a "meathead dude-bro shooter", or a series that is somehow intellectually inferior because major components of its design became the inspiration for a lot of middling imitators in the 360 era.
I would love to see your take on connecting and distinguishing themes between the apocalyptic grand shooters of that era: Gears, Halo, Killzone and Resistance.
Gears was about "Destroyed Beauty"
I am sure Noah will get to Halo before long. It's been a while, something'll come soon.
"It's like DnD D-Day; big monsters and bigger caves replacing the Normandy coast." - Just one of many brilliant lines here. Thank you for spending so long contextualizing and re-contextualizing my favorite franchise. You raised points I never realized, and hammered home others I'd never thought about "that way" before. It's inspiring. It matches my thoughts and feelings... Hell, it explained to me something I already knew, but in better detail than I'd managed on my own: JD *is* the fictional embodiment of my brother, who was our outwardly-confident (yet quietly wounded) golden boy of blue eyes, square jaw, and willingness to endanger himself for others... Before he did something "unforgivable" and shot himself. Jimmy was my Player 2, and in Gears 4 he was Player 1. Gears was our shared hobby, and I replay it sometimes to keep that bond alive... And you bet your ass I let JD die in Gears 5, because saving Del was the better choice in the moment, and the regret I feel over that is exactly why it worked.
That choice didn't need to be a choice. It completely forgot JACK, who could've made the scene more badass, emotional, *and sensible* without changing it. But dammit, even if it was a mistake to make that a choice, the choice turned the death (whoever you choose) into the kind of mistake that clues gamers in on the plight of the characters. That's the exact kind of bullshit, didn't-know-it-was-a-mistake-until-it-was-too-late kind of Crossing the Rubicon that war veterans make every year. Having met and worked with many veterans of many wars, from the Big Red 1, to MACV-SOG-turned-SEAL, to Recon Marines, to scouts and drivers and mortarmen... All I can say here is *you get it.* And so do the teams behind Gears of War (mostly). I can only hope that Gears 6 lets us play two different versions with two different Player 2s, one of whom is a better man, the other of whom is a better leader... But I know it's better for dev-time, resources, and *boldness* if The Coalition just nuts up and chooses one canon.
Del is, if you pay attention, *the adopted son of Marcus and brother of JD since childhood.* Marcus loses a son no matter which choice, it's just that JD was the one with Anya's hair, Dom's name, and Fenix eyes. If one canon must be chosen, The Coalition should not go the "Save/Kill Carmine" route. It shouldn't be a popularity vote. Let JD die a soldier's death: sacrificed in the rain, unable to wash blood off his hands, having fought to the last bullet and blade for his friends. Let Del have his time to shine, and dedicate every possible resource to making it work. Del is the one who actually inherited Dom by watching Marcus and supervising JD. And Del is every bit the heroic everyman we all wish to be... The heroic everyman that JD wished to be.
But you're wrong about RAAM's Shadow. It takes place *ten years* after E-Day, shortly before the battle where Marcus abandoned his post to save Adam. The writers and most of the devs knew this, but marketing (and even a couple higher-up devs) didn't get it. Or worse, the higher-ups tried to turn it into an E-Day DLC at the last split second. And Gears Judgement takes place almost a year after E-Day, with the Mk2 Lancer being shoehorned in for gameplay reasons alone.
Awesome video and summary of the games. The points you made about gears 5 definently helped me look at the game differently, I liked the campaign but now I feel the need to replay it and appreciate it some years removed from the gameplay changes influencing my view on it.
This is easily the most important TH-cam channel I’ve ever found. I put on old episodes to fall asleep, I get ridiculously excited when a new one drops. I’m extremely hungover on New Years Day and watching this right now is everything I needed
In terms of video game reviews, Noah, you're at the head of the pack. I get excited when I see another 2-hour video review (or longer) of yours has dropped. I know it'll be a well-researched, well written, well paced video detailing things I never would have considered before about the game and/or games you're reviewing. I've been a fan a while but have never spoke up before! Can't wait to see what's next.
In my opinion, Gears has always been the 3D evolution of Contra....and I love it! Especially the first three.
Truly the best new year's present we could ask for. Thank you for your insights, writing, and videos!
2:20:47 “To convince people that compliance is a higher moral virtue than compassion.”
That is a bar, my friend. Put that on a t-shirt, right now!
Noah: There's not much to say about gears.
Also Noah: *3 and a half hours later* just play it.
Great video, seriously. I went from "I don't care about Gears" to " Why is there not a collection yet?" In about an hour
What I love most about your work is that it is both insightful AND passionate. There are others who do in-depth analyses/critiques but they often sound as though they have lost all joy for the video game medium. By contrast there are some who are clearly in love with what they do but aren't willing to truly dig into things. You somehow pull off a perfect balance. This video is a perfect example, where you offered an enlightening example of the pros and cons of the Gears franchise but ultimately ended up in a place of admiration. It even made me want to go back and replay the games. Great stuff!
I fell in love with Gears over the past couple years. It really picked up the slack in the Xbox One generation. Great stuff.
You are consistently one of the most insightful, erudite, and overall excellent game analysts that I've ever "read". I regularly suggest your videos to other academics who are working on aesthetics of videogames. Thank you so much for all of your work!
Dom's death made me cry the first time I saw it in 2011. I don't think I've ever played that scene without crying, it just hits hard.
Another excellent piece, Noah. Your work has retained the depth and spark that first drew so many of us in, and the execution, technique, and production quality keep improving. You’ve set an admirably high bar-one that I makes it so easy to continue to support your work! I hope you continue to explore the topics you find interesting because we all benefit from watching the result.
And the madman sneaks one more in at the end of the year! Godspeed Noah, I'll probably have to watch this tomorrow but I'm sure it'll be impressive.
I’m a PlayStation guy, I had no idea this series was so thoughtful.
21:10 one of the best Gears trailers was the into dust one for gears 3, really emphasises what you were talking about at this point. The team running from monsters, moving and fighting, while the real enemy for everyone is the environmental destruction of the planet. The locusts and humans collectively being crushed by tidal wave upon tidal wave, even as they keep fighting each other pointlessly.
Me describing Gears now: The bleak tonality and carefully crafted atmosphere of Gears of War makes for a truly unique story driven experience.
Me describing Gears in Middle School: Dude your gun has a fucking chainsaw
really cool how a script you couldn't figure out how to write materialized in one of my favorite videos of yours. i do genuinely feel a small sense of pride to be contributing to your work in the very tiny way i am by being a patron.
Dear Mr. Gervai,
I have been following your video`s for some time. You talk about games very thoroughly and analytically. I also have quite a bit of love for this type of entertainment. My exposure to video games started rather late. I`m visually impaired (basically nearly blind). What I like is that I get to experience adventures that are beyond my imagination or physical capability.
Anyway, keep up the good work. I thank you for your informative content.
Never finished Gears 4, and so naturally haven't played Gears 5, but I do love the 1 to 3.
Great video.
5's campaign is pretty grand, even if you just watch a plot summary of 4 to finish it up it's worth it
@@gregorysteffensen3279 Idk, knowing there is that semi-open world aspect of it kinda turns me off. Also the choosing which teammate gets sacrificed doesn't sit well with me. Better I just stay away.
Thank you so much for treating us to 3+ hours of such a thoughtful and enthusiastic Gears retrospective! I've known about this video since you posted but didn't let myself watch all the way through until i finally played Hivebusters lol. It was a pleasure watching this and feeling like you are communing with people who feel the same way about Gears as yourself. It's truly one of my top 3 video game franchises of all time. You put such time, effort, and care into making this video, thanks again 😊
I love that Oscar town/village is built in the inside of the remains of the worm and finding Benjamin helmet.
Noah, thank you for the hours and hours of content, across all your videos; for speaking so clearly and elegantly for such extended periods of time, for editing together ALL of the gameplay, all for us to share in your mutual passion for video games, writing and knowledge.
Thanks for the unique intros, the research and for reading the credits of every single benefactor.
Happy 2022 Noah. You made 2021 that much better, and we're so happy to have you with us.
The quality of your audio is so fantastic in this video. Amazing as ever, and your production standards just keep going up and up.
Your section on JD and forgiveness put a whole different spin on Gears 5 for me. It also made me take a second to recognize my pace and complicity in the violence that our lives and societies have built their foundations on.
I love your insightful takes on the franchise. I never considered taking such a fine scalpel to how these games are built and written. I always enjoyed them, but never really took the time to consider them beyond the surface level machismo I saw when I first encountered them as a kid/teen.
At 2:39:45 you mention that if we are seen as our cruelest deed that there is no redemption for anyone. Sometimes the strongest form of redemption is that forgiveness, for both the victim and the one being condemned. The saying "Forgive but don't forget" has more power than just condemnation ever could. It could be the redemption of two souls, not just one.
I actually really like Gears Judgement. I like that they went to a two weapon system with an actual grenade button. It streamlined the combat. Plus I kind of liked the bite sized level segments. It just distilled Gears down and sped the pacing up.
Oh… it’s Christmas again! God I used to play gears 2 with a friend of my as a kid all the time, love your videos man you’re awesome!
Nice to see someone who played these games and came up with more than "hurr durr big guys shoot monsters". Gears has great characters, great lore and amazing atmosphere on top of crisp gameplay. Thanks for covering this Noah.
"ah but in case I stand one little chance, I'll ask that funny jackpot question in advance: what are you doing new years eve?"
"Okay so there's this TH-camr named Noah who constantly puts out feature length analysis videos and..."
So, I have a problem with the way gears 5 tries to portray JD’s decisions. His ego is for sure a problem and leads to his greatest failures, but I think your analysis kinda misses context behind his decisions. I tried to put myself in his shoes for the two biggest moments in his life, settlement 2 and the hammer of dawn misfire.
Settlement 2. I don’t know if I would have made a different decision in his shoes. If we’re to believe what the games says is true, what the hell was he supposed to do? Let the people he’s in charge of be in danger, and likely get people he’s in charge of die? It’s easy to look back at this situation in our gamer chairs and think “Mmm, yes, JD was wrong because the game says so”, but when you scrutinize it for a second it kinda falls apart. It’s a terrible situation where everyone loses no matter what decision is made, and JD was the one who had to make a call. Either protect the people he’s leading but kill innocent people in the process, or let his squad get torched by violent protesters to not kill innocents and likely get court marshaled and executed. It’s awful.
The hammer strike. An unstable weapon that could save the lives of everyone you’re trying to help and the swarm bearing down your throat, probably going to kill everyone there anyway if you don’t do something about it. Jesus christ, what a shitty situation. I ask again: what was he supposed to do? If he didn’t fire it, the swarm were entirely likely to massacre everyone there, but if he does, he puts them all in danger anyway. As far as the game tells us, there isn’t another worthwhile option that could get everyone out there.
Yet another terrible situation he would come out of scarred no matter what.
So what’s my issue? The game tries to paint these decisions as clear cut when it’s not that simple. He was put in awful, heart destroying situations that no human should ever have to be in and had to choose between a rock and a hard place. No matter what he did, he would suffer for it, and the game tries to point the finger at him for it. Like it was all his fault and there was a clear “Nah, JD’s a piece of shit and can’t learn from his mistakes.”
Also Del was a nothing burger of a character imo. I didn’t even hesitate to save JD, I couldn’t make Marcus suffer more, not after what he’s gone through.
Exactly everyone's quick to blame JD for his actions acting like he had a better option
@mementomori771
Yeah, that part didn't work our well.
Not sure how they'll correct that in six.
I've absolutely loved this video, finally someone giving a solid and fair critique to gears 4 & 5 and seeing them as what they are continuation of a history that now follows new characters and i defend that despite being and old fan of the franchise and gears 2 being my favorite
but i gotta say ,1 thing:
it totally triggers me that you don't vent the turrets or heavy weapons in your gameplay
There’s something kind of soothing about how Noah never uses any game audio or music
Also makes his essays great to listen to while running errands ❤
I distinctly remember being up late with the gang in like, elementary school, watching spike TV and when the gears commercial would come on I'd tell everyone to shut up and not interrupt the commercial. Resonated with me so much the first trailer is my PC wallpaper.
Gears 2 is my favorite. The scale and everything expands. The dive into the world, story. Love it. Really long game too. I kind of wish they'd remaster it on PC like original. 56:05 Always loved the animation of chick in back left when Cole asks if they have anything to trade. She like pats herself down hahah I just never loved GOW3's story or how it wrapped up the series. Never really liked many of the story beats across the entire series honestly. But love the verse and setting.
Gears 2 is legitimately my favorite game of all time. I have the fondest memories of my sister and I playing through the Road to Ruin DLC stealth scene. I remember how much we screamed and laughed whenever we did something stupid that got us exposed. Even to this day she and I can quote Gears 1 and 2 all but perfectly to each other.
Edit: not to mention that I literally can't play shooters anymore without thinking about how fucking GOOD it feels to active reload.
You have really bad tastes
Gow 2 had that locust city under the mountain at the end. I absolutely fell in love with the baroque aesthetic.
It's got some chaos marine in there but still keeps it original.
"The game is perfectly accessible on Cole's level of 'murder as touchdown' alone, which is what allowed it to be a bro culture lighting rod."
I am in awe of the phrase "murder as touchdown." It is so god damn funny my body does not know how to react. I am simply stuck here.
Note: I've never played any of the Gears games in spite of owning every generation of Xbox. Third-person shooters really throw me. I did not like playing RE4, so avoided the entire genre to follow. But, this essay is so fun I'm almost compelled to play. Yet, I am certain that actually playing the games won't be as fun as listening to Noah talk about them. This is a phenomenal pickle.
It's a cover based shooter, the default controls could throw u off, but it is the best way to play the campaigns.
Play 'em with a friend. If you don't have one interested in it, go for matchmaking or a LFG discord or something. Genuinely, these games are way, WAY better than people gave them credit for, and I think taking advantage of the ubiquitous 'games are always better with friends' trait to give the game's genre a minor pass is more than worth it.
Holy shit! Shout out to the TH-cam algorithm for introducing me to this video. Such incredible writing and editing, I can't believe I haven't noticed how long I've been watching this without noticing the total length of the video. Great job bro!
One of the few times, despite supposed dudebroiness of those games I actually think most of themes you talk about are very much genuine on part of creators,it's a wierd franchise, just like Halo, there's not that much on surface and I play both for shooting evil monsters but they all actually convey pretty thoughtful themes throughout.
First of all, love the content; it truly is a good day anytime a Noah video drops.
Secondly, this is perhaps the only positive take on Gears of War I've heard on the platform; every other person who has covered the series talks down about it being a mindless 'jock shooter'.
It's tough to hear all that negativity and remain unaffected; even in my own mind I had wrote it off and didn't even realise it until I watched this video.
My older brother and I used to play the Gears of War games couch-coop and we loved them. Though (much) time has passed, we even managed to get together and play through Gears 5 online during the worst of the pandemic.
I had forgot how good it was to play these games with him until this video.
Thank-you for that Noah.