50 Fun Facts About Gears of War

Which horror game's over-the-shoulder camera did the makers of Gears of War borrow?

Resident Evil 4 supplied the view and the pacing, the lead designer told a 2007 conference. The cover system came from Kill Switch, a Namco shooter that had, he felt, the best cover of its day.

On which fictional planet is Gears of War set?

Sera had just ended a 79-year war between its human nations when the Locust burst from underground six weeks later. A quarter of the planet's people died in the first 26 hours.

Which missing family member does Dom search for across the first two Gears of War games?

His wife Maria vanished after their two children died in the invasion. In Gears of War 2 he finds her in a Locust prison camp, too far gone to know him, and ends her suffering himself.

Which blind Locust monster in Gears of War hunts by sound and smell?

Berserker hide shrugs off bullets and her ears catch any sprint, so players creep at a walk to stay unheard. Every one of them is female.

On which console did the first Gears of War launch in November 2006?

Xbox 360 shipped with double its planned memory partly because of Gears: Epic sent Microsoft a picture of how the game would look with 256 MB, and won the argument for 512 MB.

Who was lead designer on the first three Gears of War games?

Cliff Bleszinski said dashing from cover to cover was his take on Bionic Commando's grappling swings, turned on its side so players leap forward instead of up.

What is the name of Gears of War's chainsaw-bayonet assault rifle?

Lancer chainsaw kills are instant. From Gears of War 2 on, when two players rev at each other the game locks them in a duel, and whoever mashes the button faster walks away.

What is Gears of War's timing mini-game that speeds up reloading called?

Active Reload rewards a well-timed second tap with a faster reload and harder-hitting rounds. Mistime it and the gun jams, leaving you stuck longer than if you had done nothing.

What does COG stand for in the Gears of War universe?

Coalition of Ordered Governments forces won a decades-long war against the rival UIR by raiding an enemy base and stealing the plans for its superweapon. Marcus and Dom both fought in that raid.

Which flying swarms shred anyone who leaves the light in the first Gears of War?

Kryll hunt only in darkness because ultraviolet light burns them up. To cross the city at night, the squad drives a vehicle fitted with a UV turret and burns a path through the swarm.

In Gears of War, Marcus was jailed for abandoning his post to try to save whom?

His father, the scientist Adam Fenix, was trapped as the Locust overran their home city. Marcus got 40 years for leaving the line, and served four before an army short of soldiers took him back.

What is the liquid fuel pumped from underground in the world of Gears of War called?

Imulsion looked like the answer to an energy crisis, but Gears of War 3 reveals it was never just a fuel: it is a living parasite that infects and mutates whatever it touches.

What is the name of the orbital laser satellite system in Gears of War?

Hammer of Dawn strikes were ordered against humanity's own cities a year into the invasion, scorching much of the planet so the enemy could not hold it.

Which rapper voices the Stranded leader Aaron Griffin in Gears of War 3?

Ice-T did more than voice Griffin: he got his metal band Body Count back together to record a song for the game.

What is the name of the COG's last safe city, which is deliberately sunk in Gears of War 2?

Jacinto stood on granite the Locust could not dig through, which kept it safe for years. In the end the humans sank it themselves, to flood the enemy's tunnels.

In Gears of War 2, what is the Locust capital beneath Mount Kadar called?

Nexus is where Delta Squad sets off a beacon to call the army's second wave down on it. The city is later drowned when the humans flood the tunnels from above.

What is the name of the secret island facility where Adam Fenix is held in Gears of War 3?

Azura is a luxury hotel-bunker built for the planet's elite and ringed by an artificial hurricane, so Delta Squad can only reach it by submarine.

Which co-op mode, pitting players against waves of Locust, debuted in Gears of War 2?

Horde pits up to five players against 50 ever-tougher waves. Gears of War 3 let them spend cash earned from kills on barriers, turrets and decoys between rounds.

In Gears of War 2, what giant creature do the Locust use to sink whole human cities?

Riftworm tunnelling had already dropped two cities into the ground. The beast then swallows Delta Squad whole, and they kill it from the inside.

On which TV show was Gears of War 3 first unveiled in April 2010?

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon lost its surprise: the guest slot slipped a few days, but an advert on the console's dashboard ran on the original night and announced the game anyway.

Which Delta Squad member leads Kilo Squad in the prequel Gears of War: Judgment?

Damon Baird and his squad tell the story as testimony at their own military trial, each chapter one soldier's flashback. Their crime was taking an experimental missile and firing it without orders.

Which Polish studio co-developed Gears of War: Judgment with Epic?

People Can Fly made Bulletstorm with Epic, which then bought the studio outright and renamed it Epic Games Poland. In 2015 it went independent again under its old name.

Which studio has developed the Gears games since Microsoft bought the franchise?

The Coalition was called Black Tusk Studios and was building an original game of its own when Microsoft bought the series in 2014. That game was dropped, never even named in public, and the studio renamed itself a year later.

In which Canadian city is the studio behind Gears 5 based?

Vancouver is where Microsoft set up the studio to create a big new series of its own. In 2014 it dropped that game to take over Gears instead.

Which former Epic producer came back to run Gears of War after Microsoft bought the series in 2014?

Rod Fergusson had quit Epic in 2012 and spent the gap helping the delayed BioShock Infinite over the line. Microsoft's deal brought him straight back, this time to run the studio.

What are the violent storms that sweep the planet in Gears of War 4 called?

Windflares began sweeping the planet after the weapon that ended the war also wiped out its fuel. Set 25 years on, the game lets the worst of them drag grenades and rockets off course mid-fight.

What is the name of Marcus's son, introduced in Gears of War 4?

JD stands for James Dominic. The middle name honours Dom, Marcus's best friend, who blew up a fuel tank to save the squad in Gears of War 3 and died in the blast.

Which wrestler-turned-actor became a playable Marcus skin in Gears 5?

Dave Bautista had publicly asked to play Marcus in a film of the series. The game gave him the armour first, as a skin released days after launch.

Who turns out to be Kait's grandmother in Gears 5?

Queen Myrrah was born human: the Locust were bred from her cells, which is why she could command them. She had a daughter with one of the scientists, who fled the lab with the baby; that girl grew up to be Kait's mother.

What is the name of the robot that accompanies Kait in Gears 5?

Jack spent the original trilogy mostly cutting open locked doors. The upgraded model built for Gears 5 can cloak the squad, stun enemies and throw up an energy shield.

Which new three-player co-op mode did Gears 5 introduce?

Escape sends three Hivebusters into a Swarm hive by letting themselves be captured on purpose. Once inside they set off a venom bomb, then have to outrun the spreading poison to the exit.

Which Terminator film did Gears 5 promote with playable Sarah Connor and T-800 characters?

Terminator: Dark Fate brought Linda Hamilton back to the part she made famous in the first two films. She lent the game her face and voice as well, and the pack came free with pre-orders.

Gears 5 drew three million players in its first week, helped by launching straight into which subscription service?

Xbox Game Pass members got the game on day one at no extra cost. It beat the service's launch record of two million, shared by Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 4, and was Microsoft's biggest launch since Halo 4.

Gears Tactics, the turn-based spin-off, was developed mainly by which studio?

Splash Damage gave every soldier three actions a turn, then turned the series' gory executions into a tactic: finish off a downed enemy up close and the rest of the squad each gain an extra action.

A 2019 Gears of War mobile spin-off restyled its soldiers after which toy line?

Funko Pop! versions of the series' chainsaw-wielding soldiers fought in Gears Pop!, a cutesy Clash Royale-style battler from an ultraviolent series. Its servers shut down in April 2021, under two years after launch.

Gears of War: Reloaded marked the series' debut on which console in 2025?

PlayStation 5 owners got Xbox's 2006 flagship 19 years late, the first time the series had appeared on a rival console. Progress and multiplayer cross over, so they play alongside Xbox and PC owners.

Which game engine powers the prequel Gears of War: E-Day?

Unreal Engine 5 let the studio rebuild everything from scratch for a prequel set 14 years before the first game. Both original lead voice actors return to play the pair's younger selves.

What does the E stand for in the title of the prequel Gears of War: E-Day?

Emergence Day is the series' name for the day the Locust burst out of the ground worldwide. The whole campaign is set in one new city, Kalona, which does not survive it.

Which song soundtracked the famous 2006 Gears of War TV commercial?

Mad World, in the hushed Gary Jules cover recorded for the film Donnie Darko, made a mournful pitch for a chainsaw shooter. The advert sent the five-year-old recording to number one on iTunes.

Which future Top Gun: Maverick director made the famous 2006 Gears of War TV commercial?

Joseph Kosinski got the job when David Fincher hit a scheduling clash and put his name forward instead. A Halo 3 trailer followed, and in 2010 he made his first feature film, Tron: Legacy.

Which voice of Futurama's Bender also plays Marcus Fenix in the Gears of War games?

John DiMaggio has growled the part since 2006, a long way from his Jake the Dog in Adventure Time. In 2024 the studio confirmed he would be back for the prequel, 18 years after he first took the role.

What was the early working title of the project that became Gears of War?

Unreal Warfare began around 2000 as a multiplayer arena shooter with character classes and mechs. Epic shelved it for its Unreal Tournament games, and came back to find players now wanted single-player campaigns.

Which Game of Thrones composer scored Gears of War 4 and Gears 5?

Ramin Djawadi said he wanted the score to sound very different from his Westeros work. He took over from Steve Jablonsky, who had scored the second and third games.

Which charity received the $150,000 raised by the Gears of War 3 "Fate of Carmine" vote?

Child's Play, which sends toys and games to children's hospitals, got the proceeds of the rival avatar T-shirts. Epic wrote both endings into the game in case it leaked, and Clayton, unlike two of his brothers, lived.

Which Gears of War soldier was a Thrashball star before the war?

Augustus Cole got his makers sued: a former American football player and wrestler claimed the character stole his look and voice. The courts sided with the studio, and in 2021 the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Which Star Wars novelist wrote the first five Gears of War tie-in novels, starting with Aspho Fields?

Karen Traviss went from writing the tie-in books to writing the game itself: with two of the novels done, Epic had her write the story of Gears of War 3.

Which Bullet Train director was attached in 2025 to Netflix's Gears of War film?

David Leitch was a stuntman on the Matrix sequels before co-directing the first John Wick, uncredited, with Chad Stahelski. Netflix bought the film rights in November 2022 and hired a Dune screenwriter for the script.

Which action series, a developer later said, overhauled its first game's controls after Gears of War showed the way?

Uncharted began with Tomb Raider-style auto-aiming, one of its developers later said, and the team changed everything six months before release, once Epic's shooter had shown them how.

Which mutated enemies complete the three-way war in Gears of War 2 and 3?

The Locust were fleeing the Lambent underground, which is why they invaded the surface.

Which Gears villain became a playable fighter in Killer Instinct in 2016?

General RAAM, the first game's main villain, was revealed at E3 2016 and was free to play that week. He joined two other guests from Microsoft's back catalogue: Halo's Arbiter and Rash from Battletoads.