Detailed Analysis - Main Narrative
A Chance at Peace
Taking place 6 months after launching the Lightmass Bomb and decimating the Locust Horde, we had hoped to see the COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments) have better footing against the Horde. Sadly this is not the case, as the COG are being kept on their heels by a more powerful Horde. After the bomb hit, it seems that the only thing that was accomplished was the elimination of the Kryll. As the Locust have endured, they have returned stronger than ever with a force capable of sinking entire cities. There is only one option left for the COG: Attack the Locust Underground and wipe them out.
Rallying as many of their forces as they can and after an incredibly rousing speech made by COG leader, Chairman Prescott and an epically scored track by composer Steve Jablonsky, Delta join a massive COG force. The objective of the last game felt like a truly desperate mission as Delta was virtually on their own, with their only support being Anya in a Control hub. This time around the devs do a great job at reassuring the players know they are not alone. Granted they’re still leading the charge but through the first act, we see the rallied COG forces behind us. While it was epic to see these men around us rallying to fight, the next stage only shows how ill-equipped the COG are at fighting the Locust.
On their Initial route to Landown, Delta’s convoy started out with anything between 3-4 Assault Derricks, 3 centaur tanks and 4-5 raven helicopters. Within minutes of a Locust attack, they were down to 1 derrick along with similar losses to other convoys. As last-ditch plans go, this one was a bit much as it relied on getting as many Gears as possible into the Locust Hollow and that prospect was looking bleaker as the road to Landown came to a close. The developers did an excellent job at making us feel empowered but within minutes we lost so much of our support and it just shows how much does fall on the shoulders of Marcus and more importantly the player.
After a very long trek, Delta finally make it into the Locust Hollow, the home of the Locust Horde. These dark caverns filled with strange vegetation and even stranger creatures show the Locust in a light that we didn’t think was there. The Hollow doesn’t seem as bad as we imagined and if you don’t mind a few creepy crawlies and some damp areas, it’s not that bad. If it wasn’t for the Locust around every corner, it would probably be a safe place to stay. The indigenous life that is down there is also unlike anything that’s been seen before. After some tense fighting Delta also make the startling discovery of how the Locust are sinking cities, a giant worm.
Witnessing the sinking of Ilima city and seeing the destruction and carnage the Locust have caused shows just how far they are willing to go to win this war. What’s even worse is their newly discovered activity, abducting people, putting them in cages and taking them into the Hollow. Delta discovers this when they set out to find Baird who is missing and they find him trapped in a cage where he seems to have gotten some insights. The Locust are torturing people in the cages, breaking them and using them for yet unknown purposes. This becomes evident when we rescue a Gear, Tai Kaliso who was captured hours ago and was broken. After being saved he killed himself almost immediately. If we didn’t hate the Locust before then the devs have done an excellent job to consolidate that hatred and make it a driving force.
Delta’s tenacity allows them to find a way to eliminate the giant worm and find information that can help them. The raid on the Locust hollow was essentially useless, due to the insufficient information given to Delta. However, after being pointed in a new direction, Delta manage to find clues that lead to the true Locust stronghold “Nexus” and even information on the “Locust Queen”. By this time we are quite efficient in killing Locust and have seen them in all shapes and sizes. The anticipation of hopefully finding and killing the Queen of the Locust is something that renews the hope for Delta and the players that we can end the war as soon as we find her.
After some heavy fighting, Delta makes a discovery that can win the war but also has some dangerous ramifications for Marcus. On a Locust Computer, Marcus and Delta find information about how the Locust are leaving the Nexus as sinking Jacinto will flood the Hollow. It would rob humanity of their final refuge and leave the surface open to Locust conquest. The funny thing is, it’s not the Locust’s plan, it’s actually the plan of Adam Fenix, Marcus’ father who is dead. Adam suggested flooding the Hollow by sinking Jacinto so that the Locust could be wiped out. This discovery has some daunting implications and it’s not the first time we’ve found the Fenix family in possession of Locust data.
The Queen and Adam are saying the same thing and Marcus determines that they should sink Jacinto themselves before the Locust leave. Obviously, Delta are a bit pessimistic but it’s a good plan if they don’t get to the Queen. After failing to apprehend the Queen, who we will talk about later on this page, Delta retreat to Jacinto which is under siege by the Locust but thankfully the COG have been hard at work on organising an evacuation and a plan to sink Jacinto. After a final push from Delta, Jacinto is sunk and the Locust Hollow and Nexus go with it, flooding the Locust and hopefully wiping them out.
None of what Delta had to do was easy and they lost a lot on the way. They were confronted by obstacle after obstacle after obstacle and were forced to confront the very worst of the Locust but they kept going. Developers Epic Games took the brilliantly written story and made it into one of the most enjoyable single-player campaigns that was filled with action, mystery and intrigue. At no point during the story did the campaign feel stretched as every part of it was used to increase the world building which wasn’t wasted.
The Gears of War
On the frontline of the war against the Locust are the brave soldiers of the COG who fight against the horrors of this long war. Gears as they are called, are the only line of defence against the Horde as they fight to ensure the survival of humanity and the last remaining strongholds. Fighting this war for 15 years, it’s no wonder that their forces have dwindled and all that remains are either hardened individuals or newly recruited members and we would see many die before the end of the mission. It’s a harsh reality that we as the player are never allowed to forget but it’s done in meaningful and excellently written ways.
Starting out in Jacinto we rejoin Marcus and Dom who are witnessing the numerous casualties being brought into Jacinto Medical hospital, a central location where we meet several characters that are important to the story in their own way. While many of the new and returning characters are memorable and quite likeable, the focus of the story focuses on the bond of trust and respect between Marcus and Dom. Even more specifically, the story has some very significant implications for Dom and there is a case to be made that although we play as Marcus, Dominic takes the stage as the protagonist and the devs do a good job of making it very unclear.
During the mission of the last game, we learn that Dom has been searching for someone and has contacts in different survivor camps. We now learn that Dom has been looking for his wife Maria who has been missing for some time and that he has had help from Anya Stroud and occasionally Marcus to help in his search and it’s something that becomes important later in the story.
Joining Delta is COG recruit Benjamin Carmine. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Benjamin is the brother of Anthony Carmine, a Delta squad member who was killed in the last game. Carmine is an unproven and nervous young soldier who wants to make his family proud by serving as is grateful to be serving with Dom and Marcus. Ben is a good representation of youth in war and shows how eager young soldiers are to prove themselves even in the face of overwhelming odds.
Moments after meeting Carmine, we are introduced to a new Gear, Tai Kaliso. An imposing presence, decorated in tribal tattoos and someone who has been fighting for a long time. From the first meeting, you can tell immediately that he has Marcus’ respect which is a difficult thing to come by. A stoic yet sociable man, Tai is a hardened soldier and is the first representation of faith in the Gears of War series as he believes everything must happen for a reason even as the men he serves with die.
From the very start of Operation: Hollow Storm we meet Dizzy Wallin, a cherry and optimistic cowboy, he joined the COG to provide supplies to his family. Our driver for our Assault Derrick, Dizzy is a companion to Delta throughout the first act and proves himself to be a brave and effective soldier, committed to ensuring Delta get to Landown while often keeping the mood light.
As conditional and new members of the squad, their survival is not guaranteed and typically with new characters like them they don’t tend to last too long and in a war with the Locust, they can typically go out in gruesome ways. After being attacked by the Locust, Tai and Dizzy hold them off while Marcus, Dom and Carmine make their way to the hollow and we wouldn’t see Tai again until we find him hours later. He had been tortured and would later kill himself. Benjamin would die after being swallowed by the Riftworm and killed by some kind of insect-like monster. Dizzy’s fate is unknown and honestly, after what we’ve seen happen to Tai, Ben and many other Gears, it might be better that way.
No matter what losses they take it seems Marcus and Dom will always be re-joined by Cole and Baird, from Alpha squad and that’s fine by us. Cole continues to maintain his upbeat and boisterous attitude and Baird continues to bring his own enjoyable and sarcastic attitude. Despite being on separate squads these 4 always seem to end up together and the dynamic between the team makes it seem like they’ve known each other for a long time despite only knowing each other for the past 6 months.
When Marcus and Dom find signs of the Locust Nexus but also a lead on Maria, their motivations begin to diverge and as Dom makes it clear that he’ll find Maria, on his own if he has to Marcus relents and goes with him despite his objections that finding Nexus is more important. After a lengthy search, they finally find where she is being held, only to find that her in the most deplorable state. Tortured, forced into slave labour and left in that small pod for weeks on end, Dom has no choice but to mercifully kill her and directs his rage at the Locust. In Nexus, he and Marcus along with Cole and Baird find info on the Locust terminals about their plan to sink Jacinto and their reasoning behind it is a plan from Adam Fenix.
This isn’t the first time that Marcus’ father has had Locust intelligence as was the case when he had map data of all the Locust tunnels in the first game. Yet again, Marcus has discovered his father had a potentially deeper knowledge of the Locust Horde, seeing as his plan to flood the Hollow is the same plan the Locust are using. Using the Deus Ex Machina approach to finish off the chapter for Gears of War 2 is typically a lazy move but because of how intriguing it is and what it could mean for the future it’s a fine enough technique.
Gears of War 2 takes advantage of its 5 Act story to introduce new characters and double down on its old characters, further increasing our investment of time with all of them, and it shows that no matter what, these men that we have grown attached to by the story’s fun characterization and brilliantly written story situations. I’ve played a lot of shooters but not many can keep my interest vested in the Campaign and its characters like Gears of War 2 and I hope the trend of excellently written characters continues, albeit it will be difficult but Gears of War 2 has proven that the developers know what they're doing.
Secrets of the COG
After destroying the Riftworm and putting an end to the Locust’s plan for sinking Jacinto, the men of Delta, bloodied and exhausted request evac. Hours later a chopper arrives with a tank, not evac, much to the confusion of the men. Instead of Anya on the other line to which they are accustomed, they are instead greeted by Col. Hoffman who gives them a new objective. After being declassified by Chairman Prescott, Delta are urged to travel to a facility known as “New Hope” that may be able to give them intelligence on the Locust Stronghold and possibly the Locust Queen.
Everything about this screams buried secrets and potential Government cover-up which every member of the squad makes a mention of. Marcus feels the same way but so far this is the only way to move the mission forward, otherwise, everything they’ve done and lost is for nothing. Arriving at the New Hope facility also known as “Jameson Depot”, Delta find a broken-down old building structure that at times doesn’t feel like a depot. While there are areas that feel like it, there are finer aspects of the building than what you would see and if this was a declassified COG location there must be something else going on.
Sure enough, there is evidence to support this as Marcus and Dom find a vault door that would probably put Fort Knox to shame guarded by a voice wanting “proper identification”. As is the Delta way, their identification comes in the form of a high-yield explosive because why not? If you’ve played the games then you know this isn’t exactly out of the norm. Adding unease, Delta doesn’t have Anya to lean on for a while at least, instead, Hoffman is providing support for the team. Hoffman isn’t one to hide secrets or mince words but conversation or consul doesn’t come as easy as it does with Anya.
Delving deeper into the facility we hear that same voice who identifies himself as Niles Samson. Evidently, Niles was a scientist at Jameson Depot although whatever version of Niles that Delta is currently talking to seems to be a crude replication of the original scientist. Trapsing through Marcus and Dom find traps and defences that continue to get in their way and deepen the sense of unease as Niles continues to spout his propaganda. Finally, Marcus and Dom reach what looks to be the root of this facility which create even more questions.
On the other side of a door, there is a room full of some kind of stasis tanks with something that looks almost Locust adjacent. Niles of course has to chime in with his clearance issues but does give up some useful info about whatever is in those tanks. “Children” as he seems to call them, seem to be the sole reason this facility was made and whatever the COG were doing at Jameson Depot, it was not above board. They contact Hoffman who is just as confused as Delta, even going so far as to say that they are in unofficial territory now, usually not a good thing for someone’s health but in their day and age what’s the worst that could happen?
Delta turns on a section of the facility to try and find a terminal which gives them all the information they need, a potential location to the Locust stronghold. Unfortunately turning the power on seems to have some really bad consequences. The stasis tanks have become unstable and whatever was in those tanks have now woken up, and they’re not very happy. The “Sires” as they’re called by Niles look like the distant cousins to the Locust. Mutilated humanoids that look to be the product of illegal experimentation because there is no way a Governing body would ever authorize this unless it was buried and that probably explains why the Jameson Depot file was a Classified file.
Getting what they need and sealing the sires in their cages, Delta shut down Niles to prevent him from causing any other trouble and leaving the facility. In the 1st game, the COG was set up as the valiant heroes fighting against the Locust but this was the 1st time we got to see them in murky waters as we investigated some of their less moral projects. This secret and facility probably doesn’t even scratch the surface as to what the COG have hidden and the “Sire” project probably doesn’t end here as a recording of Niles had them moving resources to “Mount Kadar” which seemed to be a good lead to a Locust stronghold but when they arrived, they found no sign of any lab equipment.
This leads to an even bigger question, what happened to the real Niles and the rest of his research? Jameson Depot doesn’t add up and there are too many in-series loose ends but hopefully, this can be explored even further in the series but this was a good way to show the darker side of the COG. It is a shame though that this doesn't seem to affect Marcus or the rest of Delta from an otherwise intriguing plotline but as a world building plotline, it’s quite effective at highlighting what secrets lie beneath the face of Sera and how they’ve been left to fester with the waging Locust war.
Locust Agenda's
When the Lightmass bomb hit, we saw the numerous Locust casualties that hopefully would have put a massive dent in their forces but sadly that was not the case. After a monologue filled with disdain and rooted in supremacy, we learn that the Locust have endured and returned stronger than ever, bringing with them a force capable of sinking entire cities that nobody knows about. Not only are they sinking cities but the Locust have been conducting more and more raids into Jacinto.
It makes sense that as humanity's last refuge but also their best protection they would want to fight deeper into the hospital but Marcus drew attention to something when they were fighting against a raid at Jacinto Hospital. The Locust seem desperate and maybe something is going on in the Hollow that no one knows about yet. Even striking at the hospital in force is a move that’s far too risky and he was right, when they attacked they were quickly repelled and didn’t leave with much else.
Despite this, they are far from weak. On the road to Landown, the COG forces are constantly harassed by the Locust who virtually decimate the COG forces, or specifically the forces we see. While there are no actual numbers I wouldn’t be surprised that the COG lost anywhere between 60-70% of their initial forces on the road to Landown, not counting casualties that occurred in the Hollow and Nexus. Even when the Landown forces were ready to deploy they were surprised by a Locust ambush, led by what seemed to be a new Locust leader.
He certainly makes a vicious entrance, using his dual-sided chainsaw staff to cut down tanks and COG soldiers. Before this new locust could kill Marcus and Dom who were stuck in their grindlift, Dizzy and Tai fought this new Locust off while Marcus, Dom and Carmine went down in the grindlift, unable to escape. The moment those grindlift doors closed there was nothing more Delta could do other than focus on the task at hand. Hitting the Hollow gives Marcus to chance to ponder his earlier suspicions as he and Delta explore the Hollow and fight against Locust forces.
Initially, the Hollow was meant to be the ideal search point for a stronghold but upon further inspection and investigation, they didn’t find much to indicate that there was a stronghold nearby. They had some promising leads when they found some small outposts but they were dead ends. All they found were a few scattered Locust groups and indigenous worm creatures that inhabit the hollow and this would only be the start of a larger revelation.
When control detects seismic activity at Ilima city they ask Delta to investigate the Hollow underneath the Ilima and don’t find much, only to find the same general on a creature. When the general leaves, Delta make a startling discovery as Ilima sinks around them. The Locust are using a massive worm to sink the cities and with Dom’s observations and Marcus’ smart they determine their plan, the Locust are sinking cities around Jacinto to weaken its foundations so it can be sunk. Because of Jacinto’s solid Granite base, the Locust can't drill through it but if they can sink Jacinto then Humanity loses.
As if the Locust could not be even more despicable and cruel, we also discover that the Locust are taking prisoners and taking them deeper into the hollow. After finding Baird, we learn that the Locust are taking these people for the reason of torturing them and even slave labour. When Marcus and Dom reach the mouth of Mount Kadar, the potential location of the Nexus, Dom finds info suggesting that his wife was taken along with a group of Stranded. Before getting to Nexus Dom wants to find her and does, in a horrible state, having been with the Locust for some time.
Nexus is not unlike anything that we could have imagined. Stone structures carved into the hollow with a royal spire suspended above a pool of Imulsion. After getting the grindlifts down there Marcus and his squad make a line for the palace. Since entering Nexus they have heard the constant ramblings of the Locust Queen, who speaks about how the world is theirs by right and that the Locust are the superior species but maybe not as it seems there is infighting between them. Further investigations show that the Locust are in a fight for their very survival against the Lambent, the mutated progeny of Imulsion that is turning the Locust against themselves but that is a concern for another time.
Eager to meet and hopefully eliminate the Queen, Delta enter the palace but find a terminal with some rather disconcerting information. It shows where the Locust are going to strike to sink Jacinto, showing that the Locust plan on sinking Jacinto so they can flood the Hollow and stop the Lambent. Not only that but Delta find a recording of Professor Adam Fenix, Marcus’ father who has long been dead. The recording explains how sinking Jacinto could bring an end to the war immediately but humanity would lose their perfect refuge which may not be around much longer. In Marcus’ words “It’s only a matter of timing.” and that is true. If they sink the Hollow first before the Locust leave they can take out the Locust, the Lambent and potentially win the war, a backup plan if they can’t get to the Queen.
The March to the Queen feels in all honesty to be its own crucible as we take down the best of the best of the Locust eventually finding the Queen. She is not at all what we expect. We were expecting to find a monster that would embody the true monstrous values of the Locust but instead, we find a human closely guarded by the Locust from earlier who we now know as Skorge. A human, decorated in Locust finery (if you can call it that) who of course bears the arrogance that we’ve been hearing during our entire trek to the palace. She certainly holds herself above Delta and perhaps even the rest of the Locust, although that’s no surprise, she is a Queen after all.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the interaction is her recognition of Marcus, due to how Adam spoke of Marcus to him. Marcus of course doesn’t know what she’s talking about and she doesn’t care to elaborate as she leaves and orders Skorge to eliminate them which results in her escape. Nonetheless, Delta manages to defeat Skorge and move on to their plan of sinking the Hollow, before the Locust can evacuate themselves. The Locust continue to prove they are more than just a genocidal enemy and show that they are strategic, have a hierarchy beyond what we initially thought and are truly eviler than potentially any other video game enemy from a shooter.