Detailed Analysis - Main Narrative DLC
Shadow's of the Past
In the expansion for Gears of War 3, we fill the shoes of Zeta-Six, a COG squad consisting of Mihn Young Kim, Michael Barrick, Tai Kaliso and Alicia Valera. Taking place 9 years after Emergence Day, we join this squad of Gears as they try to evacuate as many civilians from Ilima city as they can before the Locust take the city for themselves and wipe out any who remain.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Kim and it was an interesting prospect to join him again to learn a bit more about his agency in the Locust war. Tai, a casualty in Gears of War 2 again makes a return and it’s really good to see him again and more in his prime, it’s good to see that even after 9 years of fighting and losing civilians and comrades to the Horde, his faith remains strong.
While the focus can fall on Kim and Tai, the DLC story also takes focus on 2 new Gears that we’ve never seen before as well as providing an origin story of sorts for Jace Stratton in his younger years. Taking the reins of Barrick, we are introduced to a former stranded who joined the COG to fight back against the Locust. He is a man that is tired of running and wants to take the fight to them and thankfully he’s able to back it up.
Valera acts as the kindness of the group although this is only evident whenever she was initially with Jace as she proves to be a caring individual who is concerned with Jace’s safety and the safety of other civilians. Even though there are only a limited number of new characters, we don’t often get any meaningful storytelling values other than some backstory for a few characters like Barrick but it often doesn’t feel enough when it comes to keeping the player vested.
Along their trip to find a way out of the city is the suspense and realisation that Zeta will most likely encounter RAAM if they want to get out of the city but they don’t worry about that. Their main concern is helping as many people as they can but throughout their whole chapter, they experience more and more losses as the Locust onslaught continues. All of this is only made worse as the blackening of the skies is just another reminder that the city is close to falling to the Kryll.
Trying to get to the final evac point Barrick envies the chance to take RAAM head on and his chance would come soon enough. As they reach the evac point, ready to evacuate the remaining survivors, they are attacked by Locust forces on both sides. As RAAM attempts to murder Jace, he is saved by Alicia who suffers the fate meant for Jace, much to Zeta’s sorrow. Alicia’s sacrifice inspires Jace to take up arms to make her proud and to help.
Protecting the Evac point they manage to temporarily neutralize RAAM but before they can finish the job, they have to leave for the sake of the civilians and the rest of the team’s survival, although that doesn’t stop Kim from trying. Finding a gravely injured RAAM, Kim is stopped by Kryll and Barrick which unfortunately but predictably ensures RAAM’s survival. From what we know it wouldn’t be till years later that Kim would encounter RAAM for the final time.
A decent story that is only held up but the familiarity with past characters and the inclusion of interesting new characters unfortunately it doesn’t seem to shake up any new ground for the overall story but does help to further build on the history and world of Sera in the middle of the Locust war.
Onslaught of the Locust
During our time with Zeta squad, we would occasionally take over as fierce Locust General RAAM. For those of you who don’t know, RAAM was a Locust General, and an Antagonist in the first Gears of War game. Lethal, ruthless and in possession of skills that would make many run, we would join this fearsome individual as he would follow the Queen’s orders to take the city for themselves.
Having us play as the Locust is a narrative choice that not many developers would take the risk to do and is sometimes a bit challenging. In past games, as we have witnessed the brave Gears we fight alongside and the civilians of Sera be slaughtered at the hands of the Locust and Playing as RAAM would be even more challenging, as we join him on his mission to kill every human he finds at the orders of the Queen.
Talking through a sort of Hivemind, the Queen guides RAAM on his mission to take Ilima city for themselves and as expected, they were not missed. Coupled with RAAM’s viciousness and the Queen’s utter disdain for humanity, the pair make a devastating duo and the destruction that we cause and the lives we take are proof of that.
While playing in the enemy's shoes is rare, it has been done before and has had some exciting and impressive results in another Xbox flagship series. In the game Halo 2, we play as the Arbiter, a warrior of the Alien Covenant that seeks to wipe out humanity as they are seen as heretics. While initially the missions we undertake as the Arbiter further the Covenant’s goals, he finds redemption and a path to help humanity which he takes. No such arc is present here.
Joining RAAM in his mission is difficult as it makes us complicit in the devastation of the Locust war but thankfully we don’t participate in anything that is more unsavoury like what is seen in Gears of War 2. It is no less enjoyable though as we take control of the unstoppable object that shows just how dangerous and important he was to the Locust war effort.
When Zeta find a basement full of dead civilians with children we are again reminded of the prejudice and cruelty of the Locust. Taking part on the Locust side of the conflict also reminded us who have played since the start of the first game that the Locust are running from their homes due to the spread of the Lambent. Seeing the military strength that they expend in Ilima city also amplifies the threat of the Lambent as they were strong enough to make Locust warriors like RAAM want to conquer the surface for his people.
In a final move to eliminate the remaining humans, RAAM attacks the orphanage that Zeta squad is protecting he attempts to eliminate the squad with Alicia being a significant casualty. After a tough fight RAAM is taken down and gravely injured and is nearly finished off by Kim but in a last-ditch attempt uses his Kryll to protect himself. Even though both he and Kim would walk away that day, you can tell RAAM never forgot Kim’s face, the face of the human who almost killed him. Nearly 6 years later, RAAM’s forces would attack Delta squad, led by Kim and recognising his old rival, RAAM went straight for Kim, coming up behind him and eliminating his old foe. RAAM never forgot Kim and even made sure his Locust forces wouldn’t kill him, reserving himself the right to kill Kim. All the pain and suffering that RAAM wrought on humanity during the then 15-year way would eventually be avenged when Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago would eliminate him during the Lightmass offensive.
Using the DLC story was a fun way to highlight the brutality of the Locust Horde as while we have fought against them plenty of times, we never saw how they really perceived the war and it just shows what little care they had for humans and their pleasure in killing them. It would have served the DLC story better if they had a heavier focus on RAAM and Kim’s rivalry but RAAM’s sections were interesting and we saw a few sides of RAAM that we’ve never seen before. His vulnerable and desperate side, which made Kim’s death all the more impactful as RAAM was no doubt hoping one day he could face Kim to revenge himself, a task that he would sadly succeed at and in a brutal manner.