Gears of War is a third-person shooter that places emphasis on using cover to avoid taking damage while moving towards enemy forces.

The game uses a number of weapons, but predominately featured is the Lancer Assault Rifle, which has a mounted chainsaw bayonet that can deal melee damage at close range.

The campaign focuses on COG Army soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago and their efforts in the Delta Squad to wipe out the Locust forces on their planet Sera.

A liquid called Imulsion became a highly valued power source after a scientist discovered how to use it, and the economic shockwave led to several wars between nations.

The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) originally existed only as an obscure world-government philosophy, but it evolved into a legitimate, though minor, political party during the 79-year-long Pendulum Wars.

[4] The game primarily focuses on Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio)[5] and his comrades in Delta Squad: Dominic "Dom" Santiago (Carlos Ferro),[6] Augustus Cole (Lester Speight),[7] and Damon Baird (Fred Tatasciore).

[4] The game's plot begins 14 years after Emergence Day (E-Day), when the Locust Horde overran and killed many COG soldiers and civilians, declaring war against humanity.

Dominic "Dom" Santiago, Marcus' best friend and fellow COG, successfully extracts Fenix from the prison, and takes him to meet Delta Squad.

Fenix and his allies recover the device, but suffer multiple casualties in the process including Anthony Carmine and Squad leader Kim.

Fleeing RAAM's forces, Fenix leads the remaining soldiers through the ruins of Ephyra to claim a "Junker" APC, drive to a mining facility, and finally into the planet's depths.

After collecting the data, the group fights their way past Locust forces and boards a train carrying the Lightmass Bomb.

[12] These design choices reflect themselves in the gameplay, as Gears of War focuses mainly on squad team-based and cover-dependent tactics with limited weapons rather than brute force.

Bleszinski also cited the influence of The Legend of Zelda, including its storytelling and world-building elements, acquiring and mastering of tools, and underground environments.

[16][17] Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski said he hoped for the game to expand into graphic novels and eventually film.

[18] On November 21, 2006, Microsoft Corporate VP of Global Marketing and Interactive Entertainment Business Jeff Bell stated Gears of War is the first in a trilogy, through sequences on E-Day and the battle of Jacinto Plateau, as well as information on Adam Fenix and his research.

"[29] Additionally, the PC and Xbox 360 versions will not allow for cross-platform play; Cliff Bleszinski stated that "while this feature does add value, it just wasn't that desired nor worth the extra months of design and development time.

[33] A macOS version was confirmed by Mark Rein at the end of E3, on the Game Head television program on July 14, 2007, along with Unreal Tournament 3, but no release time frame was specified.

[38] The score includes many mechanical percussive elements, altered samples of explosions, hits and impacts, and electric guitar stingers that punctuate the game's combat encounters.

Megadeth performed the track live as headliners of Gigantour, a twenty-five stop metal tour sponsored by Microsoft as part of the promotion for the game.

The program captures several stressful moments including Xbox executive Peter Moore's desire to remove the chainsaw rifle from the E3 demo days before the show.

"[42] The Gears of War television ad reveals Marcus Fenix alone in the ruined streets of Sera as he moves to avoid threats that appear throughout a dark and deserted city.

[43] The spot, set to the Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" and directed by Joseph Kosinski, is melancholic and reflective in tone and was a significant departure for videogame advertising at the time, especially a fast-paced shooter game.

While the spot was pre-rendered, the production method gave consumers an accurate preview of the game's textures and subtle facial expressions.

The popularity of the commercial built a bigger audience for "Mad World" which would reach the #1 spot on iTunes five years after it was initially recorded.

Additionally, the update includes improvement of roadie run to keep the player from sticking to cover areas, and a patch to prevent the Annex clock from counting during connection errors.

It brought about a number of improvements, including updates to the gameplay from later titles and enhanced graphics featuring remodeled characters, environmental assets and other stylistic changes.

"[67] The game's story was noted for not being very deep, as GameSpot's review states "The lack of exposition feels like a missed opportunity to make the characters and the setting even more compelling.

[65] GameSpot noted that the additional chapter felt out of place as "it changes things up a bit in ways that betray the difficulty progression of the game.

[103] G4 TV named Marcus Fenix the "Best New Character" and gave Lester Speight's performance for "Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole" the award for "Best Voiceover".

[109] In March 2007, New Line Cinema bought the rights to make a film adaptation, with Stuart Beattie writing the script along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey.