Gears of War / Gears of War 2

Unlike many other shooters, the emphasis is not on brute violence, but rather team-based actions and cover-dependent tactics.

Gameplay requires looking for cover options all the time, from which the player then attacks, along with turns and rolls to quickly pop out.

By holding a button, a "roadie run" is performed, to sprint to another location.

Marcus is part of a full squad, but another human player can take on the role of Dominic Santiago to fight cooperatively (split-screen, system link, or online).

At times, the paths will even be split up to face different challenges.

Players can only hold two weapons, a sidearm, and a few grenades.

There is a selection of submachine guns, sniper and assault rifles, grenades, grenade launchers, and pistols, but the main gun is the COG Lancer Assault Rifle, which can also be used as a chainsaw bayonet in close combat.

There are also a few exotic weapons, such as the Torque Bow with explosive arrows, or the Hammer of Dawn, to make an orbiting satellite fire a laser at targeted enemies.

All weapons need to be reloaded manually.

By timely pressing a button on a meter, the weapon is reloaded, with more damage and at a faster rate with perfect timing, or it gets jammed when timed poorly.

Instead of a health bar, the game has the Crimson Omen, a cog-shaped icon that fills up with blood when the player sustains damage.

In addition to Co-op multiplayer, there is also Versus which has three game modes: Warzone (deathmatch), Execution (deathmatch, but with the addition of "fatalities" to take out enemies completely), and Assassination (