Tears of War

I cried during Gears of War 2.

It's the scene where Dom finds his wife after she's been taken by the Locusts, and I almost completely bawled during it. While I know exactly what it was, a visual cue, that touched a nerve with me, I'm not exactly sure why it was as evocative as it was. Is the direction and writing more nuanced that it seems?

Up until that point it was a pretty standard, Hollywood-style, uber-macho, badass fest. It was enjoyable in a James Cameron big budget way, and it remains a great game, but that particular scene just hit me hard.

Honestly, I think it was the shift of perception that Dom experiences, where his mind's eye view is replaced by the real one. Where Dom's memory of his wife's face is forcibly changed by the effects of Locust captivity. It rang true, albeit in a cinematic way.

When the people we love are changed by external events, even if it's something as mundane as aging, we hang on to what they were like, and always hold that up as their true self. We continue to see those features in them, as we map it over (or maybe under) their changed visage, as it is what defines them to us.

The realization of this as a game cinematic really made me step back, and appreciate a depth to the game that wasn't apparent, especially in a game with a character like Agustus Cole and the dialogue he spouts. It was strange to find such an evocative moment, one which I am sure is lost on 99% of the people who've played it, in a game like Gears of War 2. It made the experience a little more personal for me, in a way that no game before it has.

So, with that, Epic has my dollars when Gears of War 3 hits in the spring.