Gears of War/Tear Jerker

"Dom: Marcus! I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, man! I...
 * Gears of War 2. Ever since the war started, Dom has been trying to find his missing wife, Maria. He doesn't get anywhere in the first game, but it's a major plot thread in the second.  Quite possibly the single most powerful, painful, and gut-wrenchingly horrifying moment this troper's ever seen in a video game. After it was over, I had to put down the controller and just cry for a few minutes.
 * Possibly making it even worse: as Marcus walks away, for just a moment, you can see a flicker of sadness and grief on a face that has before shown nothing but varying degrees of blunt stoicism and quiet rage. If someone as impossibly stone-cold as Marcus Fenix can show grief....

Marcus: Dom. (whispers) It's okay."


 * was also a heartwrencher, especially since everyone thought  was pretty much , and of course, how it ends.
 * This troper agrees. Watching a badass that was second only to Marcus in terms of general badassery ...it just made me want to personally gut every Locust he found with his chainsaw.
 * The rookie in Gears of War 2, Ben . What else to say? The guy lost   in the first game, gets drafted into the the same squad and exhibits the same impulsive combat behaviour, which greatly concerns Marcus and Dom who still have IdiotHero  's death fresh in memory. Ben stays upbeat along the way, tries to be heroic and live up to the standards of his teammates while Marcus and Dom, familiar with the grim reality of the war, realize things aren't going to end well this time around either. They're right.
 * He was
 * Well, borderline case perhaps... but just watch the trailers for both games. Just. Watch.
 * And the trailer for the third combines somber music with a Bolivian Army Ending to make one of the most emotional trailers I've witnessed. Ashes to Ashes...
 * ...Dust to Dust.
 * This troper actually had to put down the controller and stop playing for a bit because he was feeling so depressed after that scene.
 * I was able to resist the urge to cry during that scene. Then I saw the look on Marcus's face.
 * Just before then, Dom kneeling before the stone angel in the graveyard and talking to Maria, then leaving his COG tag around the statue's neck.
 * Afterward, when Griffin talks too much shit about the COG, Marcus for the very first time in three games, totally loses his shit at him and starts yelling at him about how  and he doesn't care about Griffin or the asshole, ungrateful Stranded who've been belittling the Gears for the last few chapters. Considering that Marcus has at most shown annoyance or constrained anger at problems before, to see him totally flip out over   is heartbreaking.
 * Just before then, Dom kneeling before the stone angel in the graveyard and talking to Maria, then leaving his COG tag around the statue's neck.
 * Afterward, when Griffin talks too much shit about the COG, Marcus for the very first time in three games, totally loses his shit at him and starts yelling at him about how  and he doesn't care about Griffin or the asshole, ungrateful Stranded who've been belittling the Gears for the last few chapters. Considering that Marcus has at most shown annoyance or constrained anger at problems before, to see him totally flip out over   is heartbreaking.


 * The bonus materials in the Limited and Epic editions of the game shed some further light on Marcus and Dom's relationship; a copy of Adam Fenix's Will says that if he dies before Marcus comes of age, guardianship passes to Dom's parents: Marcus and Dom apparently grew up together.
 * "You ever feel like you're dead, but nobody told you?" One line is all one needs to understand the distance that separates the Augustus Cole of the present from the Cole Train he was at the start of the war. Gears of War is really a game that is best at being quite subtle about the pain its characters endure, and that line sums up everything about Cole so succinctly. A collectible you pick up also reveals that Cole lost his family on E-Day and that he joined the army six days later.
 * The entire sequence at the Thrashball stadium.
 * Hell all of Cole's lines in 3 were really sad; each whooo, and quip is laboured and forced. He's putting it all on for everybody else's sake, a top notch performance from Lester Speight.
 * True for Hanover at least. After leaving, he seemed to get back to his old self again.
 * The death of, particularly the point where
 * The expression on Marcus' face at the very end as
 * The entire chapter spent in Char. The absolute devestation wrought by the Hammer of Dawn is a powerful sight. The real kicker, though, is the citizens, reduced to statues of ash and frozen in place, all trying and failing to flee from the destruction.
 * The entire chapter spent in Char. The absolute devestation wrought by the Hammer of Dawn is a powerful sight. The real kicker, though, is the citizens, reduced to statues of ash and frozen in place, all trying and failing to flee from the destruction.
 * The entire chapter spent in Char. The absolute devestation wrought by the Hammer of Dawn is a powerful sight. The real kicker, though, is the citizens, reduced to statues of ash and frozen in place, all trying and failing to flee from the destruction.