Gears of War is a game that defined a genre. Cliff Bleszinski and his team at Epic Games took the burgeoning idea of cover-based third-person shooting and turned it into a solid and effective formula. Thus, the legacy of chest high walls was born.

As you might expect, Gears of War is a war story. The similar-to-but-distinct-from-Earth planet of Sera is locked in the midst of a brutal, drawn out conflict between giant meatmen and orcs with guns. Our heroes, Delta Squad (the meatmen), are tasked with a mission to obtain targeting data that will allow the superweapon of the day to potentially wipe out the invading hoard, called Locust (the orcs).

So, basically it’s just four dudes, pallin’ around and shooting monsters. Not a bad formula, to be honest.