Gears of War has never bothered with trying to tell a story with compelling and nuanced characters. Marcus, Dom, Cole, and Baird are your standard military grunts, which, as long as the games delivered visceral thrills, didnt matter much. Doms quest to find his wife Maria in Gears of War 2 was, again, standard video game fare, but it culminated in a disturbingly tragic moment where Dom finds her tortured into a near comatose state, forcing him to end her suffering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAuz7HeiOFE Despite little time given to developing the relationship between Dom and Maria, this scene still manages to hit all the right emotional beats. The fake out at the beginning is a great way of putting you in Dom's state of mind, and makes the reveal all the more shocking. Its a horrifying situation that merely hints at what was done to her, which is why it manages to stand out amongst all the blood and gore.
