10 Awesome Apocalyptic Video Games

6. Gears of War (series)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccWrbGEFgI8 On the face of it, Gears of War might look like another garden variety alien invasion end of the world scenario, but it's actually up to a lot more than that; for starters, the enemies actually emerge from underneath the Earth, having been festering there for a while. Though the Locust aren't the most imaginative type of enemies in this sort of game, the sheer visceral power and weight of the action makes us feel every gun-fight, and the game poses a surprising amount of challenge for what many expected would be a pretty procedural shooter series. It's a game about brute-force combat rather than the more subtle survival-based titles we're used to in this genre, and though protagonist Marcus Fenix might look like a mindless brute, the games do make an effort to develop the characters with more panache than one would reasonably anticipate. Add to this some absolutely gorgeous visuals - especially the brown, misty backgrounds - and you've got all the ingredients for an electrifying, brutal, grim end to our world.