10 GENIUS Ways Video Games Hide Load Times

Being a van-sized brute with testosterone to spare and a jaw like the front of a combine harvester, stopping to receive orders may not seem like the most intuitive action to take. You're still a soldier, though, and not only do these regular debriefings fill you in on where to go and what to do next, but they also give the game ample time to get the next area ready for you.

In the Gears of War series, you'll occasionally be contacted by your superiors or vice versa, which serves the purpose within the narrative of keeping each party up-to-date on the mission progress. During these sequences, you're unable to run, shoot, or even shake the foundations of the earth with your bumbling crouching manoeuvres.

This forces you to take a breather, and while you do so, your slowed pace allows the next part of the game to load without any annoying extra waiting on your part.

This certainly isn't the only game series to make use of this technique, but given the immensely fast pace of the Gears of War games, it's especially rewarding to not have to sit through a whole load of loading screens and sacrifice any of that precious manliness.