3. Gears Of War 3
Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski's final entry in the series became the best and most definitive take yet. Both previous Gears games had pretty big spectacle-filled endings - but part two in particular simply focussed on you pointing an uber-weapon at a large plant, before giving you a victory screen after a few seconds. As such, all bets were off on whether it'd be a return to antagonising boss fight victory a la General RAMM, or more of the same. In a nutshell: The enemy Locust were forever answering to a mysterious Queen Myrrah, and facing off against her was a fantastic mix of cover-based retaliatory strikes versus hopping between cover to avoid lasers. When all was said and done, questions surrounding Myrrah's humanoid appearance were cast aside as Marcus Fenix's dad succumbed to his own cure for a planet-wide mutant infection, leaving Marcus to kill Myrrah in revenge and watch the sun rise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3vZ9-T7oU The case for: The scene with Marcus' father is quite touching in its suddenness (the guy literally turns to ash within seconds), before Fenix finally takes the time to rest, removing his headband as long-time comrade Anya arrives and holds his hand, hinting at a potential romance between the two in the process. It's a nice personal touch to an otherwise gung-ho string of games, and proves Gears always had a heart underneath all the chainsaws and gunfire. The case against: It just isn't very satisfying. Despite giving it your all to save Professor Fenix and the planet, he crumbles and Marcus slips into a "Now it's all over"-style depression as he looks out towards the sun. The biggest overarching plot point is left to interpretation, and although the game shows you the positive effects of all your actions, actually ends on a total downer.