The Coalition has tried to inject variety into the formula but it's still very easy to tell when someone is playing Gears, and that reliability has kept players coming back for each entry. Gears of War did for third-person shooting what Halo did for first-person shooting, providing the framework that others followed beat-for-beat in the years after its debut. No matter who the developer is, the Gears of War series has retained a loyal fanbase, and it's not just because players get to chainsaw Locust goons in half.

Somehow, lead designer Cliff Bleszinski made that premise believable and emotionally resonant, turning out a trilogy of great Xbox titles and leaving new developers The Coalition a blueprint for success when they took over in 2014.

The third-person shooters feature football-sized men crouching down behind an inexplicable number of knee-high barriers and firing off weapons at glorified mole men who want to take over the surface. Emerging at the dawn of the Xbox 360 era and helmed by the people who now bring the world Fortnite, Gears of Warhas always been a reliable hit for Microsoft's line of consoles.

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