Gearheads of War

with your point about not forming connections to characters. I will say that the story is very, very subtle, but for me, that was enough. Carmine was the tragic case of an ignorant, young soldier. I knew from the beginning that he was going to die (someone has to make room for Cole and Baird, after all) but I was actually sad when it happened. When Kim was killed, on the other hand, I didn't feel sad. Here was an experienced veteran who knew what he was getting himself into. For him, dying in battle was the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate honor. Carmine, on the other hand, is just another dead kid. I felt that.

It may be because I've spent a year familiarizing myself with the story of Sera that I wasn't let down by Gears in that department. If I hadn't read the character descriptions on IGN, or seen the flashback videos on gearsofwar.com, or listened to the many interviews with Cliffy, then perhaps I wouldn't have appreciated the story in the game. Maybe people will say that more of the story elements should be included in the game, and not presented in other mediums (like on the web in videos, etc.) only. I disagree, however. I love that video game stories can spawn different media and that we can immerse ourselves in a story before getting to play the game. It makes the game much more enjoyable for me, and this was definitely the case with Gears.