The developer has adapted its award-winning Unreal technology to create interactive environments with a physics-based damage system. Since the alien army vastly outnumbers the team, players must use the post-apocalyptic world to their advantage, such as seeking cover behind dumpsters, pillars, cars, rubble, and other objects. The main protagonist is Marcus Fenix, a once disgraced soldier looking to redeem himself by leading a ragtag squad against the monstrous threat. Players are thrust in a climactic clash between what's left of humankind and a swarming underground race called the Locust Horde. Anointed by the games media as Microsoft's first 'killer app' for its Xbox 360, Epic Games' Gears of War is a futuristic third-person shooter emphasizing tactical action over run-and-gun battles.