[[quoteright:219:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gatling_Gears_cover_4435.jpg]]
''Gatling Gears'' is a top-down ActionGame developed by Vanguard Entertainment and published by Creator/ElectronicArts. It features the player in a MiniMecha and focuses on upgrading weapons and destroying waves of mooks.
!!'''Story'''
After refusing orders and [[DefectorFromDecadence deserting]] TheEmpire army - and leaving behind a career of piloting Gatling Gears, Max Brawley lives a life of leisure and relaxation with his niece Zoe in [[{{Arcadia}} Mistbound]] - a world of natural beauty. Years later, the Empire begins to execute a plan to drain all of the natural resources from Mistbound and destroy anyone that stands in the way their goal. Brawley with his niece Zoe then take it upon themselves to fight the Empire and stop their destruction.

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!! '''Tropes that apply to Gatling Gears'''
* ActionBomb: Exploding drones and explosive minecarts.
* AdvancingBossOfDoom: Happens about twice in the final level before the final boss, with TWO [[GiantMook Katharsis Tanks]] chasing after you from behind while spamming spreads of damaging rockets. You're supposed to run here as you don't even have any weapon boosters at this point.
* AirborneMook: Exploding drones, electrical drones, enemy bombers, Dropships, Helicopter gunships, and the hover ships in the final chapter.
* ArtificialStupidity: Some small bombers will drop their bomb prematurely, far away in front of your character. They're actually trying to LeadTheTarget and hope that you would walk forward into the explosions, but they still do this even when the player stands still.
* AttackItsWeakPoint
* BattleInTheRain: Shockstorm. Most of level 3 has it raining thanks to {{Weather Control Machine}}s that force it to.
%%* BigBad: Julius.
* BottomlessMagazines: Your Gatling gun. You have a maximum of six cannon shells that recharge over time, and three grenades that recharge over time. Picking up a booster powerup will give unlimited ammo for the respective weapon as well as making it do crazy amounts of damage.
* BossInMookClothing: The Katharsis Tanks have ''crazy'' amounts of health and fire out {{spread shot}}s of really damaging projectiles.
* BossOnlyLevel: All the bosses are fought in separate stages of their own.
%%* BulletHell: Several sections become like this. The third section of the first boss already does this!
* BullfightBoss:
** The second and third phases of The Gardener, as well as the last phase of Shockstorm.
** The giant driller robots are a Mook version of this, but you can take advantage of them by making them [[SetAMookToKillAMook run into other mooks]], instantly clearing them.
* CarryABigStick: The claw robots in Chapter 2 use a ''[[ImprobableWeaponUser tree]]'' as a weapon!
%%* CoolTrain: The fifth boss "The Bouncer".
%%* CoOpMultiplayer
* CoresAndTurretsBoss: The Vanguard. The second phase of The Bouncer is also like this.
* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: The Freemen units that you face in the prologue act very similarly to the Empire units later on, to the point of having similar attack patterns.
* CrosshairAware: This usually means that something nasty is going to land there. Avoid standing in these once they stop spinning.
* DeadlyDodging: You can use this when facing Drilling machines, causing them to charge into and destroy another foe.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Max Brawley was working in TheEmpire. When he was ordered to destroy a village full of innocent Freemen, he felt that this was too much and deserted them.
* DepthPerplexion: All attacks exist on a single plane, as such you can fire you machine gun from a cliff and hit a mine or enemy far below! Because of this, projectiles also seem to "pass though" houses and terrain and such.
* DestructibleProjectiles: Averted for normal rockets, played straight for homing missiles.
* DishingOutDirt: Claw robots throw boulders at you, while the third boss "The Excavator" makes it rain down rocks on you.
* DoomedHometown: In Chapter 1, the Empire attacks Max's hometown and destroys most of it.
%%* TheDragon: General Brutus.
* {{EMP}}: One of the tank enemies fires this. Not only does it slow you down, but it makes you unable to attack until it wears off.
%%* TheEmpire: It's even called that by name.
* EvilCounterpart: [[FinalBoss The Butler]] is pretty much a bigger and much meaner Walker with loads more firepower. Thank goodness it can't nuke you with area grenades. Fittingly enough, Julius controls it.
* EvilKnockoff: The enemy walkers.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** See those commanders, aircraft, large tanks and helicopter gunships in the prologue? [[spoiler: You'll be fighting each and every single one of them later.]]
** There's also the Empire's prototype electrical generators in the prologue, which they have managed to install all over the area in Chapter 3.
* FlunkyBoss: Almost all of the bosses can spawn smaller Mooks to attack you.
* GatlingGood: Your primary attack. It ain't called '''''Gatling''''' ''Gears'' for nothing.
* GiantFootOfStomping: The first phase of "[[FinalBoss The Butler]]" has the HumongousMecha try to stomp you with its feet.
* GiantMook: Larger tanks, submarines, helicopter gunships, ''even larger'' Katharsis Tanks, and hoverships.
* [[GoodRepublicEvilEmpire Good Freemen, Evil Empire]]: GenreSavvy players will know that something's not quite right when you start out '''working for TheEmpire''' to attack the Freemen.
* GreenAesop: Over the course of the game, you see the Empire's various atrocities to the natural environment of Mistbound- mining the earth, draining the sea, causing thunderstorms, etc.
* GroundPound: Used by the tree-wielding claw robots, as well as The Butler's [[GiantFootOfStomping giant feet of stomping]].
* GuestStarPartyMember: The helicopter gunship that escorts you in the prologue level "Air Support". You witness its destructive missile-spamming might against the giant enemy turrets. [[spoiler: Later on, you will be witnessing the same destructive power against you!]]
%%* HeelFaceTurn: Max.
* HerdHittingAttack: The Grenade does this. At maximum level, this hits a very large area for huge damage.
* HoldTheLine: Many instances where you have to hold off a large amount of enemies coming in from multiple directions.
%%* HomingProjectile: Many enemies shoot these at you. Thankfully, you can destroy them.
* HumongousMecha: The second boss "The Gardener", the fourth boss "Shockstorm", and the FinalBoss "The Butler".
* ImprobableWeaponUser: The claw robots in Elysium are taking away the trees. They use said trees as an attack against you. "The Gardener" also has a move where it throws trees at the player.
* InvincibilityPowerUp
* InvisibleMonsters: The stealth soldiers, which will disappear from sight until they begin to attack.
* KarmaHoudini: Even though you foiled his schemes and shut down his army for good, Julius still gets away alive.
* LandMineGoesClick: Several areas feature obviously visible landmines that flash red. Damaging or touching them sets them off with an irritating whine, then they explode.
* LastBreathBullet: The enemy walkers (those that shoot rapid small rockets in twos) will fire out three sets towards the player upon death.
* MacrossMissileMassacre:
** Technically, a lot of enemies use this due to the fact that almost all enemy projectiles are rockets. The biggest offenders are the Helicopters and Katharsis Tanks.
** You get the ability to do this if you pick up a Cannon booster powerup.
* MeaningfulName: The bosses:
** The Vanguard is the Freemen's last line of defence protecting their village.
** The Gardener is a robot made to uproot trees and transport them onto trains.
** The Excavator is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
** Shockstorm uses [[ShockAndAwe lightning attacks]] and summons a storm.
** The Bouncer is the enemy preventing you from entering Katharsis, similar to how a bouncer prevents people from entering a bar.
** The Butler is Julius's personal mech which you fight in his estate.
%%* MiniMecha: You play as a character driving one of these.
%%* MookMaker: Enemy bunkers, dropship helicopters and planes, factories, etc.
%%* {{Mooks}}: The enemy soldiers.
* MutuallyExclusivePowerups: You can only have one powerup (Gatling Booster, Cannon Booster, Grenade Booster or Invincibility) at a time.
%%* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: General Brutus.
* NoDamageRun: Getting the "Can't Touch This" achievement requires you to complete a level in the final chapter without getting hit even once.
* NukeEm: The Grenade Booster makes all your grenades into nukes that are a OneHitKill on anything that isn't a boss.
* NumericalHard: In Easy, enemies have half the health, do half as much damage, and you start out with one extra life, but you gain less score. In Hard, enemies have twice the health, do twice the damage, and you start out with one less life, but you rack up LOADS of points.
* ObviouslyEvil: The Empire. Although you work with them at the start of the game, their name pretty much gives it away.
* OddNameOut: Shockstorm is the only boss whose name doesn't [[SpellMyNameWithAThe begin with a "The"]].
* OneManArmy: Over the course of the game, you decimate a whole load of enemy tanks and mooks.
* OneHitKill: The Spark Bomb on normal mooks. The drill enemies will also do this, but [[SetAMookToKillAMook only to other enemies]], not the player.
* OneHitPolykill: The Cannon Booster allows your cannon to pierce through multiple enemies with a SpreadShot of three high-powered shells.
* PainfullySlowProjectile: Justified, as they're mostly rockets. The few enemies that attack with Gatling guns subvert this, however.
* RemixedLevel: The setting of Chapter 3 is the same as the prologue chapter.
* RuleOfThree: There are three gold bars in each non-boss level, and each boss has [[SequentialBoss three phases]] to the fight.
* SequentialBoss: All boss fights are split into three distinct phases, which progress as you deplete their health bars.
* SceneryGorn: The Drylands in Chapter 4, which used to be a sea until the Empire drained it dry into a barren wasteland. There's also Karthasis, a suffocating, mechanized city built by the Empire.
* SceneryPorn: Elysium fields, with trees, cliffs, and waterfalls everywhere.
* SeaMine: You face these in one section of Chapter 4, with a twist: The Empire has ''drained the entire sea'', so they're stuck in the ground like landmines. There's also an achievement for not getting damaged by any of these (Land mines are still OK).
* SetAMookToKillAMook: In Chapter 2 and 4, you fight deadly drill bots that charge at you. You can take advantage of this by making them charge into enemy tanks, destroying them. At one point, you have to face off against two of these, and you can beat them easily by making them charge each other.
* SharedUniverse: With Greed Corp.
* ShockAndAwe: The fourth boss, Shockstorm. One of the levels preceding it is also named this.
* SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography: Played straight- The prologue and especially first chapter take place in GreenHillZone, the second chapter takes place on a DeathMountain, the third chapter in a stormy {{Remixed|Level}} BleakLevel of the prologue, the fourth in a barren [[ShiftingSandLand desert]] (that was once an ocean), and the last one in Katharsis, a suffocating EternalEngine {{Mordor}}. [[spoiler:Interestingly, the final two stages in Katharsis is actually an artificial GreenHillZone]].
* SmartBomb:
** The Spark Bomb, which fries all enemies on the screen and heavily damages bosses. You only get ''one'' per level, though.
%%** The Grenade Booster also temporarily turns all your grenades into these.
%%* SpellMyNameWithAThe: All the bosses, save for Shockstorm.
* SpreadShot: Most enemies use a initial burst. Your Gatling becomes a Spray burst once you obtain a Gatling Booster, and you cannon becomes a regular variety when you get a Cannon Booster.
* StealthyMook: The sniper enemies will camouflage after firing, turning invisible and then reappearing in a different location.
%%* SteamPunk
* SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: Every time you see a Mook drop a booster or invincibility power up, you can bet that there's going to be a tough opponent or a massive fight coming up.
* TakingYouWithMe: The small bomber planes. Even if you destroy them, they will still drop their bomb, which does heavy area damage. The trick here is that they ''always'' drop their bomb in the direction they are facing.
* TankGoodness: Quite a few kinds. All of them have tons of health. There's the normal variant, a medium variant, a [[BossInMookClothing HUGE variant]], as well as one that generates DeflectorShields, one that makes you extremely slow, and one that prevents you from attacking by use of an EMP.
* TimeSkip: Between the prologue and chapter 1. Max Brawley has retired from the empire and is living a peaceful life in Mistbound.
* WakeUpCallBoss: The Vanguard, who is the game's ''first'' boss. You know it's this when you have to go through three [[SequentialBoss grueling sections]] that spam attacks like no tomorrow.
* WeakTurretGun: Averted. Turret enemies have quite a lot of health and use very dangerous attacks.
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Both players in a two-player game. If any of them loses all lives, it's GameOver no matter how many lives the other has.
* WeatherControlMachine: You have to destroy them in Chapter 3, because they cause terrible thunderstorms in order to supply power to TheEmpire.
* WhereItAllBegan: Chapter 3 takes place in the same area as the prologue, except that the army base is ruined with age and filled with thunderstorms.
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