Former Gears of War producer Laura Fryer believes that Marcus Fenix, the protagonist of the series, has been marginalized in Gears of War: E-Day.
After experiencing this prequel, she shared her thoughts:
"I worked on the development of the first two titles and was looking forward to learning more about the series' backstory. But after actually playing it, I found some issues. The gunplay still feels very much like Gears of War, and the scenes are quite beautiful, but in the campaign mode, those highlight moments that should have belonged to the heroes were handed over to others."
Like many players, Fryer had originally expected the game to focus on the deep friendship between Marcus and Dom. However, in several key scenes, the two become mere bystanders, with the spotlight shifting to other members of Bravo Squad. This also lowered her overall rating of the game's story.
Fryer specifically mentioned a plot point involving a Locust entrance. In her view, this entrance should have been destroyed by Marcus himself, but instead, the heroic feat was accomplished by Mags Carter.
Fryer believes that this arrangement undermines Marcus's status as the core action hero of the series. This is especially true for single-player gamers, who expected to personally control Marcus during these thrilling heroic moments, only to be deprived of that experience.
In the Chinese Steam reviews, many players also noted that the female COG soldier has more screen time than Marcus.