Question to native english speakers.

I need some short sentences in english fo my game trailer but I'm simply not sure about the gramma.

Trailer is about soldier who tells the story about what happened. Zombie apocalypse happened in the past and now people live in few enclaves etc.

So the short story is.

[quote:2nzndi24]Bad things happened in the past... they've taken our planet... it's time to get it back!

Is this correct or should it be "had happened" and "took our planet"?

I'm getting confused when it comes to english past tenses.

Thanks in advance!

Using 'had' before happened is, to the majority of English speakers, just pointless semantics.

The second part, 'they've taken ...' would generally be used in the present tense, so it would be more appropriate to use 'they took...' in it's place.

You might see had used if it was a narrative.

Then again in that context you would more likely see "had taken".

Hmmm... sorry but I am even more confused now. It will be used at the beginning of my trailer movie. So basically it is a narration because there are various empty lands being shown and "the soldier" voice is just speaking. He is not talking to someone... well to the one who is watching basically.

And zombies took the planet (let's say) years ago, but it is still taken. And now player starts fighting with them to take the planet back.

So would that be the proper way?

[quote:2kwqltlz]Bad things happened in the past... they had taken our planet... it's time to get it back!

"They came... they took our planet... it's time to take it back!"

I'm not native english speaker, but i've spent 10 years in UK and I think "They came and took our planet - now it's time to take it back!" flows better.

"Bad things happened in the past... they had taken our planet... it was time to get it back!"

That would be from a narrator, someone who isn't part of the story directly.

"They came... they took our planet... it's time to take it back!"

blackhornet's version is that of someone involved. Like a soldier.

Thanks a lot guys. I think I get what should be used when now.