_____ __ __ __ ____ / ____| / _| \ \ / / |___ \ | | __ ___ __ _ _ __ ___ ___ | |_ \ \ /\ / /__ _ _ __ __) | | | |_ |/ _ \/ _` | '__/ __| / _ \| _| \ \/ \/ // _` | '__| |__ < | |__| | __/ (_| | | \__ \ | (_) | | \ /\ /| (_| | | ___) | \_____|\___|\__,_|_| |___/ \___/|_| \/ \/ \__,_|_| |____/ Preface - x000x ------- Sorry folks, I spit this out kind of fast so it's a little messy BUT it does have the entire campaign in it, which is what counts. I'll have more info soon including all the collectables soon. Version - x010x --------------- Version: 1.2 Date: Oct 7, 2011 Should have all collectables in walkthrough WIll try to make section just for them Will try to put a chievos section in And maybe proofread Version: 1.1 Date: Oct 4, 2011 All sections done Need to add collectables Refine and season to taste Version: 1.0 Date: Sept 21, 2011 Walkthrough complete ============================ | | | Table of Contents | | x100x | ============================ To use the table of contents, use ctrl+f and then the 5 character code associated with the section you want to find. All sections start and end with an x and use three numbers in between to denote which section it is. For the walkthrough in particular, the number will start with a 3 (to denote the walkthrough) followed by the act number and the chapter number. For instance, If you are looking for Act 5, Chapter 2 then you want to search for x352x. Preface.......................x000x Version.....................x010x Table of Contents.............x100x Controls......................x200x Walkthrough...................x300x Act I.......................x310x Chapter 1................x311x Chapter 2................x312x Chapter 3................x313x Chapter 4................x314x Chapter 5................x315x Chapter 6................x316x Act II......................x320x Chapter 1................x321x Chapter 2................x322x Chapter 3................x323x Chapter 4................x324x Chapter 5................x325x Chapter 6................x326x Chapter 7................x327x Act III.....................x330x Chapter 1................x331x Chapter 2................x332x Chapter 3................x333x Chapter 4................x334x Chapter 5................x335x Act IV......................x340x Chapter 1................x341x Chapter 2................x342x Chapter 3................x343x Chapter 4................x344x Chapter 5................x345x Chapter 6................x346x Act V.......................x350x Chapter 1................x351x Chapter 2................x352x Chapter 3................x353x Chapter 4................x354x Chapter 5................x355x Chapter 6................x356x Multiplayer...................x400x Campaign....................x410x Versus......................x420x Overview..................x421x Team Deathmatch...........x422x Warzone...................x423x Execution.................x424x Capture the Leader........x425x King of the Hill..........x426x Wingman...................x427x Horde.......................x430x Overview..................x431x Fortifications............x432x Tips......................x433x Beast.......................x440x Overview..................x441x Tier 1....................x442x Tier 2....................x443x Tier 3....................x444x Tier 4....................x445x Tips......................x446x Private.....................x450x Events......................x460x Weapons.......................x500x Maps..........................x600x Legal.........................x700x Thanks......................x710x Contact.......................x800x ============================ | | | Controls | | x200x | ============================ Campaign -------- LT - Aim RT - Shoot LB - Tac/Com RB - Reload L3 - Stand/Crouch in Cover OR Sight when pressed with LT R3 - Iron Sights/Zoom Left Analog - Walk/strafe Right Analog - Spin (verticle/horizontal) D-Pad - Select Weapon A - Roadie Run/Dive/Take Cover B - Melee/Chainsaw/Retro charge X - Pick up/Use Y - Event Notification Horde ----- LT - Aim RT - Shoot LB - Tac/Com RB - Reload L3 - Stand/Crouch in Cover OR Sight when pressed with LT R3 - Iron Sights/Zoom Left Analog - Walk/strafe Right Analog - Spin (verticle/horizontal) D-Pad - Select Weapon A - Roadie Run/Dive/Take Cover B - Melee/Chainsaw/Retro charge X - Pick up/Use Y - Build/Buy Beast ----- *NOTE:Controls in Beast vary a lot so this is just a guideline. For more accurate controls, consult the Beast section at x430x. LT - Aim RT - Shoot LB - Tac/Com RB - Reload L3 - Stand/Crouch in Cover OR Sight when pressed with LT R3 - Left Analog - Walk/strafe Right Analog - Spin (verticle/horizontal) D-Pad - Select Weapon A - Roadie Run/Dive/Take Cover B - Melee/explode X - Special Abilities Y - Event Notification Versus -------- LT - Aim RT - Shoot LB - RB - Tac/Com L3 - Stand/Crouch in Cover OR Sight when pressed with LT R3 - Iron Sights/Zoom Left Analog - Walk/strafe Right Analog - Spin (verticle/horizontal) D-Pad - Select Weapon A - Roadie Run/Dive/Take Cover B - Melee/Chainsaw/Retro charge X - Pick up/Use Y - Event Notification ============================ | | | Walkthrough | | x300x | ============================ Prologue: --------- You start off in a cell. Go through the door and take a right. As you look down the hallway, there is a door just to your right (another cell). Open that door for a collectable. Go through the door at the end of the hall. Once you get outside, run forward and take cover behind the wall and start shooting the dream grubs. After the narrative finishes, you will get a cutscene and the prologue will finish. ============== Act 1 - x310x| ============== Act I: Chapter 1 Anchored - x311x --------------------------------- Good morning. Wake up, and on the desk just behind you (closest to the cot) is a collectable paper. head into the hallway and listen to a lady mention Dom. Follow her into the room to the left. Hug the left wall and just after the cots will be a collectable on a dinner tray. Take that and head back into the hall. Then go to the next door on the right and open it. The next door on the right is also open. In front of Jack on the table is another collectable. Take that and head back into the hallway. Continue on and go up the stairs and around the table to go up the next flight of stairs. Take a couple of rights and talk to Anya. Follow the objective marker (the star icon when you hit left bumper), to watch poor Nash get attacked. Clear the polyps, one shot at a time, and then turn right and got up the stairs. At the top of the stairs you meet the Drudge. He's a complex piece because he can mutate but for right now, just shoot him in his glowing belly. head to the left, shoot the drudge by the edge and then go up the stairs just to your right to activate the dock lift. Cutscene with Prescott. Then you'll be sent through the gardens to find some place to watch your new movie. Take your time crossing the deck because the lambent are not easy to deal with, especially not when they start shooting at you. Just take cover and aim for the glowing parts. Once you've cleared them (with the help of a Raven), go to the back left corner of the deck. Once there, look up to the catwalk above and you will see a dead Gear hanging off. Shoot the body to get him to drop his tags. Now that you have the tags, head for the stairs up to the catwalk on the right. Go through the door at the end of the catwalk. Cutscene. Now turn around and go back the way you came. Before you go back down the stairs, use your height advantage to clear the area of lambent. Once back on the deck, head back towards the lifts, clearing as you go. Once the area is clear, a COG will raise the lift for you. Use the lift as a way across to the other side of the deck. Cross and you'll find yourself where you first met the Drudge. Go back down the stairs to where Nash met his untimely demise. Pick up the extinguisher and put out the fire. They can be a little finicky but just aim a little higher than you think you should and if it doesn't work, readjust your aim. You'll come across some lambent as you make your way across the next hall. Hang back and take them out. At the end of the hall, turn right to save Prescott. Act I: Chapter 2 Abandon Ship - x312x ------------------------------------- Head strait down the hall and take a left at the end. Tip a table and take cover. Stay back and take out the lambent from here. At the end, go right and talk to the people moving the vending machine and through the door at the left. The next room is rather open. You have quite a few lambent strait ahead. Find some cover and try to pick a couple off but also watch the catwalk up above and to the right. The left side of the room is a pretty save place to be and gives you a good angle for flanking. Take out the Drudge and the lambent grubs and drop down. Follow the path to come to the first Deck lift. The Raven pilot will mention that you need to raise the lift and soon after you will be attacked by glowies from the right. Unfortunately, they've got a slight height advantage so you should try and get up the stairs as soon as you can to get some good cover. Once they are cleared out, go past the door they came through and up the stairs to the catwalk. Follow it to the control room to raise the lift. Exit the control room and go down the stairs to your right. Just after you talk to the next Raven pilot, the chopper gets destroyed and you have to shoot a tentacle and defend against polyps. Destroy those and some glowies will bust out of a door to your left (similarly to how they did by the other lift). Kill them and head up the stairs again. Go to the control room and activate this lift too. You'll get on the lift automatically. At the top of the lift, you need to kill a drudge and then turn off a valve behind him and to the right to clear the flames. Round the corner to the right and take out the moderately sized lambent group. Just behind them is another valve. Head back the way you came and take your first left across the area that was just on fire. Watch the person get blown up and then use their extinguisher to cross the flames. After you get to look the Leviathan in the eye, you'll slide away and end up in engineering. Follow the path and bust down the door. In the next room you'll be attacked by some lambent grubs. Kill them and then the polyps after, but don't bother with the tentacle. Keep killing glowies until a piece breaks off from the upper level, creating a ramp upward. At the top, go left to find a door. Go through the door, up to the deck and then run as fast as you can across so you don't get smashed by the crates. Open the door to your right to get a silverback. Just before you jump in, there is a collectable on the table to the left. Take the silverback right and through the gate. Move right along the deck to watch a guy get chomped on by the leviathan. Start shooting him in the eye until it bursts. When it does, he'll back off and you'll have to fight a wave of glowies. Kill them and he'll return. Shoot him in the same eye you were shooting him in before. You'll get another wave and then you'll have to dislodge him from the ship one more time. And then he blows up. Act I: Chapter 3 Homecoming - x313x ----------------------------------- First, look at Carmine. Do you see what his second weapon is? It's a Torque Bow and that is some serious homage right there. Head towards the deserted outpost, hang a left around the car and then take a right to end up on the road. At the end of the road you'll take a right. In the alley, watch for a door on the left that you can kick in to lead to a courtyard. Inside the courtyard, on the right is a collectable. Head back to the main path and keep going until you run into the stranded. Afterwards just follow the path until you get to a playground. When you get across the playground, you'll get attacked by stalks. Try and destroy the pods that are releasing the drudges to kill the stalk quicker (this is like tossing a grenade in an e-hole). Kill the lambent and another stalk will appear. Kill that one and you'll be able to exit onto the next street. Before you do that though, if you go up the slide next to the first stalk and take a right, you'll find a collectable in the corner. To get down, go back over to the slide and hit the X button. I love Cole! Continue into the alley. Here you'll bump into more drudges and some lambent wretches. Take a couple of rights and then squeeze through the razor wire. You'll come to the front door of the Grocery Store. A couple of stalks will emerge. It'll bring mostly just lambent grubs and drudges. Stay back but watch for the mutations because they'll end up with a pretty good amount of elevation from which to shoot. Also make sure you kill those pods. After all is clear, go to your right a little bit and you'll find a small path across the hole to the grocery store. Inside the grocery store, you'll need to fight your way through the aisles. After your first encounter (after the "happy now?"), On the right side of this room is a checkout area. Head over to it and at the last register, closest to the doorway, you'll find a collectable. Just go up the left or right side by the walls rather than strait up the middle and it should be pretty easy. Round the next corner and you'll find more lambent. Use the small room to the right to flank and finish them off quickly. In the next area, it's rather open. You can hang back and kill them off at range. If you try to come up on them, you may end up running in circles. Also watch out for drudges who's heads stretch out because when they die, their head may come alive and chase after you. After, you'll come to a smallish safe room with a bunch of boxes. Chainsaw through the boxes and one will reveal a switch that will open the room to the loader. Use the loader to get beyond the locker and then pick up the food. Before heading outside, check the room off to the right. You should see a giant Crimson Omen painted on the wall of the room. On the computer desks in the back are COG tags, grab those then head back out into the room with the groceries. Head to the far left door and break it down using the loader. Once outside, you may want to get out of the loader and kill everything, then proceed to the green smoke to drop of the supplies. This is just assorted lambent again except you'll need to use the loader to make a bridge of cars to get across. Act I: Chapter 4 Helping Hand - x314x ------------------------------------- Head up and around the crates to the right and you'll have to walk across a pit of immulsion. When you get out, walk towards the park area up ahead. You'll find some assorted Lambent throughout the area but of particular interest is the "Gunker" to the left. He's the big hulking thing (maybe formerly a boomer?) that is lobbing immulsion at you. You want to aim for his chest and just unlead as much as you can. DO NOT APPROACH HIM. If you get close to him, he has a one hit melee and it's got quite a bit of range. Just shoot and dodge and continue. Explosives can also work well here. Once he's dead, get clear of the big explosion. Leave the area by the back left and watch Carmine get shot in the head. Stroll through the stranded camp and when you get to an area over crowded with shipping containers, take a U-turn to the right and around the back. Behind all the shipping containers will be a newspaper on the floor and inside the shipping container next to it is a boomshot. Continue to follow the leader until you get to the end you'll find a nice heap of ammo. Grab some and then continue on down the docks. Once you go through the big red gate, hang a left and then another left around the wall. Head down by the water and there will be a body and COG tags. Head back up and along the pier and stalks will erupt from the water to the left and you can flank right through some crates. Take your time and work your way up. There's no rush and there's little chance of getting surrounded. Go through the big door at the end. Run through the warehouse area and over the bridge to get to the end. Watch out for the stalks that come up behind you. Each one will drop a Gunker. If you just focus on them, they will explode and take out the stalk they just came from. Personally, I found the van to the left side to be excellent cover because they couldn't shoot over it. Once done, enter the stadium. Act I: Chapter 5 MVP - x315x ---------------------------- Get inside and get celebrated. Then stalks arrive as they do. Head to the back and go high. Once you have control, head forward and stick to the right wall. It will open up into a room and if you check the right side as you enter, you'll find a collectable on the floor. Head back out of the room and find a decent vantage of the area. You can clear it out with relative ease. Once the area is devoid of lambent, head through the South Gate. If you hang right as you go through the gate, you'll come to an ammo crate and a collectable on the floor. Go through the double doors. Watch the cutscene and then play Thrashball! It's pretty interesting even if you only really need to steer. If you want to hit things, just run into them, otherwise Cole will juke and tackle as needed. Turn around and head back to where you picked up the bomb. By the front of the bomb shed, there's a collectable. Go up the stairs into the stands and through the door behind them. Meet up with the Stranded Boss and you'll end up on an elevator. As you go up the elevator, don't worry too much about small enemies but keep an eye out for the big red fuel containers, these will help you clear enemies quickly. Act I: Chapter 6 Hanging by a thread - x316x -------------------------------------------- Slide down the line and when you land, run around behind the car in front of you for grenades. Then head away from the lambent some for cover. Really, this is important for putting distance between you and the Gunker so he doesn't melee you. Once you've cleared them, move ahead a little bit to find out you need to get through the stranded base to see the ship. You'll find out what makes these Stranded so dangerous. Be careful of the turret between the two doors to the fort. Clear out the ramparts first and then try and land a grenade in the turret bunker. Also be careful because there may be a OneShot up above. Don't get too close because once everything is clear, more enemies will come through the doors, including some Boomers and Butchers. Once the area is cleared, go to the turret in the middle of the bridge (in the toll booth), then go around the right side and just behind it, you'll find a collectable in the pile on the ground. After that, head through the gate and enjoy the view. You'll actually be safe until you get into the actual fort section. You'll pass a closed red crate on your right and as you continue forward you'll find another but this one is open instead. Go inside, destroy the crate, and pick up the knife on the ground. Go back and continue on down the bridge. It's kind of hectic in here but if you just hang back, they shouldn't be too much of a problem. Once you've cleared this room, there is a collectable to be found but it's a little tricky. Leave and come back towards this area the way you did originally and on the left, you'll find a balcony sticking out. If you look to the right, you'll find a crimson omen painted on a girder and on the left is a ladder. Go down the ladder and follow the path until you come to a barrier you can mantle over. On the otherside of this barrier (right next to it) are COG tags on the ground. When you come up on the otherside, turn right and continue on your path. Ahead, watch for a turret in the back and some tickers. If the tickers get too close, hit the B button to punt them. Climb up the slab of road that just fell into the room to continue. Just to your left is some cover. Get behind it ASAP because there will soon be a lot of explosions going around. You'll get attacked by some Grenadiers and Boomers. You may want to take out the Grenadiers first because they might otherwise swarm you. Head further along and to the right. You'll head inside to climb down some ladders. Once inside, you'll have to split up. Take the low road. Make your way up slowly and watch for turrets on the right side. There aren't a whole lot of enemies but they will try and flush you out of your cover with grenades so try and kill them in a timely manner. Watch out for a few grubs popping up out of the ground to your left. Approach the big gate in the back and you'll get to see the ship. Yeah, that's right, Clayton just called them ladies. He's not shy like his younger brothers. Move to the next area and you'll come to more tickers. They shouldn't be anything too devestating. Run up the broken road to the next area. You'll come under fire from a mortar. Use the empty shipping containers for cover. Wait for a shot, then move. Try not to stay in one area too long because with the mortars alternating, they can pin you down where you are. Once you get to the end of the bridge, use your height advantage to take out as many of the locust as you can. A gas barge will come around and you're told to try and hit it with the mortar. That's actually a little bit on the tough side. Give it a shot though and if you can't, you can still bring it down with small arms. Kill it and then turn around and head down further. Cross the lowest part of the bridge. The tentacles that come through the walls will drop polyps so watch for them. At the end of the section will be a couple of grenadiers. Kill them and exit through the door on the right. Climb up the ladder. Take a right and rap around the tower. You'll come to a set of stairs that leads back up towards the mortar position but the stairs are broken. to the right side of the stairs, on the ground, is a collectable. head back around to the left and get back to the bridge road. Head up the road and watch for the OneShot. Grab the LongShot hanging near the truck and use to clear the way. Watch behind you as you progress because some grubs will jump up out of the ground. Head over to the crate and drop the tickers. ============== Act 2 - x320x| ============== Act II: Chapter 1 Shipwreck - x321x ----------------------------------- Watch for the wild tickers ahead. They aren't inherently harmful but they will eat ammo and weapons and since you don't have any right now, that's bad. Before you round that first corner to the right, you'll see a giant shipping container to your left. If you go to the end of it, you can kick in the door. Inside, you will find a collectable on the ground about how to grow tomoatoes. You'll find assorted weapons on the way to the first encounter and even if you don't, charge ahead quickly and grab something from a downed enemy. Just when you think you've cleared the area, more grubs will pop up out of the ground. Once you've cleared those, the next area will open and more grubs will appear. In this area, you should find a bunch of shipping crates and a downed Raven. Next to the Raven will be a door sticking out of the ground. Next to THAT, on the ground is a collectable. Head up the hill at the back left (Don't be afraid to use the Tac-Com to find where you're going, especially not here). When you get to the top of the hill, a handful of grubs will pop up out of the ground. Head left for a cutscene. That is the Digger! Be careful, one shot can put you down. You'll want to treat them like Gunkers. Watch for the attack, dodge and then get a few shots off. The real difference here is that when they are dead, you can pick up a digger launcher and use it against them. Make your way up the hill. This time it might pay to rush a little bit so you aren't constatly dodging the diggers. Head towards the bridge in the back to progress. Be careful because more grubs will pop out of the ground. When you finally get to the top, you'll see the siege beast. Clear the grubs and then take control of it to destroy the other two catapults. Once they're dead, you'll be attacked by a Brumak. He's not as tough as he could be with the Siege Beast. In the next area, the grubs should be pretty easy to deal with. Find the burning ship off in the distance, then do a 180 and look up at the hill. You're looking for a small fire and just to the left of that is a wooden crate. Shoot the wooden crate until it's destroyed and then make your way under it to pick up a collectable but be careful for a couple of digging drones. Watch for a sniper up ahead. Keep heading down the hill until you make it to the beach. You'll meet some resistance on the beach but they won't be anything too significant. After the cutscene, you'll get attacked but a decent number of Miners. Hang back and try to take them out at range because there's enough of them that they might be able to swarm or flank around you if you move up too far. After the battle, head back as far as you can and you should see a crate with the crimson omen on it. It's actually behind the crate with the omen on it rather than in the open crate. Check by the water and pick up some COG tags. Just when you think you've won, you'll come to another Brumak. Aim for the Rocket Launcher on his head or try and circle around behind him to attack the pack on his back. Soon he'll start leaking fire from his pack and not long after, he'll die. Just be careful because his does deal and take a considerable amount of damage. I found that the empty storage crate was useful for cover. Act II: Chapter 2 House of Sand - x322x --------------------------------------- At the moment, it's a relatively safe, quiet path ahead. When you get to an open desert looking area, you'll meet a new enemy. The Corpser Hatchling will dig under ground and try to attack you with one of it's claws. When it does this, try to dive to the side. You need to wait for it to come out of the ground and try to shoot it's face when it attacks you or it's backside if you can get behind it. Shooting it's face is preferable but it's hard to get an angle where your shots land and you don't get hit. Personally, I find the digger launcher to be pretty useful against these guys. Head through the gate once he's dead. Watch out for tickers and grenadiers from up above. Be careful of the Digger and Grinder when you finally climb up. Watch out for the ambush and by that I mean it's part of a cutscene so there isn't much you can do. You'll encounter some grubs and butchers and once clear head through the door at the back. On the otherside of the door is some artillery. Immediately start running to the left and loop around to the artillery position. You'll come to Miners and eventually Diggers and Tickers. Be careful with all the explosions. Dodge first then shoot. Make your way to the top of the hill and climb the ladder. Right near you is a turkey (siege beast). Unfortunately, it's not all that easy to see but just lob some to the back and you'll probably clear the area a little. Of course, you'll get some Miners popping out of the ground so you can't completely clear the area until you move ahead. Head towards the gate at the back of the area. Grab ammo and end the chapeter. Act II: Chapter 3 Forced Entry - x323x -------------------------------------- There is a collectable that you can only get by successfully being stealthy in this section. If you go slow, you can usually sneak up on the enemy. If you tip them off, you can maintain your stealth approach as long as you don't allow any grubs to get near the giant horns in whichever area you are in. This section is just a strait forwards crawl. I recommend picking up the LongShot or OneShot (or both). Head forward and clear the first area. You should have no problem taking him out before he blows the horn. The next area won't be quite as easy. The gate has two sentries on it, make sure you take out both as quickly as possible. Assuming you've done that, move to the next area and you'll have to do the same thing. The horn is in the middle this time so have to be a lot quicker in killing the sentries (of which there are two again). If you've failed the stealth run, skip to the next paragraph, otherwise a door will open to the right side here. Go through the door, open the gate and then take the lower path to the right. There will be some wild tickers running around. You'll come to a trough filled with meat and buzzing with flies. Near it should be two digger launchers and some COG tags on the ground. They can be hard to see because of the blood on the ground near the trough. *If you've failed* Once you've cleared the area of grubs, you'll get attack by a Corpser. You've got plenty of room to run around but you won't always be able to see the corpser when he comes up because of all the extra cover around here. If you can get ahold of a Digger, it'd be mighty useful here. Once you've kill him, head through the big gate in the back and the big door behind that. You'll come to small area with a gate ahead. If you shoot the middle section above the gate, the wall will fall off and reveal the lever that will open the gate. Kill the two grubs up above as well. On the other side of the gate is a two level open area and some theron guards. They shouldn't be packing Torque Bows just yet. This is where the two paths meet up. If you failed, you'll be facing the entire area from an open area in the middle but if you succeeded, you will come in on the bottom level off to the right side. There are quite a few turrets around here. Clear the bottom level, then make your way to the top and clear that. You'll get attacked by reinforcement at this point but nothing too serious. If you can't proceed through the gate then aim towards the center of the area and blow that up by shooting the explosives caged in on the bottom floor. The last area of this chapter is a little bit smaller with a turret. Clear this out and head up the ramp. Turn around and activate the lever to lift the gate. Act II: Chapter 4 Trenchrun - x324x ----------------------------------- After seeing the barge, follow the path downward. When the barge returns, run strait into the bunkers. turn 90 degrees left to find the next bunker. Wait for Dom's signal and then run for the next bunker. Once there, turn around and look about 30 degrees to your left (the tac-com will actually list the next bunker). Run through the opposite side of this bunker during the next pause to get beyond the range of the barge. You'll see a small hill in front of you as you come out of the last bunker and to the right will be some crates. If you circle around behind the crates, you'll find a collectable on the ground. Looks kind of like an Ice Pick. Turn around and go up the hill for a *cutscene* Of course he can do it! What kind of question is that? Did you see his hair? If his IQ was any higher, it'd be over 9000! Anyway, follow the path a little bit for reinforcements (them, not you). They attack from the left and the path splits in two with a strait and then an elbow path to the left which has ammo and a good flanking position. At the far side of the bridge, follow the path down and open the big door. You'll enter a wild ticker pen. You can open up the cages with handles to set them free but I don't really see any point. As you walk across the room, you'll run into something rather unique. A grub is actually walking across the room carrying an ammo crate. Kill him and the locust that come in behind him, including the Digger. Feel free the kill the tickers if you'd like, or not. There's no actual reason to. Next you'll be in an open room with tickers hanging from the ceiling. You can shoot the tickers down and have them explode or just cause them to explode where they hang. If you manage it, the former is more useful. Cross on either side. If you're playing with the AI, they'll probably just follow you but this would work pretty will splitting up on co-op. Once on the other side, you'll see enemies advancing below you. Use your height advantage to take care of them. There will be some Therons but they'll only be rocking hammerbursts. However, it is a rather large group, so be careful. Once you are finished with them, head down the ramp to the right. Now that you've gone down a ramp, go up the hill and you'll come to a grub who thinks he's hot s*** for closing you in a room. You'll actually be attacked by a Corpser Hatchling. Remember, Diggers work wonders as do the Retro, Gnasher and Lancer. Once it's down, watch behind you for two grubs and a butcher. Drop back and shoot and they should be no problem. Go through the door they came in (what was the point of locking you in...?) and follow the hall. You'll come across a pretty nice assortment of weapon. You want to pick up whatever you feel most comfortable taking corpsers with because you get a few in the next section. Don't be concerned with ammo. Continue on into the next room. You see all those things on the ground? Those are Corpser Hatchlings. And you get to fight them ALL. Ain't they cute? Ok, that aside, you will get attacked by a Mama Corpser who is actually a little tough without a pool of immulsion to toss her into. First you will fight the babies, then she will appear and you need to aim for her eyes. You ideally want to bait her with one character so that the others can take aim at her eyes. After you destroy each eye, you will be attacked by babies and then by the actual Corpser Hatchlings that you've been fighting up to this point. If at any point you need ammo, there's plenty on either side of the room, along with assault rifles for shooting the eyes. After the fourth eye, rather than releasing more hatchlings, she will go berserk and start running around the room. Try to avoid her as you make your way to the exit. Only one person actually needs to make it to the exit even if someone has been downed (dead is a different story). *cutscene* Act 2: Chapter 5 Hijack - x325x ------------------------------- At this point you will be attacked by a new type of flying machine gun enemy called a Shrieker. They are pretty easy to dispatch at range so take them out and make your way down the path. kill the enemies there and then move forward but not down. When you get closer to the rail, you'll see the barge unload Theron Guards. These are packing torque bows, as per usual so be careful when taking these out. If you are quick, they all get off the barge right near an exploding barrel which can help you out. Kill them and then head down either ramp. A door will be open to the left with more locust and a Digger. Take them down and head through the door. Head down the hill and you'll come to a turret. Take out the turret but before proceeding, look back towards the hill you just came down. Just to the left of it is a room with a gate door. Go break the door down and inside you'll find a boomshot, some ammo, and a collectable on the left side of the floor. Turn back towards the gun emplacement and then you can go through a tunnel just to the left which will bring you out behind the gun emplacement. Clean up any remaining locust and then head towards the back and through the door. Follow this path to the elevator at the end, grabbing the Retro on the way. At the top, you'll be attacked by the Gas Barge. It will shoot rockets as it circles and it will close in to drop of Theron Guards in groups of two. Once it lets the first two off, you will know where they are being dropped each time. Assuming the top platform is a clock with the first drop point being 12, the next drop will be at 6 and then it will drop at 12 and then 6 again. It never drops them at 3 and 9 and always drops when it passes 6 and 12 until eventually, once you've killed enough enemies, it will dock and you can board it (with resistance). Act II: Chapter 6 Airborne - x326x ---------------------------------- The next section is short and you just have to shoot down a couple of barges with the turrets. Aim high and it shouldn't be a problem. Once you've done that, you'll drop down to the ground for a rescue. If you turn around and follow the path, you'll find a full ammo crate if you need it. From where you dropped, you'll be attacked from directly ahead and from above the gate on the left. Eventually you'll be attacked by a Reaver on the building ahead and left. Kill the Theron directly in front of you. They should drop torque bows which will be helpful for killing the Reaver. Take out the Reaver and if that doesn't trigger the cutscene, sometimes theres a Theron hiding in the building up the stairs. *cutscene* Grab ammo and whatever weapons you need. You can fill up on ammo, grab grenades and there's your choice of Retros and Longshots on one wall with hammerburst, torque bow and Boomshot on the other. When you're ready, grab the one shot leaning on the crates and head out. The big gate that was previously closed is now open. Try and save the OneShot because it should actually take out the Reavers in one Active Reloaded shot (if not a regular). There should be 5 Reavers over the course of the encounter in the next street so make sure you save enough for them. Once you clear the area, head to the left end of the street (by the wrecked truck) and there should be a collectable on the ground. Head back up the street and on the left side should be stairs. Go up the stairs and take a right. Head into the one room building directly in front of you and on the floor to the left will be some COG tags. Now just head back to where the barge dropped you to continue on with the on rails section. Act II: Chapter 7 Touchdown - x327x ----------------------------------- This section is actually a breeze. Just hop on to which ever turret and fire at the nearest enemy. The only difficulty is that each gun covers 90 degrees and that's all. The upside is that your AI teammates are smart enough to jump onto a turret of their own accord and will just off as you approach them so you don't have to wait. Once you've cleared everything from the sky, there will be a cutscene and then you'll be attacked. Did you see the objective that said "Survive the attack?" That's exactly what you want to do. Don't worry about attacking, just wait it out and don't catch on fire. *cutscene* ============== Act 3 - x330x| ============== Act III: Chapter 1 Unbreakable - x331x -------------------------------------- Turn around. On the wall just a little to the right is a silver plaque. Check it out because it's a collectable. Head up the stairs on the right and continue on the snaking catwalk. Eventually, you'll come to a large room on the right side with a painting on the wall. The Painting is a collectable. And if you continue further along the catwalk, you'll come to a small ammo room (directly ahead) and in the left corner is a pile of medals, this is also a collectable. Load up on ammo and just make your way up the ramparts to the Gate of Anvil Gate. I would actually recommend crossing the gate over to the right side. Jump on the turret and start blasting away. Keep tearing through enemies until eventually a catapult will show up. After a couple of shots, it will take down the main gate and you'll have to fall back to the main court yard. Most of your allies will assemble at the catwalk so if you just move back just a little you will find a small area that sticks out. This is a perfect flanking spot. Just keep hammering the enemies in the court yard and they'll likely pay little to no attention to you. If you need ammo, there is a full box if you go back to the ramparts and some more closer to the catwalk. When the Maulers arrive, there's actually a OneShot at the ammo cache near the catwalk. grab that and use it to take them out. An perfect reload will actually pack enough punch to destroy even the Mauler shields. Eventually you'll have to retreat further. If you follow the path they give you, there is a turret at the very end to use. The grubs will start trying to use their grappling hooks to climb up and you can shoot these off just like in Gears 2. They are a little tough to target however since they actually attach to and clip through the ground a little. The final phase takes place when the Boomers blast through the doors to the garage. From there, just hold them off until they tell you about the "Last Resort" and when they tell you to, focus your fire just behind the grubs. Act III: Chapter 2 Rescue - x332x --------------------------------- When I heard Bernie over the radio, I didn't think her voice fit the image I had of her but after seeing her, I think it works pretty alright. Choose to ride out, it's the more fun option. It's not really all the complicated. The first part is just an on rails section for about 15 seconds, then you jump off, fight on foot for a quick spell and then head back to the Fort. You'll get attacked by lambent on the way back so fight them off. Eventually you will meet the Lambent Zerker. You can't do anything about it now, just try to make your way to the base and when they say run for the gate, do so. If you saw the E3 2010 demo, this is pretty much it and it really hasn't changed. Once inside, the fight continues. The Lambent Zerker is not completely immune to regular weapons which has a plus and a minus. You don't need the Hammer of Dawn to kill it but the only part that you can actually cause damage to is her heart. She only exposes her heart when she's charging so you aren't just leading her someplace and then killing her any more. This is more about playing chicken. There are collectables here that you need to collect during the battle. The area is round and in the middle is a tower. If you assume the area is a clock with the main gate being 12 then at about two are some COG tags by a barrel in the corner and in the center at six (up against the middle tower) is a book on the ground. Make sure you get both. After she's sustained enough damage, she'll start leaking immulsion which will cause burn damage if you walk over it. So then you are still playing chicken but you also can't go back past where she's been so you need to be efficient about your space usage. Continue to shoot her heart when she charges and you'll get a cutscene and she'll die. *cutscene* Act III: Chapter 3 Breakneck Run - x333x ---------------------------------------- This is another on rails section. This weapon, the Vulcan, operates a little differently. It Shoots like normal but it doesn't over heat. It uses ammo which regenerates slower than it can be used. As long as you don't waste it though, it seems more forgiving than the regular turret. It actually requires two people to use which doesn't matter now but will later when used on the ground. Just coast through blasting Reavers as they appear. Try to be prompt about it, particularly for any that appear to be heading to land in front of you because when they explode, they can cause damage if your nearby. After a few rounds with the Reavers, you'll see immulsion pipes that you need to shoot in order to continue. Do so. There are maybe four of them and you don't really get attacked during this section. After you get past the pipes, you'll get attacked by Hatchlings but they are no match for the turret. Plow through them and then you'll come to a Corpser. Shoot out her eyes just as you did last time. This shouldn't be too much of a problem because you basically get parked inside her fingers/claws. Soon you'll be jumped by a mini corpser (small but with real armor). You can shoot him but I don't think it does anything. Soon he'll get ripped off by a sign and a little bit more driving you'll actually get stuck in sand. You have to hold off waves of grubs while Jace tries to free up the truck. This is the only tough part really. You'll be attacked by enough grubs that it'll actually put a little bit of a strain on your ammo supply. Watch for grubs popping up out of the sand and for Blood Mounts coming down the hill. It should still not be too difficult. Soon you'll be free and wish Jace would drive in a strait line. You'll run into a Brumak (see what I did there?) and then you get a cutscene. *cutscene* Act III: Chapter 4 Ghost Town - x334x ------------------------------------- Hey, it's a Double Date! You know, it's saying something about the franchise that I really don't mind that Epic did something like this. Go through the double doors and out the back of the building. When you get to the intersection, there's Gnasher ammo to the left but otherwise, go right. Continue on until you come to a pipeline section that's been rigged. The motion sensor will be triggered and then you'll have to turn it off. Quick Time Event! Just kidding! You just need to hit the X button to turn it off. This part is rather linear so just keep going and you'll trigger another sensor. Shut that off and then make your way to a little clearing. Head through the gate the just shuttered and on the left, through the window is some ammo. Head back out and go up the hill. You'll trigger another bomb so turn that off. Then get shot at! After you deal with him, you'll find yourself in a room with ammo on the left and a loft area to the right. Go to the loft and if you go down the stairs you'll find a scorcher. In the corner by the scorcher where the rail meets the wall, collect some COG tags. Head back upstairs and follow that guy. Up the stairs and through the small open area, you'll find a barricaded building. After you wonder how the guy got inside there himself, break the barricade and then head right. You'll pass through a back room, behind a counter and out behind the building to find COG tags in a pool of blood. Backtrack and go through the hole in the wall to the left. Eventually you'll walk into the sewers and have a couple of cutscenes. Then you'll be introduced to an interesting new enemy. They're rather frail melee enemies but they move pretty fast and can be surprisingly hard to hit. More interesting is what you hear if you listen to them groan. Anyway, pretty much anything works but you could easily stick with your lancer and you'll have more ammo at the end. Go through the sewers and let them break down the wall. Inside the room is a wheel to turn and lower the draw bridge. Go up that and open the door. Once outside, go up the stairs to the plaza. Pass the empty fountain and you'll be attacked as you approach the building. On the front porch is a Vulcan Cannon for you. Use that to clear out the enemies then turn around and climb that ladder. At the top, turn left and at the end of the hallway is a collectable. *cutscene* Act III: Chapter 5 Brothers to the End - x335x ---------------------------------------------- After the cutscene, you get your pick of a decent selection of weapons. I would recommend picking up the retro lancer. It takes 2-3 shots to take out an infected (yeah, they remind me of L4D) and it comes with 210 rounds. Should last a while. Clear the next open area and through the building to another. Just keep backpeddling and then when they are clear, head through the door. The next few areas are actually empty so just follow the path and you'll come to a cutscene. *cutscene* In Gears 2, that cutscene would have been down right scary. After the cutscene hold off the attack coming from the church, then enter it. Grab the lancer then go off to the left side and break through the barricade. Once through the barricade, turn left and climb up (take cover and then mantle) and on the wall will be a collectable. Turn back and go down the ramp and out of the tunnel. You'll get a quick cutscene and then have to get rid of some locust. As you clear the locust below, you'll be attacked from behind by lambent. Kill what you can of the stalks and pods. Keep fighting and when it starts to get bad you'll get a cutscene *Epic Cutscene* ============== Act 4 - x340x| ============== Act IV: Chapter 1 Ashes to Ashes - x341x ---------------------------------------- Welcome to Char. For the most part, you're in a pretty quiet area. Just keep going until weird stuff starts happening. The first time you get shot at, just duck and cover until it stops but otherwise just follow the path. When you get shot at by a sniper and he misses poorly, take a couple steps back. After that, you'll enter an area with a kids park. Off to the left side of the door to exit the area is a single room building and in the middle of it are COG tags. Go through the big door and in the next room, on the left will be a room with ammo and just before you leave the building, if you turn around there will be a shut door with ammo, frags, and a longshot. As you exit, watching falling objects and step back until Jace finishes yelling. Then continue on and you hear the baby crying, investigate slowly. Continue to follow after the Ash Man and watch out for a falling cart and some polyps. When you finally start getting shot at for real, you can close in a little but not too far because you'll have stalks coming up in the middle of the area. Clear that out and then you'll get to meet the Ash Man. Act IV: Chapter 2 Crater - x342x -------------------------------- After a cutscene, a casual stroll, and another cutscene, you leave through the bottom of the tower. You'll be dealing with Lambent wretches and drudges so take a variety of weapons from the supply room. I recommend going with the Hammerburst and Retro lancer. Once outside, Directly ahead and to the right is a busted wall with a door still standing. Kick in the door and grab the book inside for another collectable. The next area isn't too bad, just flank up the left side, spraying as you go. After some chat about Dizzy, you'll come to an area that I find rather similar to the "Subway" multiplayer level. You can go into the subway tunnel or you can stay up above. I recommend staying on top because it'll give you better access to the pods on the stalks and set up to flank pretty well. Whichever way you go, when you get beyond the second train car there will be an ammo room on the left side. Bust down the door and you'll have a Retro lancer, ammo crate and a sawed off. Keep on trucking until you get blocked off from behind and you'll have a small group of Polyps to deal with. You'll come around the corner to find the second of Griffin's towers. THen you'll be promptly attacked. This area is a little tough. You'll be attacked be wretches and drudges from the front (make sure to kill the stalk) as well as being flanked by drudges from behind. Stick to the earlier part of this area where it's somewhat enclosed (or perhaps even pull back some). Nothing special here, just a lot of enemies. Now climb up to the building and enter through the big door. There's plenty of ammo scattered around here. If you hug the left wall you can bust down a door for a mulcher and if you hug the right wall you'll find the door that leads to the generator. Once the power is on, flip the switch for one of the elevators. And this is Gears so then you back up and aim at the door. As soon as you clear the elevator of the Former, immediately turn back to the rest of the room because they'll start pouring out of the vents as well. Soon you'll hear other elevators coming down. If you hit the Y button, it will warn you as to which elevator is next. The last group will open a door in the back. Grab more ammo and go up the stairs. Get on the lift and move the car off. As the elevator climbs, there will be some chat and then an interruption in the form of a Gunker (the ones that throw immulsion) who will fall strait through the middle of the ceiling. Just start hammering his heart. It's hard to miss it but he's also going to put you down in one hit so be quick. Act IV: Chapter 3 Hang'em High - x343x -------------------------------------- Make your way over to the car and get on. Then, when nothing happens, get off and head towards the razor wire. On the otherside of that will be more lambent and if you follow the platform around you'll come to a dead man and a collectable. Go inside and watch for more lambent, particularly from under the half open doors. Follow the path around to the back and cut the safety cable. Once done with that, follow a similar path around back outside and you'll be back just after you got off the lift where you started this chapter. Get on the gondola and start heading back to Tower 1. And now it's back to the locust! While on the gondola, you'll be attacked by a couple of barges, just clear them off to stay alive, no need to actually take them down. Once you get into the tower, you'll be attacked by a few Theron with Retros and some more of the shriekers we saw earlier. Continue climbing the stairs taking down shriekers as you go. You'll get to another room with some theron guards and once you clear them, you can drop down on the right side. Drop down and climb the ladders you find. At the top, follow the patio around the side of the building. Kill the shriekers as you pass by. Enter the building and you'll come across some theron guards which, with any luck, may not even be facing you. Clear them and you should find yourself in Griffin's office. If you look under one of the couches in Griffin's office, you'll find a magazine. Break the couch to get this collectable. Go out into the hall from the office and up the little ramp on the left. You'll move down a corridor with cover and fight more therons and shriekers. This will let you out back onto the roof. Follow the patio again and you'll find Dizzy and Griffin. *cutscene* Act IV: Chapter 4 Batten Down the Hatches - x344x ------------------------------------------------- You get dropped right in the thick of the action. Fight through the locust here and watch out for the troika and boomer in the back left. There is a pillar between the tracks that has a switch on it. If you hit it, it will cause a couple of carts to start moving providing you cover here. Just past them is a large open area with the dock in the back. We have another troika and some more boomers but they are all the way in the back. There are some Theron guards with Torque bows. They are your major concern. Work your way slowly up one of the sides and you should be all set. Go through the door. Looks like that ship is in bad shape. Make your way through the area and into the next and you'll be ambushed. Watch out for the Guards above but don't worry about them too much, they seem to be pretty terrible shots. Of more import are the giant Serapedes. To kill these, you need to shoot the glowing tail end of it. It seems like it's lambent to some degree but it's also controlled by the locust? Anyway, try and clear these out. Be careful because they can deal a lot of damage very quickly if you're not paying attention. Once clear, before you exit, you'll see a blue shipping crate to your right (as you entered the area). You can go around behind this crate and right up against it is a collectable. At the back right of this area is ammo and back left is the exit. Act IV: Chapter 5 Bon Voyage - x345x ------------------------------------ Watch the cutscene then choose to find the rotor. There's a Lancer and some ink bombs to the right, and a door on the left. You'll come out into a warehouse and be attacked by wretches. Just normal ones this time. Then go out the back door and you'll fight a group of therons and shriekers with a couple of troikas at the end. When you get closer, you'll see carts filled with old warheads. If you push them (before the explode), they will hit the wall at the end and destroy the troikas. Once cleared, exit to the left of the troikas. Take the elevator in the warehouse (after stocking up on weapons). Outside you'll find an open area with a control room in the middle. On the roof of the control room is a Kantus, to the right of it is a Grinder. Scattered around are theron guards and shriekers. Try and clear out the Kantus and Grider first, then quickly get rid of the shriekers as best you can and get to where the Grinder was. A barge will or has already dropped of a rather large group on the far side of the platform and around the control room is a really good area to work from. Once you've cleared the area, make your way over to the maintenance bay. Inside the Maintenance Bay, you'll find a half open ship with a Kantus on top and a Mauler inside and crawling with Theron guards. Again, kill that Kantus first. As you go down the ramp, of to the left is a door on the lower floor. If you go in and stick to the left wall, you'll see a red paper collectable. Clear the Mauler and the Theron, then grab the boomshield and use it to progress through the ship. Towards the other end you'll find stairs leading up. Take them, clear the last few theron from up here and then jump in the Loader. Use that to grab the rotor. Use the Loader to open the next couple of doors and when you get outside you'll be attacked. Leave the loader back as far as you can and jump out. You'll have a variety of locust coming at you including a mauler (who will knock you out of the Loader) and eventually a Reaver. You need the Loader to survive. Hang back a ways and kill anything that moves and be sure to unload into the Reaver when it appears. Once clear, use the loader to open the next door. Continue on and Dizzy will take the rotor and send you to fetch fuel. Grab the sniper and fill up on ammo. Then head through the door and the next hallway. When you get to a big open area, stop and take cover at the corner of the hall. The first thing you want to do is pop the troika gunner in the head. Then look WAAAAAY in the back and get the Kantus. After that, the area should clear pretty easily. Climb over the island in the middle and then immediately right and loop back behind the shipping containers. You should find a COG tag. Go back and head out through the big door. You'll come into a rather full shipping dock. After you encounter a couple of enemies, Jace should point you to a Silverback station. Check it out and jump in the Silver back. Use it to make your way up the dock. To move the ramp, you'll actually have to get out of the silverback for a second. After that, you can get back in and take it right up on the ship. There are to Kantuses here. Make sure you kill them first because the silverback has a habbit of just downing the other enemies and in the rush to get them as fast as possible, they might not die and then be revived. Once you've cleared the ship, you can cross it and go to the control room to activate the crane. Once that's done, grab the hammer of dawn that's sitting on the floor by the mainframe. Head back outside and you'll be attacked by Guards and some Reavers. Save the Hammer for the Reaver. Once the Bloodmounts come out, feel free to use it on them too if you can get a lock. Otherwise, just wait for them to come up and shoot their mask. It will stun them temporarily and you can usually kill them and then their rider if your quick. Let them come to you though because the only way they can get up to the boat is over the ramp, use it as a choke point. Now you just have to get back to the sub. Well sort of. The sub has fuel but you need to get it to the Dock. That's actually not too bad because the teams split up and one group always has a great view point for flanking. First your team will start high, then you will go down and through the big doors and the other team will be up high. Then you can go up on the left side and into a control room with ammo for the last set of doors. In here immediately to the left of the door is a collectable on the ground and an infinite supply of ammo. By the window is a Vulcan Cannon. Use this and you'll clear the room very quickly. The next area is rather tough. There's an ammo on the left side between the two sets of cover. You will have to fight a couple waves of Theron guards, Serapedes, and Armor Kantuses. There are four Armored Kantuses and they come one at a time. Marcus will recommend Explosives but you won't have enough if you use only explosives. What you need to do is hit him with a grenade to wound him. Then, when he stands up, he'll shout and his mouth will glow. That's when you want to shoot him in the mouth. It'll take about half a clip of lancer ammo before he goes down but provided you're not too far away, it should be almost a sure thing. And the Therons are carrying Torque bows if you're interested. Once you've worked through that, head back and use the valve to flood the dock. Act IV: Chapter 6 Watery Grave - x346x -------------------------------------- We have another on rails section on our hands. You'll get a moment to try out the new guns before you're required to use them. When you do, pay attention to the blue arrows that pop up on the screen. That's the sonar and will tell you where they're coming from. Usually you only need to concern yourself with the front and right sides. After you enter a cave and a short cutscene you'll end up being chased. Shoot for the face. Eventually you'll make it out of the cave. Keep trying to shoot for it's face when you get the chance and watch out for mines. Soon, you'll be told to just focus on the mines. Do so. I found it was easier to just look for the chains and shoot those out rather than looking up and down as well as left and right to find the balls to shoot. Once you get beyond the mines, the Leviathan will return, first you're going to want to shoot it in the fact. After you run through the cave, you want to just aim for the tentacles. A strong currently will sweep you up. At that point just try and aim for the mines. For the most part you want to look forwards for this part. And then you'll be attacked by torpedoes. You want to take out both the torpedoes and the turret. It might take a few tries to get the turret so take your time. As for the torpedoes, it's usually easier to just lead them and shoot a few shots than trying aim directly at them. Most of the torpedoes will come from the right side. Blow open the front door and when inside, keep an eye open for torpedoes but really just keep your eyes forward and keep firing as soon as you see something. Soon you'll come to a couple of turrets and a whole lot of torpedoes, blow them up and you're home free. ============== Act 5 - x350x| ============== Act V: Chapter 1 Home Away From Home - x351x -------------------------------------------- *I'm going to cover the Gears method* Once you are on the dock, head up the steps to the first area and take cover. Wait for the patrol to pass by and they will form a pretty strait line. You can unload on them and kill most of them pretty quickly. Head up the right side and you'll approach the subway. Just clean up the locust on the way up to the platform. When you finally get rid of the last grub (all Theron actually), a train will arrive. Kill the passengers and there will be a troika at the back. Shoot the red tanks next to the troika to destroy it. Be sure to grab the collectable, on the far end of the outdoor section of the platform (as opposed to the indoor part where the train is). *cutscene* Head through the newly opened door and after a bit you'll be told to look for a silver back. You'll find it to the left. Hop in, go through the door and follow the grassy tunnel. You'll eventually get to a Reaver, and beyond that, a beach. Make your way along the beach taking the low or high road. Watch out for the boomer at the far end. Kill the boomer and when you are told about the mortars, turn left and head into the tunnel. In the tunnel, if you keep your eyes left, you'll find a gated area. You'll need to use the silverback to kick the gate down and then in the back corner of the room is a collectable. Follow the tunnel killing enemies as you go. You will come out of the tunnel and have a few more grubs to kill but when you come out of the tunnel, try and stay left and you'll move into some trenches. In the trenches you'll encounter some grubs and a boomer. Just after the boomer will come a group of wretches. They'll be very close so remember that the Silverback can melee. After the wretches you'll come to a dead end. Turn around and head back the way you came. As you come out of the trenches, a couple of Boomers will open a door for you. Kill them and you'll come to another subway section. Wait for the train to go by, then kill the Kantus if you can find him. Try to kill as much as you can with the Silverback. You'll have to hop out to open the gate on the tracks. Walk up the tracks and a train will come toward you. You can try and keep the Silverback but I ditched it here. Come up, out of the train tracks and you'll get attacked from the other side of the tracks. If you run up the stairs on this side of the tracks, it will bring you down on the other side of the tracks to flank them. Clear them out, including a couple of Boomers. Act V: Chapter 2 Blackout - x352x --------------------------------- This chapter starts immediately. You'll be told to take an elevator at the back of the room. Before you do that, look at the elevator from the big room you started in. Turn right and there should be a giant closed door. On the right side of the door (behind some boxes) should be switch to open it and when you go through the door you'll be greeted by a Silverback. Take it to the elevator. You'll manage to go up one floor... and get stuck. Follow hallway #3 first and you'll see barred doors on the left. One of them will be open and have a crimson omen on the wall. Next to the omen is a giant red door. Bust it down with the silverback and on the rightside of this room are some COG Tags. This is also an a good ammo cache so stock up on weapons (boomshot?). Follow hallway #2. You'll come across wretches and some flamethrower grubs. Destroy them on your way. You'll eventually come to a control room of some kind and in the back of the room you'll see the ladders to upstairs. You can stay inside and flank right but it only helps you with a single Reaver. Do it anyway, then go outside and fight the Guards. After you kill a few of them, another Reaver should appear. He'll land basically right on top of you. He's kind of a tough bugger for some reason. It just seems the space was made for him. But if you head forward a little more, you'll find grenades on the ground which you can use to great effect against him. Once that's dead, head down the stairs, turn left and left again, then go up a different set of stairs. You can see the control tower in the distance. You'll also get attacked by a swarm of shriekers, some therons and an Armored Kantus. If you have no grenades, some spawn just before the last set of stairs on the right side. Take out the shriekers first because they'll come to you, clean up any theron guards that have moved forward and then go for the Kantus. Hopefully you can take him out quickly and possible finish the guards with a grenade aimed at the Kantus. Once they're all done, head through the single open door and hit the switch to go down. When you get to the bottom, two guards will be waiting for you. Dispatch them and a flamethrower will come out from the right side. Once clear, go to the first desk and around the back side, on the left is a button that opens a safe on the dead end side of the room. Inside is a collectable. Go through the open door. After the cutscene, continue down the next hallway. The side rooms contain some ammo but nothing more. However, they can be used to great effect for flanking if used at the right times. Watch out for Scorchers and follow the hall around the bend and downstairs. Once you get downstairs, there are three switches to hit. The first is immediately to your left. Go around the generator on the right side and you will see the second switch in the same position on the right side of generator two. The last switch is on the left tip of generator three. This will bring you to a new control room and another cutscene. After that, you'll be depositted in a tunnel. There's nothing in the tunnel, but at the end you will find the what you are looking for. The first valve is on the central unit directly in front of you. It's not a normal switch but a strange square switch. There is another in the same spot on the opposite side of the unit. That's two switches down. In the mean time, be careful with the Theron running around and shooting at you from the side windows. More grubs will appear in the windows as you go down the stairs at the end. When you get to the next level down, you'll find an Armored Kantus who is much alone aside from the grubs in the windows. Take him out and flip the only switch on this floor, then proceed down to reach the last two. However, on the bottom floor there are two Armored Kantuses and they are pretty close to each other. If you're fast though, you can catch the first one apart from the second one and take him down before they can cause too much of a problem. If you need grenades, there are some just as you come down the stairs on the left side. Once you flip the second switch, run down the stairs right next to it and out the door. The game will constantly give you new waypoints to lead you out. You have 60 seconds to do so and just before the end there's a grinder. You should have time to take him out if you hurry, otherwise just run strait through. to the back right corner of the room. Act V: Chapter 3 Shattered Paradise - x353x ------------------------------------------- Head up the stairs (after the cutscene) and take out the theron on the ledge. Watch out for the wretches that come out of the door to your left. Once you are clear, head inside. If you head strait across and then right, you'll actually come up on the left flank up ahead. You should have nice easy pickings of the theron from there. Kill them, follow that patio around and back into the shade. Stay in the shade unless you absolutely need to come out and it'll take you right up to a Mauler and then some catapults. Take one and start shooting down the Gas Barges. Once you've gotten rid of the Barges, you'll be taken inside a hotel. Go up and then take a left and follow the hallway until you can take a right but don't. To the left there is a false tile on the floor. It will look like it has a dark outline around it. Go up to it and hit X to uncover a collectable. This is a sight seeing tour. Follow it around until you see the tree, then head outside. Either play the stealth game or just head left and steam roll the locust there. The path will loop around until you come to the catapult that was originally on your right. Take that and use it to take out the Reaver on the two buildings. Then use it take out the dam. Once that's destroyed, you'll be back in the hotel. Head up the stairs and turn around to see an angel statue. To the left side of the angel statue are some couches and on a desk between them is a collectable book. In the next area of the hotel, you'll have to fight. It's mostly theron guards with a mauler. Once you kill them, there are stairs leading up to your right. If you take those, you will have a good vantage point for the locust about to bust through the door. The only problem is the range so if you don't have a Longshot, this position might be useless for you. Take out the guards and the bloodmounts. If you're looking at the giant door that they just came through, on the right side, all the way down between the benches and the door you'll find some COG tags. You'll come to big outdoor plaza. There will be an Armored Kantus here but you will be too far away to do any good at the moment. Flank up the left side and pick up grenades if you need them. Then try and land a grenade from there. Hopefully it will take out some theron so you can rush and shoot the Kantus in the face. Kill him and a few more theron guards will come out of the two small towers flanking the Seige Beast. Clean them up and use the catapult to take out the Barge and then push it into the ocean. Act V: Chapter 4 Threshold - x354x ---------------------------------- Head strait into the building, turn the corner and at the end of the hall is a bust on a pedestal, it's a collectable. From there, turn left and enter the big foyer. At the other end, hit the elevator switch. At the top of the elevator, turn around and hit the elevator switch again. The other elevator door will open and on the wall will be a poster. It's a collectable. Walk off the lift, turn left twice and you'll end up outside by a giant fountain area. Take the stairs down and right. You'll have some theron guards to deal with on the way up the stairs. At the top is an Armored Kantus and some mortar teams so it's important you get up the stairs as quickly as possible. The Mortar will be on the part of the top floor that overlooks the rest of the fountain area. When you get near the door, stalks will come up and one of them will bring a gunker (and drop it right in front of you). You need to eliminate the lambent here before proceeding. It's your choice whether you go for the Gunker or the stalks first. The gunker never respawned for me so it might be easier to kill him first and then the stalks. Either way, deal with the lambent and you'll be taken inside. Act V: Chapter 5 Ascension - x355x ---------------------------------- Once inside the hotel, head left. Head up until you hear a warning of grubs. Wait for moment and then you can attack. You'll know when. Two boomers will come down the stairs, try and take them out first. Then clean up the theron here. After that, head up the stairs they came from. Watch out for the Blood Mounts up here. They will at you from the giant windows. There are quite a few torque bows around here. After you've dealt with the theron and the blood mounts, a Reaver will crash through the window. Use the torque bow on him. Once everything is cleared, head towards the window, restock on ammo and grenades and use the elevator. The elevator will take a little while to get here. You don't actually need to kill everything, just survive for a certain amount of time (I believe). You'll probably run low on ammo though, remember that there is ammo by each elevator. That also means that it might be useless to destroy the pods, though it might slow down the rate at which the come at you. Keep destroying them as they come for you, don't worry so much about the distant enemeies. Just jump on the elevator as soon as it arrives and you'll be off. While on the lift, you will be attacked. It won't be anything too threatening. Just melee the hooks off when they try to graple up and shoot anything at a distance. Eventually your lift will get hit and you need to mantel over to the other lift. Do so. After you do that, the elevator will climb to the top and let you off. There will be some enemies, a Kantus amongst them. Kill them and then go around the balcony and down to the lower level. Across the room, you'll find a front desk and behind the column just to the right of that should be the last collectable. Grab it and start climbing back the way you came. Once you go up a level or two though, you'll get to the boss fight. The Locust Queen will try and blast you with Tempest (that thing she's flying). Just keep moving in between blasts. Before she blasts, put something between you and her and you'll be fine. When you get to the top floor, just be careful when you move and stay behind cover as much as possible. Just cut the three lines in between blasts she's done. Once you're done you will find yourself on an elevator. You will stop and get off at a maintenance hatch. To the right side you'll see a pile of boxes by the Omen symbol. Destroy the boxes to get COG tags, then continue left. Grab anything you can find, then smash through the door and clear this section of the room. Then look down the hall to the left. That's where you need to go. Work your way down. Kill what you can and use grenades to clear the troika if you have to. When you get to the end, you'll have to choose to go left or right. Go right. You'll enter directly into a room with a few theron and a grinder. Take out the grinder and lob a grenade into the back of the room and hopeful you can thin them out pretty quickly. The security terminal is in the left part of the room. Return to the hall and go through the other door. It's really the same room without the mulcher. Clear this, flip the switch and then go into your dad's lab. Good thing you made it down that hall. Now you need to make it back out. But first, grab the collectable by the window in the middle of the room. Then head out of the room. You could get on the troika or even just get behind some cover and just keep shooting. This section is pretty satisfying because there are a lot of lambent in a small space so they set each other off or you can kill many of them in row. Once you've cleared the hall and killed the stalk, get back to the elevator. Act V: Chapter 6 Reckoning - x356x ---------------------------------- Once you are on the roof, just start shooting. There are lambent and locust everywhere but you have decent cover and they will fight each other too. Once they are clear, you will have a different problem to deal with. As the rule of thumb goes, aim for the mouth. In between blasts, get behind cover. The cover of the outer ring of the roof will be damaged and eventually be destroyed but the inner ring of cover won't be destroyed. Eventually you will be told to use the Hammer of Dawn. Use the Hammer while she's down on the ground. After taking too much damage she will run and attack from the side of the building. Stay away from her at this point. When she starts flying, attack it's mouth. Rinse and repeat. After a few rounds, Tempest will climb up onto the machine and try to destroy it. It's back plates are open and you can shoot it. Eventually you will knock it off. Then you just need to shoot it in the mouth and hit it with the hammer of dawn one more time... ============================ | | | Multiplayer | | x400x | ============================ ================= Campaign - x410x| ================= You can join other people's Standard or Arcade Campaigns. Standard is basically the same as the single player except with up to three other players. Arcade mode introduces a scoring system and mutators into the mix. As you get kills, you gain points and if you don't get hit you gain a multiplier for points you gain. You can also use mutators for things like Big Head mode. You should be warned that in both modes, the more people there are, the tougher the enemies become. They will start to use more advanced tactics, they will have more HP, and Drudges will be more likely to mutate. =============== Versus - x420x| =============== Versus Mode Overview - x421x ---------------------------- Versus mode is exactly what it sounds like. Everything in here is all about direct competition with others. You can choose either Quick Match or Ranked Match for all gametypes where Quick Match will put you into a game as quickly as possible, using bots in place of players when necessary. Ranked will wait until every spot has been filled before beginning and will be more competetive in it's matchmaking. There is actual a final category called casual which is strictly for people who haven't played Gears of War before. You can only access it if you have no achievements from the first two Gears of War games and for your first handful of matches in Gears 3, after that, you are kicked out and can't get back in. Team Deathmatch - x422x ----------------------- Each team starts with 15 respawns and once those are gone, people can't respawn. Whichever team is left standing at the end, wins. This might sound simple but it turns it into a very tense game where you don't spend a lot of time sitting around. Standard rules are first to two victories wins the match, which is important because if the game becomes lopsided and there's only one player left, if he can get the other team down to one player, it will become a sudden death match. They have 60 seconds to find each other, otherwise it's a draw and goes to another round. In this mode, you don't have to execute people and tactical thinkers are rewarded so I highly recommend going with the Hammerburst and Gnasher for most maps. A last note, and a very important one. In this gametype, whenever the Locust Queen or Prescott anounces "Enemy Forces!" or something similar, it means that the spawns have swapped sides so it would likely be prudent to turn around. Warzone - x423x --------------- Warzone is essentially the tail end of Team Deathmatch on it's own. The match is the first to three rounds and I suggest you stick with the Hammerburst here. If you die, you're done for the rest of the round and have to wait for the next so it pays to be prudent. In this mode, you really have to play smart if you want to win. Make sure you plant smoke grenades behind you so you know if you're being snuck up on and make sure you spot enemies early and often. Execution - x424x ----------------- Execution is a lot like Warzone. If you get killed, you're out of the game and it's the first to three rounds. On the other hand, the game is a far more aggressive style. You can't kill enemies from far away unless it's with a one hit kill weapon so power weapons and close range weapons are a premium in this mode. It's also highly recommended that you use meatshields in this game mode. Since these matches can turn into close quarters firefights and you have to be on top of your enemy to kill them (likely not in cover since you've already downed them), it would generally benefit you to take them as a meatshield and protect yourself rather than kill them and try and get out. In this mode, both the sawed off and Lancers are far more viable. I would leave the Hammerburst on most maps and go for the regular Lancer and your choice of shotgun depending on your preference. Capture the Leader - x425x -------------------------- Capture the leader is very different than the other game modes. It's essentially Capture the Flag where the flag is a person who shoots back at you and to capture it, you actually have to hold on to it for 30 seconds. The match is played to two. For most eight of the ten people (the non-leaders), you have to balance offense and defense while keeping track of where both leaders are. You can always see where both leaders are so use this to your advantage. If the Leader is moving in a particular direction, try and come around behind him because it's likely that his team is moving with him. Eventually, someone must down the leader and take them as a meatshield. Now this meatshield is not dead like in most other gametypes and can strugle. If they hit the B button, it will cause you stop for a moment (which is dangerous, as you'll see shortly). If you get downed, even from far away, you are likely to be dead because once the Leader is released, they'll get back up and be able to kill you. Once you have the Leader, you must hold on to him for 30 seconds. You take slightly less damage while holding the leader but the Leader doesn't actually prevent any damage. If someone shoots the leader at close range with a shotgun, all of that damage is actually transfered to you and the leader will be released. Also, if the other team manages to hit you with a smoke grenade, it will immediately cause you to release the enemy Leader. This is usually the most effective method, especially if the leader is smart. If they wait for just the right moment, they can hit the B button, causing you to be unable to move and allowing the smoke grenade to land right at your feet. As the leader, you are an interesting unit. You can't die in this match for any reason which can make you very dangerous, but you're also the objective so you have to balance when you engage and when you don't. You can also see everyone on your Tac/com, including the entire enemy team. If the Leader is a good communicator then he can convey this to his entire team and dominate the match. King of the Hill - x426x ------------------------ This is the most typical of gametypes. There is a hill on the map that appears as a colored ring. White is unoccupied, Blue is COG, and Red is Locust. To gain points, you must capture the hill by occupying it for a set period of time. When a team starts to claim the hill, you can see the icon in the upper left start to fill. It will fill faster if they have more teammates in the hill. Once the icon fills, they will gain one point per second whether they have someone in the hill or not until someone from the other team enters the hill. This is called a break and it immediately clears the hill to neutral. It also has the same effect as the hill is filling. Even the icon is nearly filled, it will empty to 0. What all these means is that in KotH it pays to be aggressive. You want to get in that hill as quickly as possible and clear any enemies. The only time you don't want to be in the hill is when you've already claimed it and you're gaining points. In fact, at this point, it is somewhat beneficial to get out of the hill and set up a sort of perimeter around it to stop the enemy from getting in. Because of the fast paced nature of KotH, I highly recommend close range weapons. It would not be over kill to go with the Retro and Sawed-off on most maps. Wingman - x427x --------------- Wingman is a first 15 points gametype and goes as many rounds as needed to get there. You gain these points by killing enemies. You get one point for every enemy you kill and one point for being the last team standing in a round. As for teams, there are four teams of two players each, and both players on a team are the same character. So Team Kantus will both be Kantuses. This is one of the most difficult gametypes to give advice on because what weapons you use and your tactics all really depend on your teammate. The only solid advice I can give is to bring a friend. If you know the person you are playing with and communicate well then you stand a much better chance of winning. I would recommend teammates taking complimentary weapons. I would say maybe Retro Lancer and Gnasher for one person and Lancer and Sawed-off for the other player. When weapon drops become available (they don't appear at the start of the match), the Retro Lancer should probably then be dropped for the more powerful weapon. This will leave the Lancer to cover the rifle spectrum in most cases but allow the person with the power weapon to keep the Gnasher as for it's versatility so he's not completely helpless at all but close range. Of course, that also depends on the map and who you're playing with. All I can say is that it's usually a very fast paced game that is completely about team work and thinking on your feet. Make sure you keep moving because if you stand still, you're more likely to attract more than one team, putting you in a bad jam. ============== Horde - x430x| ============== Horde Mode 2.0 Overview - x431x ------------------------------- Horde mode 2.0 is actually a combination of Horde Mode from Gears of War 2 and a sort of Tower Defense game. You still have 50 waves of enemies that attack you with increasing difficulties (more on that in a moment) but you now also have Boss Waves and Fortifications. The difficulty increases in much the same way that it did in Gears of War 2 except that the waves are almost completely random now. There are different groups of enemies that can spawn at any given time. You might have Lambent or Locust or even Savage Locust and just because a certain group (say the Lambent) have spawned, doesn't mean you'll get all types of enemies (you may not get Former, for instance). In this way, waves can be highly unpredictable but they still have more enemies as you continue on and you are more likely to get harder enemies as you go. You'll also have modifiers that appear (called poisons) that make the enemies tougher. They appear after waves 10, 20, 30, and 40 as 2x HP, 2x Accuracy, 2x Damage and finally 2.5x all three categories. Boss Waves are new and they can be very difficult and appear every 10th wave. You could get anything from a Brumak to gunkers. You could get Berserkers or Lambent Berserkers. Whatever you get, if you fail that wave, you will likely get the same boss again. Eventually, if you keep failing, it should change bosses but I'm not sure when or if it's even guarenteed to happen. If you kill the boss first, it's possible that if there are respawns left that it could respawn so be careful when attacking the boss and maybe even go for the little guys first, then the boss. Fortifications are also new and they come in five upgradeable flavors. There are Wires which slow down (and later reject) enemies, manable turrets, decoys that draw enemy fire (surprisingly well), sentries which are auto-turrets, and finally the silverback, which is the same as the one in the campaign but can be made tougher. You have a certain skill in each fortification. If you build a lot of wires, you'll be able to build better wires, you'll be able to build them cheaper, and you'll eventually unlock decoys. The progression of unlocking different types of fortifications seems to be linear and isn't actually dependant on what you build so much as how much you've built. Your skill in building fortifications is also persistent. If you finish a match of Horde with wires at Level 5 then the next match you play, you will start with a skill of Level 5 in wires. Lastly, to build fortifications, you need to found a Base first. Bases are the giant flag poles scattered around the level. There are always 5 of them on a map and the first one is free. You have to pay to open each base after the first. Once the base is open, it allows you to build fortifications in an area around the base. The base itself can't ever be destroyed but the fortifications can. The only downside of having more than one base is stretching your team and cash too thin. For example, if you start all 5 bases at the very beginning of the match, you won't be able to afford any fortifications for the first round. Fortifications - x432x ---------------------- NOTE: I appologize if my information here isn't all accurate. There are some things that I haven't unlocked myself yet (it takes quite some time). As I do, I'll be sure to update them here. Wires: Caltrops razorwire laserwire red laserwire Note: Wires can vary in price depending on the distance they span. Caltrops and razorwire both slow enemies down and they also deal damaged to the enemy as they cross. They are just fine for the first 20 rounds or so but later you definitely want to get those up to laserwires. Laserwires will both shock and push back enemies who try to cross. They must be destroyed or turned off before crossing and the only way to turn them off is to have an ally cross them. In other words, don't cross a laserwire if you don't want it going off on you. Decoys: Cole Cutout - $500 Dummy - $1000 Explosive Dummy - $1500 Onyx Guard - Unreleased DLC Decoys are probably my favorite fortification. If you couple them with sentries then you are essentially adding extra stationary teammates. The best thing is when a decoy is destroyed, you know it's because it worked. With the Horde Mode DLC, an additional level of upgrade will be added called the Onyx Guard. These are like the Onyx Guard from Beast mode meaning they actually move around and fight for you. Turrets: Retro Turret - $1500 Lancer Turret - $2500 [1] Troika - $4000 [2] Troika+ - $6000? [2] Turrets can put out some serious damage and gradually get more accurate. You also have to buy ammo for them when they are used. It's pretty good for most waves if you keep your team tight. It's not particularly useful for boss waves though since those tend to keep you moving. Sentry: Normal - $1000 Electric - $1500? Firebolt - Unreleased DLC Like I said with the Decoys, if you double up on both, you'll essential add extra teammates to the field. Can't go wrong with that. As if it wasn't enough, when you upgrade these enough, they actually stun enemies. The Firebolt upgrade which will be available with the Horde Mode DLC will weaken Berserkers as well, though we're not sure if it will retain its stunning ability. Silverback: Normal - $12000 Rockets - Unreleased DLC The Silverback is a powerful weapon but it's very expensive to keep repaired. Later on in the game, though, I would highly recommend getting one instead of using wires. It works just like in the campaign. It walks around and uses two turrets and then when unfolded it can be used as cover. Just make sure that if you get one, you're committed to it because it's too expensive to not use or let it be destroyed. There is supposed to be an upgrade in an upcoming DLC that will afix rockets to the silverback (alla campaign). Command Center: Unkown - Unreleased DLC The Command Center is supposed to allow you to call in mortar, sniper and even multiple Hammer of Dawn attacks. It hasn't been released yet so who knows how that works. Horde tips - x433x ------------------ Even though Horde is rather robust, it's also largely random so I can't really do more than give you good tips. Firstly, I prefer to pick maps with enclosed ends rather than larger bowl like maps. In other words, maps like Gridlock and particularly Checkout are nice because you can put your back to a wall with wires, turrets, decoys all in front of you. I imagine inside the hotel would work well too. Most maps have points like that (like the OneShot spawn on Trenches) and making use of them is good but frequently players will be too eager and just build the first base they come across and so Checkout can avoid that problem. I wouldn't recommend anything like Drydock. As much as I like the Hammerburst in versus, I highly recommended the Lancer in Horde. Beyond still being a weapon when you run out of ammo, it will also be a great weapon in the later stages for it's one hit kill ability. In the later rounds, you will find that enemies will just keep soaking up ammo and you never have enough for the round. If you use a hammerburst, you have to run in and grab ammo, then run back out. If you have a lancer, you can use the chainsaw a lot and you probably won't even run out of ammo. I got a little crazy once with the chainsaw for a challenge and then the next few rounds, everyone came around to using the chainsaw as I primary weapon. The Silverback is a great tool in the later rounds. It may take more than one person's cash to keep it running but if you treat it right, you won't have to rebuild it every round like most fortifications and you can more than double your kills, easily. However, even up to round 30 it might be worth NOT getting it since those are the rounds where things like wires are most useful. Remember, you can share money by aiming at someone and hitting the B button. You can also repair any emplacement, even if it's well outside your skill level to build it. DO NOT SPREAD OUT. Your best bet is probably to build up two bases. This usually allows for the right spacing and control. You should be spaced enough to not get destroyed all at once but still close enough that nothing should slip behind you. It's not necessarily a bad idea to save up enough money to buy back in for a particularly difficult wave but I would only do so for a boss round and ideally just round 50. If you are wounded and near a wire, run through the wire before taking cover because it will almost certainly slow the enemy down enough that you'll be healed before they come through. There are lots of Boomers throughout Horde. Make good use of the Boomshots, it can be a life saver, especially on boss waves. In fact, it might be beneficial to use Boomshots and other power weapons on the small enemies of a boss wave to clear it all up as quickly as possible before dealing with the boss. Remember to spot. If something pops up behind everyone, everyone will hear the "spotted" sound. Don't let something like that go unnoticed. Sometimes, before a boss round, it might not be worth building fortifications because a lot of the bosses can destroy the fortification just by walking over it. ============== Beast - x440x| ============== Beast Mode Overview - x441x --------------------------- Beast Mode is a new mode to the Gears series that puts you in the boots of the Locust Horde in what is essentially a reversal of Horde. The enemies are all Humans fighting to survive. They will build fortifications of the same types and in the same places as you would in Horde. Stranded and COG gears are the generic Human types and can be killed from any range but any named characters who have a portrait in the upper left or Onyx Guard enemies are considered Heroes and need to be killed either at close range or by a one hit kill. For instance, a shotgun at close range or a direct hit Boomshot from long range can kill a Hero but a Lancer from medium range will not. The ultimate goal is to make it through 12 rounds of increasing difficulty, killing humans to clear the round. Each round you start with 1:00 on the clock and whatever money you have left from the previous round (including, I believe, a refund for whatever creature you were using when the previous round ended). You gain money and time by destroying any fortification and by downing or killing a Human. If you fail, you incur a time penalty and you are trying to finish all 12 rounds as quickly as possible. Finally, your selection of creatures starts off at tier 1 every match and you have to work your way up to "the heavies" which is usually right around $8000 earned. You unlock these by killing enemies and destroying fortifications. Each player has their own progression so just because one person has unlocked the Berserker doesn't mean everyone has. Tier 1 Creatures - x442x ------------------------ wild ticker - The wild ticker is the basic wire destroyer. He isn't slowed by any kind of fence but his melee attack does small amounts of damage and while he is capable of eating grenades and basically becoming a regular ticker, you'll never actually find one laying around. Nobody drops them, so unless someone planted it then you aren't going to find one. And that's rare because this is an offensive game, not a defensive one. I would stick with the regular ticker in almost all cases. Sure the Wild Ticker was designed to destroy things but this is a speed game and the tickers are cheap. As long as you get to a wire, you're probably going to make your money back and do far more damage faster. Ticker - They are the same speed (though they are slowed by wires) as the wild ticker but they explode at will or on impact. Yes, that means you die, but this is Beast and not Horde. You are trying to kill humans as quickly as possible and you want to make as much progress to that end as you can and do so as quickly as possible as long as you aren't crippling your money reserve. Even as late as the 10th wave, ticker rushing is a decent tactic as long as you have a bigger creature around soaking up most of the damage. Wretch - Wretches have two attacks and can use cover and scream. Using cover works the same as anything else and the scream is used with the X button to paralyze your enemies in a radius. This is clearly good for ambushes. Possibly the best skill are their melee attacks. The B button executes a regular melee attack which is faster and less clumsy than the RB jump attack. The nice thing about the Jump attack is that it lets you jump over wires. This makes the wretch particularly good for rushing in the early stages (however, the low health keeps it from being viable later in the game). Savage Drone* - The Savage Drone is one of my favorites. He is basically used just like any Gear in Campaign or anybody in Versus. He can spot, shoot, roadie run, mantle kick. The only thing he can't do is change weapons (and that may simply be because no weapons are ever dropped). He is equipped with a Retro Lancer and, in Beast, Ammo regenerates. What that means is that you don't have to be concerned with ammo and can just unload. At most ranges, that means a target in the open will be down in one clip. And like most humanoid creatures, the ability to mantle means you can frequently bypass wires if you keep your eyes open. All this put together create a creature that's less durable but far more deadly than an average Gear. Butcher - The Butcher can melee and mantle over cover. If you hold A then he can charge at a decent speed. He is usually considered a base destroyer but his only real benefit is his high health. He's a bigger creature who can't duck which means that he's frequently in the open unless the map provides decent high cover. That said, his melee attack is pretty fast and downs in one hit and kills with another. He's usually best in a tight area and toward the end of a round. Think the Concessions area of Thrashball. If there are only a few Gears left, he can clear it out by himself. Tier 2 Creatures - x443x ------------------------ Kantus* - The Kantus can't take cover but can still mantle over cover, use ink grenades, packs a Gorgon pistol, and, most importantly, can heal. That is the Kantus' priority. A Kantus who just keeps healing can literally embolden his allies (because they don't have to fear getting into a jam as much) and make levels go faster. But like I said, it's a priority because if you heal a couple of times, players will often feel confident and attack more aggressively so if you STOP healing, you can essentially wipe out your entire team. That's not to say you shouldn't be attacking, particularly with those Ink bombs. I'm just saying you should do so while waiting for your Chanting ability to regenerate. Keep in mind that if a teammates health indicator (the cross) above their head is faint, then they are out of range. Blood Mount - You actually play as the mount, not the ride (however you do come with a rider who shoots things on his own). Think of the Blood Mount as a much faster version of a Butcher that has a slow shooting turret attached to its head. You benefit from maps with lots of big cover (like Gridlock) and your melee attack is devestating. Actually connecting with the melee attack is a little on the difficult side though. Mauler - The Mauler operates as you would expect. Left Trigger puts him in his shielded position and right trigger or B will execute his Melee attack. You can hit the RT while shielded to attack but it will still drop the shield, you just don't have to let go of the left trigger first. The Mauler actually has a few good uses (though for the most part, he's a little too slow). He is decent at destroying wires but the slow recovery time holds him back though his durability might make him much preferable to a Ticker or Butcher. Secondly, his melee attack has some range to it and explodes. He makes for a pretty good Hero clean up. And Pro-top, on Thrashball, you can reach the Gears by the mortar spawn from the field with the Mauler's Melee Attack. Tier 3 Creatures - x444x ------------------------ Giant Serapede - The Giant Serapede is an interesting creature. Using the Serapede is like an aggresive game of Snake. You constantly want to try to get your head in the right place without leaving your tail exposed. The serapede does fantastic damage to enemies as well as defenses and takes no damage anywhere except for it's tail. It can't be healed as you may have suspected. A good Serapede player can go a whole round without dying but you can die very quickly and all it really takes is an enemy getting behind you meaning that no matter how good you are, playing Serapede is also more chance than any other creature. Savage Corpser - I have to be honest, I'm not a good Corpser. You are, for the most part, invulnerable from the front and your melee attack is great for destroying wires. It can sometimes be hard to find moving enemies under your feet but you do pretty good damage. You can also use the X button to dig underground to heal. By far, it's best use as for destroying wires though. Savage Grenadier* - You only lose a little bit of range from the Savage Drone but you make up for it with immense close range killing power and the ability to kill Hero's from long range (which you'll be happy to have at this point). The only other creatures to have long range hero killing capabilities are the Boomer and Savage Boomer (tier 4). In some ways, I consider this creature to be a mini-boomer. When you are going inside, he smokes the boomer by a long shot since he's capable of going on a hero killing spree on a single reload but if you're in the open, the Boomer is far superior. Just remember to use those grenades to take out downed Heroes from a distance. Boomer* - Yes, I have two favorites in this tier. Like I said previously, I would choose the Savage Grenadier for close quarters and the Boomer for Outdoors. He CAN take down wires but it's waste of his ammo since he only carriers three shots at a time. However, when used properly, you can take down as many as 5 enemies with a single shot and if you're fast enough, the second shot will kill them all. The Boomer is tricky to play though. You need to keep in mind that it's hard to find cover, you have a slow reload and limited ammo, and, most importantly, that you shoot from the hip. Don't be surprised if even after a dozen outings or so, you still forget that waist high barriers are still high enough to block your shot if you're right on top of it. Tier 4 creatures - x445x ------------------------ Berserker* - This is the creature you want. Hold A for a charge attack (which, if hit dead on can cause damage to enemies) and hit B or Trigger to smash the ground. While it is one of the simplest creatures in terms of button layout, it's also the most devestating when used correctly. The Berserker can destroy any wire just by walking over it (if it does damage to her, it's not something that you'd notice). Almost all damage bounces off of her. The biggest things to be careful of are flamethrowers, the Hammer of Dawn, the OneShot, and the sentries that shoot electric shots. These are the only things that can do any real damage on their own and fire and the Hammer of Dawn both cook your armor so that regular guns do more damage. Two last things: Don't charge into walls and work your way through a crowd, don't run into the middle of it. You might be nearly indestructible but when you draw the attacks of over a dozen enemies, all that damage can really add up quickly and there is nothing sadder than throwing away $5,500 and all those kills you could have gotten because you got over zealous. Armored Kantus - Coming in at a close second to the Berserker for different reasons, the Armored Kantus is rather similar to the regular Kantus but much more aggressive. It's probably the most balanced creature there is. You can still heal allies (for way more damage too) but you now come equipped with an extra gorgon, incredibly resistant armor (I would estimate it gives you half the HP of a Berserker... which is a lot), and a rolling attack. To do your roll attack, simple tap A instead of holding it. You will immediately roll forward which will down or kill any enemy in the way. It's fantastic for cleaning up enemies. You would never need more than one Armored Kantus. Savage Boomer - After playing the campaign you may ask, "What is a Savage Boomer? I don't remember him." A Savage Boomer is the one who shoots Diggers. I guess since the Digger Launcher (the gun) shoots Diggers, you aren't really left with a whole lot of good names for the Boomer (and remember that there are already Miner drones). Anyway, he plays exactly the same as the Boomer except that he uses a Digger Launcher. What's the benefit to that you may ask? At first, it might appear that the only real benefit is that it allows you to get directly behind cover that the arch of a boomshot wouldn't but that's not all that useful. Really, the best use is that any given shot will continue until it hits something allowing for multiple chances for it to connect with something. The downside is that diggers travel much slower the Boom Shots. I find it useful at the beginning of a round when enemies are much more densely packed but otherwise, I'd stick with a regular Boomer. They're cheaper and are just as useful. Beast Mode Tips - x446x ----------------------- Remember that the game will tell you how many people have picked which creatures when you are picking yours. In the early rounds you can pick whatever you would like but in the later rounds you don't want to bunch up too much on certain classes. You never, ever need more than one Kantus of any type at a time. Even Kantus you put on the map is one less creature that can't be healed and since it's a lump heal (as in +100 points instead of +20 points over 5 seconds), you're going to be bumping into your teams' health ceiling anyway. The same can go for most base destroyers. One Savage Corpser is enough, two will just get in each other's way and not really move along any faster. Just because certain creatures can't "take cover" doesn't mean you can't put something between you and the enemy. Try and be in cover whenever you can. This is particularly important for creatures like the Boomer which have an extremely long reload time. Don't forget, if you can aim with the left trigger, you can still spot. Make sure, particularly at the end of a round, that you are spotting so you can clean up stragglers that much faster. Remember that ammo regenerates so be sure to use it and don't be shy about blindfiring, particularly on harder difficulties. Remember, more than anything, Beast is a "for fun" mode. Just enjoy smashing stuff. ================ Private - x450x| ================ Private Matches can involve friends or just bots. If you create the match then you're the host and get to set all the rules. You can change who can join, how many rounds to play to, the map you play on and even which weapons appear on the map. Where you don't have players, you can fill the match with as many or as few bots as you want, making this a good place to practice with weapons or just mess around. =============== Events - x460x| =============== If you look at the Event Calender on the main menu, you'll see all sorts of fun upcoming things. In some cases it might just be letting you know about some new DLC or it may be an alteration to a game mode. Most of these are just simple mutators that will show up in online matches or some such and you can find out what they are by checking the mutators for private horde matches. I won't elaborate unless it's not obvious from what they've posted. 10/7/11-10/10/11 Columbus Day Event Big Head Mode 10/18/11 Ticker Tuesday Boatloads of Tickers in Horde 11/1/11 First DLC this November Don't miss the first Gears DLC ============================ | | | Weapons | | x500x | ============================ ======================== Starting weapons - x510| ======================== Hammerburst - Of the starter weapons, this is considered the long range weapon. It is the only weapon in the game with Iron Sights which makes it incredibly precise but the kickback can make it difficult to aim. I highly recommend you give it a shot. It's long range and rate of fire make for a great support weapon. Lancer - The lancer is pretty all purpose. It's useful in most situations and the chainsaw means you always have a weapon, even when you're out of ammo. It takes the place as a medium/long range rifle. It's highly accurate when you aren't moving. Even if it doesn't excel, it's still good on most maps. Retro Lancer - This is primarily a close range weapon but if you stutter its fire, you can get some good distance out of it too. The high amount of damage and precision of the first shot or two make it surprisingly formidable. It's also great for deterring rushing enemies. Gnasher - As a friend said, it's the Bread and the Butter of Gears of War. While it doesn't hold quite as lofty a status in Gears 3, it is still quite useful. Up to medium range, it can still down an enemy in a couple of shots and kill with one more. When you nail an active reload, the range of the Gnasher increases making it that much more useful. It's got a slightly longer kill range than the sawed-off but the narrower cone means you need to time it just right and hit dead on for it to work. Sawed-off - The sawed-off is the exact opposite end of the Hammerburst. It is fantastic for close range but that's where it ends. It's capable of killing up to three people if they are clustered together and is an instant kill for nearly a 90 degree arc in front of you. But if there more than five feet away, it's probably not going to be a kill. And if you take that shot and miss then that's when you should run because it only packs one shot. Snub Pistol - The snub pistol is an average pistol. It has good rate of fire and good precision but doesn't excel at either. It's primary use is if you take a downed enemy as a meat shield. After that, it's only reall useful if you run out of ammo. ======================= Pickup Weapons - x520x| ======================= Boltok Pistol - The Boltok pistol is the heavy end of the pistol spectrum. It's single shot is accurate and carries a lot of stopping power but it takes some time for the second shot. The upswing is that an active reload causes it to shoot far faster changing it from a scary pistol to use to a scary pistol to be on the receiving end of. However, if you just remember it's slow firing speed when in cover, it's more like a zoomless, multishot LongShot. Gorgon Pistol - The Gorgon is the exact opposite of the Boltok. It shoots fast and can deal a lot of damage at close range but the spread gets pretty bad at anything more than long range. It does actually have a decent home as a normal weapon sitting almost immediately between the Retro Lancer and Lancer in almost every way - particularly damage and range. Boomshot - The Boomshot is a rather slow but powerful weapon. A near miss will leave just enough health to go down but a direct hit can kill. It is a tricky weapon to use however because the shot travels in an arc at any range over medium/close. You need to take that into account when shooting. Otherwise, in most game modes, it's a great weapon to use with little downside. The active reload causes the shot to travel faster (I believe) which is important to keep in mind because it will cause the arc to change. Digger - The digger in multiplayer can be one of the best weapons to use. It's loud so people know it's coming but a close range it becomes a sort of fire and forget weapon. It allows a single person to get a few kills very quickly while still being highly evasive. At long range it is better as a support weapon for getting enemies out of cover. Longshot - The LongShot is a single shot sniper rifle. It does a large amount of damage to the body which makes it great for support (coupled with any other damage, it's pretty much an instant down). A headshot is fatal. The best part of the Active Reload is how much time it cuts off of the reload. Not an easy weapon to use though because of its limit of one shot. Torque Bow - The torque bow needs to be charged up to really work. Hold the trigger until the cursor turns orange. When the cursor turns orange, it means the shot will stick into whatever it hits. So shoot it at someone now and it will stick into an enemy. Then it explodes instantly causing death. It doesn't do a whole lot of splash damage however. Interestingly, it's also a headshot capable weapon but in this instance, the shot goes through the head and can still stick into something behind it, allowing for two kills with a single shot. Scorcher - This is a flamethrower and it does pretty good damage but it also does a pretty great job of blinding people or attracting attention. Not a weapon that's used frequently. An active reload will grant it extra range which means more fire on the screen which translates worse visibility for anyone trying to look past it. Hammer of Dawn - The Hammer of Dawn hits about as hard as possible. Pick up the target locator and point it wherever you want the beam to strike. I usually recommend aiming on the ground or something because keeping it on a moving target is pretty hard to do. Once it fires, it uses a consistent amount of energy throughout the blast, however the initial blast does the most damage so it is frequently best to wait until it fires and, provided you hit what you wanted, turn it off rather than trying to track a new target. If the initial blast hits an enemy, it's an instant death. =============================== Heavy Weapons Grenades - x530x| =============================== Frag Grenade - Frag Grenades are a classic. They are great in most modes but probably the best use in versus is just to tag them onto walls. Most players are good enough to dodge away from a grenade (which could be useful for getting them out of cover) but if they go anywhere near a planted grenade, they are toast. Remember they are also good for tagging other players (causing instant death) but watch out for the grenade hug. You can also use them while downed. If you equiped one before you went down, you can trigger the grenade and hopefully kill a nearby enemy. The last use is if you have a meatshield, you can tag the body and kick it away by selecting the grenade as you would normally. Usually a good surprise. Incendiary Grenade - Incendiary grenades are much more immediate. If you hit a player, they die. If you land it near them, it instantly explodes in flames causing massive damage. And when planted on a wall, it makes for a fantastic wall. Put it in a small hallway and when it goes off it will block the hallway and warn you that there is someone there at the same time. Ink Grenades - Ink Grenades are very similar to Incendiary grenades. The are somewhat more deadly than Incendiary Grenades but don't have the fire damage bonus against things like Berserkers (which only show up in Horde and campaign anyway). In terms of actual effect, it's also worth keeping in mind that the Ink Grenade creates a cloud of smoke every bit as hard to see through as a smoke grenade. Mortar - At close range, this is a pretty difficult weapon to use because the shots bounce around before detonating. However, when you actually aim before using it, a single shot can wipe out an entire team in the right circumstances. Hold LT to aim and then hold RT to increase range, releasing when it reaches the desired range. Also remember that even if you don't get a direct hit, it will stun friends and enemies alike. Sometimes, even if you can't see the enemies, it's still beneficial to just shoot a shot in a general direction and see if you get a kill. Mulcher - The mulcher is basically a moveable troika. It has 150-200 shots and does exactly what it claims. It does massive damage very quickly. Remember that it has to spin up before firing and will over heat if used too long. Otherwise, it's never a bad weapon to use. OneShot - The OneShot is the LongShot's big brother. It has to focus first and a laser appears to tip off enemies that they may be about to die but that's more of a warning for them than to tell them where you are. Use this as much as possible because it is exactly what it says. It's a single shot to kill just about anything. And anything it can't kill in a single shot (like someone with a boomshield) will be killed by an active reloaded shot. Turret - It's a turret just the same as a turret in any other game. It takes time to spin up and can over heat but does a lot of damage. Of course, there is the fact that you are stationary while using it too but it does provide some cover. It's great for a group out in the open or for surpressing fire but it draws attention rather quickly so be careful. ============================ | | | Maps | | x600x | ============================ ==================== Launch Maps - x610x| ==================== NOTE: The game already provides you with a map before the match starts so I will just provide tips. Checkout - Combat usually finds its way over to the heavy weapon and power weapon (digger/Longshot) areas. I usually recommend going for the power weapon first. Most people head towards the mulcher but the mulcher doesn't really have the ability to affect the power weapon spawn. The reverse is not true. Both the Digger Launcher and Longshot can easily affect any battle by the Mulcher. Keep your eyes open by the Mulcher because the battles are usually fast, dynamic, and involve lots of shotguns. Either Lancer is viable here as well as either shotgun (though with a leaning towards sawed off). Drydock - Most of the combat takes place up on the high ground. Some people then think it's a smart idea to go through the middle to try and flank the other team but this usually ends in disaster. Try and take one side and then cross there to flank from behind or cross the bridge to quickly aid teammates. Always be sure to use the height advantage to keep the enemy from flanking you. I highly recommend Hammerburst to take advantage of height. Gnasher and sawed off are both useful on this map. Gridlock - This map is pretty straight forward for the most part. Usually battles ensue by the Boomshot and Longshot area. I find the Boomshot to be more crucial because the Longshot, while in an elevated area, is largely exposed and is usually best used if brough to one of the corner elevated areas first. The Boomshot on the other hand is usually instantly useful and far more mobile. And while getting caught up in all that, don't forget the grenades in the middle of the map. They are often ignored and can definitely swing a battle for one of the power weapons. This is a classic map and benefits pretty well from Lancer and Gnasher. Hotel - Most battles take place inside the hotel. This is a map you can easily get by on with just your starting weapons. If you're looking for Gnasher combat then head inside, for longer range combat, head outside. Probably the safest spots on the map are the left and right corners out in front of the hotel. You only have to watch 90 degrees. However, that will generally be useful only towards the end. At the beginning, if you camp there then you're just taking a player out of the battle. I would recommend Hammerburst and Gnasher on this map. Mercy - The fighting usually takes place in front of the Church or up by the Mortar/OneShot spawn. A good portion of the map is wide open and lends itself to long range combat but the large folliage makes it easy for someone to flank you without you knowing. I would go with Hammerburst and Gnasher for this map. Gnasher for indoors and by the potted plants, Hammerburst for almost everything else. Old Town - Fighting tends to gravitate towards Boomshot side, particularly around the walled off parts on either side of the Boomshot. The Longshot is a useful weapon for up and down the corridors of the map but not as good across the middle as you might think. The Boomshot tends to be useful in both directions and is the more desirable weapon. This is definitely a Hammerburst map but the sawed off can be particularly useful on the sides of the map. Overpass - On rounds with the Hammer of Dawn, fighting quickly moves towards the under side of Overpass but even with the Hammer of Dawn, this a map where elevation really shines. Take the top middle and you'll have a nice view of the map. Just make sure use your Smoke grenades to mark off the area so you know if someone is creeping up on your perch. This is also a great map for making use of spotting. Again, a Hammerburst map with a slight leaning towards the Gnasher. Sandbar - Almost all of the combat takes place in the middle of the map. It's crucial to take and hold the top middle as best as you can. It spawns a Hammer of Dawn and another power weapon with only two access points, one on either side. Once you've got a hold on it, it provides you with a superb view of almost the entire map. Normally a Hammerburst and Gnasher work well but a sawed of can work wonders for both blocking off the entrances to the middle as well as breaking into it. Thrashball - Combat gets pretty evenly split up on this map. Under the Raven, you really need to be careful of planted grenades. Even if you manage to hold that area by planting grenades, you need to be cautious of the balcony area because the mortar can reach under the raven. For that reason, it might be better to go for the mortar first but you can usually pick up a kill or two in the Raven tunnels early as someone rushes for the grenades and gets trapped in the hallway. Stick with the Hammerburst and definitely the Gnasher on this map. A lot of points on this map are perfect for Gnasher combat. Trenches - The Mortar spawn is always the first battle. On this map, it's the better weapon but it also has the worse position. It can reach anywhere on the map and is actually protected from the OneShot spawn by the hanging crate. But pretty much every path leads to that spot. The OneShot spawn is safer since everyone has to come directly up the hill at you however it is far less versatile. Try and get the mortar. If you fail, use the OneShot to provide support for taking the mortar. Hammerburst is pretty useful on this map and the sawed-off might be more useful than the Gnasher. Legal - x700x ------------- Copyright ExtremePhobia (Brandon Fusco) 2011, all rights reserved. Until I deem the guide complete, permission to host is only given to GameFAQs. Thanks - x710x -------------- These people provided additional information that I was lacking in my guide. Thanks for the help, it saved me a lot of time. [1] - Keethe [2] - Metius Contact - x800x --------------- GuidesbyExtremePhobia gmail.com Feel free to contact me if you have anything constructive to add and please don't take offense if I don't use your submission. This guide is 40+ pages long and this is just a hobby for me (when was the last time you wrote 40 pages for free?). Like most guide writers, this isn't my day job. Please keep that in mind when you write.