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LLLLjjtt;;.......... ..;;ttttttttttii;;::.. ffffffjjii;;,,::....::::::,,;;iijjttttiiii;;.... ffffjjttiiiiiittttttttttttttiiiijjttttiiii:: DDDDLLjjttiittttttttiittttiiiiiittiiii;;.. EEEELLffttiittttjjttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii:: LLffii;;::;;iiiittttttttiiiiii;;iiii;;.. jj;; ::ttiiiiiiii;;;;;;:: ii.. iiiiii;;ii;;::::.. .. ;;;;;;,,::.. .... Gears of War Game Guide v1.01 Copyright 2006 by Sanjay Madhav SPOILER WARNING: Being that this is a full game guide, this guide is full of spoilers. However, the Weapon List, Enemy Guide, and Co-op Notes sections are fairly safe if you just want general gameplay suggestions. [**********************************CONTENTS***********************************] [****************************GENERAL INFORMATION******************************] VERSION HISTORY.........................................................VERINFO INTRODUCTION AND THANKS.............................................INTROTHANKS WEAPON LIST............................................................WEAPLIST ENEMY GUIDE..........................................................ENEMYGUIDE COG TAG CHECKLIST.......................................................COGLIST COG TAG LOCATION SUMMARY...........................................COGLOCATIONS CO-OP VS. SINGLE PLAYER NOTES.........................................COOPNOTES INSANE DIFFICULTY GAMEPLAY TIPS......................................INSANETIPS [***************************FULL GAME WALKTHROUGH*****************************] 1-1: 14 YEARS AFTER E-DAY...............................................WALK1-1 1-2: TRIAL BY FIRE......................................................WALK1-2 1-3: FISH IN A BARREL...................................................WALK1-3 1-4: FORK IN THE ROAD...................................................WALK1-4 1-5: KNOCK KNOCK........................................................WALK1-5 1-6: HAMMER.............................................................WALK1-6 1-7: WRATH..............................................................WALK1-7 1-8: CHINA SHOP.........................................................WALK1-8 2-1: TICK TICK BOOM.....................................................WALK2-1 2-2: GRIST..............................................................WALK2-2 2-3: OUTPOST............................................................WALK2-3 2-4: LETHAL DUSK........................................................WALK2-4 2-5: DARK LABYRINTH.....................................................WALK2-5 2-6: POWDER KEG.........................................................WALK2-6 2-7: BURNT RUBBER.......................................................WALK2-7 2-8: LAST STAND.........................................................WALK2-8 3-1: DOWNPOUR...........................................................WALK3-1 3-2: EVOLUTION..........................................................WALK3-2 3-3: COALITION CARD.....................................................WALK3-3 3-4: DARKEST BEFORE DAWN................................................WALK3-4 3-5: ANGRY TITAN........................................................WALK3-5 3-6: TIP OF THE ICEBERG.................................................WALK3-6 4-1: CAMPUS GRINDER.....................................................WALK4-1 4-2: BAD TO WORSE.......................................................WALK4-2 4-3: HAZING.............................................................WALK4-3 4-4: CLOSE TO HOME......................................................WALK4-4 4-5: IMAGINARY PLACE....................................................WALK4-5 4-6: ENTRENCHED.........................................................WALK4-6 5-1: SPECIAL DELIVERY...................................................WALK5-1 5-2: TRAIN WRECK........................................................WALK5-2 5-3: PALE HORSE.........................................................WALK5-3 [********************************OTHER NOTES**********************************] STORY THEORIES AND EXPLANATIONS.....................................STORYTHEORY GLITCHES, BUGS, AND EXPLOITS...........................................GAMEBUGS [******************************VERSION HISTORY********************************] 1.01 - Very minor formatting fixed. 1.00 - Walkthrough complete through the entire game - Fixed some weapon stats, thanks to Ricardo - Added more info on the car pushing glitch, thanks to Bree - Added info on General RAAM pathing bug, thanks to Jeffery 0.51 - Minor formatting issues fixed with the COG location list 0.50 - Initial release. Walkthrough complete through the end of Act 2. [******************INTRODUCTION AND THANKS [INTROTHANKS]**********************] If you find any errors in this game guide, or have suggestions on improvements, feel free to email me at chalonverse@gmail.com. My goal is to have the most accurate and complete Gears of War guide on GameFAQs, so your questions and comments are more than welcome. I'm especially looking for reader contributions to the Insane Tips, Story Theory, and Glitches sections. My gamertag on Xbox Live is also Chalonverse, though I won't reply to any game guide inquiries via Xbox Live. Thanks to my friend Greg for playing through co-op with me on Insane difficulty, and commenting on early versions of the guide, we're definitely uber. Also thanks to s2sxiii for his COG Location FAQ, because I probably would not have found the last couple of tags without it. [***************************WEAPON LIST [WEAPLIST]****************************] Note: The comments about the various weapons merely refer to the particular weapon's usefulness in the campaign. For multiplayer, the effectiveness and use will vary. You have four inventory slots for your weapons: Grenade (in the campaign, the only type is frag), a Pistol, and two large weapons. Frag Grenade - The only type of grenade you can use in the campaign is the frag. You can carry up to 4 at any one time, and there are many pickups throughout the game. Holding down the left trigger will cause you to spin the grenade and show you an expected trajectory, which is usually extremely accurate, but you can blind throw it much like any other weapon. It's also possible to tag a nearby enemy with a grenade using the B button, though typically that's a wasteful thing to do during the campaign. Frags will be your primary defense against Emergence Holes. It is extremely important to get good at quickly spotting and plugging up Emergence Holes as they spawn if you want to survive on Insane difficulty. While it is possible to just kill all the spawns from a particular hole to close it, it's far more efficient and safe to lob a frag into it ASAP. So typically you will want to save frags for Emergence Holes if you're carrying only one or two, but if you have three or four you can afford to throw one in at several enemies. However, on the harder difficulty settings, more often than not the Locust will avoid a live grenade near them. Also, it is possible to kill yourself with your own grenade explosion. Pistols - There are two types of pistols in the game, but they really don't deserve separate explanations. Pretty much the only time you want to use a pistol in the campaign is as a last resort, if you're completely out of ammo for your larger weapons. As long as you haven't been incredibly wasteful, this should rarely happen to you, even on Insane. It's also useful for blowing up propane tanks without wasting other ammo, but that's pretty much it. You can get a slight zoom while aiming on both pistols, if you press in the right trigger, but it's obviously not nearly as much of a zoom as with a sniper rifle. Large Weapons Lancer Assault Rifle - The Lancer is the standard-issue COG automatic rifle with chainsaw bayonet, which gets handed to you early in Act 1. You will want to keep this weapon in your inventory for pretty much the entire campaign. Although there are more powerful weapons available, the large amount of ammo it carries (660) and spray fire make it incredibly useful throughout the game. It is good for suppression fire, as well as staggering enemies who are trying to melee you, and does a solid amount of damage to mid-range targets. Keep in mind that the Lancer does reduced damage and is not terribly accurate at long ranges, so especially on Insane difficulty, be careful not to be wasteful with your ammo. In terms of killing power, on the easier difficulties you will be able to drop the weakest Locust drones with about half a clip. On Insane it will often take close to a full clip. The chainsaw bayonet can be revved up at any time by holding down the B button. If you successfully use the chainsaw, it will instantly kill all the standard Locust enemies, with the exception of the Boomer, which is immune to melee attacks. A fun thing to do once you become more experienced with the game is to run around and try to chainsaw everything you can on Casual difficulty. All of the COG soldiers that fight alongside you carry the Lancer, and primarily will use this weapon in combat. Later in the campaign, some of the Locust you encounter will be using this weapon, as well. They'll even chainsaw you with it if you let them, so be mindful of this. Longshot Sniper Rifle - You can only carry 24 bullets for this weapon, but given that you will be able to pick up ammo for it from the normal ammo boxes, typically it should not be too difficult to have at least a few shots available with it at all times. The reload time is very slow, as you only get one shot per reload, but it is extremely accurate from long range due to the zoom scope (press in the right stick while aiming to activate it). The rifle has the added advantage that on Casual difficulty, any direct hit will instantly kill most basic Locust units, and a headshot will kill everything other than a Boomer instantly. On Hardcore and especially Insane, this is not the case, and rather than spending the extra time to grab the headshot, you should attempt to just get whatever shot you can as quickly as possible, because it will take two shots whether you hit their head or leg. However, for larger enemies such as the Boomers, you still want to try to hit their head, because it will reduce the number of shots it takes to kill them. I prefer grabbing this and keeping it as my secondary weapon through most of the game, as it helps with efficient killing. You'll start finding the Longshot lying around in Act 2, and a limited number of Locust enemies will wield it, as well. Gnasher Shotgun - On Casual and Hardcore, this shotgun is a pretty solid choice as a secondary weapon, because it does quite a bit of close-range damage. It's also nice for blind firing at an enemy directly on the other side of your cover. It's an excellent weapon to kill both types of Wretches with. On Insane difficulty, though, it doesn't really work terribly well because you typically do not want enemies getting that close to you. On the easier settings, it's okay that they are that close, because the shotgun will kill them quickly, but typically that isn't the case on Insane. You'll start encountering this weapon very early in the game, and your COG allies carry this as well. Hammershot Rifle - The Hammershot is the Locust answer to the Lancer. It's a little more accurate than the Lancer, but lacks the chainsaw bayonet. You actually start with this weapon at the very start of the game, but it quickly gets replaced by a Lancer. For the campaign, it is not terribly different from the Lancer, and for this reason you really won't have much of an inclination to pick it up and hold onto it. Typically the only time you'll want to grab it is if you're really low on Lancer ammo and want a semi-automatic weapon to tide you over until the next ammo pickup. The Hammershot is the most common weapon the Locust you encounter will drop, so there's no issue with picking up this gun or ammo for it. Torque Bow - This high-tech version of the bow and arrow, the Torque Bow is an arrow with an explosive attached to it. It takes a second or two to start it up, but you will want to hold it a little longer before firing it, because then the arrow will stick in the target, and explode inside of them. This will instantly kill enemies on the easier difficulty, and do a large amount of damage on Insane. You're limited to 12 shots with it, but it's a rather powerful weapon. It's available starting at the end of Act 3, and the only type of enemy you'll encounter with it is the Theron Guard. This is a nice weapon to pick up when you come across it, but keeping it stocked on ammo can be fairly difficult. It's a little harder to use on Insane difficulty due to the necessary charge-up time, but it's very useful on Act 5 on all difficulties. It is possible to kill yourself with this weapon, as with other explosives. Boomshot Rocket Launcher - The Boomshot is a relatively standard rocket launcher, which you can only carry 12 explosives for. It will instantly gib an enemy on every difficulty level, so I strongly recommend picking one up whenever you can. The only time you can get the Boomshot is from the body of a dead Boomer. There's no other way to get this weapon (or ammo for it) in the campaign, so once you run out of rockets, you should just drop it for another weapon, rather than hanging onto it. Its explosion is powerful enough that it can also plug up Emergence Holes. Like the Torque Bow and other explosives, you can blow yourself up if you're careless. Hammer of Dawn - This extremely powerful weapon can only be used for very limited durations during the campaign. You can only unleash its power when you are outside and there is satellite coverage, which is only during a couple of chapters throughout the game, and even then its use is limited to 5 minutes or less at those times. However, in the situations that it is used it is often mandatory for progression. Keeping this in mind, though, the level designers placed several pickups near areas where it will be used, so basically the rule of thumb should be pick it up if you see it, but don't hang onto it too long after that, because the next point in progression you absolutely need it, you will be able to find another pickup. This weapon cannot be blind fired, and requires a multiple second pre-targeting before the satellites unload its yellow beam of power. Even though it may technically not seem to be an explosive, its energy is powerful enough such that it can plug up Emergence Holes, which can be very useful at certain times. Be careful when firing it from behind cover, though, because it is possible to kill yourself with it, as well. [**************************ENEMY GUIDE [ENEMYGUIDE]***************************] Sentient Enemies Locust Drone - The rank and file member of Locust excursion forces, the drones typically will come at you with a Hammershot or shotgun, though later in the campaign some will have a Lancer or sniper rifle. From time to time they will also throw a frag grenade in your area. Being the standard sort of troop, they don't have a tremendous amount of hit points, though they won't instantly fall over on Insane difficulty. You pretty much can take these guys out however you want to...by themselves they aren't really very tough, but obviously you don't want to give them a direct line of fire on you. You will encounter these very early in Act 1 and throughout the rest of the game. Boomer - The Boomer is a beefy version of the Locust Drone, being several inches taller and much heavier. They carry only one weapon, the aptly-named Boomshot. Conveniently, they will typically shout "BOOM!" right before shooting a rocket, though that's not always the case, especially right as they spawn, so be weary of that. They are entirely immune to melee attacks, so don't bother to run up and try to chainsaw a Boomer--they will smack you down and basically instantly kill you. If you have a heavy-duty weapon in your inventory, such as a sniper rifle, Torque Bow, Hammer of Dawn, or even your own Boomshot, you typically will want to use it on a Boomer. If you're using a sniper rifle, bear in mind that it might take 2-4 headshots to drop them, depending on the difficulty level. Grenades can work too, but oftentimes you won't have a terribly good throw on them, anyways. The typically strategy for dealing with them individually is to find a solid piece of cover, and keep firing at them until you hear the "BOOM!" at which point you duck quickly. Make sure you position yourself so you are facing the Boomer from your cover spot, or you can often take some collateral damage from the rocket explosion. Boomers appear in moderation, but at several points throughout the game (except in Act 5, where they are mysteriously absent). Theron Guard - These are basically the elite infantry of the Locust army. They have more hit points and cooler clothes than the standard Locust drones, so they aren't an enemy to be taken lightly. They can carry all the weapons a drone can, with one nifty addition: the Torque Bow. The Theron Guard are apparently the only Locust the Queen trusts with the Torque Bow, so with the exception of a pickup here or there, these guys are your only source of Torque Bow love. They can be killed in any fashion, just like the standard Locust, but can take a little longer to kill with some weapons. The Theron Guard begin appearing at the end of Act 3, and throughout the rest of the game are dispersed among the more standard Locust enemies. Berserker - These female Locust are large like the Boomers, and additionally blind. They detect you through sound and smell, and if you let them get near you it's almost guaranteed death. They basically try to run to you and kill you, pretty simple behavior there. The method of fighting them depends at the point in which you encounter them, as they are a mini-boss of sort. General RAAM - The General is the visible leader of the Locust invasion (occupation?) forces, and serves as the final boss to the game. My best guess is that he started out as a Theron Guard, before moving up the ranks due to his battle prowess and ability. He also has a special bond with the Kryll. For information on his attacks and how to kill him, read the walkthrough for the final chapter [WALK5-3]. (Presumably) Non-Sentient Enemies Wretches - These creatures are small four-legged creatures that can run fairly fast, jump fairly high, and walk upside down on roofs and other overhead fixtures. They are very weak and quickly dispatched with the chainsaw bayonet or shotgun on Casual and Hardcore difficulty. However, on Insane this can be a little riskier, and I generally recommend killing them with the Lancer, as you can more easily pick them off from a medium range, as opposed to getting too close for comfort. You will see these guys throughout the game. Lambent Wretches - These guys are identical to Lambent Wretches, except they're black, have a glow-in-the-dark light on them, and when you kill them, they explode (lovely!). You pretty much handle them the same way as regular Wretches, though they're of course slightly more annoying. On Casual the explosion barely does anything to you, but on Insane it will instantly kill you if you let it explode right on top of you, so be careful. This lambent variety only appears in Acts 3 and 5. Kryll - The Kryll are swarm bat creatures, similar to the creatures in the movie Pitch Black. They come out at night and basically cover the sky in a shroud of darkness. They stay away from well-lit areas, but any creature that even stumbles into the shadows is quickly identified and devoured by the Kryll. This even includes Locust, with the one known exception being the General. The only way to kill these guys is with a uniquely designed UV turret, which you can use in one small segment during the campaign. Other than that, you counter them by staying in the light. These guys are only a concern for part of Act 2 and Act 5. Seeders - Seeders are best described as some weird sort of four-legged plant/animal hybrid cannon. They will periodically fire enemy-seeking spores called Nemacyst which have a nasty explosion on impact. These spores can be taken down in the air, which you'll usually want to do with an automatic weapon, especially on Insane, where the explosion can instantly kill you. The Seeders also have a unique ability in that if there are any live Seeders nearby, COG communication channels do not function very well. The only way to kill a Seeder is through the use of the Hammer of Dawn. Luckily for you, they seem to only ever appear outside when you have satellite coverage :P. They appear in Act 1 and 4. Reavers - Reavers are a flying mount used by both the Locust drones and Theron Guard. It gets off the ground with a running start, and can carry up to two passengers. You can take them out of the skies with any number of weapons, though usually it's going to be an automatic weapon. You only have to deal with these creatures in Act 5. Corpser - Though this creature makes several appearances in the earlier parts of the game, you don't actually fight it until Act 3. It's best described as an overgrown crab I suppose, though it's mostly the legs that convey that image. As it serves as the Act 3 boss, the method for killing it is described in the walkthrough [WALK3-5]. [************************COG TAG CHECKLIST [COGLIST]**************************] The COG tag checklist is for those of you who may want a simple list of the chapters in which the tags are in, so you have some idea of where to look for them, but still want to do the searching yourself. If you want specific locations of the COG tags, the subsequent [COGLOCATION] section gives a summary for each tag's location. Furthermore, if you read through the Walkthrough from start to finish, it will point out all 30 tags as you progress along the way. [***********************************ACT 1*************************************] 01. 14 YEARS AFTER E-DAY....................................................[ ] 02. 14 YEARS AFTER E-DAY....................................................[ ] 03. 14 YEARS AFTER E-DAY....................................................[ ] 04. TRIAL BY FIRE...........................................................[ ] 05. TRIAL BY FIRE...........................................................[ ] 06. FISH IN A BARREL........................................................[ ] 07. KNOCK KNOCK.............................................................[ ] 08. HAMMER..................................................................[ ] 09. HAMMER..................................................................[ ] 10. CHINA SHOP..............................................................[ ] 11. CHINA SHOP..............................................................[ ] 12. CHINA SHOP..............................................................[ ] [***********************************ACT 2*************************************] 13. TICK TICK BOOM..........................................................[ ] 14. GRIST...................................................................[ ] 15. GRIST...................................................................[ ] 16. LETHAL DUSK.............................................................[ ] 17. LETHAL DUSK.............................................................[ ] 18. DARK LABYRINTH..........................................................[ ] [***********************************ACT 3*************************************] 19. DOWNPOUR................................................................[ ] 20. EVOLUTION...............................................................[ ] 21. EVOLUTION...............................................................[ ] 22. DARKEST BEFORE DAWN.....................................................[ ] 23. DARKEST BEFORE DAWN.....................................................[ ] 24. DARKEST BEFORE DAWN.....................................................[ ] [***********************************ACT 4*************************************] 25. CAMPUS GRINDER..........................................................[ ] 26. BAD TO WORSE............................................................[ ] 27. IMAGINARY PLACE.........................................................[ ] [***********************************ACT 5*************************************] 28. TRAIN WRECK.............................................................[ ] 29. TRAIN WRECK.............................................................[ ] 30. TRAIN WRECK.............................................................[ ] [*******************COG TAG LOCATION SUMMARY [COGLOCATION]********************] I have given brief but descriptive notes on where to find each tag. If you need to see the location more in context, I've given a tag identifier which if you search for will take you to the exact point in the walkthrough where you come across the tag. [***********************************ACT 1*************************************] 14 YEARS AFTER E-DAY 01. Immediately after picking either the tutorial or going straight into the action, it will be directly in front of you [COGTAG01]. 02. In the back of the room where the Locust break through the door (right before you go outside) [COGTAG02]. 03. Immediately when you go outside, go up the near left stairs, and it's in the near left corner of the platform [COGTAG03]. TRIAL BY FIRE 04. Immediately after going up the large stairs at the start, you'll get to a small area with a couple of Locusts. After killing the Locust, your squadmates will point out the tag [COGTAG04]. 05. When you make it inside the building where two Emergence Holes pop up, it's right next to the second hole [COGTAG05]. FISH IN A BARREL 06. In the outdoor area with the fountain in the middle, where four Emergence Holes pop up, it's in the far left corner near an ammo box [COGTAG06]. KNOCK KNOCK 07. When you first go outside in this chapter, a car falls into a large hole on your left. Follow the edge of this hole all the way up, and there's a COG tag right there [COGTAG07]. HAMMER 08. In the corridor with many Wretches, it's on the right side of the wall where the very first Wretch spawns in the brief cutscene [COGTAG08]. 09. When you see the body of Rojas, it's to the right of the stairs, in a recess next to a pillar [COGTAG09]. CHINA SHOP 10. At the start of the chapter, go down the corridor to the left where you just saw a COG die. Right next to his corpse [COGTAG10]. 11. As you're fleeing from the Berserker, when you make it to the third smashable door, it's in an alcove to the left [COGTAG11]. 12. When you make your way outside where you kill the Berserker, it's in the near left corner in the grass near a concrete block [COGTAG12]. [***********************************ACT 2*************************************] TICK TICK BOOM 13. At the very end of this chapter, it's hidden under a couch at the bottom of a stairway. (NOTE: If you missed this during your play-through, you can actually load last chapter to Grist, and still be able to turn around and go to the couch) [COGTAG13]. GRIST 14. After fighting some Wretches inside a hall, you'll go outside to a stairway where you'll fight some more wretches. Once down the stairs, go to the alley under the stairway, and it's there on the right wall [COGTAG14]. 15. Right before you enter the stranded settlement, go to the far left, and the tag is behind a mailbox [COGTAG15]. LETHAL DUSK 16. After the first stranded checkpoint, move on a bit further and after a skirmish it will be in a makeshift shed to the left, where there's a propane tank [COGTAG16]. 17. When you get to the area where you need to use the spotlight, it's hidden on the left, in the dark. You either have to suicide run to get it, or in co-op use the spotlight to lead your ally to it [COGTAG17]. DARK LABYRINTH 18. When you get to the car with the propane tank, before blowing it up, look to your right and get the tag right on the wall [COGTAG18]. [***********************************ACT 3*************************************] DOWNPOUR 19. After the first encounter with several lambent wretches, move past them near where the elevator up to the roof is. From that area, go all the way to the end of the dock overlooking the water. It's right there at the end [COGTAG19]. EVOLUTION 20. In the area where there's the rickety planks that break, it's in the far right corner [COGTAG20]. 21. Right before hitting the control panel to move onto the mining carts, go down the stairs and look at the grass to the right [COGTAG21]. Note if you miss this one, you can actually load in Coalition Cargo and grab the tag from there. DARKEST BEFORE DAWN 22. Right as you start this chapter, take the right path. All the way at the end you'll find [COGTAG22]. 23. After you slip down the water slide, there's an enemy engagement. Once you kill them, look to the right where there's some stairs and a COG tag graffiti. Look to the right of the stairs and you'll see [COGTAG23]. 24. Right before you go to engage the Corpser, look along the wall to the right. Follow it all the way to the Imulsion and there's [COGTAG24]. [***********************************ACT 4*************************************] CAMPUS GRINDER 25. Right at the start of this chapter, look to the right wall where there's several small staircases leading to doorways. Right next to the furthest stairway, you'll spot [COGTAG25]. BAD TO WORSE 26. At the start of this chapter, look at the rusted car on the street to the right. Directly behind it you'll find [COGTAG26]. IMAGINARY PLACE 27. After you take out the second Emergence Hole in Marcus' father's house (the one behind a big couch), a lone Locust will pop out of a previously blocked door. Once you kill him, move through to the room with pillars and a desk against a wall. Chainsaw up the desk and you'll find [COGTAG27]. [***********************************ACT 5*************************************] TRAIN WRECK 28. Immediately after taking care of the Berserker, go into the door that Jack opened. Directly beyond the door, to the left, you'll find [COGTAG28]. 29. When you clear out the passenger car which Anya says has Troikas on the roof, prior to moving on look in the middle part of the cart and you'll find [COGTAG29]. 30. Once you have gotten past the lambent wretches and the time limit, press the button to release the cylinders. Once you move past the cylinders, turn to your left and go all the way back into that cart. In here you'll find the final [COGTAG30]. [******************CO-OP VS. SINGLE PLAYER NOTES [COOPNOTES]******************] The Gears of War campaign is designed for cooperative play either via split-screen or Xbox Live. I really recommend you to play it through co-op at least once, because it adds quite a bit enjoyment to the experience. However, in spite of this, the game is more than doable solo on all three difficulty levels. Although thus far I have not heard of anyone killing General RAAM solo on Insane difficulty, I'm certain it is doable, though extraordinarily difficult :). In terms of difficulty, co-op makes the game easier for some obvious and not-so obvious reasons. Obviously, co-op is easier because you have two live humans controlling Marcus and Dom, as opposed to just one, so you can coordinate and work together in much greater detail. But the AI-controlled Dom isn't terrible, either. He'll provide you decent backup in most situations, though there are a handful of places in the game where his AI does break down to a degree. You have a much greater margin for error during co-op play, as well, because if Marcus is downed, Dom can revive him and vice-versa. The exception to this is the parts of the game where you split up from each other momentarily. In these situations, if one of you goes down, you are forced to restart from the last checkpoint. However, note that the ability to revive is not an entirely free pass. If you get gibbed beyond recognition (most notably chainsawed, though a direct explosion can sometimes do this as well), you CANNOT be revived. So especially on Insane difficulty, be very careful when approaching a Locust who's carrying a Lancer. The only other noticeable difference is that in single player, Dom will never pick up any additional weapons outside his standard load-out. So don't expect him to grab a Boomshot or Sniper Rifle and help out in a different role. Like the other COGs you fight with, he will stick to the standard-issue Lancer, Shotgun, and Frag Grenades. Given that co-op makes the game easier, I really don't recommend playing co-op on Casual difficulty, as you will roll through the game and not really be presented with any sort of challenge. Hardcore is a fairly reasonable challenge in cooperative play, and I honestly would not recommend initially trying Insane difficulty solo. [*****************INSANE DIFFICULTY GAMEPLAY TIPS [INSANETIPS]****************] If you're having difficulties with Insane, here are some general tips on successfully completing the campaign (mostly on co-op): 1. If at all possible, play it co-op. At least the first time you play through on Insane, you will want the extra backup. 2. You and your teammate should both pretty much go with the Lancer + Longshot combo, and whoever is the less-experienced sniper should pick up any Boomshots, Torque Bows, and Hammer of Dawns that you come across. The Shotgun can work somewhat against Wretches, but typically it is more dangerous than picking them off with the Lancer. 3. During any segments in which you and your partner are split up, be sure to both move slowly and communicate that an area is clear before moving on. In many of these areas, spawns are shared between the two of you, with a bit of randomness as to which side they will go. So if someone goes too fast, it can put you both in a lot of danger. 4. Some of the most difficult segments on Insane are those with copious amounts of Lambent Wretches, particularly in Act 3. If you're having a really hard time with them, you can take advantage of a pathing oddity as outlined in the [GAMEBUGS] section. 5. In large areas, be sure to always stay fairly close together. This way if one of you goes down, the other can quickly revive you, without worries of being forced to reload from the last checkpoint. 6. Focus fire on specific targets to quickly thin out the opposition. 7. Be familiar with the locations where Emergence Holes open up in the various chapters, and be excellent at dealing with them quickly. Allowing holes to spawn more than the first wave of enemies will often spell a quick death on Insane. 8. Don't underestimate General RAAM on Insane. While he's pretty much a pushover on co-op on Casual and Hardcore, on Insane he can give you a run for your money. 9. If a particular segment is impossible for you to complete, there's no shame in practicing it on an easier difficulty before coming back to attempt it on Insane. 10. While I don't recommend this, if you are only looking for the Xbox 360 Achievements, it is possible to simply skip to the final chapter on Insane difficulty via the "restart from previously unlocked chapter" option in the main menu. However, keep in mind that if you weren't able to get to the final chapter on Insane, you may have a difficult time actually completing it. 11. Keeping in mind that the game typically doesn't allow you to backtrack to areas of the world, be sure to check an area for ammo prior to going on to the next area. Ammo becomes a little scarce during some parts of the campaign, so you will want to always stay stocked up. [***************************FULL GAME WALKTHROUGH*****************************] This large section gives you a start-to-finish walkthrough of the entire Gears of War campaign. It goes without saying that this walkthrough is chock full of spoilers. Also, if you follow through the guide from start to finish I point out the COG tags along the way. Note that with any complex game such as Gears of War, there are many strategies to clear out certain areas of the game. What I present during the walkthrough is simply what I found easiest during my four times through the game (including a full run on Insane). I don't claim that it's necessarily the best way to approach everything, but if it worked for me it certainly can work for you! ;) For sections where the player is given the choice to go left or right, I list out the walkthrough for both selections. This way regardless of which way you pick, you'll still be able to make your way through without much confusion. For these sections and these sections only, I also give a few recommendations on how to approach it in co-op mode, where each of you is on one path. Beyond these split up sections and the final chapter, I really don't give many more co-op specific notes. For other co-op tips, check out the [COOPNOTES] section. [********************1-1: 14 YEARS AFTER E-DAY [WALK1-1]*********************] After a brief cutscene where Dom breaks you out of jail, you gain control of your character. Exit your cell and turn right to meet up with Dom, who will then ask you whether or not you want to go through the tutorial. If you haven't gone through it once, you should as it unlocks an achievement for you. Throughout the tutorial you will be given prompts telling you to push certain buttons to perform various actions. I'm assuming here that you are competent enough to do this without my direction :P. Regardless of which path you choose, you will enter a room with a glass ceiling. A helicopter will fly over and do some light damage to you, and there's a bit of dialogue. Straight in front of you you will see a red COG symbol with a skull in the middle. This is a symbol informing you that the COG tags of a fallen soldier are nearby. The vast majority of COG tags will have this symbol nearby, but not all of them do. In this case, [COGTAG01] is on the floor, right next to the symbol. If you choose to skip the tutorial, you can skip this paragraph. Now follow Dom up the stairs to the right, towards the guard quarters. In the middle of the guard room there will be a desk with some computers and a green button. Press the button and go through the door it opens up. You will then have to shoot two circuit breakers to unlock the next door. One is straight ahead, and the other is to your left. If you can't see one, the Y button will point out their locations to you, as well. Kick down the door in front of you and in the next room you can practice moving in and out of cover. Once you're done, move on to the next area where there's an ammo pickup you can grab. Turn left from the ammo pickup and there will be another door to kick open. This door leads back to the room with the first COG tag, but on the opposite side of the room. Follow Dom straight and to your right, where there's one Locust waiting for you on the bridge. Just take cover on the side of the doorway, and shoot him down. After killing the lone Locust, move half way across the bridge into the small room. Hit the green button in the room and roadie run the remaining half of the bridge through the open door. If you're too slow you can simply press the button again. Once past the door you'll be in a small room with two corpses hanging from the ceiling. Follow Dom past that room and down the stairwell, following the short path to another room with frag grenades on the ground. Pick up two stacks of frags and go through the next doorway. Two Locust will enter the room in the area below you. Take cover and you can either throw a frag or just shoot down the Locust. Once you kill them, follow Dom to the right and down another set of stairs. You are now in the area you would have been had you skipped the tutorial. The Locust begin breaking through the door on one side of the room, and Dom tells you to take cover. The best place to do this is behind one of the rock blocks in the middle of the room. Hold down the left trigger to pre-aim your grenade while waiting for the Locust to break through. Once the door opens, throw the grenade and gun down any Locust who survive the frag. Dom will go down here so the game can explain you how to revive. After dispatching the two Locust who come through the doorway, walk over to Dom and hit X to revive him. Before you leave the room, face your back to the door that the Locust just broke through and walk forward and to your right. You'll notice another fallen soldier graffiti symbol on a pillar. Behind the pillar is an ammo box, and slightly to the right of this is [COGTAG02]. Now exit out of the room through the door that the Locust broke through. You're now outside in a courtyard, where ~4 Locust are waiting for you. Before you engage them, go up the stairs on the near left side of the courtyard. In the near left corner of this slightly raised platform you will find [COGTAG03]. Now go back down and help Dom finish off any remaining Locust. Once the Locust are dead, you'll get a warning that something is moving underground, and Dom tells you to get to the helicopter. Run across the courtyard through the large opening in what used to be a large wall, and the Raven is waiting for you. A cinematic will play of a Corpser emerging from the ground as you make your daring escape, and you'll unlock an achievement for finishing he prison chapter. [************************1-2: TRIAL BY FIRE [WALK1-2]*************************] After a brief helicopter ride, you'll be introduced to Delta Squad, Colonel Hoffman, and your communications officer, Anya. Hoffman instructs your squad to try to find the missing Alpha Squad, so you better get started. After the cinematic, reinforcements will arrive from the stairs in front, but be quickly killed by the Raven firing overhead. Move past the black reflective pool and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, there's a short indoors path in the middle towards the inner courtyard. Once you're outside again, kill the 3 attacking Locust. Once they go down, your squadmates will point out [COGTAG04] on the floor. Hit Y and it'll point them out, it's hard to miss. Then follow your squadmates to the right, grab the ammo box in front of you, and go up another set of stairs. You'll now be in a large outdoor area with big pillars. 3 Locust will attack from the front. Your squad says to flank left, which if you do will give you a good shot. After a little while, an Emergence Hole will pop up way on the far side of the area. If you happen to be close to the hole when it opens up, toss in a grenade. Otherwise it's safer to stay back with your squadmates and let the E-Hole dry out. There's a frag grenade pickup if you go to the second large pillar to the left, which helps out if you're low. Follow your teammates to the left of the Emergence Hole, and there's 4 more regular Locust to drop. After killing them, keep moving past them and you'll see an open gate and a large bridge leading into a building. On the road below and to your right you'll spot what looks to be a fallen COG soldier next to a van. Move beyond them and to the door into the building, which Kim opens for you. Once inside the building, you'll be in a fairly large room where a couple enemies are waiting for you. After a few seconds, an E-Hole will pop up in the center of the room where a statue stands. Take care of that one, and then your only path further into the room will be to move to the right of the hole. As soon as you make it there, a second Emergence Hole will pop up to your left. Once you take care of this set of enemies, go towards this second hole and move a little past it. In the grass is [COGTAG05]. From there, move outside the building and take the stairs down to the van you saw moments earlier. [**********************1-3: FISH IN A BARREL [WALK1-3]************************] While examining the van, you'll get ambushed by Locusts, one of whom is on a Troika gun. If you have spare grenades, you can take out the Troika gunner with some luck, but it's much safer to do what your squadmates say to do, which is flank right. Conveniently, there's ammo that way, too. When you begin to flank right, one Locust will come out. Dispatch him and keep moving until you see the alcove on your left, which gives you a clear and easy shot on the Troika gunner. Or a quick sprint and chainsaw ;). Once you take down the enemy, get on the Troika yourself, turn it 180 degrees, and take out the 2-3 other remaining Locust. You then have to move up a little bit, and a few more Locust will spawn. You can actually backtrack yourself back to the gun while your squad handles them up close, but from that great of a distance your accuracy with the Troika is fairly low (but it does save you some ammo). Eventually you may have to move up a little bit to completely wipe them out. Now move up a bit more and you'll find yourself in an area with a large circular dried up fountain. Jump into the fountain and grab the frags and ammo, you'll need it. After a few seconds an Emergence Hole will pop up, and three more will follow shortly thereafter. These holes go up in fairly rapid succession, so you will have to be quick to taking them out with grenades, especially since the fountain's pool doesn't provide very good cover. The order in which the four E-Holes pop up will be different every time, and there's actually 5 or 6 different spots they can come up at. So as soon as you feel the rumble of the hole coming up, hit Y to quickly see where it is so you can take it out. For what it's worth, the fountain is pretty shoddy for cover as well, and aiming for long periods of time will leave you very vulnerable. On Insane you will have to blind fire quite a bit here. If you're too slow on getting a hole it will be over for you very fast. Once you clear out the holes, don't leave the fountain area just yet. Facing the fountain from the way you came in, go to the back left corner in this area. [COGTAG06] will be waiting for you, as well as some ammo. Grab what you can before you move on, as you likely expended a lot of ammo. Once you've got the ammo, exit this area through the back right path. [**********************1-4: FORK IN THE ROAD [WALK1-4]************************] This is the first of several parts of the game where you and Dom split up, but for this one you aren't separated for very long. If you go left, you will run into a couple of Locusts before having an angle on a Troika gun that pins down whoever goes right. Help take out the Troika and move on through the door into the next area, where you're reunited. In this room, there's another Troika gun pinning you down in the back part of the room. Go all the way right, then go straight forward to the door which you can kick down. Take out the Locust spotter on the second floor of the small tower, and you'll have a clear shot on this Troika as well. Clear out any enemies near the Troika, and then go back downstairs and get on the gun yourself. At this point enemies will spawn back where you first entered this room, which you'll be able to easily mow down with your Troika. After a little bit of dialog, a lone enemy will spawn from the door behind the Troika. Take him out and then move through the same door. [*************************1-5: KNOCK KNOCK [WALK1-5]**************************] 
This chapter starts out with a brief in-game cutscene where you're forced into
walk mode. Just keep walking down the corridor to a door, which of course you
kick in. This door leads to another outdoor area. As you move towards the
stairs, you'll see Reavers fly by on your left and a car fall into a huge hole
in the sidewalk. Head towards this hole and follow the edge of it as far as it
goes up the stairs, and you'll see [COGTAG07]. Now keep moving up the stairs,
you'll hit a checkpoint and take cover as enemies spawn. There's another Troika
gun here, and like last time you'll want to go to the right.

An enemy will come out of the near right double door, who is referred to as a
Grenadier (but is actually pretty much identical to any other Locust you'd
encounter). After you kill him, carefully move from cover to cover and go
through the door he came out of. Move down this hallway and you'll hear an
E-Hole pop up. You won't immediately have a line of sight on the hole, but if
you move up a little bit and look to the right of the large vase in the middle
of the room, you'll see it in a small alcove. Take out the hole, and then move
in to the alcove it was in to grab some frags and ammo. Now go outside and
reclaim the Troika gun. You'll be ordered to form up by Kim, and you can just
stay near the Troika gun which will trigger the next cutscene. Locust spawn
from the bottom of the stairs and take out Carmine.

The Locust still haven't learned that charging a Troika straight on is
ineffective, so make them pay for this :). After taking these guys out with the
Troika, a large double door will open to your right. You won't have a shot with
the Troika, so you'll have to get off of it and approach on foot. Take out the
2-3 Locust in here, and you'll fail to make radio contact with Alpha squad.


[***************************1-6: HAMMER [WALK1-6]****************************]

After moving through another the door you'll hear another COG over comm. Head
up the stairs to the right and look over the balcony, and you'll see a single
COG fighting several locust. You can help out a bit from above, but after a
while Kim will instruct you to go downstairs and help from there. A door in the
right side of your current room will open up, leading to stairs that take you
right to the soldier who needs help. Take out the couple of remaining Locusts
downstairs and you'll be introduced to Augustus Cole.

So it turns out that the Seeders are responsible for the lack of radio
communication. Exit back to the hallway with the two stairs, and take the ones
to the left. Follow Kim and he'll open a door for you. As you go through the
door, you'll spot a couple of Wretches who run up the wall. To the right of
this hallway there's a shotgun which you should grab if you haven't gotten one
yet. The door in this hall is locked shut, so you'll need Jack, your friendly
flying stealth-capable robot, to break through. Whenever this happens in the
campaign, it means you're going to have to fight off some enemies while you
wait for the door to open.

Some Wretches will spawn on the left part of the corridor, it's pretty easy to
pick these guys off on the roof as they head towards you. But be mindful of
your surroundings, because after a couple waves some Wretches will spawn from
the opposite side of the corridor, so don't let them catch you off guard. After
you finish off the Wretches, head to where the first Wretch spawned in the
brief cutscene, and on the right wall there's [COGTAG08].

Once Jack opens the door, move into the room and in the far middle part of the
room, next to an ammo box and a dead corpse, is a Hammer of Dawn. Drop your
secondary weapon for the Hammer. Kim will open another door which leads back
outside, and go through it. Once outside, you'll see a Seeder to the far right.
Now it's time to use the Hammer of Dawn. Hit the left trigger to aim at the
Seeder, then hold down the right trigger. After a few seconds the Hammer will
unload its awesome power from above. If your aim was slightly off, you can
still guide the Hammer a bit after it's been fired, but be careful not to guide
it directly towards yourself, because it will gib you. On harder difficulties,
when you encounter Seeders you will also have to worry about the Nemacyst
spores they fire in the air, because they do a heck of a lot of explosive
damage.

Once you drop the Seeder, a bridge will lower leading the way further, but a
couple of Locust will spawn, too. Use the Hammer once more to make quick work
of them. Now move across the bridge and then head all the way to where the
Seeder was, and go on past it to the right, into another door leading back
inside. Go through this next room and then you'll be in another corridor. From
the doorway in this corridor, you will have another shot on a Seeder. Once
again, use the Hammer of Dawn on the Seeder. After you take him out, switch to
your Lancer and take down the several Wretches and couple of humanoid Locust
which spawn on your level. A door will open up in the left part of this area.
Go straight past the door and grab the ammo on the balcony, then take the
stairs down to the left.

Once downstairs, a couple of Wretches will immediately meet you. Take them out
and grab the grenades on the right if you need them. Move straight through the
corridor to the Seeder you just killed. After a little bit of comm dialogue, a
door will open up to the left of the Seeder. Make your way through the door and
into a small chapel, where 4-5 more Wretches and one more Locust humanoid are
waiting for you. Once they're dead, move past the podium and down the short set
of stairs. In this room you'll spot the corpse of Rojas, an Alpha Squad member
who wasn't as lucky as Cole. And a dead soldier of course means COG tags, so if
you stand at the base of the stairs and turn right, you'll see [COGTAG09] in a
recess behind a pillar.


[****************************1-7: WRATH [WALK1-7]*****************************]

Now move on to the next room via the stairs up and to the left. Past the large
statue, you'll enter a room with some sofas and other furniture. Kill the
couple of Locust who storm this room, and then move on past it. From this
overhang you'll have another shot at the third and final Seeder. You can trade
in your Hammer at the next opportunity you get, but it helps on the final part
of this chapter if you hang on to it. Either way, move back to the room with
the furniture, and after a bit of dialog, Locust will break through the
barricaded door on the side of the room. Take these three Locust out, and then
move into the corridor to came from and head right. Keep moving and mantle over
the rocks blocking the way, and keep moving some more.

You'll then enter a room with several desks and a Locust or two, take em out
and keep moving via the hall in the far right part of this room. When you hit
the part of the corridor with rock cover, three more Locust will spawn. Moving
past them, you'll hit a checkpoint and the hall will lead left, to another hall
which is covered by a Troika, move a little bit in and to the right of this
hall to an alternate path. Four Wretches will spawn on this path, take em out
and keep moving until you get to stairs leading down and behind the Troika
gunner. After taking out the Troika Locust, jump on it yourself and take out
the many Wretches which spawn.

After this is done, exit the area via the path to the right of the Troika
platform. If you need ammo, there's a box down the stairs to the right, once
you got those head left. Keep moving until you hit a room with 4-5 Locust. Grab
the ammo and grenades in this room if you need it, and move to the left and
forward until you see another set of grimy stairs going up. You'll make your
way to a court room with a round table in the middle. Go up the long flight of
stairs and take out the Troika gunner from behind. If you kept your Hammer of
Dawn to this point, you can have a bit of fun with the many Locust on the
ground below. If not, get on the Troika and shoot em that way. If you're
playing on co-op, there's another Troika gun to your left that your friend can
get on. For co-op, it's good if one person focuses on the Nemacyst above, and
another focuses on the Locust down below (though the skies clear up much faster
than the Locust on the ground). After you clear out everything, it'll be FMV
time--but Act 1 is not done just yet!


[**************************1-8: CHINA SHOP [WALK1-8]**************************]

Well Kim is dead, and you've now got an ugly Berserker coming after you. But
first things first...if you go down the hall to the left, where the Alpha Squad
soldier died to the Berserker, right by his corpses you'll find [COGTAG10]. If
you've been following the walkthrough, you will also get the 10/30 COG tag
achievement. Now go down the hall in the other direction. If you don't still
have your Hammer of Dawn from earlier, grab the Hammer on the floor right
before the first turn in the hallway. Keep moving though this area until you
see the Berserker break through the wall in front of you.

Now the Berserker is the first "boss" fight of the game, though she's really
quite simple to take care of. Basically, the key is to never let her get in
melee range of you, or she'll instantly kill you. So that means keep running,
and if she charges at you make sure you dodge the way. When she breaks through
the wall initially, take a sharp right turn and book it. You'll run into a door
which seems to be a dead end. But take a page out of a matador book, and face
your back to this doorway, and lure the Berserker towards you. When she charges
you, jump out of the way at the last second, and she'll smash straight into the
door. Keep running and you'll make your way to the second such smashable door.
Handle this the same way and again again, keep running and you'll reach another
smashable door.

But wait! Before you lure the Berserker to this door, look at the alcove on
your left (if you're facing the third smashable door). [COGTAG11] is right
there. Grab it, and get the Berserker to smash on through the third door.
You'll now be outside. The first thing you'll want to do is head to the near
left side of the courtyard. That's because hidden in some grass behind one of
the concrete blocks is [COGTAG12]. Yep, two COG tags in the span of 30 seconds.

Now that you're outside, you can use your Hammer of Dawn. Dodge the Berserker
if she charges you, and in between charges is your chance to burn her with the
Hammer. It only takes 1.5x beams to kill her on Casual, and 2.5x on Insane. So
all in all it's not too tough. Once you take her down, it spells the end of Act
1.


[************************2-1: TICK TICK BOOM [WALK2-1]************************]

Move forward and turn right, and keep moving until you get to another part of
the game where you split up. Initially, the left path will lead to a dead end
with no enemies. On the right path, if you move forward until the end you'll
see stairs leading up on the left. Once those on the right path move into the
room beyond the stairs, a cutscene will trigger. Two Boomers will enter a door
right in front of the two COGs stuck in the left path. So if you're on the left
side, you'll need to take cover and be very careful to not get blown up. If
you're on the right side, your job will be to unload on the Boomers from above,
making sure that they don't take you out, either.

Once the Boomers die, if you or your co-op partner was on the left path, you
should pick up any Boomsticks left behind. Now both paths can move onwards and
grab some ammo. You'll see a Corpser on your way, but you don't have to worry
about him for now. Moving a little past the Corpser, the left path will be
attacked by 1-2 Locust in the large room with a statue, while the right path
gets attacked in a corridor. Kill these guys and both paths will be presented
with doors which lead to a room with a catwalk, some shelves, and some ammo.

Both paths will then lead outside, with 2-3 enemies ambushing both sides. The
waves are a little staggered, so if you have no enemies on your side, be sure
to look on the other side to see if you can provide some assistance via
cross-fire. After a couple of waves, you will both want to move forward a bit.
Those who were on the left path will get pinned down by a Troika, and as such
the right path needs to help take down the gunner. But it's not entirely smooth
sailing for the right path either, as they're met by a Locust and a couple of
Wretches on the way to the Troika. Furthermore, the Troika can actually turn
and face either path, so really both sides have to help out a bit. Once you
take out the Troika you're reunited. Before moving on to the next area, make
sure you grab ammo and frags as needed. The door leading onwards is beyond the
Troika, under some flickering lights. You won't be able to kick it down, but
Jack will open it for you.

Once the door opens, move through the short alley into another room with some
metal railing and a staircase. In this room there's a couch at the bottom of
the staircase. Use your chainsaw to break open the couch and grab [COGTAG13].
Then grab the frags by the door to the next area if you need em, and move on.


[*****************************2-2: GRIST [WALK2-2]****************************]

This chapter change can be a little buggy as it doesn't always notify you that
it's changed. But it doesn't affect your saves or anything else, so it's just a
minor glitch. In any event, you'll be outside again, and ambushed by many
Locusts, including one Boomer and a sniper in a building on the right.
Concentrate on the Boomer first, and then use cover like you normally would to
take down the remaining enemies.

Once you wipe them out, exit the area via a door in the right edge of the area,
which leads back inside. There'll be a large room with a couple of generators
and a catwalk. Keep moving along the catwalk, and towards the end 3-4 Wretches
will spawn, which you should be able to easily take out. Then move past the
dead Wretches into the next area, and a couple more will come at you from the
ceiling and from the ground. After you kill them, move down the stairs and go
into the alley underneath the stairs. On the right wall is [COGTAG14]. Now keep
moving and you'll see the Corpser burrow up yet another time, spawning some
more Locust for you to kill, including a Boomer.

Once they're dead, grab any ammo you might need and take the path to the right
where there's more barricades. After moving up a bit, some more enemies will
spawn, including one controlling a Troika. What you want to do here is roadie
run to the car in the middle of the road, and take cover behind it. Once in
cover you can repeatedly hit X to move the car closer and closer. Once the car
stops, the safest way to take out the Troika gunner is to move forward and to
the right from the car and take cover behind the sideways van. Conveniently,
there's a couple of frag grenades right at that cover spot. Grab them if you
need to, and chuck one at the Troika gunner. Once you take him out, you can try
to throw a grenade in the Emergence Hole that's in the far left area of the
room, or you can just stay back and kill off the spawns, which include some
Wretches. If you burn through a lot of ammo, there's some ammo in the back left
part of this area. Once the hole is clear, keep moving forward past it and turn
left. Keep going until you move up some stairs and the game points out the
Stranded gatekeeper to you. But before you move to the Gatekeeper, you want to
go in the far left part of this area. Behind some mail boxes you'll find
[COGTAG15]. Now talk to the Stranded gatekeeper.

Once you're in the camp, keep moving forward until you get to a cutscene where
Dom cons a guy into borrowing an APC.


[****************************2-3: OUTPOST [WALK2-3]***************************]

Move a bit of a ways forward and to the left, where there's a door to kick in.
Just keep moving through the hallway until you reach another door to kick down.
And congrats, you just finished the shortest chapter in the campaign!


[**************************2-4: LETHAL DUSK [WALK2-4]*************************]

You'll be outside again, and 3-4 Locust will attack, most notably a sniper in
the shed straight across from you. The easiest way to take out the sniper is to
just shoot up the propane tank near the entrance of the shed, but if you're
feeling lucky you can just charge and chainsaw him. I highly recommend grabbing
the sniper rifle from him. After taking out the remaining enemies, move to the
right part of this area and there will be a raft waiting for you down some
stairs. Just get on the raft and hit X to grab onto the steering wheel. Keep
turning the wheel with A and move across. If you're playing co-op, don't bother
wasting any ammo shooting if you're the person not driving the raft, because
you don't need to kill these guys anyways.

Once you get half way across the river, you'll see a cutscene showing the Kryll
fly in and black out the sky. Keep going across the river until you reach the
end. From here until almost the end of Act 2, you will need to stay in well-lit
areas or you will be devoured by the Kryll within a second or two. What will
help out in this regard is propane tanks strategically placed throughout the
remaining areas. Chances are if you're in an area with no lit path visible,
there's a propane tank you have to hit. Anyhow, at this point you'll just move
up the stairs, and stay in the light on your way to Checkpoint #1. Right as you
approach the checkpoint, their light above will fail and they will get eaten by
the Kryll. If you need it, there's a lot of ammo in the makeshift tent on the
right, which although looks like it could use more light, is safe from the
Kryll.

Turn left from this tent and go towards the fire burning in the barrel. Right
next to this barrel is a doorway leading back inside. Move through this brief
indoor area and back outside, where an E-Hole will pop up in the far back. In
the middle of the area, in front of the Emergence Hole, there's a metal sheet
resting on a propane tank, which you'll want to take out. Once you take care of
the hole, move onto it and look to your left. You'll see another propane tank
in a makeshift shed. Blow up the tank and move into the shed, and in it you'll
find [COGTAG16]. Now move back to the dried up Emergence Hole.

If you look on the side leaving away from the shed, you'll see another propane
tank on the near left. After you light up that one, move to it and there's
another tank under a metal sheet and a wooden chair. At this point a few
enemies will also spawn in the distance, including one on a Troika. What you'll
want to do here is take cover behind the dresser that's right next to the
propane tank you just blew up. From here, you'll have a line of sight on your
left to the next propane tank. Blow up this tank and roadie run to it, taking
cover behind the pillar. Another propane tank will be visible now in the far
right. Shoot this one up as well, roadie run, and take cover behind the
dumpster. Your next move will be to run up to the car in front of the dumpster.
Once there, you'll have a shot on your left to a propane tank at the entrance
of the building. Once you light up that tank, run into the building.

Move into the building until you see a window on your right that gives you a
clear shot on the Troika. Once you take out any remaining enemies from there,
turn around from the window and there's a door in the far left corner. A Wretch
will pop out when you get close to the door, but he'll be no problem. Move
through this door and up the stairs, to another door which you kick out.

You'll be outside again, and an Emergence Hole will pop up to your far right.
However, you will want to move forward a bit more into an adjoining building.
Go through this building, where you'll be met by a couple of Wretches. Take out
the Wretches and then you can now flank the Emergence Hole, though it's still a
very difficult grenade throw. There's also a propane tank in front of the
Emergence Hole that you can take use to help clear out enemies. Once you take
down the Emergence Hole, in the alley further off you'll see another tank blow
up and a door open. Go through this door, and after a short path you'll be
outside again. There's a car you can take cover behind, and additionally push
forward as it's time to deal with yet another Troika. The car has a fire in it,
so you can push it without worrying about Kryll mobbing you half way through.
Once you push the car to its limit, go to the left and into the building on
that side, It'll lead right up to the Troika so you can take control of the
Locust.

Once you take care of the Locust, Anya will tell you to take the pitch black
alley to the left of your location. However, if you move back into the hallway
that lead you to the Troika, and move a little further down the hallway, you'll
be at an overhang which has the perfect shot at a propane tank down below and
behind the dumpster. Now move back outside into the newly-lit alley. Moving
past that you'll be at another doorway leading back inside. Go through this
corridor and another door, and you'll be back outside again. Take out the
couple of Locust straight ahead, and light up the propane tank in the middle.

Now move to your left, and another Emergence Hole will pop up in the far back.
Take cover, and shoot up the dresser drawer near the left wall. Inside it is a
propane tank which you'll want to light up, and then move forward past. You now
have enough light to take out the Emergence Hole, as long as you don't let the
Locust get to you due to the cover situation. A slower but safer method is to
just stay back and take out the Locust one by one via headshots. Once you clear
out the hole, turn right and move past it. You want to now stand on the left
wall behind the mailbox, and you have a shot on a propane tank which sits in
the back right. Run to the cement block a little past that tank, and there's
another one on your near left.

Now you'll be at a big street with no seemingly possible path forward. However,
on the roof of the building to your light, you'll see a large spotlight.
Furthermore, if you look to your left you'll see [COGTAG17]. The way this part
works is one of you has to go up top and man the spotlight, while the other
moves through the light across the street. If you're playing co-op, you'll want
to additionally lead your partner to the COG tag first, and have him grab that.
If you aren't playing co-op, it's still possible to suicide and grab the tag
just in the nick of time. Just make sure you hit the checkpoint near the
building on your right before trying this, though, because if you die and
haven't gotten the checkpoint, you will reload a couple of encounters ago.

In any event, you want to go upstairs and shine the light on your partner,
leading him across to the car, where you should stop until the 2-3 Locust on
the street are taken out. Once your partner makes it all the way across the
street, they go into a small hallway in a building, and light up the decorative
lights above the street. At this point you can now get off the spotlight and
move down. A couple of Wretches will spawn both in the building you're
currently in and across the street, so take care of them. Now move down the
street and to the left, and you'll hit another checkpoint.

Another Emergence Hole will pop up in front of you. Take cover at the car and
take care of the hole, then sprint across the small dark stretch to the light.
Now turn to your right, and there's another propane tank under a metal sheet.
Light it up, move up and to the left, and there'll be a cutscene as you talk
with the stranded at Checkpoint #2.


[************************2-5: DARK LABYRINTH [WALK2-5]************************]

You're now inside a building with some questionable lights. You actually have
to be a little careful here to not move through the room TOO fast, or it's
actually possible to overshoot your lights and get owned by Kryll. Anyhow, you
want to move a little forward in the hall and turn left. A light will flicker
on leading to another doorway on your left. Go in it, and lights will again
flicker on as a Wretch spawns behind you. Kick down the next door in front of
you, and two more Wretches will spawn in the subsequent hallway. Move down that
hallway and turn to your right, where you'll see a dresser blocking another
doorway. Chainsaw down the dresser, wait for the lights in the kitchen to
flicker on, and move forwards. In the kitchen, you want to turn left and move
through the next doorway a little bit to trigger the next light, but then back
off back into the kitchen. This way the 4-5 Wretches that come from the front
hallway go into the kitchen one by one, and can easily be picked off. Now move
through the end of this hall and turn right. Follow the next couple of rooms
until you make your way outside once more.

Standing in the light, you'll see a pushable car pointed out to you. However,
first look immediately to your right and you'll see [COGTAG18] in the corner.
After you get the tag, then turn and face the car. There's a propane tank in
it, which you want to shoot and explode. Run towards the car, and it will start
slowly sliding down the hill, but its speed will pick up, so you need to keep
up. It's actually possible to run into the car and climb onto it, but that's
more of a glitch than anything :). In any event, the gas station is now in
front of you. Move towards it to trigger a cutscene.


[**************************2-6: POWDER KEG [WALK2-6]**************************]

First you'll need to fill up the APC with some gas. Facing the gas station from
the service building, it's to your immediate right. Hit X to grab the handle,
and spam A to turn it. At this point you'll want to go into the gas station
building, and grab the ammo and weaponry in the back. The sniper rifle really
helps here. After getting ammo, take cover in the room with the boarded
windows, as a big Locust ambush is about to happen. On co-op, you'll want one
of you to help guard the doorway, to prevent any Wretches from running in,
while the other person snipes Locust one by one. The first wave will be to the
left, then there will be some in the front, including a Boomer. Eventually you
may have to actually move outside, but be very careful not to shoot gas tanks
or use them for cover, and additionally don't shoot the vehicle. If you do
either of these too many times, the whole gas station will blow up and you'll
die. One more wave will spawn after the Boomer, from the right, and after you
take that down, you jump into the vehicle and make a daring escape.


[*************************2-7: BURNT RUBBER [WALK2-7]*************************]

This is the only vehicle driving chapter in the game. You basically need to
drive down the road and take out Kryll that try to attack you with a UV gun.
The controls are: right trigger to move forward, left trigger to brake/go in
reverse when you are driving. Hit X to swap between driving and being the UV
gunner. If you're the gunner, the left trigger zooms in a little bit, and the
right trigger fires. The APC has only enough energy to fire the UV turret or
move, so be mindful of this. However, if you are moving forward and fire on the
turret, even though your engine cuts out, momentum will keep you still moving
forward for a little bit. On co-op, one of you is on the gun and one of you is
driving, and if you're Marcus you can hit X to swap between who's doing what.

The key to beating this segment on Insane is knowing precisely where the spawn
spots of the Kryll are, and burning through them before they can disperse and
make it a harder shot. Now, there's also a sort of "near victory" condition
where even if the car blows up, if you made it far enough on the road the game
will still progress you to the next part. However, if you let this happen then
you lose any special weaponry you had, and spawn in the next chapter with only
a Hammershot. The point where you have to make it is far enough along that you
can't just drive straight to it. So you need to be able to handle the car on
some level.

For this segment, I'll pretty much point out where every spawn spot is, but you
will still probably need one dry run to really understand it.

1. Move forward, and the first wave spawns out of the window in the tower
straight ahead of you.

2. Keep going straight, and the second waves will spawn from the windows facing
the street on the right building, then they will be out of a mid left location,
and then they will be behind you.

3. After this is clear, keep moving forward and you'll encounter some more to
the front left, then the back, then the front and left once more (though a
little further left).

4. Now you want to move forward and take the exit to the right. Immediately
after exiting, turn left and keep going straight until you have to turn. At
this point, turn right. There's an underpass you approach, and when you hit the
underpass, another wave will spawn straight ahead.

5. Keep going past the underpass, keep turning right when you have to.
Eventually it will lead to an on-ramp back onto what used to be the freeway.
You go forwards for a bit, until a wave will spawn in the front left. After you
take out those, there will be a few spawns directly back, and then a heck of a
lot of spawns to the back and right.

6. You go quite a bit ways forward, and then there will be one last wave that
will spawn from the far right. You're now in the all clear and can move on to
victory.


[**************************2-8: LAST STAND [WALK2-8]**************************]

For this part, you will pretty much want to get on the Troika turret that's on
the far right. There will be several Emergence Holes and enemies to take out
with the Troika, but overall this part is very easy. At certain points your Y
button will also show a loose concrete block to the far left, and a leaking gas
pipe to your right. Take these out at those points to kill some enemies more
quickly. After you take out many waves, a huge Emergence Hole will pop up
behind you, and three Boomers will come out of it. There's an easy and hard way
to handle this. The hard way (which is how I did it the very first time I
played) is to just mow down the Boomers with your standard weaponry. The easier
way is to look to your left. A huge gas tank rolls over and starts leaking, and
reveals some propane tanks stored below. Blow up the propane tanks, which will
ignite the gas tank, cause and explosion, and crush the boomers. If you
expended a lot of ammo, quickly grab stuff before you're forced into cutscene,
and the ending of Act 2.


[***************************3-1: DOWNPOUR [WALK3-1]***************************]

At the start of this chapter, you just keep moving forward until you get to the
door leading into the factory. You don't fight anything, but you get a nice
introduction to your new best friend--the Lambent Wretch. After a short
cutscene, you split up--except you and Dom are sticking together for this one.
Go to the right with Dom, and after another false start, there's some ammo you
can grab on the left in front of a van, and on the right in a shed.

If you move on further, you'll run into a lot of Lambent Wretches. This part is
fairly tough on Insane difficulty, mainly because of the amount of damage their
death explosion does. The key is to try to mow them down from as far as
possible on their approach, so you never place yourself in grave danger.
Alternatively, if you have a lot of difficulty, you can use the pathing exploit
in the ammo shed behind you (though I haven't personally tried this, it should
work fine). Once you kill the waves in the open area, as you move towards the
hallway leading to the next area, another 3-4 wretches will spawn. Take care of
these and move on forward through the checkpoint.

Keep going forward past the first brick building on your right. When you
approach the second brick building, notice the COG tag graffiti on the right,
and turn right at the railing, and go to the back area where there's a long
dock. At the end of the dock, on the right-hand side is [COGTAG19]. As you
leave the dock, turn right and follow that path. You'll notice an elevator in
the building on your left, but it won't have any power. Keep moving to the
final brick building, and hit the green button on the console. Now move back to
the elevator, minding a single wretch that will ambush you. Take care of it,
and move onto the elevator, and hit the button.

You'll now be on the roof. Follow the sheet metal path to your right, and then
move towards the building. You'll see an open window that you can jump in.
Follow the path to your right, and into another cutscene.


[**************************3-2: EVOLUTION [WALK3-2]***************************]

You'll now be in a room where you can either go right or left. Right is a dead
end, so head to the left, and right past the pipe blowing out steam, there's a
door on your left that you can kick in if you need ammo. Keep moving down past
the ammo room and there'll be another door you can open by hitting a button.
Move past that, and take the first left which leads into a room with some
generators, just move straight through the door facing you. You'll see a short
cutscene as you see all the lights turn on, and there's lots of blood and dead
bodies. Move into this room, and turn to the left. Open this door and a
stranded will talk to you and tell you he'll show you the way. Now go back into
the room with many corpses, and head the other direction, to another locked
door. The stranded will open it up for you. Now just follow the stranded
through some in-game cutscenes, and even though the game will try to scare you,
you won't actually encounter any enemies in this section. Once you get to the
room with wooden planks, stop and watch the stranded dude fall to his death.

You really have to wonder why one would put heavy metal generators on a rickety
wood plank floor with a pit below, but I suppose that's suspension of
disbelief, or something :P. In any event, in this segment if you stand on the
wrong plank, you'll fall below to where a lot of Lambent Wretches are waiting.
If this happens to you, simply sprint towards the ladder that's on the entrance
side of the room, head up the ladder and you can start over. Now there's also a
COG tag on the planks that you'll want to get.

If you have problems with this section, the path you want to take is as
follows, starting at the beginning. You want to start out on the right set of
planks from the entrance (as in, not the ones that the guy just fell to his
death on). Now, move forward three squares. When you get to the third, turn
left and go all the way towards the wall. Now turn right, and keep moving
forward until you get to the plank with the COG tag graffiti on it. Now turn
right, and move almost all the way to the other wall, except you want to stop
on the 3rd plank set from the wall. Now turn left, and move forward towards the
wall you're now facing. Once you hit the wall, turn right and you'll grab
[COGTAG20] if you've been following this guide. Once you have the tag, you now
have a clear path to the exit, just follow it and move onto the next area.

In this next area, there's some ammo and frags if you need them. Once you've
grabbed that, just keep going straight through another door. This will lead you
to another small room with yet another door to open. Once through that door,
you'll be in a large room with lots of rusted mining carts. In this room there
will be lots of--surprise--Lambent Wretches. This section is especially hard on
Insane, but luckily the small room behind you serves you well to funnel them
in. After you take them out, move clear on through this room all the way until
you get to a rail overlooking some pipes and flowing water. At this point, turn
right and after you move forward a bit, a Lambent Wretch will ambush you. Take
care of it, and keep moving until you can take a right into a room with a
valve. Once you turn the valve, there's a small room on the right which has
ammo, a shotgun, and a snub pistol, if you need any of those. The other path is
the way forward--follow it and take the stairs down, at the base of which you
can grab a sniper rifle and some more ammo. Keep moving into the next room,
which has some Imulsion pumps. In here, you'll reunite with Baird and Cole.

Another valve on the left side of the room will open up. Turn that valve and go
through the grates that it opened up. Once in here, your squad spots a Lambent
Wretch on the roof to the right. Take it down, and then a couple of Locusts and
couple more wretches will come out too. Kill these, and there will be more
Lambent Wretches. When it seems clear, move on through the path to the left,
you'll hit another wall and can either go left or right, but you want to go
left. There will be a door all the way at the end which you can't kick down,
and Jack has to open. Just then, an elevator at the end of this hallway will
start coming down, full of Boomer fun. Take out the Boomer and his escort, and
the door will be nice and open.

You'll now be in the room with the carts. But before you hit the button that
turns on the carts, you'll want to go down the stairs and look to the right.
Right beside the staircase, hidden in some weeds, you'll find [COGTAG21]. Now
head towards the control panel, and it will trigger the next chapter.


[************************3-3: COALITION CARGO [WALK3-3]***********************]

Fire up the control panel, and now move down to the carts. This next segment is
rather easy, just stay in your cart and only pop out when necessary. In the
first section, there'll be some cross-fire but just stay in the cart. Right
before you go into the furnace, Anya will reroute you. At this point, you will
want to aim at the roof in front of you as you move forward. Lambent Wretches
will come across you on the roof, and you need to just shoot them down. On
Insane difficulty, if you kill a wretch too late and it explodes right above
your head, you'll immediately get knocked unconcious. Also, given that you're
considered split up, even on co-op you have to be very careful that you don't
lag behind on shooting the wretches. But if you watch the roof it shouldn't be
a problem. After you take care of the 3-4 wretches (it will vary based on how
many go to Dom instead of you), you can go back to hiding in your cart.

You'll make it to an open area where some Locusts will shoot at you, but just
ignore them. After a little bit, you'll head back into a small tunnel. A
lambent wretch will be above you again on the roof, and to your left a Locust
will pop out that you can either take down or just hide from. After the Locust,
one or two more wretches will be on the roof to kill, so kill these guys too.
After you move to the elevator you're in the clear once again, so just stay
down and hide (especially from the Boomer).

Once you make it ot the end of the cart ride, you and Dom will officially be
split up. Open the door and you'll be in a small room. As you try to open the
subsequent door, a lambent wretch will pop out from the vent on the ceiling on
one of the two sides. In this next section, be careful not to move too quickly
if you're playing on co-op, as it can easily lead to your partner being
overwhelmed. Once it's clear, move through the doorway, and through the one
right after it. You'll move down through a tunnel where a wretch or two might
be waiting for you. But keep following the path until you hit an area with two
catwalks. On the far side of this area there'll be two big drills of some sort,
and Anya says she'll bring them up for you to use as an elevator down into the
caves. However, the Locust are apparently anticipating this, as they have a few
Boomers ready to greet you. Use your sniper rifle or other high-powered means
to quickly dispatch the Boomers, and be careful not to get yourself killed in
the process. After you take out the boomers, move onto the drilling platforms
and you'll move down into the caves.


[**********************3-4: DARKEST BEFORE DAWN [WALK3-4]*********************]

Now keep moving forward through the caves a little bit, until you get to a fork
where you can move left or right. You'll want to go right first, because at the
end of this path there's some ammo and also [COGTAG22]. Now you can move left,
and before you get too far some lambent wretches will greet you. There'll be
six in total, but this narrow pathway really gives you an advantage against
them. After you move a bit past them, Marcus will tell Baird and Cole to stay
behind, so it'll be just you and Dom. Move forward a bit, and there'll be
another two sets of three wretches. Now move forward a bit more and you'll slip
down a water slide. Once at the base of the water, you'll step forward and be
greeted by a couple of Locust. Take care of these guys and then look towards
the area on your right. You'll see a COG tag graffiti up a small set of stairs.
But if you turn to the right just prior to these stairs, past a puddle of blood
you'll spot [COGTAG23].

Now if you kick in the door next to the COG tag graffiti, you can grab some
ammo and frags if you need it. Once you take care of that, you'll want to
continue moving downwards on the path. You'll see your Y button come up,
pointing out a weakened rock column, and you'll want to shoot at this to kill
the sniper below it. Moving forward, you'll run into three more lambent
wretches. And just past them there will be a couple more. Then a Boomer will
pop up on the far right, along with another wretch or two. Take these out and
move through the far left. You'll fall through another big hole into another
area.

In this new area, you'll be attacked by 5-6 wretches, mostly from above. After
taking care of these guys, move towards the light and it will be time to split
up again. In this area, it's extremely important to cover each other a lot if
you're playing on Insane and co-op. Even though you're split up, you almost
always have a clear shot on each other's sides. When you move forward a little
bit, both paths will have a couple of wretches and a Locust to kill. Take care
of these, and some more wretches will come (though if you're especially fast,
the number of spawns seems to be reduced). Moving forward past these, there
will be about 2-3 Locusts and 3-4 wretches that will attack. Which side they
choose is a little random, so you'll have to be watching out to see if the
other side is getting particularly overwhelmed. Again, there will be a lot of
covering fire to be had here. After these guys, there will be another wave of
3-4 wretches which will split up between the two of you. Just past these, two
more Locust will come on whoever initially picked the right side. Take these
guys out and you've cleared this section.

You'll want to move down and to the left, and after a bit you'll be in a
section with a lot of cover. Here you'll encounter first 2-3 wretches, then 2-3
Locust, and finally 2-3 more Locusts. After you kill them, you move into a big
cavern area. You'll see a Corpser and there'll be some dialog about it. Before
moving forward, however, you want to follow the wall on the right all the way
towards the Imulsion pools. There'll be some ammo on your right, and if you
move a little further past that, you'll find [COGTAG24]. Now move forward and
it's time for a big boss battle with the Corpser.


[**************************3-5: ANGRY TITAN [WALK3-5]*************************]

It turns out that the Corpser looks a lot scarier than he really is...the
strategy is rather simple. First you unload some shots on his underside/belly.
Once he writhes in pain from that, he lifts up his arms and you can get some
good shots on his face. He'll scream and move back. Do this sequence to him
three times, and he'll now be on a segment of rock that's connected to the
firmer ground by clamps. Hit these two clamps with some bullets and the island
will sink deep into the Imulsion, spelling the end of the Corpser. If you take
too long the ground of the area will be smashed in by the Corpser, and later
some lambent wretches will spam. Personally, the reason I think this battle
seems so easy is because the Corpser really isn't dead. You see, he was just
dunked in a heck of a lot of Imulsion. And what else have we seen that reacted
to high levels of Imulsion--that's right, the wretches. So you heard it first
here, in Gears of War 2 there'll be a boss fight with the LAMBENT Corpser!
Hopefully he's a little more challenging. Once you've taken care of the
corpser, just keep moving on forward.


[**********************3-6: TIP OF THE ICEBERG [WALK3-6]**********************]

As you move forward, eventually you'll find an ammo pickup in the middle of the
road. Here you can go either up and to the left, or right. To the right there's
a Torque Bow, which is something fun to grab if you so desire, though
personally for this segment I find the sniper rifle more useful. Once you've
decided on that, take the up and left path and you'll see the platform in front
of you. Now Marcus says that Baird and Cole should go right, and you and Dom
should go left. This works fine on Casual and Hardcore, but on Insane
difficulty it's actually easier if you and Dom go right as well, so all four of
you are on one side. Either way, there's a good ~15 enemies defending this
platform (though they spawn in waves), and they aren't going to give it to you
easily. Be especially wary of the Theron Guards which have the Torque Bows, as
those do a lot of damage, especially on Insane. Also note that some of these
guys have Lancers, so be sure not to get yourself chainsawed. You'll want to
try to kill as many enemies as you can before getting onto the platform itself,
but eventually you will have to go on it. Just be very careful with your cover
and try not to get yourself killed. There really isn't any more in-depth advice
I can give on this encounter, as it's just pretty much testing how much you've
learned so far about the combat system.

Once you've cleared out the platform, you'll need to hit the elevator button in
the far back area, and watch the cinematic closing out Act 3.


[************************4-1: CAMPUS GRINDER [WALK4-1]************************]

When you move forward slightly, a wave of 5-6 Locust will come out of the
building on the far left. Before engaging these enemies, the first thing you'll
want to do is look along the right buildings. Next to the back right doorway
with stairs leading into it, you'll find [COGTAG25]. When you take care of
these enemies, several Locust, including one Theron Guard, will come out of the
buildings on the right. So if you were using that part of the area for cover,
be sure to watch your back. After you kill these, two Boomer plus two snipers
in the windows above will spawn in the far middle. Now once the enemies are all
dead, prior to moving forward you want to go to the right buildings where the
second set of Locust spawned. If you still haven't grabbed the COG tag, you'll
want to grab it ASAP, since there's a time limit before it forces you into the
next area. Furthermore, if you're playing Insane I highly recommend grabbing a
Boomshot because it helps tremendously for this following part.

Now it will be time for you and Dom to split up one last time. If you are on
the right path, you'll be in the courtyard, and immediately face two Locust
Drones. After a little while, regardless of whether or not you've killed them
yet, a wave of 2-3 more Drones and a Theron Guard or two will spawn in the far
left. It can get pretty dicey pretty fast, especially on Insane difficulty. The
person on the left path will have a Theron Guard of their own to deal with.
Once they take care of this, they can move forward on the balcony overlooking
the courtyard and help the guy on the right path. Once these enemies are all
clear, move forward.

In this area, there will be a Locust Drone plus two wretches for the people on
the left path, and a couple of Locust Drones for the people on the right path.
Both paths also have access to a Hammer of Dawn. You'll need to use it to take
down the Seeder in the area below. Once you kill the Seeder, a big Emergence
Hole will pop up in the middle of this courtyard, where the statue is. Use the
Hammer of Dawn to take care of this as well. The people on the left path will
still have to be mindful of wretches, as a couple more spawn during the
fighting. The Hammer of Dawn immediately goes offline after you clear the
Seeder and Emergence Hole.

Now the people on the right path will be stuck, unable to move forward. However
those on the left path keep moving until they make it to a valve, which opens a
gate for you and for the people below. Move forward through the gate, and
you'll hit a much-needed checkpoint. In this next area, the right path has to
deal with multiple enemies down on the street, while the left path has a few
enemies up above, before being able to help out from above. After this is
clear, the left path moves down onto the street, while the right path moves
into a building. There's some more fighting here on the street, and afterwards
the left path moves forward before they get to an area where a Troika is
pinning them down, and then the right path returns the favor by clearing out
the gunner from above. At this point, you're now reunited. So take care of the
remaining enemies and regroup.

Now look at the abandoned white pickup truck. It has some propane tanks, so
blow these up in order to clear out the gate. Just past the gate you'll find
the Raven that was downed at the start of Act 4.


[*************************4-2: BAD TO WORSE [WALK4-2]*************************]

Now the first thing you'll want to do here is look at the wrecked car to the
far right. Right behind this car you'll find [COGTAG26]. Now turn to your left
and move forward. When you get to another enclosed courtyard, move to the left,
and Jack will need to open this door. Just as Jack starts opening the door, an
Emergence Hole will pop up right back near where you just found the COG tag.
Several wretches and Locust will come out of this if you aren't quick at
plugging up the hole. Now luckily, the Hammer of Dawn is actually online, and
there's one you can grab off of a COG corpse that's along the right wall from
the door Jack is opening (if your back is to the wall). After this first
Emergence Hole is cleared out, two Boomers will spawn from the far wall facing
the door that Jack's opening. Once you kill these guys, the door to the
Conservatory will be open.

Inside the Conservatory, it'll be eerily quiet. You'll also see a couple of
Hammer of Dawns lying around. Yep, it's time for another Berserker. This is
fairly similar to your first encounter. Keep running through the areas, dodging
him and moving through doors. After a bit you'll get into a fairly large
greenhouse room that seems like a dead end. The key here is to get the
Berserker to chase you into the pillars in the room. When he breaks the pillar,
it will break open some of the roof above, giving you clear skies to utilize
the Hammer of Dawn. You want to try to kill the Berserker rather quickly,
because it will give you a decent amount of satellite uptime which really makes
the next section go much more smoothly.

Once you take out the Berserker, you need to turn the valve in the far side of
the room, which will extinguish the fire blocking the way out.


[****************************4-3: HAZING [WALK4-3]****************************]

Now if you did the previously section quickly, you should have over three
minutes of satellite uptime, which is plenty for this next section. Move
forward to the courtyard with the big statue, and from there go to the left
into another courtyard. In here, there'll be a Troika gunner to the left, and
an E-Hole will pop up to the right. Using your Hammer of Dawn, first take out
the Emergence Hole, and then take out the Troika gunner. Once you kill any
remaining enemies, another Hole will pop up behind you, from where you came.
Once this area is all clear, move forward and mantle over the pipes blocking
the next area. Unfortunately, regardless of how much time was left on your
Hammer of Dawn, as soon as you move into this next area it will be offline. In
this next area, there'll first be a Theron Guard and a couple of Nemecyst on
the roof. And after these, 3-4 Locust Drones will come from the far left and
engage you.

After killing these Drones, some more will spawn from the back right, and after
those, there'll be a Boomer from the far left. Once the Boomer's down, move
through the doorway he came from, and past the dead Seeder there's a door for
you to kick down in order to move forward. Once in this area, you'll see a
Theron Guard run into an alley. Follow him and you'll hit a checkpoint. Then
turn to your right, and after moving forward a bit, some Locust will attack you
from the stairs to your left. After killing a few, a Boomer will come out as
well. Once the area is clear, move up the stairs and to the left. Keep
following the path until you hit a doorway which leads to the next area. Now
follow this path until you hit a checkpoint and the next chapter.


[*************************4-4: CLOSE TO HOME [WALK4-4]************************]

This next battle is a little difficult. You'll want to stay on the balcony
overlooking the area the whole time, because that higher ground really helps.
There's about 6-7 enemies for you to fight at once, including a couple of
Theron Guards. If you happen to run low on ammo, there's a good stockpile
against the right wall. Once you take out these enemies, there's actually two
paths you can take. I recommend taking the back left path, rather than going to
the right. Once you start going to the left area, there'll be some grave stones
and about 3-4 Locust will attack you. After killing them, keep moving until you
hit a statue with an ammo box next to it. Take cover here from the Troika
gunner in the far right area. Having a Boomshot or a Torque Bow here really
helps clearing the Troika gunner. Once the gunner + two friends are dead, you
can now move forward to the left area, where there's another 2-3 Locust waiting
for you. Once that's clear, you can actually go onto the bridge where the
Troika gunner you just killed was, and there's some Lancer ammo there if you
need it. Now move a little bit forward and you'll see a path leading downards
to another Troika gunner (who you would have encountered had you gone the right
path initially). Ambush him from behind, and it will open up the gate to the
next segment.

In this next segment, there'll be a lone Theron Guard waiting for you, and
after you dispatch him you'll move down to the large set of stairs leading to
your father's mansion.


[************************4-5: IMAGINARY PLACE [WALK4-5]***********************]

This next section is actually very similar to the "Escalation" multiplayer map,
but in any event it's time to gain entrance to your estate. As you move up the
stairs just a little bit, several enemies will attack you, including a couple
of Theron Guard, a lot of Locusts, and even a Boomer thrown in there for good
measure. Just stay on course, and you'll slowly gain ground on them until all
the enemies are dead.

Now move forward through the gate at the top of the stairs, and after a brief
cutscene it's time to break into your house. Almost immediately after moving
into the house, there'll be an Emergence Hole which pops up to your left. Deal
with it, and grab the ammo next to it if you need it. Now move up the stairs,
and depending on which side you go on, enemies will spawn on the opposite side.
Take out the enemies upstairs until Dom says upstairs is clear. After a little
bit of dialogue, the house will shake signifying another E-Hole has spawned
downstairs. Now move down the stairway, and a Locust will pop out of the
previously blocked doorway to your left. After killing him, go through this
doorway and down the hall, and another Emergence Hole will pop to your right.
Take care of this hole, and a single Locust will burst through a doorway,
leading to the next path.

Now follow this path until you get to a room with pillars and a desk at one
end. Chainsaw up the desk and in it you'll find the elusive [COGTAG27]. Now
move forward and you'll hit a checkpoint. There's some ammo and a valve here,
turn the valve to open the path to the next area. Move down to this area and
you'll see two Locust trying to break down a door, kill these guys and then
break down the door yourself. Now move forward until you hit an area where
there's water and what looks like a lot of wine racks.


[**************************4-6: ENTRENCHED [WALK4-6]**************************]

The leftmost rack is actually loose, as your Y button will point out, so you
can kick this in to reveal a door that Jack needs to break into.
Unsurprisingly, this means it's time to fight. 4-5 Locust Drones will charge at
you from the doorways behind you. Take them out, and Jack will have the door
open for you. Move into this room, and after a cutscene it's time to retrace
your steps outside.

Move forward a bit, and there'll be a couple of wretches. Move forward past
these guys, and you'll encounter a wretch and a Locust Drone. Now move up the
stairs and all the way back to the room where you found the COG tag in the
desk. In this room, the door will be closed in front of you and several
wretches will attack you. After you kill them, the door which was closed will
open up, revealing a solo Locust Drone. After this enemy, just move all the way
back to the main entrance of the house, and go up the stairs to where Baird and
Cole are waiting for you.

Baird will tell you to keep them out of the house, which isn't very feasible.
Some guys will get into the house, but you can try to kill as many as possible
prior to this point. If you actually go to the left from where Baird and Cole
were, you get a much better shot on most of the enemies, and can actually take
out quite a few. But eventually you'll need to actually go into the house and
kill enemies that way. Once you see a Boomer spawn outside, after he either
gets into the house or you kill him, it means it's time to go into the house.
Once you kill them all, you'll be told that there's more Locust in the back of
the house.

Once you go downstairs, a Locust (with a Lancer!) will burst through a door on
the left. Now go through the hallway he came from and you'll hit a checkpoint.
Move up the stairs to your right and kick down the doorway. Go through this
door, and to your left there'll be windows looking down at an outdoor
courtyard. Kill the Locust and the Emergence Hole below, and blow up the
propane tanks on the far side of the courtyard. Now you can go back down the
stairs, and the door to your right will be open. Once you go into the door, a
couple more Locust will spawn in the back part of that courtyard. Kill them and
pause in the next small room.

For this, the conclusion of Act 4, there's a couple ways to handle it. If you
kill the two Boomers that come up, then you'll immediately hit a 30s countdown
to run all the way out of the courtyard to the APC. Or you could kill only one
Boomer, then lure the other to one side and run past him all the way around the
other side. Alternatively, if you're playing co-op, it's possible for one of
you to run all the way along the left side, while the other moves along the
right wall. Hopefully one of you survives and makes it to the end of the area,
which triggers the cinematic.


[***********************5-1: SPECIAL DELIVERY [WALK5-1]***********************]

Alright, so you're now trying to catch a train. First there'll be three snipers
on the skybridge in front of you. After you take them out, some wretches will
pop, followed by an Emergence Hole in the left part of the area. Then there'll
be an Emergence Hole to the right, and after that yet another one further back
to the right. However, once you hear the horn from the train go off, you can
just run to the train platform to advance to the next area.


[*************************5-2: TRAIN WRECK [WALK5-2]**************************]

Alright, you're on a moving train. Ok, the first thing to note for this chapter
is, as soon as possible you want to pick up a Torque Bow. But DO NOT use it at
all until the end. Pick up ammo for it when you can, but don't actually fire
any arrows. You'll thank me later for this. Now, move forward and the first two
enemies you'll encounter are a Theron Guard with a Torque Bow (grab it), and a
Locust Drone. Keep moving forward and you'll run into an assortment of Theron
Guard and Lcoust Drones. Nothing too fancy, but just keep in mind that from
here on out, most Locust Drones will be carrying Lancers, which means be
careful meleeing them. Eventually you'll get to a door, try to open it up and
guess what?

Yay another Berserker! And your Hammer of Dawn is offline. Luckily there really
isn't much to worry about this one. What you want to do is keep moving until
you get to the train cart that has the fuel tank. There'll be a control panel
at the end of this cart which will allow you to detach the cart behind it. Once
you detach the cart, you want to play Toreador, and stand right at the edge so
the Berserker charges you. At the last second dive out of the way, and the
Berserker will fly off to its appropriate death.

Once the Berserker is taken care of, you'll see a brief cinematic showing some
Reavers. At this point, the door will be open. Go into it, and right to the
left of the doorway you'll find [COGTAG28]. Now move in to the next passenger
cart, and there'll be some Locust Drones for you to fight. At this point those
Reavers will start attacking you through the windows. You can actually kill
them through the windows yourself, but it's kind of a waste of ammo. For the
most part you'll want to just move from the Reavers. After you take out the
three locust in the first passenger car, move onto the next non-passenger car,
with open air which is good for the Reavers. This car has a Theron Guard and
Locust Drone.

Then move into the second passenger car. In here, there'll be a couple of
Locust. After you take them out, Anya will tell you about the Troika guns on
the roof of your car. But before you leave the cart, look in the middle section
of the car, near a wall. There you'll find [COGTAG29]. So move into the next
area and take the ladder up to the roof. From here, you need to get on a Troika
gun and shoot down all the Reavers. If you're playing single-player, you may
have to switch between guns if there's a guy on your side that you have no shot
on, but in co-op, at least one of you should have a shot at all times.

Now it'll be time for some lambent wretches, yay! Kill them and move past them
into the next car. There'll be about 4-5 that will drop down in this room,
after killing them and going outside again, go to the right and hit the panel
in order to clear the path to the next area. In this next cart, there'll be a
heck of a lot of lambent wretches. The Y button will show you roughly where the
next one will spawn from, periodically, but basically they'll come from any
number of spots in the cart. After you kill them, Anya will tell you that you
only have a few seconds until the cart will be detached, so you have to run for
it. Just run past the wretches to the checkpoint. Note that in co-op, both you
and your partner have to make it to the door in order for the checkpoint to
trigger.

Now in this next section, hit the green button again to clear the path. Now,
once you get to the end of the cart, rather than moving forward, you'll want to
turn to the left and go all the way in the back. In there you'll find
[COGTAG30]. Congrats, you've found all the COG tags. Now move forward and
you'll be at the final chapter.


[**************************5-3: PALE HORSE [WALK5-3]**************************]

Alright so, now it's time for the final confrontation with General RAAM. You'll
now see why I told you to hang on to the Torque Bow! So there's a few things
you need to look at for General RAAM...

Troika Gun - Yep, RAAM is a badass so he carries around a Troika Gun of his
own. This does A LOT of damage, especially on Insane difficulty, so you want to
try to not get hit as much as possible.

Kryll - So if you've noticed, RAAM has a swarm of Kryll that surround him most
of the time. When the swarm is up on him, he won't take any damage. However,
you can temporarily disperse the swarm by hitting him with a Torque Bow or Frag
Grenade. Furthermore, periodically he'll send the Kryll swarm after you. When
he does this, you have to make sure to be in the lit parts of the cart, or the
Kryll will kill you, much like in Act 2.

Reavers - There will be Reavers that come along the side of the carts
periodically. Just try to stay in cover from them, and the Raven above will
kill them with covering fire.

Alright so that being said, the simplest strategy is to just unload lots of
Torque Bow shots on him quickly. The first bow shot you hit him with won't
actually do damage, but any subsequent ones that explode while the Kryll are
dispersed will do damage. If you have a limited number of Torque Bow shots,
what you can do is use the bow to disperse them, and then take head shots with
a sniper rifle. In fact, for co-op this may be easier to do, at least on Casual
and Hardcore. It takes ~6 head shots with the sniper rifle to kill him on
Casual, 12 on Hardcore, and most likely 18 on Insane.

If he gets close to you, you can blitz him by blind firing all your frag
grenades at him. But if that doesn't kill him, you'll need to run past him and
get to the other side of the cart to continue with killing him. Moving back and
forth can be very risky, because not only does it give him a good shot at you,
if he throws the Kryll at you when you happen to be in the shadow, it's game
over. There's also a mounted Troika gun on the far side of the cart, but it
unfortunately is not terribly useful. Once you kill him, kick back and watch
the ending cinematics.


[***************STORY THEORIES AND EXPLANATIONS [STORYTHEORY]*****************]

I have seen a lot of posts and questions about the back story or plot of the
game, some which demonstrate laziness on the player's part, but many others
reasonable or legitimate. So in this section I try to shed some light on common
inquiries asked about the story behind Gears of War.

Q: What's Emergence Day and where did the Locust come from?

A: The Locust have lived under the planet of Sera in vast caverns for hundreds,
if not thousands of years. For most of that time, their society lived
essentially isolated from the human residents above ground. However, an energy
crisis approximately 100 years prior to the start of the game led the humans of
Sera to search for alternative energy sources. Digging deep below ground, the
humans discovered a mysterious power source called Imulsion. The glowing yellow
liquid provided a tremendous amount of energy, and the rights to control said
energy started a massive civil war. The long and arduous war lasted for decades
until finally a resolution was met.

The peace was short-lived, however, because soon after Emergence Day occurred.
Angry that their caves had been invaded by the humans seeking Imulsion, the
Locust launched a surprise attack on the major cities of Sera on Emergence Day.
25% of the human population was killed.

Q: Why was Marcus in a jail at the start of the game, and what happened to his
father?

A: Shortly after Emergence Day, thousands of human refugees fled to the high
ground of the Jacinto Plateau. As the survivors continued to gather at Jacinto,
the remaining governments of the Sera humans decided that in order to not allow
their cities to be captured, they would destroy them. So, they unleashed
weapons of mass destruction across the entire landscape. Some time later, the
Locust penetrated the human defenses on the plateau, and launched an attack
directly in the area where Marcus' father was living. Marcus received a
distress call from his father, and deserted his assigned COG duties for a
rescue attempt. By the time Marcus got there, he was too late, and for
deserting his post he was court-martialed.

Q: Who is speaking at the very end of the closing cinematic (the cultured
female voice)?

A: Almost certainly, this is the voice of the Locust Queen. We know that the
Locust have a queen in charge, because right before you fight General RAAM, in
his cinematic he says "I serve the Queen." Also, during the cinematic towards
the latter part of Act 1, where Lieutenant Kim gets killed by RAAM, the same
female voice speaks of their combat strategy. Furthermore, if you play
multiplayer matches as the Locust, she speaks at the end of the round.

Q: Who exactly is General RAAM, and why does he seem to have a symbiotic
relationship with the Kryll?

A: As far as I can tell, RAAM is simply a high-ranking military official in the
Locust army (if not the highest under the Queen herself). His clothing suggests
Theron Guard origins, since it is roughly in the same style (though the color
of course is different). As for the Kryll, according to the art book that comes
with the Collector's Edition, apparently he is one of the few Locust who are
entrusted with the secret of what drives the Kryll.

Q: What exactly is the Resonator?

A: The Resonator is some sort of sonic mapping device that the COG want to
deploy in order to map the Locust cave network. You deploy it at the end of Act
3, but it doesn't fully map the network as the COG apparently greatly
underestimated the scope of the cave system. Luckily, Baird discovers an
internal map that gives you further information.

Q: How exactly do you end up at the train station after the end of Act 4?

A: I honestly don't know, this was the only part of the story that really
seemed to have a big jump where something was missing. Your reason for being on
the train is to reprogram missiles to attack the Locust caves, but other than
that it's not very clear what exactly is going on.


[******************GLITCHES, BUGS, AND EXPLOITS [GAMEBUGS]********************]

Wretches Co-Op Pathing Exploit - Wretches have a very simple AI for the most
part, and they will just charge at live enemies in an effort to take them out.
You can use this blind charging to your advantage, however. You want to find a
room with a narrow doorway near the Wretches. Have your partner stand in the
doorway, and when they go down, the Wretches will be stuck, unable to path
towards you. So they'll just be blindly rushing but unable to get to you, and
you can easily take them down. This is a useful especially given that the
Lambent Wretches sequences are some of the hardest parts on Insane difficulty.

Movable Car Collision Bug - If you push a car across an area, but then fail and
restore from the last checkpoint, it turns out that you can't push the car
across quite as far the next time. And if you do this over and over, you'll
find that you can push the car across less and less. The cause of this appears
to be that the collision for the car persists even when you reload, so it
doesn't let you push the subsequent cars because it thinks the other ones are
still there. According to Bree, if you encounter this bug in co-op, if only one
person tries pushing instead of two, it fixes this bug.

General RAAM Pathing Exploit - From Jeffery--"Alright, I don't know if anyone
of you has ever encountered this, but while trying to kill him on Insane, I
managed to make RAAM get stuck. Not completely, as he would occasionally shoot
me, but its like this. The first concrete slab you come across, take cover
behind it. Your objective is to allow him to come near you, and make him get
stuck at the corner of the slab. During the time it takes him to come near you,
hit him with the torque bow or your preferred weapon of choice. Then, as he's
coming, creep towards the side of the cover he's about to come towards you
from. Don't be afraid, and do not freak out, cause if the glitch works right,
he'll be stuck at one place right next to you, and he'll occasionally pop a few
rounds, though you'll heal alright. To get rid of his Kryll cover, lob grenades
blindly over him, to his back, then lancer him to death. Hopefully that helps
you guys on insane."

[***********************************THE END***********************************]