XGC Brittany
New member
Tutorial
There’s no lengthy cutscene at the beginning of Gears of War; you find yourself getting busted out of prison and then immediately start fighting. Well, we’re lying to you; you’re going to be able to choose between picking a combat mode or the game’s tutorial. The tutorial is only needed if you haven’t played the game before; it’ll guide you through the game’s basic mechanics, such as firing your weapon, mantling, and so forth. If you’ve already played Gears before, feel free to select the combat option and get right into the fight.
In the first room that you enter, where the helicopter flies over, you can find the first set of Cogtags near the red marker on the rubble in the area. These are items that you can pick up with the X button. They don’t do anything for you, but we’re betting that they unlock an achievement if you manage to grab all 30 of them. We’ll mark as many of them as we can; if you wander past one that we don’t mention, feel free to throw us a line at the Feedback link on the table of contents.
Whether you take the combat or tutorial route, you’ll eventually pick up some grenades and be placed inside a large room where the Locusts will cut through a door to attack you. If you aim a grenade at the door and throw it just as it comes down, you’ll be able to kill one or two of them as they come through; finish off the rest, then look around for another red Gears marker to find another set of Cogtags.
Out in the courtyard, a third Cogtags can be found if you take the stairs to the right of the exit and poke around in the corner of the small raised area there. A stronger Locust ambush will take place here, so be ready to pop some heads. It may be tempting to move along the raised area and attempt to flank the enemies, but if you’re playing on Hardcore mode, you should stick near Dom to revive him if he gets hit.
When everything’s dead, head towards the helicopter for your evac.
Trial By Fire
There are some whispers of backstory here on the chopper, but those will end soon enough when you hit the ground. You finally get your nice little chainsaw gun here, so get ready to chop some people in half.
Take cover after the cutscene ends; the chopper will finish off the locusts in the area before flying away, allowing you to charge up the stairs unhindered. Be sure to grab a locust weapon before doing so, though, since you now have an empty weapon slot.
When you clear the first building and fight off your first locusts, note the appearance of the red crate; a set of Cogtags are on the ground nearby. Grab the ammo and head up the nearby steps to reach the next checkpoint. You’re going to have a lot of Locusts in front of you. Let your squadmates do the hard work of advancing forward; you can move off to the left, behind the pillars, and attempt to flank the enemies. Note that your first Emergence Hole will pop up here; when you see large holes opening up in the ground with locusts coming out of them, you have to throw grenades into them to close them up. They’ll close up eventually on their own, but fighting off the forces they disgorge before they do so can be difficult.
When you get past the church, cross the small bridge nearby to get eyes on some bodies, which are apparently the remains of Alpha Squad. Some of them, anyway; there are too few bodies to account for everyone. You’ll have to get closer to check them out, which means that you’ll have to head into the nearby church-like structure. Two emergence holes will open up here; another set of Cogtags can be found on the floor near the window by the exit from the structure.
Fish In A Barrel
When you reach the bodies, you’ll shift off into the next sub-section. When you retake control of your team, you’ll be facing off against a Troika machinegun that’s been set up nearby. Flanking it is fairly easy if you head around to the right and take it out from behind. You can flank in the same manner when you run down the street and encounter more locusts.
There’s an empty fountain at the end of the street; when you get close, emergence holes will start opening up, one after the other, until four or five of them have come up in total. There are four grenades here, with two coming inside the fountain and two appearing in one corner of the area, near the large pillar with the statue on top of it. (There’s also a set of Cogtags on the ground near these grenades.)
Fork In The Road
It doesn’t severely matter which path you take here; you’ll only be split up for a short time. If you head left, you’ll fight through some rooms, but will be able to wait for support from the team on the right if you’re playing co-op; if you head right, you’ll come to a Troika and will need to wait for the team on the left to get into flanking position to kill the gunner.
Soon after you meet up with your team again, you’ll have to take on another Troika. This one’s set up without many obvious ways to flank it, but if you head through the corridor to your right, you’ll be able to run up through the room and kick in the door leading up the stairs to where his spotter is. From there, you can proceed to lay waste to the gunner, either with a grenade or your normal weapons. Kill everything that moves, then hop into the gun and turn it back the way you came from to nail the locusts popping up from the emergence hole behind you.
Knock Knock
Make your way across the street to the large building across the way, but be sure to stick to the left side of the path as you do so. You can find a set of Cogtags near the van with the red Gears marker on it; they’re in the corner of the steps, near the large gash in the road. Stick to the left and run your way up to the leftmost set of sandbags, where you’ll be able to flank the Troika that gets set up by the locusts as they flood out of the building. You’ll still be a bit too far away to accurately hit them, but you should be close enough to drop a grenade on the gun itself.
Alternately, if you’re on a harder difficulty level, you’ll actually want to stick to the right side of the approach. Shortly after the fight is joined, the doors on the right side of the building will pop open, revealing a locust or two that’s packing the shotgun weapon. Grab it if you like, then make your way through the building to kill off the locusts inside, finishing off your journey by popping the gunner on the Troika. After that happens, you’ll need to grab the gun itself and fire away at the enemies that approach your position.
There’s no lengthy cutscene at the beginning of Gears of War; you find yourself getting busted out of prison and then immediately start fighting. Well, we’re lying to you; you’re going to be able to choose between picking a combat mode or the game’s tutorial. The tutorial is only needed if you haven’t played the game before; it’ll guide you through the game’s basic mechanics, such as firing your weapon, mantling, and so forth. If you’ve already played Gears before, feel free to select the combat option and get right into the fight.
In the first room that you enter, where the helicopter flies over, you can find the first set of Cogtags near the red marker on the rubble in the area. These are items that you can pick up with the X button. They don’t do anything for you, but we’re betting that they unlock an achievement if you manage to grab all 30 of them. We’ll mark as many of them as we can; if you wander past one that we don’t mention, feel free to throw us a line at the Feedback link on the table of contents.
Whether you take the combat or tutorial route, you’ll eventually pick up some grenades and be placed inside a large room where the Locusts will cut through a door to attack you. If you aim a grenade at the door and throw it just as it comes down, you’ll be able to kill one or two of them as they come through; finish off the rest, then look around for another red Gears marker to find another set of Cogtags.
Out in the courtyard, a third Cogtags can be found if you take the stairs to the right of the exit and poke around in the corner of the small raised area there. A stronger Locust ambush will take place here, so be ready to pop some heads. It may be tempting to move along the raised area and attempt to flank the enemies, but if you’re playing on Hardcore mode, you should stick near Dom to revive him if he gets hit.
When everything’s dead, head towards the helicopter for your evac.
Trial By Fire
There are some whispers of backstory here on the chopper, but those will end soon enough when you hit the ground. You finally get your nice little chainsaw gun here, so get ready to chop some people in half.
Take cover after the cutscene ends; the chopper will finish off the locusts in the area before flying away, allowing you to charge up the stairs unhindered. Be sure to grab a locust weapon before doing so, though, since you now have an empty weapon slot.
When you clear the first building and fight off your first locusts, note the appearance of the red crate; a set of Cogtags are on the ground nearby. Grab the ammo and head up the nearby steps to reach the next checkpoint. You’re going to have a lot of Locusts in front of you. Let your squadmates do the hard work of advancing forward; you can move off to the left, behind the pillars, and attempt to flank the enemies. Note that your first Emergence Hole will pop up here; when you see large holes opening up in the ground with locusts coming out of them, you have to throw grenades into them to close them up. They’ll close up eventually on their own, but fighting off the forces they disgorge before they do so can be difficult.
When you get past the church, cross the small bridge nearby to get eyes on some bodies, which are apparently the remains of Alpha Squad. Some of them, anyway; there are too few bodies to account for everyone. You’ll have to get closer to check them out, which means that you’ll have to head into the nearby church-like structure. Two emergence holes will open up here; another set of Cogtags can be found on the floor near the window by the exit from the structure.
Fish In A Barrel
When you reach the bodies, you’ll shift off into the next sub-section. When you retake control of your team, you’ll be facing off against a Troika machinegun that’s been set up nearby. Flanking it is fairly easy if you head around to the right and take it out from behind. You can flank in the same manner when you run down the street and encounter more locusts.
There’s an empty fountain at the end of the street; when you get close, emergence holes will start opening up, one after the other, until four or five of them have come up in total. There are four grenades here, with two coming inside the fountain and two appearing in one corner of the area, near the large pillar with the statue on top of it. (There’s also a set of Cogtags on the ground near these grenades.)
Fork In The Road
It doesn’t severely matter which path you take here; you’ll only be split up for a short time. If you head left, you’ll fight through some rooms, but will be able to wait for support from the team on the right if you’re playing co-op; if you head right, you’ll come to a Troika and will need to wait for the team on the left to get into flanking position to kill the gunner.
Soon after you meet up with your team again, you’ll have to take on another Troika. This one’s set up without many obvious ways to flank it, but if you head through the corridor to your right, you’ll be able to run up through the room and kick in the door leading up the stairs to where his spotter is. From there, you can proceed to lay waste to the gunner, either with a grenade or your normal weapons. Kill everything that moves, then hop into the gun and turn it back the way you came from to nail the locusts popping up from the emergence hole behind you.
Knock Knock
Make your way across the street to the large building across the way, but be sure to stick to the left side of the path as you do so. You can find a set of Cogtags near the van with the red Gears marker on it; they’re in the corner of the steps, near the large gash in the road. Stick to the left and run your way up to the leftmost set of sandbags, where you’ll be able to flank the Troika that gets set up by the locusts as they flood out of the building. You’ll still be a bit too far away to accurately hit them, but you should be close enough to drop a grenade on the gun itself.
Alternately, if you’re on a harder difficulty level, you’ll actually want to stick to the right side of the approach. Shortly after the fight is joined, the doors on the right side of the building will pop open, revealing a locust or two that’s packing the shotgun weapon. Grab it if you like, then make your way through the building to kill off the locusts inside, finishing off your journey by popping the gunner on the Troika. After that happens, you’ll need to grab the gun itself and fire away at the enemies that approach your position.