Fourteen years ago, the Locust Horde gathered under a major city and launched a surprise attack. Once thought the basis of fictional boogeyman tales, the Horde is frightening, real monsters far stronger than any imagined. On Emergence Day, a quarter of humanity perished in the initial onslaught. Countless more died in the days that followed. Rather than allow the Horde to keep the spoils of its aggression, the COG used chemical weapons and orbital particle beams to neutralize it ... along with the cities and bases it controlled. With most urban centers and military installations rubble, the survivors gathered on Jacinto Plateau. The solid granite strata of Jacinto could not be easily penetrated. When the Horde breached the plateau’s defenses, Marcus Fenix defied orders to save his father at East Barricade Academy ... but he was too late. Marcus was subsequently charged with dereliction of duty and sentenced to 40 years in Jacinto Maximum Security Penitentiary. After several years, the Horde has now overrun the penitentiary.
The workhorse COG weapon. Fully automatic. Intended for midrange combat. The weapon’s Chainsaw Bayonet activates when in close proximity to an enemy (press and hold ).
Short-range weapon that can occasionally take down a Drone in one shot. Most effective at less than 3 meters.
Standard issue sidearm for all Gears. Regular firing mode is a single shot, but you can fire as fast as you can squeeze . To enable a moderate zoom, squeeze and then press .
Standard COG-issue fragmentation grenade. When is pressed and held, a visible arc shows the grenade’s trajectory. Move to alter this projected arc—and never miss. NOTE: Smoke variants are available for tactical situations in multiplayer.
Best used at extreme ranges, this weapon has high-caliber ammunition that removes most man-sized threats with a single well-placed head shot. To activate the integrated scope, hold as if aiming normally, and then click to zoom.
The Hammer of Dawn is a satellite-based weapon capable of leveling small buildings. It must be orbitally aligned overhead to fire. Your HQ contact lets you know when it is available. The Hammer requires the target to be acquired by a ground-based observer with a targeting laser. To do this, a Gear must have line of sight on the target and press and hold until the target is locked.
The Hammerburst Assault Rifle is the Locust’s standard issue assault rifle carrying a six-round burst fire mode with a large magazine. The Hammerburst features a short barrel and compact size and was built for medium to long-range fire fights.
The Boltok Pistol is the standard-issue sidearm of the Locust, especially the Drones. It is a high-caliber, double-action revolver with a 6-round capacity. Landing each shot counts.
The Boomshot is a single-shot projectile launcher used primarily by Locust units called “Boomers”. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on one of these launchers, prepare to decimate your opponents.
The Torque Bow is a deadly weapon used exclusively by elite Locust foot soldiers called “Theron Guards”. This weapon fires an explosive tipped arrow that’s lethal if charged long enough to penetrate an opponent. With this weapon you can arc arrows or simply go for one-shot kills.
Life is simple. When you see a target bleeding—it’s taking damage. Same goes for you.
When nearing death, you’ll see a Crimson Omen filling with blood at the center of the screen. When it’s full—you’re dead.
Health regenerates when you’re not taking damage—so use cover.
NOTE: If your squad mate is down, you can revive them. Get near them and press .
The squad leader has access to the “Tac-com,” which can be used to issue orders to their squad. Don’t worry, your Gears have graduated boot; they know when to defend themselves, take cover, and return fire all by themselves.
In Campaign, press and hold the left bumper to see your squad’s status and mission objectives. In or out of combat, press the left bumper and then Y to have your squad regroup at your location.
In combat, while holding the left bumper:
- Press to put your squad into an aggressive stance for a short time. Your men are more likely to close in on enemies and fire outside of combat.
- Press to put your squad into a defensive stance for a short time. Your men stay in cover and only expose their positions when necessary.
- Press to have your squad regroup and form-up on your location.
NOTE: Only the squad leader can issue orders.
In multiplayer mode, press and hold to see your squad’s status and other important tactical information.
To aim, move . Once you have a target centered, squeeze to fire. This method of targeting is fast, but relatively inaccurate.
To take aim, press and hold . A reticle appears as you focus on a potential target.
While holding down to aim, click to mark an opponent. This will put an indicator above the opponent’s head to notify squad mates of the opponent’s location.
Equip either a Longshot Sniper Rifle, Boltok or Snub Pistol and hold . Click to zoom to extreme magnification.
To shoot without breaking cover, center a target onscreen as if you were shooting from the hip, and press . This move sticks your gun out of cover and fires. NOTE: If you take aim while in cover you remain mostly in cover, but your head may be exposed.
Press to spin the grenade and see its projected trajectory. Move to alter trajectory. Press to throw the bolo grenade.
Press to melee. If an enemy is within range—attempt to bash their brains in. WARNING: If an enemy is close, they can melee with you as well.
However, Gears have one great melee advantage. The Lancer Assault Rifle has an integrated, carbide-tipped, variable-torque Chainsaw Bayonet. If you’re holding this rifle while initiating a melee attack, the Chainsaw Bayonet activates and you can dish out a high-RPM death. Few Locust can withstand this brutal assault.
In multiplayer games, press near an opponent who has been grievously wounded (but not yet dead) to deliver a savage curb stomp.
Use cover in combat or DIE. Move toward anything that looks like cover (debris, doorway, etc.), and press .
To break cover, move away from the cover point or press .
To jump over low cover, move the left stick in direction of the jump as you press .
Tap while moving. If there’s no cover, you can dodge and roll to avoid getting shot. You can also evade or roll out of cover.
To quickly slip around the corner of cover without having to back up first, move the left stick in the direction you want to slip, and then press .
While in cover, minimize exposure when reaching a nearby cover point by using a SWAT turn. Move the left stick toward adjacent cover, and then press .
A crouching run that makes you harder to target. To roadie run, press and hold while out of cover. You can’t fire while roadie running.
To use items and perform tasks not associated with targeting and movement, press the context-sensitive . Icons may appear when the X button function is available (e.g., when you stand near ammunition).
PRESS TO:
Pick up/swap weapons
Pick up ammo
Man turrets
Kick open doors
Press buttons
Engage valves
Climb
Other special button functions include reviving a squad mate and curb stomping an enemy.
To reload your weapon (assuming you have ammunition), press . This will activate a slider on the top right of your screen. Click again when the moving slider enters the reload bar.
To reload faster, press twice. Success is a matter of timing and practice. There are three possibilities when attempting an active reload:
SUCCESS: If you succeed, you reload faster.
PERFECT: If you achieve a perfect reload, you reload much faster and gain a small boost to damage (setting can be disabled in Versus multiplayer).
FAILURE: If you fail, you spend more time reloading than if you didn’t try.
To play the campaign mode of GEARS OF WAR: ULTIMATE EDITION with a friend, select Campaign from the Main Menu and then select Split Screen, Join Co-op Game, or Host Co-op Game.
Using Split Screen, you and a friend can play side-by-side on the same Xbox One console.
When you host a game, you play as Marcus Fenix.
When you join a game, you play as Dominic Santiago.
When playing in co-op mode, it’s important to remember that Marcus and Dom need to cover one another in combat. In some cases, Marcus and Dom can take different paths to get alternate angles of fire. By working together, you can expose weaknesses in enemies who might otherwise have impenetrable cover.
To play the multiplayer mode of GEARS OF WAR: ULTIMATE EDITION, select Versus from the Main Menu and then select Xbox Live, Local Game, or Local Network.
A Local Game pits you against another person on your Xbox One in split-screen mode. Local Network lets you compete with others (eight players maximum) on a local area network. Xbox Live lets you fight alongside and against other players (eight players maximum) with Xbox Live online multiplayer functionality.
When playing on Xbox Live, you can play Social, Competitive or Private matches on dedicated servers.
Social matches allow for join-in-progress. Competitive matches have leaderboards and provide more XP, but you will incur an XP penalty if quitting before a match is over. Private matches allow you to fully customize maps and other multiplayer parameters for the match.

When players take enough damage, they fall, “bleed out” and eventually die (if the Self-revive setting is disabled). Enemy players can finish them with a few more shots or a melee attack. During this bleed-out time, the downed player’s squad mates can revive them.
If you melee a knocked-down opponent (without the chainsaw-equipped Lancer Assault Rifle), you perform a curb stomp maneuver as a coup de grace. Depending on game type, that maneuver can qualify you for bonus points.
Smoke grenades are available only in multiplayer mode. Use them like a normal fragmentation grenade, but on detonation they release an obscuring cloud of smoke for tactical uses.
Players can chat with each other while on Xbox Live, but the living can chat only with the living, and the dead can chat only with the dead.
A COG fire team is pitted against a Locust fire team. Last man standing wins the round. No respawns.
Needs no further explanation. First team out of respawns lose…
Each team has a leader, Colonel Hoffman (COG) and General RAAM (Locust). The goal is to kill the leader of the opposing team. Players who kill the leader of the opposing team become leader of their team for the next round.
This game type is similar to Warzone, but instead of bleeding out when knocked down, you revive. The only way to kill an opposing team member is to deliver a coup de grace, so you must get close enough to melee.
To win, a team must score a set amount of points before their opponents. To get points, at least one player must stand in the ring surrounding a weapon. Unlike King of the Hill, players can leave the ring once they have claimed it and still accrue points. The ring will change locations after the maximum amount of points have been awarded. Teams can only get points if they "activate" the ring or "deactivate" the ring from the other team. It doesn't matter how many kills they have.
To win, a team must capture a ring that can spawn at multiple locations. The longer a ring is captured, the more points a team accrues. Unlike Annex mode, a player must be in the ring in order for their team to gain points. If a user steps outside of the ring, they are no longer in control. The match ends when a team has reached a set number of points. Players have unlimited respawns and there are no execution rules.
Play a 2v2 match in a small area (“Boxes”). Only shotguns, no respawns, first to 10.
When you host a Private multiplayer match, you can:
- Set the number of rounds in a match.
- Adjust the “bleed out” duration. This is the number of seconds until a player who is knocked down dies. Other players on your team may be able to revive you during this time.
- Set the max duration (in minutes) of each round for applicable game modes.
- Toggle friendly fire -- that is, whether fire from your squad mates can damage you.
- Toggle if a Perfect Reload provides damage boost or not.
- Set if power weapons respawn after use or after pick up.
- Turn self-revive ON (like Gears of War 3) or OFF (like the original game).
- Set the time between the spawn waves.
- Select the order and type of maps that cycle through the match.
- Select if any of the power weapons are swapped.

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