Gears of War: The Most Challenging Achievements

The launch of Gears of War® has come and gone, and now the long fight toward gamerscore supremacy is underway. Gears of War provides a litany of challenging achievements. This guide will focus on the hardest of them so that you can more easily savor the joy that follows that sweetest of Xbox 360™ alerts: Achievement Unlocked.

Time to go to work.

My Love For You Is Like A Truck
There's more than one Berserker in the game, but to get the achievement for defeating it, you only need to kill the first one on Hardcore difficulty. The Berserker blasts through walls and can kill you instantly with a touch. It's a formidable opponent, though it has a simple vulnerability. It's blind.

• Be Wary: Although the Berserker is blind, she has an acute sense of smell and can pinpoint your location with her hearing. She'll sniff you out if you stand too close, and she will charge you if she hears you.
• Hammer of Dawn: The Berserker can only be killed by the Hammer of Dawn, but you have to be outside in order to use it.
• Luring the Berserker: After the Berserker busts through the wall, you'll need to dodge out of the way of her initial charge, and then run into the room on the right side of the corridor. At the far end of the next room is a door, however, only the Berserker can break through it. With your back against the door, shoot at the Berserker to make her charge, then dodge out of the way as she runs toward you. She'll break through the door into the next chamber.
• Wash, Rinse, Repeat: Head through the broken down door and repeat the same process in the next two rooms in order to get her outside. Then hit her with the Hammer of Dawn.

If you thought the Boomers were big …

Broken Fingers
The Corpser is an enormous spider-like creature that you may have spotted throughout the first three Acts, but facing it near the end of Act Three has given fits to many gamers, and has led to many frustrated message posts.

• Classic Soft Spot: The Corpser is a pretty typical boss, in that you need to target the one vulnerable soft spot in order to bring it down. In this case, you need to attack the soft underbelly.
• Leg Up: When the Corpser raises it massive legs, it exposes its belly. While it may seem counterintuitive, your best bet is to run between the legs, get next to the body, and fire away at the body with your shotgun. If possible, use a perfect Active Reload to bump up the damage. Don't worry about getting killed once the legs come down. You might get hurt, but not fatally, and you can recover within a second or two.
• The Jaw: Once you hurt the Corpser's underbelly enough, the Y button icon will pop up, identifying a new vulnerable spot. When it does, change to a gun with better range, and aim up at the exposed jaw (again, from right underneath the beast) and fire away.
• It Will Fall … Eventually: It may take a lot of ammo, but eventually the Corpser will fall.

Roughly two seconds before you die.

A Dish Best Served Cold
At last it's time to avenge Lt. Kim's death. The final boss encounter can be very frustrating, but these tips will see him fall sooner rather than later.

• Cooperative a Must: If you have a buddy online and available, do yourself a huge favor and have them join you. This battle is by far the most difficult in the game and a friend will help tremendously. If you or your friend dies, however, only attempt to save them when it's safe to do so.
• Weapon of Choice: Just before you face RAAM, there's a sniper rifle and a parcel of grenades to grab. Make sure you pick both of them up. If you still have a torque bow, hold onto that as well, even if it means giving up your assault rifle.
• The Shield: General RAAM is protected by a cloud of the bat-like Kryll, and as long as they surround him, he is invulnerable. He will periodically send the swarm to attack you, and whwen he does, he is vulnerable. Pop out from behind cover and tag him with a headshot. Proper use of the Active Reload should get you three good headshots every time he sends the Kryll to attack you. Also, if you hit him with the torque bow or a grenade, the Kryll will be scared away, and you can attack him again.
• Light Cover: The cover you start behind is bathed in light, which protects you from the Kryll. Make sure that when you move to different cover, there is light there as well.
• Back and Forth: General RAAM will slowly make his way toward you, and the closer he gets, the more damage the Troika he carries will do. When he's looming over you it is time to move to the other end of the train. Leap frog from cover to cover, looking for patches of light. Stop as often as necessary to let your health recharge. From the cover at the far end of the train, take up your attack again. Do not, however, let yourself be tempted into manning the Troika there, as it will leave you wide open to Kryll attacks. It will take a lot of effort to take RAAM out, but if you follow this strategy, you will succeed.

Might have stayed in prison if he knew what was in store.

For the Fallen
This achievement requires the retrieval of every last COG tag in the game, and while we don't have the space to list each individual location, there is a simple tip that will help you find them. Look closely for the COG symbol painted in red on walls or other items in the environment. The tag may not be right underneath the symbol, but it will be close by.

Commando
Defeat Gears of War on Insane difficulty and you have an achievement to be proud of for years to come. There is no one strategy that will get you through this ultimate test, but playing through the game cooperatively will give you the edge you need to survive. It sounds simple, but without a partner, Insane lives up to its name and then some.

Article by Hardcore