Gears of War 2

The Insane difficulty is unlocked after completing the game once already, on any other difficulty.

Insane offers a nice jump in difficulty. Prepare to die a lot, since you will be getting damaged at a faster rate than before.

You can do this on co-op, and your co-op partner can be on any difficulty they would like. However, they will not be getting the achievement if they are on a different difficulty.

I did this with a friend and both of us were playing on Insane. There are a few sections in the game you will probably have some trouble with.

Act I: Right before you get to Landown and right after the Corpser pops up from the ground, you will have a Brumak firing missles at you. Stay on the turret and keep blasting him with bullets.

Act I: The split-up between the Hotel and the Rooftops can be problematic. I have been killed during a cutscene for this, but the main problem is Tai. Tai is a bit of an asshole and tends not to revive whoever is playing as Dom. After this whole part, be sure to hang onto your Mortars after defeating the Brumak. This will help you during the graveyard fight.

Act II: I don't recall there being any seriously bad spots in Act II, but you do get introduced to snipers for the first time here. Snipers will damage you just enough so that you're completely vulnerable. If shot by a sniper, be sure no one else is shooting anything at you since you will be downed. I'm not sure if you start encountering foes sporting Boltok pistols yet, but those guns hurt like a bitch if you keep getting shot with them.

Act III: Carrying the bomb can be a little bit of trouble. Be sure to have either the Snub pistol or the Gorgon. Shoot the Wretches that are far away and stick to meleeing when they are close.

Act III: The razorhail will hurt like crazy. Make sure you actually get inside of the train cars right away. If you accidentally jump out to the side, you're done for.

Act III: The whole Centuar sequence sucks. The vehicle controls like crap and you'll take a lot of damage. Troikas will easily kill you within 2 seconds, so make sure the gunner kills off everyone before pressing onwards. Always stop to heal.
Also, taking down the Tower requires the driver to do some fancy driving. The gunner should take care of all of the ground troops and the two Troikas right by the tower. The driver should then start driving down the hill in reverse. When Marcus yells, "Dom, hit the tower!" the driver needs to boost right back up the mountain since you'll be getting shot at like crazy.
Heal, creep your way closer to the building and have your gunner blast that tower to all hell.

Act III: Troika will kill you in about 2 shots, so watch it. When you get on the Locust gunboat, get into cover and stay in cover. Don't even bother shooting at any of the other ships trying to attack you. I noticed that when my co-op partner and I got into cover and never peaked our heads out (or blindfired), the enemies just stood still. Save your ammo and keep switching sides of the ship depending on what side the boats come in to attack you.

Act III: The Leviathan boss is pretty much the same as always.

Act IV: When you close up the dam, have one person go down into the water to activate the enemies and have the other player stay by the switch. The person who stays back should probably have the longshot rifle handy so they can easily kill off the guy trying to get the water to flow again.

Act IV: Right before finding Maria, you'll have to kill a bunch of enemies in four waves. Wave 1 is from straight ahead and consists of 2 Bloodmounts and wretches. The Bloodmounts are the worst threat, so keep shooting at their heads (the Gorgon pistol works well here) and melee the wretches. Wave 2 is the same, except from the other direction with worse cover. Again, kill the Bloodmounts first.
Wave 3 has two grinders, so kill those first before they get in too close. Then get rid of the drone varients. Wave 4 has a few Theron guards mixed in with various drones. Dispose of the Theron first.

Act IV: When setting off the beacon, you'll have a few Reavers come in to attack you. There is an awning of sorts that will protect you from some of the Reavers' attacks.

Act IV: When on the rail cars, be sure to focus your firepower on those incoming Reavers. If a single one of them hits your car, you'll have to start over again. I recommend sticking with the Lancer for this part.

Act IV: When you have to split up in the large hallway leading to the throne room, it's a good idea to pick up the Mauler's shield. It'll protect you for a little bit. Towards the end of this hallway, you'll have to shoot at your partner's side (Ahead of you, but on their side). Get rid of those guys with the Torque Bows, since they will kill you in one shot.

Act IV: When you fall into the trap, immediately grab the wheel and start going back up. The other player should try protecting the guy turning the wheel. You can avoid this fight entirely by doing this.

Act IV: The only things you have to watch out for when fighting Skorge are the Ink grenades and the Tickers. Everything else is pretty simple: dodge the pilliars and chainsaw duel.

Act IV: The reaver sequence isn't too bad. You don't seem to take as much damage as you did in the Centaur.

Act V: The entire act is easy, especially after getting the Hammer of Dawn. You might run into a bit of trouble with the split up right before the Hammer of Dawn, but it is all about pacing. Everything's pretty smooth during Act V, though.

If you're doing the Casual-Insane method, you really don't have much to worry about. The Casual player will be doing most of the work (killing), while the Insane guy will be chilling in cover and avoiding the fights.

Don't have a friend to play with? No problem!

You can actually do this quite simply alone with two controllers and two profiles, and still unlock the "Friends with Benefits" achievement at the same time. This method also works for the "Two for the Road" achievement.

Simply set up a local split-screen game with your main profile set on Insane and the other one Casual difficulty. Once the game starts focus on playing with your secondary profile, Dom, which is set on Casual. You'll need to make sure that your main profile, Marcus, is in a safe spot throughout the game.

This is easier said then done though, but not as hard as it might sound. As a first note remember that several times during the game Marcus will "teleport" forward as Dom progresses, so you'll need to reposition him frequently. Once Marcus teleports, pick up your primary controller and hide him behind some cover, preferably as far away from enemies as you can.

This is easy throughout most of the game, but impossible during encounters such as when fighting Skorge or as Jack sets up the beacon in Act IV. It's been a while since i did this, but I'll try and give you a few pointers as far as my memory serves.

Act I (Hotel and Rooftops) - As you split up, press RT to do Rooftops with Dom. You'll need to kill a few enemies with Marcus here as well, but most of them can be reached from the other side as Dom has a Mortar to blast them with. Not that hard really.

Act IV (The Beacon) - Where you need to protect Jack as he sets up the beacon, simply walk Marcus behind the large pillar to the northeast of the circle in which the beacon is to be activated. He'll be safe there during the entire fight, including when the Reavers attack.

Act IV (Skorge) - Prepare for a few deaths. What I did was to put Marcus in the bottom left (southwest) corner of the room. It is however likely that Skorge will throw Ink Grenades at him, so you'll probably have to pickup your other controller and move him over to corner on the opposite side of the room. I did it in 3 tries, so its doable.

This method works perfectly and saves you from having to find a partner. If i can do it, you can do it. However it does require some patience, though I still think its faster than with two people playing on Insane.

If you've got questions, feel free to contact me on LIVE.

This can be a frusurating acheivment. However, it could be a breeze as well. Common sence says use co-op. Find a partner. He doesn't have to be necessarily good. Have him/her play on Casual and your going to play on Insane. A basic rule of thumb is to keep two frag grenades on you at all times in case of a close quarters confrontation with a boomer or grinder. You should have a Sniper/Torque Bow (A Hammerburst or Lancer if neither is availaible) and a Shotgun (Ammo isn't hard to come by.) For a pistol, keep the Boltok as a preference, if ammo isn't readily availible, use a Snub. The Gorgon should be avoided unless you know a different pistol is near-by, as ammo drains faster as the weapon fires in bursts. If you kill a Kantus, don't let the Ink Grenades go to waste. Simply swap them for frags, throw them/it, and pick your frags up again. If no enemies are any where in the premisis, you may leave them.

Your partner should take the aggro is fire fights. This means he often exposes him self, and injures as many enemies as possible within a seven second window. In this window, when fire is concentrated on him, open up. Snipe out enemies by the danger they present in the current situation (Bloodmounts, Maulers, Boomers ect.) and wash, rinse, repeat.

Boss/Unique Battles

Leviathan- The giant fish. Your given frags. And a lancer. One person shoots while one throws. Not that hard.

Skorge-Ground - Stay in cover and move around, to avoid inks, tickers, selaktites, and falling colleums.

Skorge - Reaver - Stay in communication with your partner and shoot at the same part a the same time and this will be over in no time.

Sires - This is one case where it isnt a bad thing to charge at the enemy and use a Chainsaw. In most cases with other locust, you'd be surrounded by the time the sequence finishes, then shot to death.With Sires, they have to melee you, so just rev up again, and saughter the monsterous Locust. Note - In campaign, any damage you take while chainsawing an enemy is reduced to 0.

Giant Riftworm - This isnt difficult at all, just keep a Lancer out and shoot the little white enemies. They die easily, and don't inflict much damage, even on insane. The most frusturating part is the area in the chamber with limited visiblity and toxic air. It is very easy to get lost, but Roadie Run on forward, and follow the tracker on your HUD when you see the locator for the membrane. On the part with the Indiana Jones style huge ball of death, don't touch the grass or slow down. It's not good for your life expectancy.


That's it!!! If you follow these tips (and other guides, as I clearly have forgotten some areas) you'll be sure to finish the campaign in under 20 hours.


(How come they let the queen just walk out of the throne room when they have GUNS?????)

ok insanes back and stronger. but if you want an easy way out just do a local co-op campaign and set the account wanting the achievment on insane and the other on casual(just have a guest singed in). then select any act/chapter but starting from the start will be easier. Just have the insane person hide back and let the casual do all the work.

some parts are easier if you sign the 2nd player out if you are doing by yourself like, act 3 chapter 1, act 3 chapter 3 or 4 well the driving act and act 5 chapter 5.

also you have to train the rook( Carmine) to get it.

not to mention if you want it properly just remember to use cover,blindfire in cover and don't rush as you get slowed down when you rodie run.

Primarily, you should complete the game on casual because it is mandatory to complete the game on either hardcore, normal, or casual to unlock insane difficulty.Doing it on casual on your first play through instead of hardcore would save you much more time and you would stack up more achievements when completing the game on insane. Once you have finished your first play through you can begin insane mode. There are two methods to easily complete this. Idea 1 is to have a friend play on casual while you play on insane so you can just sit back and shoot. Idea 2 is that you can play the chapter on casual and once you get to the last checkpoint of the chapter you can switch the difficulty to insane which would mean that you are only required to complete the last part of each chapter.

Play this in CO-OP mode. Make your friend be on Casual while you hang back and lay sniper/cover fire. When you split up, don't be stupid. Use cover, and be patient! It will be easy, time consuming, yes, but way worth it if you've only played at beat the game on casual!

Just play co-op with a friend, you play on Insane and hide 3/4 of the time, and have your friend play on Casual and let him do 3/4 or more of the killing. You get downed in 2 hits on Insane so be careful and remember hide and the achievment is yours. But this doesn't mean you don't have to fight cause you can.

First thing first:
COVER IS YOUR BEST FRIEND IN THIS GAME! Just like any other game, but Gears of War especially, cover severely impacts your performance on Insane difficulty. Always evade, recover your health, do good.

-Take it nice and slow too, no need to rush.

-The snub pistol is not useless!!!

-Chainsaw is good, in emergency situation. You might already know this, but if enemies are firing at you, your chainsaw will not rev up.

-Shoot, cover, shoot, take more cover, shoot some more, repeat!

*Note*
You can do this on co-op and have another person on a different difficulty, for example Casual. Hmmmmm...nice. Just have your friend do all of the work if you want to earn this this way. You can also hook up two controllers, and play casual on another account.

Beast of luck and cheers!

To unlock the Insane Difficulty you need to beat the game for the first time, I recommend doing it in Casual and looking for all the collectibles and making all the achievements related to the campaign, so that when you get to Insane just worry about finishing the game, that way you automatically unlocks the achievements of ending the game in Normal and Hardcore.