Gears of War 3 is a great game. The single player story is outstanding and would probably have been the highlight of the game if they didn’t have my favourite aspect, HORDE. Horde is a highly addictive game where the object is to survive 50 waves of enemy locust, with each wave getting harder and harder and after each set of ten waves you face the locust boss. At times it can be ridiculously difficult with a full ammo clip required to take down some enemies. One general rule applies, Horde should not be played alone.
So, you’ve got the game, you’ve given Horde a go and now you need help. Well here is my top 5 tips for you in order to survive Horde. Feel free to pick and choose which ones may assist you.
Tip 5: Play on Casual
This might sound like an obvious tip, but if you want to have an enjoyable yet comfortable Horde experience then casual is definitely the way forward. You still get the exact same achievement as if you had completed it on the Insane mode yet you don’t get the stress, pain and agony of constantly restarting waves like you do on the higher difficulty levels, sometimes even on normal. So playing on casual to complete and survive all 50 waves is something to think about. Once completed you could then go back and frustrate yourself with the Insane mode if you feel you must.
Tip 4: Reserve Ammo
One of the most common mistakes made in Horde by the novice and inexperienced gamer is the use of ammo. Generally the novice gamer will go gung ho into the battlefield spraying as many Lancer or Hammerburst bullets as possible without thinking about what to do when they run out. Wasting money on ammo shouldn’t really need to be an option, and although you do get more ammo for your Lancer and Hammerburst guns at the end of each wave, you really don’t want to be clinging on. My tip to you here is to arm yourself with a Lancer, and chainsaw as many enemies as possible. It’s also wise to use your pistol during the earlier waves. If you’re playing on the higher difficulty levels (even on casual to a degree) try to pick up a Boomer as soon as possible, but don’t use these locust exploding bullets until you have no choice.
Tip 3: 5 is definitely not a crowd
Ever heard of the saying ‘three’s a crowd’? Well in Horde, 5 players is definitely not a crowd. In fact it’s a welcomed feature, more like a party and definitely something that will help you survive all 50 waves of locust enemy. Let me set the scene for you. You will have experienced it yourself when playing online or through the campaign where you have taken so many bullets that you are ‘down’ (all gears players are still with me at this point yeah?) and the only way to survive is to be ‘healed’ by a friendly player. Yet constantly we shout online at our friends saying “Why are you not coming to get me bro?” “I’m over here dude” “Stop being a **** and come and heal me”. We’ve all been there. Now the best way to progress through the waves in Horde is to survive each wave, so the more players shooting locust also means the more players available to make that dashing run to a team mate to heal, furthermore avoiding the would be dead player to buy back in, which is not cheap.
Tip 2: Deal with the little guys first, seriously do it!
This is really quite a simple tip which many people seem to forget. When you reach the boss waves please deal with the ‘little’ guys first. Don’t pay any attention – if possible – to the giant raging Beserker whose main goal in life is to destroy everything possible. Dealing with the ‘little’ guys first will allow you to focus fully on the main boss afterwards. Destroy the boss first and there’s a chance the Locust Queen may send another Beserker your way, and you certainly don’t want that!
Tip 1: No-one likes a flash guy
It’s great that in Horde you can build up your individual level for ‘building’ skills. Take fences as an example. Building lots of fences can give you upgrades improving the pathetic looking spike fences for fancy laser fences which zap any enemy who tries to pass through them. Yeah, very nice and it’s good to boost up your ‘upgrade’ level. But in the end you become the most hated player in the team, especially when each fence costs 4000 to repair or replace. In Horde you very rarely have that kind of money to spend, especially in the latter stages of the game where money for ammo and spike fences – which at least slow down locust – are a priority. My first tip to you here is to not spend any money during the first 9 rounds, if not more. Enemies should be easy enough to deal with allowing you to save up plenty of $$$. My next tip comes when you actually buy fences and decoy’s etc, just keep it minimal. Spike fences are cheap, easy to repair and do a reliable job. If you do save up enough $$$ upgrading once is ok, but I’d advise you to avoid going all out to get the top end stuff. It’s just to expensive and definitely not sustainable.
So there you have it, my top 5 tips in order to survive all 50 waves of Locust Horde. If you have anymore or have any comments on my tips post them below.
