Gears of War: Hardest Insane Campaigns, Ranked

Being one of Microsoft's and gaming's most iconic franchises, Gears of War has brought players many great memories over the years. From that first Gnasher kill that explodes an enemy into nothing but bits to finally beating all fifty waves of horde on Blood Drive, to campaign moments that bring a tear to the eye (though these moments are not discussed to avoid spoilers).

Something not as universally loved in the Gears of War franchise is its insane difficulty. While challenging and enjoyable, it is infamous for some incredibly difficult and all round stress-inducing, frustrating scenarios. Every Gears of War game has an Insane mode, but which of these is the most difficult to persevere through?

Related

Zack Snyder Gets Approval To Make Gears Of War Movie On One Condition

Zack Snyder wants to bring Gears of War to the big screen, but this was met by a specific condition laid out by the franchise's creator.

Posts

By  Benjamin Hunt

7 Gears of War: Judgment (2013)

Starting off as the easiest Insane campaign is the black sheep of the franchise, Gears of War: Judgment. Judgment sits promptly at the bottom because of the constant presence of squad members. Intended as a four-player campaign, the player will always be surrounded by three squad mates who do a fair bit of damage throughout the campaign. This coupled with the plethora of weapons and cover in most scenarios makes for a fun, but challenging play through.

Battling the Locust horde to obtain three stars on every mission may be challenging, but the overall campaign is fairly short, alleviating some of the stress. This coupled with using the Markza rifle can trivialize certain encounters to make for a smoother experience.

• Difficulty rating: 5/10

6 Gears of War 2 (2008)

Marcus Fenix looks fairly relaxed and that's how the player will feel throughout large portions of this Insane campaign in Gears of War 2. As long as the player has a Longshot in possession at all times the game will be pretty easy. Active reloaded Longshot bullets kill standard locust in one shot, no matter where they are hit. Since most of the game takes place in the underground Locust caves, there is plenty of space between the player and the Locust so slowly taking them out from range is a viable strategy.

The boss fight with Skorge is one of the more difficult fights in the series, but practice makes perfect here. Time the runs when the pillars fall and avoid the Ink Grenades and Skorge will go down fairly quickly. A challenging, but fair Insane campaign earns its spot in this list as a very fun play through to try.

• Difficulty rating: 6/10

5 Gears of War (2006)

The game that started it all. Marcus Fenix's first foray into the Locust hordes tunnels. Slicing up Locust in the original Gears of War is just as satisfying on Insane difficulty as on any other. Where the game becomes difficult is during the nighttime missions at the latter half of Act 2.

Staying in the light to avoid the Kryll is frustrating enough, however, having to drive and operate the light of the junker vehicle is a test of patience. Learning the spawn points of every Kryll swarm is imperative to finish this fairly short section that ends up taking an age. The other difficult section is the end on solo battling the reavers while on the train. Death is frequent here, but patience is key, and eventually they'll go down, and the player will face General Raam himself. He isn't too difficult if equipped with a Torgue bow and Longshot and make sure the blind fire him when he gets close to end his miserable life.

• Difficulty rating: 7/10

Related

9 Most Influential Third-Person Shooter Games

Many of the third-person shooter games we play nowadays are heavily inspired in one way or another by a handful of very ambitious titles.

Posts

By  Ewan Lewis

4 Gears 5 (2019)

The most recent third-person Gears of War game, Gears 5 takes the franchise in a more Locust origin-focused direction with its storyline revolving around Kait. With this The Coalition reveals their lack of quality control when it comes to difficulty. Not as bad as Gears of War 4 in this regard, Gears 5 does carry over some frustrating elements. Instant kill moves from Juvies, getting swarmed by many enemies in the area and feeling like it was a mistake getting out of bed.

The saving grace for Gears 5's placement on this list is the fact that the game is relatively short compared to other games in the franchise, if skipping the side content. This plus taking full advantage of the games excellent movement system, vastly improved from previous entries, makes the campaign a bit less stressful because of this more fluid direction. It is definitely better than Gears of War 4 as The Coalition have learned from mistakes after their first delve into the Gears of War franchise.

• Difficulty rating: 7/10

3 Gears of War 3 (2011)

The epic conclusion to the Locust War brings with it an epic campaign that concludes many character arcs and plot points. It also brings about one of the hardest and most frustrating Insane campaigns to date. It's inclusion of a dozen ways to die instantly really brings the frustration out throughout its fairly long campaign against not just the Locust, but the Lambent as well. Not even the inclusion of the extremely powerful sawed-off shotgun can save this Insane play through from being anything other than a stressful slog. Stick to hardcore or below for this epic shooter.

Gears of War 3 has an almost impossible final boss solo, and still incredibly tough with co-op partners, a difficult Berserker battle that goes on for way too long if NOT done solo. Gears of War 3 truly earns its reputation for being difficult and is definitely a campaign that once completed on insane, is not attempted a second time by anyone sane.

• Difficulty rating: 9/10

Related

Gears of War Creator CliffyB Hypes Gears 6

The next Gears of War title from Xbox's The Coalition studio has been teased by the franchise's creator Cliff Bleszinski.

Posts

By  John Bonelli

2 Gears: Tactics (2020)

The only non-third-person shooter in the Gears of War franchise is also one of its most difficult games on insane. Gears: Tactics is a turn-based strategy game with customizable characters and a compelling story set before the events of the mainline Gears of War games. Bringing squad based mechanics to the game allows for many new avenues for taking on the Locust horde, but also plenty of situations that can result in the game over screen becoming visible even with eyes closed.

Who would have thought that the only Gears game with healing items is utterly useless on Insane difficulty? Instant kills from pretty much everyone creates a lore accurate amount of desperation during every encounter. Fortunately (maybe) if a hero unit is killed, and the mission is failed, the player can simply retry until getting it right. The very definition of insanity. A lot of luck and patience is required in order to complete Gears: Tactics on Insane. It doesn't help that the game is unnecessarily long because of forced 'side' content.

• Difficulty rating: 9/10

1 Gears of War 4 (2016)

The hardest Gears of War insane difficulty playthrough is The Coalitions first delve into the Gears of War franchise. Gears of War 4 is a frustrating disaster in video game form when it comes to difficulty balancing. Precognition is key to beating this gauntlet of a campaign.

The game starts off challenging, but not impossible, with the player taking on DeeBees. Slow robotic enemies that with a few well-placed shots can be taken down fairly easily. The problems arise, however, during the games mainly 'horde' scenarios. Taken from the game mode of the same name there are multiple times throughout the campaign where the player is forced to set up shop and defend against wave after wave of enemies. This would be okay if the checkpoint system wasn't poorly implemented. Death would often result in repeating the entire defense section from the start. With all this taken into account, Gears of War 4 results in a grindy, head-bashing experience on Insane difficulty.

• Difficulty rating: 10/10

MORE: Games That Are More Fun to Watch Than Play