What are the only weapons you should worry about on Trenches, Overpass and Mercy? What are the most crucial areas to control in Hotel, Gridlock and Thrashball? What are the best ways to play Sandbar and Dry Dock, and what secrets are hidden within Checkout and Old Town?

If you’re looking for expert advice on Gears of War 3’s multiplayer, the very first person you should ask - obviously - is the game’s designer Cliff Bleszinski. So we did! Here, in our exclusive video strategy guide, are his personal tips and tricks for dominating every map in the game.

CHECKOUT

Cliff Bleszinski: The thing you need to know about this map is it’s snug. It’s super close-quarters, so you’re probably going to want to stick with the shotgun.

GamesRadar: Would you recommend a second weapon after the shotgun?

Bleszinski: The Retro Lancer because it’s good at medium to close range and not very good at long range. You can use the sniper rifle and the Hammerburst in that map and be effective, but generally you want to stick with close-quarters weapons.

GamesRadar: And what does the fire alarm do?

Bleszinski: The fire alarm actually triggers a hidden weapon that you have to then find. In the beta, it was just a smoke grenade, but in the full version, you might be able to find something fun and secret there. (Editor’s note: Watch the video above to see the secret weapon in action!)

DRY DOCK

Bleszinski: We like to play Horde in this map. You’ll want to hole up as high as possible, stay off the low ground, and build up your bases because once those creatures start coming, you want that height advantage.

GamesRadar: How is Beast Mode on this map?

Bleszinski: All the modes are good across all the maps, but my favorite way to play Beast Mode is in Sandbar.

SANDBAR

Bleszinski: Sandbar is a unique map for the franchise in that it’s actually the largest multiplayer map we’ve ever built for Gears. Normally the maps are the kind of snug ones like Trenches or Checkout, but Sandbar is sprawling – I’d say it’s possibly twice as big, if not larger. You feel like you’re in paradise until your head gets blown off. Remember the Boomshot spawns up high, so grab that to decimate your foes.

GRIDLOCK

Bleszinski: Gridlock is the perennial Gears of War favorite map – it was actually the map that cracked the code of what we thought would be fun for Gears multiplayer. The key is to continue to focus on the high ground where the sniper rifle usually spawns and make sure you’re controlling the grenades in the middle of the map. Otherwise, somebody’s going to take you out. If you control the middle, you control the entire map.

HOTEL

Bleszinski: You’re going to want to stay inside generally, especially if you’re playing Horde mode. You’re going to want to hole up in the hotel, watch the doors and plant your fortifications, much like the characters in Night of the Living Dead.

GamesRadar: What will happen to you if you get stuck outside?

Bleszinski: You might find a Brumak spawning on top of your head.

MERCY

Bleszinski: There are stairs on the side of the map where heavy weapons often spawn, such as the One-Shot. Then there’s a church in that area as well that has a Boomshot in it, so control those two sections of the map and you’ll win.

OVERPASS

Bleszinski: This map actually has a turret in it, and it’s the only one that has a turret. You can really control the high ground by getting on that thing and taking out your enemies.



GamesRadar: How do you get to the turret before everyone else?

Bleszinski: One of the best ways is to use your smoke grenades and charge through the smoke, which is also a great way to get a free kebab. I love the chainsaw – it’s kind of our baby – but there’s nothing better for me than throwing out a smoke, holding the “B” button with the Retro Lancer and hopefully getting something. I feel like I’m dynamite fishing.

THRASHBALL

Bleszinski: The big thing about Trashball is controlling that middle in regards to knocking down the scoreboard, but it’s also about that high ground on the side of the map. Once you can hole up there, breaking that lock is very, very difficult to do and I’ve seen entire matches won that way.

TRENCHES

Bleszinski: The best way I’ve found to play the map – the most gratifying time I’ve had – is when the One-Shot spawns up top and I have friends who are spotting for me. Even through the mist, they spot them and I can just take out the bad guys. Same thing with the Mortar on that map, so it’s a combination of heavy weapons and spotting that are the best ways to kick butt in Trenches.

GamesRadar: Where do you want to be when that sandstorm comes in?

Bleszinski: Ideally, you’d want to be in the new underground section we added in, because people are going to be raining Mortar hell. You know, it turns into madness when that sandstorm hits because everybody just switches to their Retro Lancers and starts bayonet charging through everything.

OLD TOWN

Bleszinski: The key to winning in Old Town lies in the chickens. If you can grenade tag the chickens and have them chase your enemies down, then you’ll be winning in that map.

GENERAL TIPS AND TRICKS

Bleszinski: One of my favorite techniques is to find somebody who’s reviving somebody else, get close, and use my sawed-off shotgun to smear both of them. Immensely gratifying.

Learn to use the Digger launcher – it’s very, very useful and can actually be as useful as the Boomshot in the right hands. One of the things about the Digger is that you can aim upwards so that it’ll have a higher arc before the little digging creature gets in the ground, so you can lose some of the telegraphs and people don’t hear it coming.

Also, when you meat bag somebody – take them as a hostage – you inherit their grenades. So if you happen to have frags and I take you, then I can hit “up” on the d-pad, bag tag you, and take out some bad guys.

Sep 19, 2011