Alright, so with the release of Gears I am finally free to start posting some strategy guides for the game. As an employee I had to wait till release day before I could post anything good. This first article is going to cover the basics of cover/movement and firing tactics from cover in Gears of War. This article was put together by me using my hands on time with the game as well as with input from some of my fellow employees and die hard Gears fans...

Movement/Cover

Movement in Gears at first glance seems to be similar to many other shooters. Where the differences begin to appear is in the cover system. The world of Sera is filled with items to take cover behind. The ability to take cover quickly and use it well are going to be directly tied to how long you survive. (DO NOT RUN IN GUNS BLAZING AND EXPECT TO LIVE PAST THE FIRST 2 MINUTES OF A MATCH!)

Taking cover is easy, you simply get next to an object and hit the 'A' button. 

However as simple as that seems, mastering it will differentiate between a mediocre Gears player and a great one. When you are in cover you will have a different stance dependant on the type of cover you are behind.

Low Wall/Low Object: For these taking cover will make you duck behind them. This effects your strategy based on the fact that you must pop up to shoot if you want to aim. (More on shooting from cover below)

High Wall/Tall Object: For these most commonly your soldier will put his back to them and flatten against the wall. Shooting from behind these is more of a lean around the corner and shoot approach.

Destroyable Cover: Some types of cover in the game are not permanent. When taking cover behind an object take a look at it first. Items like furniture tend to get picked apart by enemy fire in short order. Other objects may be able to explode. You should still take cover just be aware of the temporary nature of the cover and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Cover to Cover Movement: In many cases you can jump from one cover object to another. When you are covering behind an object and there is another coverable object near by you simply move toward the other object. If it is close enough your soldier will jump, dive or do a swat turn to the next cover object. This is an amazingly important piece of you cover strategy as you should never go anywhere without cover if you can help it.

Leaving/Jumping Cover: When behind low cover you can hit up on the control stick and the 'A' button to jump over the cover and continue forward. This can save a lot of time and avoid having to go around the cover. At the same time be aware that this will also make you an easy target till you get to the next cover.

Firing from Cover: This is another important piece and one of the other building blocks to your Gears strategy. There are two methods for firing in Gears of War. Blind Firing and Precise/Aimed Firing.

You use the 'Right Trigger' to fire your weapons in Gears. The 'Left Trigger' allows you to aim by giving you crosshairs on your screen.

Blind Firing: Blind Firing is the default firing mechanism in Gears. Blind Firing is accomplished by just shooting. When Blind Firing you simply shoot in the general direction of your enemy and no accuracy is guaranteed. This may seem like it is not as useful to you at first but it is a life saver do to the nature of cover combat in Gears. Blind Firing is a great way of shooting at the enemy from behind cover without putting yourself in harms way. The other and possibly better advantage this gives you is it is an easy way to keep an enemy behind cover, and provides great cover fire while your teammates attempt to flank or sneak up on the enemies position.

Precise Firing: This firing mode is attained by holding the Left Trigger while firing. This gives you crosshairs that are different based on the gun you are using. This gives you a very accurate way of insuring maximum lead delivery to the enemies head. The disadvantage is that to us precise firing from behind cover your soldier needs to either rise up above low cover or lean further out of tall cover. This puts you in harms way but allows for more accurate concentrated fire.

Cover Firing Strategy: Do not simply stand up and unload your full clip at the enemy as this will put you at the top of the enemies list of things to shoot at. Instead pop up fire a few rounds to see where your aim is and then drop back into cover. Adjust your angle and do it again. This can be useful for blind firing as well as precise firing. When everyone on the map is doing this it does tend to look like a twisted game of Whack a Mole! Keep adjusting your aim until you have it where you want. Then still use caution. Waiting for an enemy to make a mistake and stand up is the best opportunity to put them down hard. You can also throw grenades from behind cover. This can be great for scaring the enemy out of their cover. You can blind fire a grenade from cover by simply selecting grenades (Use the 'D Pad' to select weapons.) and then tossing it the same way you would blind fire a regular weapon.

Coming next will be an article on team tactics in Gears of War. Stay tuned...