We are playing 'River', I am in the two-level house beside the bridge. A Kantus, Boomer and BloodMount are at the door - I fire my Lancer into the Head of the Bloodmount. JOK empties a clip into the Boomer from the cover of the vehicles at my side. Subs is in the 'garden' behind a wall emptying his Shotgun into the Boomer from the side. Andy and Alex are keeping the Kantus pinned down from sandbag cover by the ramp into the river. The BloodMount is hit in the head, it's helmet flies off and it is down. I concentrate my fire on it's Grenadier rider. Subs is hit by a Boomshot and goes down. Andy leaves cover and sprints to his aid. Alex is keeping the Kantus busy, it dives to the left and right unable to throw it's poison grenade. The Grenadier is on me and I go down. JOK rushes in killing the locust scum and rescuing me before I bleed out. Andy rescues Subs. JOK rushes out and chainsaws the Kantus with a roar. Two Grinders open up from the bridge and we all dive for cover.
Screams, curses and orders are coming from all around. Not in the game. In the room.
This is a five player Gears of War 2 Horde gaming session - being played out, in person, in my front room. Playing on xbox live is fun, but with your comrades-in-arms sitting next to you and bellowing in your ear makes the experience unforgettable.
There follows a description of what you will need, how to set the hardware up and then instuctions on how to configure Gears of War 2 for system link gaming.
Want to try it? All you need is the hardware and enough room - beers and pizza are optional.
Here is what you will need to have your own Horde killing spree (I've detailed the cheapest way to get 5 player action, if you have more televisions and more X360s there is no reason you couldn't all play full screen - the principles are exactly the same):
- 5 players (3 or 4 work well too - you'll only need 2 TVs and X360s this way)
- 3 televisions
- 3 Xbox 360's
- 3 copies of Gears of War 2
- 3 Network Cables
- A Network Router/Hub
- Enough space to fit everything in (although the cosier the better sometimes - for that additional claustrophobic feeling)
On to the initial setup:
- Setup the televisions and X360s. I'll not explain how to do this!
- Plug each network cable into a X360 and the other into the router.
- Power everything up.
- Load up Gears of War 2 on all the systems.
- Spend some time setting up profiles as each player will need to 'Sign On' to the X360 they will play on. (If you have 5 players decide who will get the full screen. The other players will be split screen.)
- Make sure you "Sign On" to a profile on the X360 you will play on. Just having a controller 'lit up' is not enough.
- Now you are ready to connect everything together.