Rolling Thunder

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Rolling Thunder is the second chapter of the first act in Gears of War 2. Taking place on a mobile drilling platform called a Derrick, the chapter sees Marcus Fenix and the Gears of Delta Squad defending the rig on its way to the town of Landown.

Cutscene

A massive force of Gears and their vehicles head out from Jacinto City as Chairman Prescott gives a rallying speech revealing that the Locust Horde survived the Lightmass Bombing and has returned stronger than ever with a force that can sink entire cities. As humanity will soon have nothing left to defend as a result and as Jacinto itself is in danger, they have no choice but to attack the Locust directly. As Delta flies in a King Raven, Carmine asks why they're going to Landown instead of drilling from Jacinto. Marcus explains that Jacinto is the one place the Locust can't dig through and Landown is the perfect spot to "hit them on their own turf" despite having "ten shitloads" of Locust there. As Prescott's speech ends, Delta arrives in a staging ground where they meet Private Dizzy Wallin and board his Assault Derrick Betty.

Walkthrough

Essentially, the entire level will take place on or nearby the Derrick, so there is no danger of getting lost or turned around; just stick with "Betty" and you'll do fine. When the level starts, you will be on top of the Derrick, listening to Dizzy introduce himself. During this time, be sure to grab the collectible entitled "Grindlift Spec Sheet" mounted on the back panel of the rig, right behind your starting position, as you won't have much time to get it later.

After the short cutscene depicting the COG assault column under fire from the Nemacyst mortars, quickly head up the ramp to the mounted chain gun at the front of the rig. While the mortars will crash down pretty close to their position, you won't need to fire back until the large boulder crosses your path. At that point, the mortars will rain down upon you with deadly accuracy, so try and anticipate their path then intercept them. For the purposes of saving ammo, using the chain gun is recommended, but just about any weapon will do. After surviving the barrage, a Reaver will destroy the lead Derrick, then begin attacking you from the left. Get on the chain gun and rip it apart before it can kill Dizzy.

At this point, the Derrick will crash, forcing Dizzy to enact repairs. After exiting the rig, immediately run left to the bushes for two large boxes of ammo, a pair of Bolo Grenades and the second and last collectible of the level, entitled, "Ammo Requisition Form." Do this quickly, as an Emergence Hole will immediately spawn, followed by a second. After killing the Drones or sealing the Holes, you will be attacked from the ridge. Simply duck down behind the newly made cover and fire at any targets of opportunity. Don't worry about killing every single one of the Locust, as some other Gears will help you out. When Dizzy gives the word, rush back to the Derrick to end the level.

Enemies

• Drones
• Nemacyst
• Reavers

Characters

• Dizzy Wallin
• Marcus Fenix
• Dominic Santiago
• Benjamin Carmine

Collectibles

• Grindlift Spec Sheet; As soon as you start, it is mounted on the back panel of the rig.
• Ammo Requisition Form; After exiting the rig for repairs, immediately run left, next to the ammo boxes.

Trivia

• There are three hats that are identical to Dizzy's at the very beginning. They are partially hidden, and shooting all three will cause the players to wear cowboy hats, as well as hearing Dizzy exlaim,"YEEEEEEHAAAAAAWW!" When the player kills the driver of the hijacked Derrick, the cutscene will show the Derrick crash as normal, then showing a cowboy hat fluttering downward, adding a comical effect. There is also a Corpser in the level that will have a cowboy hat and yell "YEEHAAW" as well, instead of roaring like corpsers normally would.
  • The hats are only visible when playing on Insane difficulty, but are still at the same locations on other difficulties. This means that if a player has memorized the locations and manages to shoot the three hats, you can still experience this Easter egg while not playing on Insane difficulty. [1]