Hello yet again!
As a challenge to those of you who’re already playing (and hopefully enjoying!) Ace Armstrong vs. the Alien Scumbags!, here are my very own personal-best high scores on the game:
Novice: 58232 (game complete)
Pro: 57931 (game complete)
Elite: 58121 (game complete)
A hint for when you are playing the game: you get points for every bullet that causes damage, so it’s worth firing at anything that’s unlucky enough to get in front of you. Some other hints for those who’re struggling with Ace’s old-school-awesome level of difficulty are:
a) Fire while using the Recycl-o-Ray! – You’re still able to fire Ace’s main cannon (X button) while using the Recycl-o-Ray, so do so. It’ll give you more time.
b) Fire the cannon and recycled weapons simultaneously when crowded! – Once you’ve picked up a recycled weapon you’re still free to fire the cannon at the same time (pressing X and O together). This delivers up to double the firepower of a regular weapon, so use to your advantage!
c) Ditch weapons if they’re no good in your current situation! – Sometimes you’ll suck up the wrong weapon or be left with a weapon that’s not useful for the current segment of the game. When this happens use Triangle to ditch it. This is also an invaluable trick in certain areas. The game favours different weapons at different times, so try to learn the best weapons to pick up and when.
d) Be aggressive and ‘zone’ space! – Don’t give the enemy a chance to swarm you. On Rookie difficulty regular Scumbags only take one hit so don’t let them anywhere near you. After just a few sessions you’ll know when and where they spawn on a level, so don’t give them the chance to get on screen! Be hyper-aggressive – Ace is all about ‘zoning’ (i.e. controlling space in the play area to your advantage) so keep this in mind. Find the best area on the screen and fight to control it. There’s always a way through the enemy waves that requires a minimum of enemy destruction – find it! :-)
e) You can’t kill everything! – There are some baddies in Ace Armstrong that simply aren’t meant to be killed. Many of the buzzsaws in particular are there to zone Ace into a region of the screen for gameplay reasons – while they can be destroyed you’re looking at 15-25 shots (depending on difficulty) to do this: you’re never going to get them all. Outside of buzzsaws and the boss’s body parts being brought on to screen during Level 3 it’s possible to destroy everything that moves in Ace. But you don’t HAVE to do this and shouldn’t even think of trying until you’re a lot more comfortable with the wave patterns and difficulty. Persevere and you will get there, I promise. :-)
That’s all for this week I think! We’ll be posting more hints and even videos if the demand is out there – if you want help let us know by dropping us a comment! :-)
Cheers,
Al
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