\ | / ______ _______ _____ _______ _______ _______ ______ __ __ | ____ |______ | | | | | |______ | |_____/ \_/ |_____| |______ |_____| | | | |______ | | \_ | _ _ _ _______ ______ _______ | | | |_____| |_____/ |______ . |__|__| | | | \_ ______| . - - ______ _______ _______ ______ _____ |_____/ |______ | |_____/ | | | \_ |______ | | \_ |_____| _______ _ _ _____ _ _ _______ ______ |______ \ / | | | \ / |______ | \ |______ \/ |_____| |_____ \/ |______ |_____/ / | \ Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - Weapons and Strategy Guide This guide is an original work. Copyright 2006 by Chris Powers. ______ ______ / | 0 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Table of Contents | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= To easily reach a section just hit Ctrl + F and type in where you want to go. 0 - Table of Contents 1 - Introduction 2 - Version History 3 - Basics of Geo Wars 3.1 - Controls 3.2 - Scoring 3.3 - Enemies 3.4 - Overall Strategy 4 - Weapons 4.1 - Types 4.2 - Pros and Cons 4.3 - Enemy Effectiveness 5 - Spawn Strategies 5.1 Windmills 5.2 Seekers 5.3 Spawners 5.5 Sidewinders 5.6 Magnet Ships 5.7 Jacks 5.8 Wormholes 5.9 Atoms 6 - Other 6.1 Opinions 6.2 Legal ______ ______ / | 1 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Introduction | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= By: Chris Powers / halo_master E-mail: halomasterchris@gmail.com Gamertag: halomastercap High scores at time of FAQ creation (6/16/06) and upload (6/17/06): Evolved - 3,035,145. Rank - 1273. Retro - 810,005. Rank - 335. Well, this is my first FAQ. I decided to make it after posting everything I knew about the weapons in the message board. I figured it would be easier for people to just look for a FAQ. :) Of course in writing the FAQ my original message has been greatly expanded and improved upon. My goal was to create something that people would read and find very useful. Anyway, I've played the game quite a bit by now. The strategies below are what I've obtained from my gaming experience. There may or may not be better ways of doing things. Don't treat my guide as a bible, but just as what it is. A guide. If there is anything that you think would improve this guide please e-mail me! You will of course receive my thanks and credit in the guide. Other strategies than those listed below are also welcome. Every game has many ways of beating it. These are just the ways I found. That's it for now. I hope this guide can be helpful to you! halomasterchris ______ ______ / | 2 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Version History | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= 1.0 - 6/15/06 First version. ______ ______ / | 3 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Basics of Geo Wars | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= -( Controls )- The default controls are: Left stick - Moves your ship. Right stick - Aims your weapon and fires at the same time. Trigger - Deploys a bomb. Controls may be changed to the following combos: Left stick - Aims your weapon and fires at the same time. Right stick - Moves your ship. Or: Left / Left or Right / Right - Moves your ship and fires in the same direction of you moving at the same time. Highly un-recommended because you can't shoot behind you without turning around. Trigger may be changed to bumper at any time. However, I prefer using the right trigger because it is most comfortable for me. You can't deploy a bomb very quickly if your finger cramps up from a weird position, and you should always have your finger over the bomb trigger, because you may need to press it faster than you can think possible sometimes. Although the bumper may be a bit faster because it is a simple, non-pressure sensitive button, it's up to you. -( Scoring )- For every enemy you destroy you receive that enemy's base score times your multiplier. Your multiplier begins at x1. After destroying 25 enemies in one life your multiplier becomes x2. At 50 enemies x3, and so on, up to x10 with 2,000 enemies destroyed in one life. If you die your multiplier returns to zero. Every 10,000 points there is a chance your main weapon will change. Which weapon you receive is random, but if you receive the same weapon you are currently using then it's like nothing happened. You will receive an extra life every 75,000 point interval on the score. You will receive an extra bomb every 100,000 point interval on the score. -( Enemies )- There are ten enemy types. Windmills - Purple in color. Size of a square with a windmill, or "x", type shape. They do not follow you around, but rather simply move about the field randomly. Seekers - Aqua in color. Size of a square with a flexing diamond shape. Will follow you directly. They are slow at first, but gain speed over time. Let them last long enough and they -will- become faster than you. Scares - Green in color. Square shape. Will follow you directly. Are fairly fast, but they are "scared" of your bullets and will try to jump from the path of your weapon fire. Spawners - Pink in color. Square shape. Will follow you directly. Are a little slower than the Scares. Are comprised of four smaller squares. When you shoot it at least one of the squares is destroyed and the rest will break apart into Spawns. Spawns - Pink in color. Square shape, a fourth of the size of the Spawners. Will follow you in a looping type movement. Very slow because of this, but also harder to hit. Sidewinders - Blue head, orange tail. Snake shape. Head is a heart shape, with the pointed part being the "nose". Tail is like a chain link of long triangles that tapers to a point. Movement is a curving path. They basically move like snakes, but despite the appearance of their random like movement they will follow you around the screen. Fairly slow as a whole when curving a lot, but the head itself moves about very fast. Magnet Ships - Red in color. Look like a larger version of your ship. Extremely fast. Will charge you. While moving head on towards you it will deploy an almost invulnerable shield. Sometimes you can get a bullet past it, but it's way to dangerous to practice on a normal basis. Wait until it passes you then shoot it from behind before it turns around. Jacks - Purple in color. Very small with a triangular shape. Some what slow, but can "jump" forward about a square on the field sometimes. Wormholes - Red in color. Large circle. Spawn on the field inactivated and move extremely slowly towards you, but are effectively immobile. Once shot they begin to suck in everything, including you and your enemies, but it repulses your ammo from a distance. If it sucks in enough enemies it will explode and release a number of smaller circles called Atoms. Atoms - Blue in color. Small circle. Extremely fast. If you are too close to a Wormhole when it explodes these guys will almost always get you because they quite literally explode outward from the Wormhole. They have incredible inertia however, so if they miss you, or you somehow dodge them they will actually bounce off of the walls giving you a free shot. -( Overall Strategy )- These are just some basic overall strategies that may prove helpful in the game. Never focus your eyes too much on any one object on the screen. That includes your own ship or an enemy ship. Keep your concentration on the game. Pausing for even a moment can mean a certain death upon your return. If you must pause wait until there are almost no enemies on the screen or the moment you've just used a bomb. Sit in a comfortable position fairly close to your TV. Not so close that you can only see your TV, but so that when you blur your eyes a bit you can see about half a foot around the outside of the TV's perimeter. Note: This is how close I sit and it works great for me. I find that if I sit too far away I can't see the smaller Jacks and Spawns very well. But if I sit too close I can't see the overall field very well which causes some surprises, not to mention that if you sit too close your blind spot can cause problems. (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/blindspot1.html) Find what works for you. Once you find a nice position and distance and get used to it don't move. If you move even a few inches it throws off the angles at which you see your ship, the enemies, and the field, which throws off your reactions because your brain is used to a particular angle, so it's used to sending the same signal to your fingers when it sees something. If you see something, but you're at a different angle that you're used to, you will mess up. I know this sounds a bit crazy and over the top, but if you don't believe me try it yourself. Move around the field in a circular motion. Counter-clockwise and/or clockwise. Keep moving unless you get trapped. Learn the sounds of the spawning enemies. Each enemy has a unique sound and can give you a warning of what might be spawning on the other side of the field. Learn to fly in the opposite circular direction around the field in case you can't fight through your current path and need an alternate route. Learn to fly straight through the middle for those times when you can't go in any circular direction. Learn your limits. What you can navigate, what you can aim, and when to use a bomb. Don't live by your limits however. You can't get better if you never take risks at things you normally couldn't do. Practice aiming in the beginning of the game with the Basic Machine Gun. If you are good and accurate with a weapon that isn't very accurate you'll be even more accurate with weapons that are far better. Attempt to get the Pacifist Achievement, not shooting a single round or deploying a single bomb for the first sixty seconds, in every game. It's harder than it sounds and greatly improves your movement skills. Don't give up. The more you play the better you will get. Period. ______ ______ / | 4 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Weapons | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= -( Types )- There are four types of weapons. Basic Machine Gun - Fires two parallel bullets at medium speed. You start with this weapon and it's only available during the first 10,000 points. Heavy Machine Gun - Fires three bullets in a triangular formation at high speed. Bullets spread apart when fired and slowly spread out over time. One of two main weapons you'll use throughout the game. Missiles - Fires five missiles in a sweeping formation at slow speed. Missiles are bunched together when fired but spread out fairly quickly. One of two main weapons you'll use throughout the game. Bombs - Highly destructive. When used will clear the field of any enemies on screen. Does not give you any points and enemies destroyed with the bomb do not count towards your multiplier. -( Pros and Cons )- Basic Machine Gun: Pros - Good for aiming practice. Only have it for the first 10,000 points. Cons - Too slow with too few bullets. Would be useless at higher levels. Heavy Machine Gun: Pros - Fast firing. Allows for accuracy. Bullets spread apart when fired, allowing for increased accuracy at close range. Cons - Only 3 bullets per shot making some waves harder to destroy. Bullets spread apart when fired, meaning the very small Jacks and Spawns can sometimes fit through the tiny space between the bullets and get you. Bullets spread out slowly, meaning they're fairly parallel the entire time they're on the board, making distanced shots on fast enemies harder. Missiles: Pros - More missiles. There are five missiles in one shot, which means that when you're surrounded you can destroy more enemies at once, even when compared to the machine gun which is faster. Missiles spread out quickly, ensuring that you have more coverage when making distanced shots, allowing you to "trap" fast enemies behind a wall of missiles. Fires missiles bunched up, which allows for devastating power at close range, ensuring that you can easily clear a path in front of you for a quick escape. Cons - Very inaccurate until you get good practice with it. Slower firing than the machine gun, which makes it seem harder to hit more enemies at one time. Missiles fired bunched up, which makes it harder to hit certain, faster enemies at close range. Bombs: Pros - Essentially an extra life and a multiplier. Destroys everything, or nearly everything, on the field in an instant, allowing you to live in an otherwise unbeatable situation. Cons - Only obtained every 100,000 points. Can make split second decisions hard because you may be afraid of running out of bombs. Deploying a bomb does not give you any points and does not add to your multiplier, no matter how many enemies are on the field. -( Enemy Effectiveness )- Note: All techniques are given under the assumption that you are moving at full speed, but in any direction. Basic Machine Gun: Windmills - Good enough. Windmills don't follow you, so you should not have to worry about having this weapon while facing them. Seekers - Unless you're trying to get the Pacifist Achievement this gun should work just fine. If you are trying to get the Pacifist Achievement the Seekers will be moving extremely fast by the end of the 60 seconds. You will have no more than a second or so to destroy them while clearing a path through the Windmills at that point, so you had better work on your aim if you want to live and not use a bomb. Scares - Hardest enemy to hit while you have this gun. Shoot in a straight line then move towards a wall causing the stream of fire to "push" the Scare into the wall before he gets hit. Spawners - Shoot a straight line at them constantly. The released Spawns should loop right into your fire. Read below for Spawn information. Spawns - Sweep the fire across the Spawn if they miss your straight fire. Sidewinders - N/A. You should no longer have this weapon by the time you first encounter Sidewinders. Magnet Ships - N/A. You should no longer have this weapon by the time you first encounter Magnet Ships. Jacks - N/A. You should no longer have this weapon by the time you first encounter Jacks. Wormholes - You must be very close for this weapon to be effective, otherwise the ammo will be pushed away. Atoms - A Wormhole often appears rarely during the first 10,000 points, but if it does, and you let it explode, you are going to have a hard time with these guys with this gun. The best I can say is don't let a Wormhole explode, but if one does sweep the fire across the field and you should get them. Heavy Machine Gun: Windmills - Once you have this gun you probably won't even see Windmills any more. They'll be destroyed instantly or simply won't spawn. Seekers - Tears through them like they were made of paper. Very effective later on when there are hundreds of Seekers on the screen. Can be used to cut straight through the middle of a swarm if you need to. Scares - Works well at close range. Just shoot in the direction of the Scare and he should be hit. Horrible at long range, but okay at medium range. Spawners - Highly effective at long range. Simply shake the control stick a little to make sure no Spawns make it between the gaps in the bullets, and you should be able to destroy the entire bunch. Read below for Spawn information in case some make it through. Spawns - Aim straight at it and shake the control stick a bit. Sidewinders - Very effective at all ranges. Because of the high rate of fire you don't miss any chances when the Sidewinder is twisting around. You must still aim for the head, but when you do the Sidewinder should be destroyed in just a few moments. Magnet Ships - Very effective because of the fast rate of fire. If you are surprised by a ship that is almost on top of you, and you can't dodge it, you -may- be able to destroy it by shooting directly at it. Because the lines of the "shield" of the ship come forward from the ship in intervals you may get a shot in between one of the lines, but don't count on it. Other than that just wait until the ship passes by you and shoot a few shots towards it. The high speed should get it before it can turn around. Jacks - Highly effective at long range. Okay at medium range. Dangerous at close range because the Jacks may slip through the gap between the bullets and destroy you. Wormholes - You may be farther away than when using the Basic Machine Gun, but still close enough so that all three bullets hit it. Atoms - Effective at any range. Just aim at them. They're so fast that they just fly into your ammo. Missiles: Windmills - Once you have this gun you probably won't even see Windmills any more. They'll be destroyed instantly or simply won't spawn. Seekers - Very effective when you're at medium to long range from the Seekers, and good for destroying them at close range, but very ineffective for cutting a path through the middle of a swarm. Scares - Effective at all ranges. Simply sweep the control stick, causing a wall of missiles to fly towards the Scare. May dodge for a moment or so, but seems to forget to dodge after that and gets hit. Spawners - Highly effective at all ranges. At close range simply shoot straight into the center of the Spawner. There are five bullets in a blast from the missiles and only four pieces in a Spawner. You do the math. At medium and long range create a wall of missiles, similar to when shooting at the Scares, but not nearly as wide. It needs to be just a little wider than straight shooting because the missiles are slower, which allows the Spawns more time to loop away. Compensate for that with the wall. Read below for Spawn information in case some make it through. Spawns - At close range shake the control stick. At long range simply fire at them. The missiles should spread out enough to get the Spawn anywhere in it's loop. Sidewinders - Very ineffective at close range and medium range. At long range just shoot a few founds towards where the snakes head will be by the time the missiles reach the Sidewinder. You must work on your timing. Magnet Ships - Effective only once the ship has passed you. Do not try to shoot head on. It won't work. Jacks - Very effective at medium and close range, just shake the control stick a very small amount. At long range just keep moving while shooting. Wormholes - Effective at close and medium range. Two shots at close range will open and then destroy a wormhole. Atoms - Effective at long and medium range. Just shake the control stick a little when shooting at them. At close range things are a little risky, and you have to aim straight at each one because there is no time to shake the control stick, but so long as you're moving away from them and shooting behind you then you should be fine. ______ ______ / | 5 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Spawn Strategies | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= This section is about each of the different types of spawns, when an enemy appears on the field, that'll you'll encounter for each of the enemies. There are five types of distinct spawns. Ambush - When a single type of enemy spawns in a circle around you all at once. Corner Spawn - When a single or small group the same type of enemy spawns in all four corners of the field at the same time. Random Spawn - When an enemy appears randomly on the field. Swarm - When a single type of enemy spawns in all four corners. Different from a regular corner spawn in the fact that in a swarm there may be up to a thousand or more enemies instead of just a dozen or so. Rainbow Corner Spawn - This is the only type of spawn that requires more than one type of enemy, so I'll explain it all here. Spawn of a single wormhole and at least one Seeker, Scare, and Spawner from each corner. The longer you play a single game the more Seekers, Scares, and Spawners come from each corner. When one of these occur head for the closet corner in the direction you're moving in. Clear a path to the wormhole and destroy it. Move in a circular pattern around the field clearing a path and destroying the wormholes. Now, later in the game these spawns can become very intense. A good, though some what risky, strategy is to destroy the first wormhole you come to, to allow your enemies time to fly behind you and give chase, then when flying by the next wormhole activate it, but don't destroy it. The wormhole will quickly explode, releasing many Atoms, but not as many enemies as it sucked in. The Atoms will move towards you very quickly, so you won't have time to fight them off and clear a path in front of you. Instead just move towards the next corner, activate the Wormhole, then move on to the last Wormhole. By the time the third one explodes most of the enemies following you should have been sucked in, and you just have to destroy the remaining Atoms released from the last Wormhole. -( Windmills )- Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me. Corner Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me. Random Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them. Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me. -( Seekers )- Ambush - Quickly move away from the wall you're closest too, towards the most open space on the field. Shoot towards the Seekers in your path, and to the sides of your path, because they will quickly move in. Once you get out of the circle the remaining Seekers will bunch up, making the perfect target for which ever weapon you have. Corner Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them. Random Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them. Swarm - Begin flying around the field in a circular motion, shooting towards each corner as you pass by it, slowly tightening your circle, until the Seekers get too close for comfort. You should then move back towards the wall, and in the opposite direction of your circular motion. (IE. If you were moving clockwise now move counter-clockwise.) Clear a path in front of you and continue in a circular motion. By now the rest of the Seekers should be bunched up near the middle, making the perfect target for which ever weapon you have. -( Scares )- Ambush - Quickly move away from the wall you're closest too, towards the most open space on the field. Shoot towards the Scares in your path. You'll destroy some, or they'll dodge your fire, but it doesn't matter. You just have to clear a path of escape for now. Once you're outside just shoot them like normal. Corner Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them. Random Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them. Swarm - Move towards the corner farthest from you, firing as you go. Once the Scares behind you get within a few squares distance from you begin moving in a circular motion around the field. Clear a path in front of you, and shoot behind you, even if it's only one round, every once in awhile to force the Scares back. Once they stop swarming just shoot them like normal. -( Spawners )- Ambush - Unlike most ambushes the Spawners don't ambush you in a complete circle. They spawn a six point square around you. (Four corners and in between each corner.) Move towards one of the corners, towards the most open space on the field, and destroy the single Spawner that will be there. Do not move for one of the sides, because there are two Spawners for every side. Now, if you're not that great at destroying the Spawner and all it's Spawns in just a few shots you'll want to move through one of the gaps between a corner and side, which is actually far less risky, because the Spawners are relatively slow during an ambush. Once you're outside simply destroy them like normal. Corner Spawn - Destroy the Spawner closest to you. Then destroy the others normally. Random Spawn - Destroy them like normal. Try not to let any Spawns survive. Swarm - The single hardest thing in the game hands down. These occur very rarely, but when they do there is always upwards of twenty Spawners from every corner. Not only do you have to worry about a minimum of 240 Spawns (20 Spawners times 4 corners times 3 Spawns for each destroyed Spawner), but for some reason the Spawners in a Swarm initially move faster than any other enemy in my experience. I currently can only survive 1 out of 5 of these Swarms unless I use a bomb, and, at the time of writing this, I'm a 3,000,000+ point player. So, if you don't think you're good enough at the game overall, don't even risk your life and multiplier. Just fly to the middle, wait for the last possible moment to allow as many of them to spawn on the screen as possible, and blow 'em away. However, if you want to save your bombs, or have no bombs to speak of, or are just a crazy dare devil like myself, I have devised a way of fighting through this. Yes, I did say that I only survive 1 out of 5 of these swarms, but that's pretty good, I think, considering how hard these are and that I don't use bombs. I think it's just a matter of practicing it to get better. Now, in order to do this, not only do you have to be good, but you need to be "in the zone". You need to be able to see every Spawn and shoot it, while dodging the incredibly fast versions of the Spawners, while making sure other Spawners don't hit you from behind. Not only that, but these Swarms usually only occur later in the game, so there will me a lot more on screen already. As for the strategy, it's fairly simple. Either weapon works fine. If you're in the center when this happens you need to immediately move towards the closest wall and move towards the farthest corner on that wall. If you're already near a wall, good, you have an extra half second of time. Don't shoot directly at the corner, but so that the bullet or missile closest to the wall is parallel to the wall, and shake the control stick a bit. Keep a very close eye behind you, because the Spawners from the closer corner on the wall you flew to will catch up before you reach the farther corner. Fire a few shots at them, just enough to get the ones moving really fast, then continue shooting forward. When you get close to the corner, about the distance of two Wormholes, aim at an angle. The angle should create a "right triangle" with the corner, one with equal sides. If you don't know what that means, you should Google geometry. :) Shoot in that direction for just a moment, while moving in the same direction, then move towards the corner while shooting at it for another moment. Then move towards the next corner in the same direction. Everything in this paragraph should be performed within less than a second. In other words, a very fast, and very accurate maneuver. By now most of the other Spawners on the map are almost on top of you. You will want to begin moving towards the next corner in the direction you are already moving in. This is the hard part. Most of the Spawners that spawned in the corner you're flying towards will have already moved towards the middle of the field, because they were flying at you why you were against the previous wall, which means they can and will try to slam into you from the side. To make matters worse, there will still be a few Spawners coming straight at you from the corner you're flying at. Basically you'll want to shoot as much ammo in front of you, in a similar fashion to how you were shooting at the previous corner. You should be able to do this for about half a second, which means you need to destroy a path for yourself fairly quickly. After that half second is up you'll need to pull off some damn fine shooting. You DO NOT have time to sweep the control stick. You will have to jerk it from enemy to enemy. Because there are so many you do not have enough time sweep (rotate) the control stick for even a moment. I say this again. You must shoot one Spawner for every round you shoot. If you have the Machine Gun then you need to jerk the control stick very quickly, or you'll waste every other round. If you have the missiles you need to shoot two enemies with every round. Note: I'm not saying try to do these things, I'm saying you need to do them, or you die. If you can make it to the next corner, you've survived. Just continue to circle around the field and destroy them like any other swarm. Simple, huh? I would love to hear feedback about this strategy. -( Sidewinders )- Ambush - One of the harder ambushes, but definitely not impossible. If you aren't being assaulted by other enemies at the moment go ahead and stop moving to take the time to shoot a Sidewinder or two. Don't wait for too long however, because if a Sidewinder gets close to you they tend to move in more of a straight line than curved. As in straight at you. Make sure to shoot a path that leads to the most open space of the field, and try to find a part where there are fewer Sidewinders to avoid all your shots being blocked by multiple tails. Now, if you are already in heavy battle you have two options. One is, obviously, deploy a bomb. By far the easiest solution. The other solution requires much more skill and is far riskier. Despite your instincts in wanting to move as fast as possible from those following you you will have to slow down just a bit. I usually accomplish this not by easing off the control stick, which is hard to control, but by radically shaking it back and forth, giving you a zigzag motion which is slower than a straight-line motion. Now for the hard part. You need to quickly decide which part of the ambush square in the direction you're already moving in is weakest, even if it doesn't lead to a large amount of space. (Unless you're moving towards a wall, at which point you should just use a bomb.) Concentrate on hitting the head(s) of just the Sidewinders in your way and make sure to shoot a round, or two, behind you if another enemy gets too close. Even if you only destroy one Sidewinder you should be able to fly through with a bit of awesome piloting. Despite my ability to regularly perform this technique I still recommend using a bomb. Corner Spawn - Unique corner spawn in the fact that they may spawn in one to all of the corners, instead of all the corners all the time. When they spawn in one or two corners simply distance yourself to the other side of the field and sweep ammo across the corners. This should take care of most of the Sidewinders. Random Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me. They only ambush or corner spawn. Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me. They only ambush or corner spawn. -( Magnet Ships )- Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me. Corner Spawn - Most common spawn early in the game. If you have the opportunity take the time to destroy them before they turn towards you and form their shield. You'll have a maximum of about a second to do this. Otherwise just dodge their charges and shoot them when they pass by. Random Spawn - Once you hit 3,000,000 points this occurs almost constantly. I honestly have no strategy for this yet because I've only been to 3,000,000 points twice, my last two games, and both times I got screwed by these guys and finally lost my game. I can only speculate that I need to be able to dodge these guys faster while still clearing a path and being able to shoot them as well before too many of them accumulate on the screen. Doesn't sound hard; just needs practice. Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me. -( Jacks )- Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me. Corner Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me. Random Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me. Swarm - As far as I'm concerned this is the only way they spawn. In the beginning of the swarm wait in the middle shooting at all four corners. You want to do this for as long as possible so that enough Jacks will appear on screen so the invasion stops by the time you need to get through. Once they get too close for comfort move to the top or bottom. Top or bottom, not left or right, because the field is a rectangle and going to the top or bottom gives you more maneuvering room to your sides. Now, the below illustration works on either side of the field, but depicts the left side of the field. Follow the numbers; this is right after you need to move from the center. Doesn't matter what weapon you have, just make sure to shake the control stick about a degree or so to spread out the ammo. Shoot in the direction of the arrows/lines. Works with either weapon. \ 17-> 16 \ 16-> 17 \ \ 15-> 18/ 14->\ / / \ 13 \ | \ 12| 11| / <-1 10| / <-2 9 / <-3 / <-4 / \ <-5 / 8|<-6 / 7 When you get to 16 turn around and begin moving in the opposite circular direction. At 17 start destroying the few remaining Jacks on this side. By 18 most of them should be gone, and you can being moving in a circular motion around the rest of the field. The remaining Jacks from the other side will just float around the center, making the perfect target for which ever weapon you have. -( Wormholes )- Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me. Corner Spawn - See the "Rainbow Spawn" description above. Random Spawn - Happens quite often later in the game. No harder than when they spawn otherwise. Can also be used for the tactic in which you activate one to absorb a bunch of enemies then leading them to another Wormhole and so on, but more dangerous because these Wormholes can spawn anywhere on the field, meaning that enemies can be "flung" around the gravity of the Wormholes from more directions, unlike the corners. Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me. -( Atoms )- Wormhole Explosion - Because they explode out of the Wormhole in a 360 degree radius the ones that are initially moving towards you are very fast and need to be destroyed immediately. The others have to gain speed like any other enemy so they should be no harder than Seekers or Scares. ______ ______ / | 6 | \ =/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\= | Other | =\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/= -( Opinions )- Overall, I love this game. It's so much fun to just sit there for hours and play it over and over. I know I'm getting better. Every game I play my high score goes up. I suppose my final goal, and probably impossible goal, is to lead the leaderboard. I suppose since it's so hard I'll always be able to strive for that goal and keep playing. Once again, if there is anything that you think might help this FAQ, or a different strategy than the ones I've listed, please e-mail it to me! -( Legal )- This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Copyright 2006 by Chris Powers. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.