|
Playing on highest difficulty setting – Hard – doesn’t change the game’s story in any way, but makes all opponents considerably more difficult to kill. You have to show some creativity and courage to live up to that challenge. Mind that the game might actually begin to resemble a sneaking title like Splinter Cell. The hints we summed up below can be obviously used on lower difficulty settings as well – they will be equally effective.
So, you want to sneak? Then be sure to use tonics like SportBoost, Wrench Lurker and Natural Camouflage. They should keep you going for the most part.
Big Daddies – these guys are creme de la creme of tough opponents in this game. Despite being tough, scary and all, they have one major weakness: they don’t attack you on sight. You can freely choose when and where to battle a Big Daddy. You have all the time in the world to choose the proper ammo (armor-piercing! electric gel! grenades!) and prepare the arena. Until you come to posses a Chemical Thrower with an Electric Gel (that’s a standalone Big-Daddy-Killer), you should try to find a proper cover for the battle (a wide column, a big tree, whatever suits you best). It will serve you as a mean to hide and to slow down the enemy (try running around it). It’s always good to throw a few Proximity Mines between you and the Big Daddy. You might also use explosive barrels or canisters (move them using Telekinesis). Once you have the Chemical Thrower, Big Daddies cease to be such a great threat. Just produce as much Electric Gel as you can (U-Invent) and fry the beasts.
|
|
Big Daddy as a bodyguard – the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid is extremely useful. There are lots of Big Daddies in the game and they always tend to appear where the action is. Remember that they respawn after some time from being defeated (even if there are no more Little Sisters on that level). The plasmid’s basic limitation is that Big Daddy doesn’t attack any enemy before he deals damage to us or we deal damage to him. Besides, watch out so that you don’t hit the Big Daddy by accident. If you do, he will turn against you. Knowing that, restrain from using weapons ammo such as explosives, napalm or grenades when you hypnotize a Big Daddy. The good thing to do in such situation it to hide behind a corner, shoot a group of enemies with a short series, then retreat and wait for the Daddy to do the job. If you’re a perfectionist, you can use Hypnotize to weaken the Big Daddy before you actually fight him. Remember that Big Daddies don’t regenerate their health – ever.
Cameras and turrets – they are every bit as essential as Big Daddies. Always try to hack instead of destroying them. Since turrets can be quite easily destroyed by the enemies, cameras become even more important (they are often placed too high for a certain enemy to reach them) on hard difficulty setting. If a camera is too high for you to hack, use Telekinesis to get a crate below it – or something equally helpful in climbing to higher places.
Effective ADAM spending. Especially when you decide to save the Little Sisters, spending ADAM becomes an issue to be solved. In each Gatherer’s Garden you can buy only one enhancement of health and EVE levels – if you don’t want to backtrack, that should be your priority. Apart from that, invest in additional plasmid and tonic slots. Don’t buy tonics or plasmids if you don’t really need them – they become cheaper as the game progresses!
The Crossbow – our weapon of choice in the later parts of the game. Why? Well, one headshot takes out every single enemy of the game, except for the Big Daddies – even the sub-bosses!. And how do you perform headshots since the Splicers are always on the move? By electrocuting them! Buy yourself an Electro Bolt 3 as soon as possible (Hephaestus), things will become a lot easier. Works for everyone, except Splicers who are resistant to electricity (which means, unfortunately, majority of Thuggish splicers in the last few levels). Also, the possibility to retrieve ammo from the bodies is of great importance.
Researching – an important feature on all difficulty settings. On Hard you may have to focus on taking photos of dead enemies. Make sure that every time you take a photo there are at least two objects on screen – you’ll get some bonus points for multiple targets. The same thing goes with taking photos of Little Sisters and Big Daddies, who always come in pairs.
Playing on high difficulty setting gives a lot of satisfaction. If you’re hardcore enough, you might also restrain from saving your game too often. If only there was a way to turn off all the vita-chambers... Anyway, good luck out there.
|
