It was just supposed to be another mission. Just another rebel force in another of the dozens of country you team has been sent to. That was before the explosion. Before the plane crash. Before some your squadmates started acting strange. Maybe the facility over there will have some answers. Of course, even if you find those answers, you'll still have to worry about getting out alive... Strike Force Heroes, by Sky9 Games, is an action arena shooter that proves that the best way to unravel a shadowy conspiracy is by blasting everything in sight
Your soldier moves and jumps with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys, and aims and shoots with the mouse. You equip your two weapons prior to each level, switching between them with [shift]. You can choose before four different classes, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and special weapons: Medic, Commando, Assassin, and Tank. Successful enemy kills with a class will gain experience and cash, unlocking new weapons and abilities for purchase. In particular, there are "kill-streak" abilities, activated with [ctrl] or [E], after killing a sequence of enemies without dying. Ammo and Health Packs are scattered around the various levels, to replenish your stocks. Each level has various win conditions, be it a certain number of individual or team kills, holding specified points for a certain period of time, capturing the enemies flag, or working as a team to face off against a single juggernaut of an enemy. Good luck, soldier!
Analysis: Juice-Tin, part of the Sky9 team, was co-creator of the Raze series. It is no surprise, then, that Strike Force Heroes plays a lot like them. Indeed, a fair description would be "Raze... NOT IN SPACE". That's a good thing for fans of the genre though. It keeps the frenetic action and streamlined gameplay, while at the same time, addressing how generic its predecessor felt at times. Most notably, by keeping things on Earth, there an appreciably larger variety of arenas to fight in. Even if, in most cases, it's a matter of aesthetic differences and platform placement, it's still much more enjoyable to have a choice of battling in a jungle village, a disintegrating aircraft, or a secret underwater lab, than a choice between a bio-mechanical alien landscape, a bio-mechanical alien landscape in a canyon, and a bio-mechanical alien landscape with a little ice on it. The aesthetic is sleek, even a little cartoony, but that serves well to keep characters and locales distinguishable. Also worthy of mention is the soundtrack, largely consisting of riffs and remixes on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". While it sometimes comes out a little tinny, the choice of music does much to enhance the militaristic flavor, while allowing natural musical transitions from level to level, and style to style.
Of course, with all attempts at innovation come a few missteps. The ability to change to a different kind of soldier, with its own choice of equippable weaponry unlocked as you play, works well as a mechanic. Yeah, it gets a little odd in story mode when your named Medic comes back to life as a Commando. Still, it's a fair price to pay for sidestepping the "whatever player gets to the best weapons first, wins!" problem that has plagued death-matches since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, the different classes don't feel quite balanced yet, which means, when it comes to XP gains, some classes may get left behind. (Then again, it may just that this review was never meant to be a Tank.) Also, speaking of balance, the difficulty in campaign mode takes quite a leap near the end, which may leave player grinding earlier levels for quite a bit. Finally, the lack of online multiplayer is a shame, though at least the programming is smart enough to ensure your AI teammates don't spend their time firing into walls. Much.
The best part of Strike Force Heroes is its wealth of content and options. 65+ weapons, a hefty story campaign and challenge mode, a host of achievements and unlockables, and an impressively customizable quickplay mode combine to make a game that all fans of arena shooters will find engaging. Pwning CPU newbs has never been so satisfying.
Okay, how are you supposed to beat "One Final Effort"? I can manage 4 kills per death reliably, and I still can't keep up. Either I run out of ammo (and there's absolutely no ammo stockpiles on the map), or I simply can't keep running back and forth between the points faster than the enemy can capture. And if I die (because I ran out of ammo), the enemy will usually capture 1 or 2 more points before I respawn, and I can't clear them fast enough to regain my lead. And trying to make a safe landing when the enemy is camped out below you is practically Russian Roulette.
I've tried the sniper with Dragunov, I've tried the Medic (both with revolver and assault rifle), I've tried the attack helicopter, and nothing I've unlocked so far has both the firepower and ammo supply to take out an endless stream of high-end enemies. Any ideas?
Finally beat it. I used the Crossbow and M1911. Headshot, finish up with a few pistol shots, then reload. Try to hold all 3 points as long as you can, because the longer the match drags on the greater your chance of making a mistake or getting screwed by the RNG. Don't be afraid to restart if you get a really bullshit selection of enemies (Auto-Revive, Iron Will, Blur, or some of the high-end weapons). Even with this strategy, it was still really tough.
The final level was actually pretty fun, though. And it had a twist ending!
Now I'm on to the challenge maps. Most of them are pretty fun, but the Golf challenge is utterly insane.
Overall, I found the game's suggested levels were a bit too high, and I could usually beat missions 5-10 levels above me. I played as a sniper. Here are my tips for the challenges I got up to:
Double Agent
This one's pretty easy. Make sure to stay near anybody who has low health, because there's a 50% chance they'll be an opponent soon.
Kevlar
This plays out just like a normal level. Keep an eye on who's in the lead with the most kills, or second most if you're winning. I tried to avoid that person. The kevlar vests aren't that significant because of how much damage you should be doing by now, but it is always easier to get a quick kill on someone unarmored. Watch out for kill stealers.
Man With the Golden Gun
This level is absurdly easy. They don't get a headstart on kills, and your gun is an automatic 1-hit kill.
Rocket Race
A tough level if you aren't good at headshots, because most enemies will take 2 hits to kill. On this level it is extremely important not to let others steal your kills. Be prepared to use the thumper to finish off anyone quickly. You should probably avoid tanks because they take a long time to kill. Staying high gives you an advantage.
Prepared
Practive getting the arcs of your grenades right and you should be fine. Most enemies can be killed by quickly firing off a couple grenades in a row. Keep your launcher well loaded. I didn't use the shield much because I found jumping around to be more useful.
Norris, Chuck
You can easily kill anyone with one hit, and after a few seconds of not being hit you regenerate quickly. It's best to stay high up and sneak down to kill them one at a time, then regenerate.
Golf Season
It's virtually impossible to kills them all quick enough to stop them from massing up. I guess one thing you could do is get your best sidearm, then a melee weapon and try smashing as many as you can before you die, but there is another way. I'm putting this in another spoiler tag because it's AI abuse
If you stand on the very leftmost end of the plane, the golfers go back and forth without ever going to you, so you can easily kill them without any danger.
Ninja Assault
The ninjas are almost always totally invisible, except for when hit and I think right before attacking you. The easiest way to deal with them is to get one really high damaging weapon and one high rate of fire one, then jump around spraying bullets until tou see one and finishing it off. They have no headstart in kills, so you just need to kill at least one per life. It gets kind of tedious.
Poison
Your biggest enemy here is the poison. If it kills you you get -1 points, which is pretty much the worst way to die. If you're going to die, find somebody else, preferably not your closest competitor for points, and have them kill you. To become the juggernaut, wait until they are nearly dead and finish them off. Then, open fire on anybody near you. You're only getting weaker the longer you wait.
I have no idea how to beat the helicopter level.
Big Brother:
I stayed near the bottom, where I always had a roof over my head, and tried to lure the enemy into the gaps in the roof so that my own helicopter could take them out. The best position is if the enemy is running on the floor above you, so you can run along below them and your helicopter can track them the whole way.
Self Experiments:
The scientists are very tough. Get the AWP (best sniper rifle) and you can one-shot them, though. Just kill all of them in a row and you have plenty of time to grab the flag. If you don't have it, use the Jackal for 2-shot kills with perfect accuracy, but it'll be a lot tougher.
Knife to a Gunfight:
The enemies are pretty deadly at close range, but they don't seem to notice you often and when they do you can just keep backing up and gun them down. You'll be going through a lot of sniper ammo, so use your sidearm a lot and stick close to the ammo stockpiles.
Hide and Seek:
Play a sniper, wait for someone to be alone, and shoot them before they have a chance to shoot back. You're invisible until you shoot, and enemies will never shoot until they spot you, so take your time and make sure it's safe before each shot.
Vampire:
Everyone loses health equally, so it's not much different from any deathmatch. As with Juggernaut, try not to die from the curse, because that makes you lose a point.
Meet your Makers:
Two extra-tough enemies, one with a Minigun and Blur, the other with a Spas-12 and Iron Will (with cheatingly fast recharge, I think). As with all really tough enemies, the AWP is your friend, although Blur and Iron Will prevent it from being as deadly as usual. Both of them will murder you up close, so keep your distance and use cover. Focus on the guy with the minigun, because he's a bit easier to kill and he does more damage. You just need to kill one of them every life to stay ahead, so it's easier than it looks.
One other tip for Big Brother
Since the only difference between the classes here is Life, unless you're really high leveled, go as a Tank and restart until the other guy is a Tank too so you both have that extra bit of health.
I finished half of the challenges with soldiers under level 20. I wasn't able to finish all of them because for some reason I lost all my data, and I don't feel like restarting all over again...
Here's a few extra tips for the challenges:
Golf Season:
Use a commando with a rocket launcher (the basic one works) and the Bouncing Betty. Shoot once (or twice if you can), and jump off so they don't get the kill (don't worry, you'll get out of the negative zone soon enough). Drop Betty's when available. You'll rack up the kills in no time.
Self Experiments:
A slightly easier (it doesn't require a high level) but more time consuming way is to use a Tank with the Reflect killstreak. Camp near your flag and rack up enough kills without dying, and once the killstreak is activated go for the flag. Preferably, get as close as possible before activating it.
One Final Effort (campaign):
I used a Commando (all time favorite), with the infinite clip skill and the Bouncing Betty. If you stay on the planes at the far left and right, you can easily snipe people in the middle without taking too much damage. I placed Bouncing Betty's whenever available, usually next to the points just to make it easier to recapture later. I do believe this level takes quite a bit of luck though.
okay so i got all the secret medals
Detective
okay so on campaign you choose the mission siege under and instead of going into the left duct when you start you go to the right there is a black cloud. crouch and go into it. when you get into the room(wait until you get the medal) just click outside the game screen and it should pause. then quit.
and can anyone tell me if there is a way to get into the "gun room" in the facility
The easiest way to beat the ninjas is to switch to the assassin/sniper and use the lasers sight. Then you can see where the laser sight ends and shoot that.
does anyone have any tips for level 9?
I have found a easy method to beat the helicopter challenge.
Whatever you do, stay at the ground level. As much as possible, stay in the blind spots of the enemy choppers, and wait patiently for your enemy to come by. Your own chopper can then finish them off. Repeat. As long as you stay in the blind spot of choppers, you just need to be patient enough to wait. Also, luck is a factor and you have to pray that your ally isn't one of those stupid ones that will rush out for no reason.
AMAZING GAME! The lack of multi is bad though. Minor glitch: on Foundry, the one with the lava, if you pause while the lava is pouring, it will go away, so if your about to hit the lava, just pause.
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