Particle collider
Your multiplier is KING
Every time you hit an enemy, collect/save a human or shoot a power-up container, the game gives you a short amount of time in which to hit something else. The length of this time varies depending on which difficulty mode you choose (as does the maximum score multiplication it can reach), so start on Beginner and see how long you can keep it active.
Sometimes, you will find yourself with nothing to shoot and your multiplier will flash red. If youre certain youre not going to make a shot in time (as in the situation pictured in the inset), hit R2 and use up a bomb. Bombs immediately replenish the multiplier and destroy every enemy currently active, then new enemies will spawn close to you, allowing you to carry on. Sure, theres a bonus for not using bombs, but the score loss is nothing compared to dropping your multiplier. Preserve it at all costs.
Learn how to throw humans
Right, well get to 'human herding' later on as a very advanced technique. Before you get to that insane level of scoring, you should learn how to throw. Youll often need to act fast to save two, three or even four humans in a short space of time. L2 feebly throws the human youre carrying, but the strength of the throw can be augmented with a boost. Throw while boosting and the human can fly about a third of the way around the level, as in the screenshot up there. That 20,000 is the human being saved. Miles away.
Obviously, you need to hit the green transporters beam, as a throw that falls short can often kill a human (many levels have holes in awkward places). Another advanced technique is to juggle humans. Throw one while catching another and repeat. Saving two within a second of each other earns a trophy and nets you significantly more points.
Shoot the last humans?!
It looks horrible, but shooting humans with your gun doesnt hurt them in the slightest. All it does is knock them up into the air. Its entirely possible to keep them in the air indefinitely, suspended on your bullety bridge. So if you knock a human towards a hole, you can keep firing and catch them before they fall.
While its a great method of sustaining a humans life while fighting over a pit (which you'll need a lot in the final level), keep in mind that shooting a human doesnt replenish your multiplier. So make sure you keep shooting enemies too.
Boost turns you into an invincible bullet
Pushing L1 puts your ship into a boost, which allows you get to the other side of the city in a couple of seconds--great if a human is in trouble a long way from you. But it also makes your ship completely invulnerable for the duration of the boost. So it's basically the equivalent of Monopoly's 'get out of jail free' card.
Boost through an enemy and not only will it be destroyed, it will also add a little boost back to the gauge (the semicircular blue bar above your ship). String lots of hits together and the boost will last longer, also adding massively to your score. Dont assume the boost can only be used in straight lines; Keep it under control and you can still steer left, right, up and down, enabling you to boost though entire vertical lines of enemies from top to bottom.
Boost is also a bomb
Tap the boost button quickly (while charged) and watch what happens. A small circle of distortion expands from your ship when you let go. Not only does this ensure you never end a boost in the middle of an enemy and die, you can also use it to destroy circular patters of enemies, or scupper UFOs by boosting up to them and letting the bomb annihilate them on your arrival.
Better still, this end-boost bombs radius increases the more enemies you destroy during the boost itself. Clear some 50 enemies on one go and the final bomb will be massive. Use this to your advantage. Its also worth noting the bomb will also dissolve enemy fire, which is invaluable when facing bosses.
Don't save Overdrive. Use it!
The green cubes do two things. First, they give you score, which is obviously the whole point of the game. But secondly, they fill the other bar around your ship: the green one just under it. This is your Overdrive bar. You cant use it unless its full, so wait for the nice lady to tell you Overdrive Charged and then look for a suitable place to use it.
Overdrive is best used when the screen is absolutely full of enemies, so try to hit as many as possible when you use it. During overdrive, your ship is automatically invulnerable and destroys enemies on contact, but you can still boost if you see a large group of enemies the other side of the map. Green cubes absorbed during overdrive dont refill the bar, so sometimes its better to destroy enemies as far away as the beam allows, then pick up the green cubes they leave when your ship returns to normal. Then do it all again! There's no penalty for using it, so the more you can do it, the better. Obviously use it wisely, but don't forget to use it.
Watch carefully when it says Keepers detected
Keepers are enemies that have a green glow around them, and must be destroyed before they complete their circuit and leave the map, killing a human. The ones that come from the top are easy enough, but others are harder to spot, sometimes flying around the level instead of homing in on your location.
But a few keepers in level 2 onwards come in formations and only have one green segment, with the others shining red. You must destroy the green one first, then another will turn red. Destroy a red one and the human will perish. There arent any nasty surprises with snakes of these keepers, just boost through them from nose to tail. But always make sure you arent going to hit a red one when the message comes.
Boxes flash to tell you which human will be released next
When it says Keepers detected, one of the glass prisons holding the humans will start to flash. Obviously, your priority is to destroy the keepers before they kill a human, but try to spot where the flashing box is while youre fighting them. Easier said than done, but theyre fairly obvious once you know what youre looking for.
Once identified, you should be able to start manoeuvring yourself into a position that will allow you to shoot the remaining Keepers while planning your dash over to the human. If it really is the direct opposite side of the map (watch for where the ball of energy flies to for the exact spot), then look for enemies that will follow you around so you can shoot one every second or so to keep your multiplier alive.
Some humans live and die by the multiplier
Sometimes, you'll wonder why a human is suddenly running around, or worse, suddenly dead. Well, it turns out some humans are only released when your multiplier is sufficiently high. In this example, it was 3x, denoted by a green glow appearing on the multiplier indicator once the readout hit that figure, and then the human was released at the start of the next wave.
I'll be honest, it's only looking back over the footage I captured, frame-by-frame, that I saw this, as the indicator on the multiplier is much too subtle to afford anyone the luxury of working out what's happened without being told. And the game doesn't make a point of it at all. But now you know, you know what to do. Which is? Refer to point one and never let your combo drop! Sorted.
The Phobos' power is worth getting used to
The three ships are ostensibly easy, medium and hard from left to right on the selection screen. But I actually find the expert ship, Phobos, is easiest. Not only does its long single shot allow you to keep your multiplier going by shooting around the corner of the map, but it also develops an insanely powerful but ultra-short range burst of fire after a few upgrades.
That means you can plough through waves of enemies head-on without worry of said enemies reaching your ship and destroying it. Master difficulty and above adds revenge bullets so you wont be doing much of that, but its great for Experienced of Veteran. Its also noticeably faster at taking down bosses and even takes down armoured enemies head-on, instead of requiring you to dodge around the back like you would with the Nemesis or Ferox.
Have you herd? I thought everyone had herd...
Herding is the most advanced technique in Resogun and demands impeccable control of all your ships functions. The method involves freeing all the humans and transporting them to the area just underneath the transporter. You remember I said be careful not to let a throw fall short? Well, this is why the transporter beam only works in the upper quadrant of the playfield.
Humans can happily walk underneath it without being saved. They wont walk off down a hole like lemmings, but be careful not to knock one in with a stray bullet. UFOs will come and try to carry them off, but remember the boost technique and you should be able to keep them all there. Keep adding to your multiplier until the boss appears, at which point all the humans will rise upwards. Just put them in the transporter one by one before they fly off the top of the level for a massive score boost.
Armageddon
With these hints (and a lot of practice), you should be able to get at least 100million points on Experienced and easily blitz the trophy lists and secure the Platinum. I'm proud (but also slightly ashamed) to say that Resogun represents my first Platinum Trophy, and not just on PS4. If you haven't got one yet, this is a great game to pop your cherry on. Indeed, Resogun and this guide represent your passport to a wonderful world glittering with Platinum pixels. I did it. I'm in that world. Yes, you'll need sunglasses. And if you have any tips or tricks I haven't mentioned, let us know in the comments below.
And if you're looking for more on PS4 gaming, check out the Best PS4 games and our PS4 review.
