3. Story walkthrough
Note: While almost all of the achievements can be obtained on any level, I put it in a format that tries to maximize the amount of achievements you get in comparison to the time you spend. Therefore when I say things like "you might as well grab this in the 4th level" that doesn't mean it's only capable of being obtained in the 4th level.
Now while the achievements are stackable, I recommend you start by playing through the game on normal difficulty. This will get you used to the powerups and the bosses that appear throughout the game. So let's assume that you are playing through the game on normal first. While on normal grab the "odd" achievements, then go back and play on Insane. Have fun. If you are friendless but want to get such achievements as beating a level without firing, power up a second controller and use that one to do all the work. Friends make it much more fun though. Try to maximize your score as much as possible, but if you fail you can get the points achievement in your second playthrough. Just going to mention it now so you keep it in mind:
I got this while playing through on normal difficulty and all you have to do is get 100,000 points. By the end of normal mode I had around 140,000 points, which is significantly higher. If you play with three other people, you may have an issue, but with just one other person, it should be no issue at all. Obviously you get points for killing bad guys, and you actually get points for killing asteroids too. Just make sure not to lose all your lives so you don't lose all your score. Now while it is possible to get this on the Insane difficulty, and points are increased because of the difficulty multiplier (essentially), you're much more prone to death and much more prone to a reset in score.
So you are going to start up the game and pick normal difficulty. I strongly, strongly suggest that you play with a friend. The game can support up to four players on one game. The difference between playing by yourself and playing with one other person is substantial. So once you get your buddy, or go on Xbox live and set up a party, now you'll be starting up the game. The overarching achievement that you are going to be going for is below:
Complete the game on Normal.
Now while you're going for this achievement, assuming you have multiple people playing with you, you should try and get each of these achievements on an individual level. Let's start with Untouchable. You must complete a level without taking damage. This is extremely difficult without another person shooting the bad guys for you. I recommend you doing it on the first level, on normal, since this one can be a little tricky with the harder opponents later in the game. I just hung back at the back of the map while my friends took out everyone up front. Don't bother picking up any of the powerups, except for the shield if you feel like it. That way you can reflect any bullets. If you have three other people playing with you, this will be seriously no problem. That's all the tips I really have specifically.
Now while you're going for that achievement you should also get the Diplomat achievement, completing a level without firing. Since you won't want to get in the "fire" while you're trying not to get shot, you might as well just plain not fire. This is easiest on the first level of course, and with multiple other people of course. Achievements will both unlock at the end of the level.
Complete a level without taking damage.
Complete a level without firing.
So now while you're playing with your friends you might as well grab up these two achievements. The first is to create a four-ship formation, which is extremely easy. If you don't have three other friends willing to play with you, simply go on Xbox live, plug in your mic, and ask the other three to join up with you. Just approach each other and press the x button to connect. Get all four of you connected and this achievement will instantly pop.
Form a four-ship (Epic) formation.
While you're connected, you might as well get the teamwork achievement. Now notice that the achievement says that you must be attached. This is a little misleading - you can't just be attached to someone, you must be the "attaché". That means that you cannot be the one that is driving, you must be the turret that is connected, shooting autonomously. You just have to score 10,000 points in a level, which isn't particularly hard, but you can always ask the person that is driving not to shoot, and/or you could play on a harder difficulty, where each thing you destroy is worth more. It doesn't matter how many ships are attached by the way.
Score 10,000 points while attached in a level.
While you have a bunch of friends/people online, you should make sure to do this achievement on the third level. Doing this following achievement by yourself is difficult, but possible, on the first level later if you must. Just have one person/group take the top of the map, and the other person/group take the bottom of the map. I stress that is easier on the first level. Make sure that if you EMP any of the units, you kill them afterwards, since it is kind of hard to see them. The guided missiles are your best friend for getting this achievement.
Destroy all enemies in a level.
You will also receive this achievement after the completion of level 3:
Finish Mission 3 on any difficulty.
During your play through you will probably unlock the immortal achievement, most likely on the first level if the people you are playing with are competent. If you haven’t received it yet, focus on it in this fourth level. Again, you can do this by yourself, but it's kind of a drag until you get at least mildly good at the game. Just make sure that everyone sticks together, powerups are split relatively equally, and that no one is at the far front of the screen. Running into bad guys will really hurt you badly. Just take your time. You don't need to go out of your way to kill everyone. My biggest issue with hurting myself/killing myself was that someone would EMP some bad guys, and I wouldn't be able to see them once they turned black and started to float around, and I'd run into them. I don't suggest you use the EMP for this very specific reason, but if you disagree with my opinion, then go ahead.
Complete a level without dying or losing any allies.
About this time you should be unlocking the achievement to score 30,000 points. Now there are two issues. One, if you're playing with three other people, and aren't aggressive, you might have more of an issue, but you will almost definitely have it by the end of the game no matter how many people you are playing with it. The second issue is that if you run out of all your lives, your score will be reset to zero even though you are allowed to continue.
The last two require your significant time, and separate the players after easy achievements and the players who are after completion percentage. The first one requires you to complete the game on the Insane difficulty. I strongly, strongly, recommend that you get three other people to play with you. You can go on Xbox live and grab some other people, and if someone does leave, you can get someone else to join later in the level probably. The game does get significantly difficult, especially in the last level. It took me about thirty tries to beat the last level with three other people over Xbox live, and I consider myself relatively good at the game, despite not having the Ace achievement which we will discuss momentarily. It just hasn't appealed to me yet, it's not that I don't think I can do it.
Now an alternative to beating the whole game on Insane difficulty is to join someone who is playing the last level on Insane difficulty over Xbox live. Just beat the last level and the achievement will pop at the end, despite you having only played that one level. You might not feel like you really accomplished it though, so that's your choice of course.
There aren't really any pure tips to how to beat it on insane, besides having multiple people play with you, and not giving up. If you're going to play it locally, make sure your friends are in it for the long haul. You can check out achievement boosting threads and you'll most likely find someone setting up a boosting session for this game about once every week.
Complete the game on Insane.
Now the last achievement is only worth twenty gamerpoints, which is a shame considering how difficult it is. I don't have the achievement, but I know how to get it, and have read up on it. It is the Ace achievement. You must get 185,000 points. As I said earlier, beating the game on normal with one other person netted me about 140,000 points, give or take 10,000. That's not enough. Now you can take your choice of one of these three things to get this achievement.
1) Have a friend play with you, and connect onto him. Have his job be simply driving, while you, the turret, shoot everything. Have him grab the powerups that reflect bullets (bubbles) and the EMP to make bullets disappear in front of him. You grab everything else, theoretically. You can get this, just barely, on normal difficulty. Make sure not to lose all your lives, or the score will reset.
2) You can be a cool guy and grab two controllers yourself. At the start of the game (either normal or insane. Normal means less likely to die; insane means more points, more likely to die). Attach the second controller ship to you. Keep it next to you so you can press the "B" button easily. Have the second controller pick up the lambda shields (which gives no points to the second controller) while you pick up all the other powerups. It takes some coordination and luck.
3) Glitch glitch glitch. There's a level called Re-entry. There's a boss at the end. We'll call him REB (Red-entry boss). During his battle he shoots out some asteroids. Later in the battle he'll shoot out a laser that will destroy these asteroids. You get 40 points for destroying these mine/asteroids. During this continual pattern of attacks he will also let out a super weapon power up. That's worth 50 points. If you never kill this boss it will continue in this pattern. He'll destroy about 4-8 mines per laser shot. That means about 120 points per mine destruction + 50 points for pickup = 170 points. You need to get to 185,000 points. It's hard getting even over 100,000 in this game. If you were wondering how some people had such high scores on the leader boards, this is the method they used. As long as you keep dodging, you can get points...
And there you go, 100%!
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