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Prima Games Blog

The Prima Games Blog is the place to read about new video games, get expert strategy, tips, downloads,
free walkthroughs, and insider game info by gamers for gamers.

All posts tagged with ‘Tricks’
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Bad Company 2 Demo Survival Tips

Are you as addicted to the Battlefield Bad Company 2 demo as I am? I’ve been playing the game for nearly three months now and I still can’t get enough, squeezing in at least one hour of multiplayer every evening. But if you’re having a tough time grasping some of the new (and old) concepts, here are a few quick tips.

Tag Those Targets: You may have noticed the red/orange icons above enemy units. This is the result of your knowledgeable teammates tagging targets through the new Comms system. To tag a target, aim at an enemy unit and press the Comms button; “Q” on the PC, “Back” on the Xbox 360, or “Select” on the PS3. Tagged targets are visible to all teammates both on the HUD and minimap. This is an easy way to communicate with your entire team, plus if a teammate kills a target you tagged, you earn a 20-point Spot Assist bonus. A target remains tagged for approximately five seconds, but you can tag it again as long as you maintain line of sight.

Pass the Ammo: Hey assault guys! Would it kill you to drop an ammo box? The assault kit’s ammo box is the only source of ammo. So when playing as assault, be generous with the bullets. You’re rewarded with a Team Resupply bonus (10 points) every time a teammate retrieves ammo from an ammo box. Engineers and recon players often need more rockets and sniper rounds, so consider dropping a box at their feet to keep them firing. And for you medics, don’t be so stingy with the medkits either.

A Tank is not a Battering Ram: To all those players who drive their tanks headlong into enemy infantry: Stop it now! All it takes is 2-3 rockets to take out a tank, so keep it a safe distance from enemy infantry. Instead, use it as a stand-off weapon, blasting enemies from long range. The machine gun turret on each tank is equipped with a zoom function, making the weapon extremely accurate and deadly at extreme distances. Also, consider playing as an engineer, so you can repair your own ride.

Alt Fire Specialization: This is the only specialization available in the demo, so always equip it before spawning into the game. This perk allows drivers of tanks to fire a coaxial machine gun by holding down the alternate fire button. The UAV even benefits with a deadly machinegun of its own. But the AH-64 Apache gets an even bigger bonus with this feature. The gunner can use the secondary fire button to shoot tracer darts at vehicles while the pilot can launch Hellfire missiles, homing in on the gunner’s traced targets.

Destruction 2.0: In Bad Company 2, structures can completely collapse if they take enough damage. This is a great way to take out M-COM objectives located inside houses. In the demo, objective A at the Construction Site and objective B at the Office Site can be destroyed in this fashion. Simply target the building’s outer walls with explosive munitions until you hear creaking and moaning sounds, indicating an imminent collapse. Collapsing buildings not only destroy M-COM stations but they’ll kill any opponents inside.

For more multiplayer tips and tactics, be sure to check out our guide, releasing next month. Inside we cover every kit, weapon, vehicle, and specialization in detail, complete with stats, tactics, and unlock criteria. The guide also contains labeled maps showing the locations of all bases, objectives, control points, as well as spawn points for all vehicles and stationary weapons. So look for it on store shelves when you buy the game.

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Ready for the 40th Day?

Today marks the release of Army of Two: The 40th Day, featuring Salem and Rios in another fist-bump-worthy adventure. I had a lot of fun with the first game, but this one is a whole new beast with some welcome additions and tons of super-cool new features. And I’m not saying that just because I wrote the guide. I really feel the latest installment is a huge improvement over the original. So what are some of my favorite innovations? I absolutely love the one-button melee attacks. It’s especially satisfying to sneak up behind a distracted enemy and dispatch them with your bare hands…or a bayonet. Grenades are also now assigned a button of their own making it much easier to frag thugs during a heated firefight. But that’s just the beginning.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of the new game is the weapon customization option. Not only can you buy a large assortment of assault rifles, sub machineguns, shotguns, sniper rifles, and light machineguns, but you can tear each weapon apart and apply its parts to different weapons in your arsenal. Want to add that AK-47 stock to your M416? No problem. Or maybe you just want to attach a shotgun beneath the barrel of your semi-automatic grenade launcher? The customization options are absolutely insane allowing for the creation of some truly brutal implements of war. I made sure we paid a great deal attention to this feature in our guide, complete with stats and info on every weapon and weapon part. We even put together a helpful quick reference table in the back of the guide showing all these stats.

Army of Two was one of the first games to take co-op gameplay seriously, taking a ground-up approach in its design. I’m pleased to see that the co-op experience is even more fluid this time around. For example, co-op sniping can be initiated at any time; a great way to eliminate two target simultaneously. Plus you can perform some awesome new co-op actions such as the mock surrender. But the co-op interactions don’t end with the gameplay. Your team’s choices can affect the outcome of the story. Throughout the campaign there are a variety of co-op choices requiring you and your partner to make a tough decision. Are you in it for the money? Or are you more interested in helping your fellow man? Even better, none of these decisions are real cut and dry. But don’t worry; we cover all the co-op choices in the guide, describing the rewards and consequences for each. Also, if you’re a completionist you’ll be happy to know that we also have labeled maps illustrating the locations of all collectibles including weapon parts, radio transmissions, civilians, cash drops, and Maneki Neko cats.

Late in the project we had the chance to play through the different multiplayer game modes with the developers. And I’m pleased to say that we didn’t get totally embarrassed. Still, it helps when you have experts on your team. In all there are four game modes: Control, Co-Op Deathmatch, Extraction, and Warzone. Of all these modes, I had the most fun with Extraction, requiring you and three buddies to hold out against wave after wave of AI-controlled enemies. It’s a very tough mode but the teamwork required to come out on top is very rewarding. The developers even took the time to write some tips for each map pointing out crucial locations and tactics necessary for achieving victory.

After this one, I’m eager to see what’s next for Salem and Rios. I’m happy to see EA is investing in this franchise, complete with a new comic book set to release this month from IDW—we have the first few pages of the debut issue in the back of our guide. These characters are perfect for a comic series and I’m sure it will help maintain interest while we wait for the next video game adventure. I know I’ll be checking it out every month.

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The Party Scene

Dragon Age Collector's EditionI have 300+ hours into Dragon Age: Origins, and I’m still going back for more. Not to replay the quests (I’ve done them all), not to load a new character up with fancy loot (though, admittedly, there are some cool weapons I still want to check out), not to discover a secret location in Ferelden (the unknown frontier has been colonized for me a while back). No, I miss the party scene.

I do miss chugging some ale around camp with the fiery dwarf Oghren, but it’s more about wanting to go back and see all my friends. My companions that journeyed with me from the Grey Warden Joining to the final battle against the Archdemon. Sounds sappy, maybe, but I’ve never played a game before that had this much interaction between you and your pals. We’re all used to the A.I. party member that hacks a monster in the skull to save your neck (most of the time) and slashes through a spellcaster hellbent on turning you into a campfire marshmallow (most of the time); these guys are standard fantasy fare. I was pleasantly surprised, then amazed, at how my Dragon Age buddies came to life.

First up for my party was Alistair. A fellow Grey Warden, the wise-cracking, sensitive-yet-sometimes-surly Alistair became my warrior tank from the moment we sunk our boots into the Korcari Wilds muck. His banter with Morrigan is priceless. The two act like ex-boyfriend and girlfriend with a real axe to grind, and not as prep for our next darkspawn encounter.

Unfortunately, since I mostly played a mage, Morrigan got left home as soon as I hooked up with Wynne at the Circle Tower. Alistair got me again there, when he once asked Wynne to mend his socks because he’s a guy and she’s a motherly grandmother type. Hilarious stuff. There is a lot to love about Wynne and her nurturing wisdom, but probably the coolest thing was when her Vessel of the Spirit ability appears. This ability seals the deal for Wynne as the best healer in the game, but you only get it after a series of events at Party Camp and after a tough boss fight in a random encounter.

As a human male character, I choose to seduce Leliana, our rogue who joined the group at Dane’s Refuge in Lothering. Little did I know that she’s the hardest one to woo: She needs a 100 approval rating to fall in love, unlike companions like Morrigan and Zevran who enjoy their flings. Leliana’s a bard, and when she broke into song—the whole thing: music, lyrics, and all—just for me at Party Camp, I was floored. What other game gives you that much as a “throwaway” moment in camp? Amazing.

There are just too many moments in the lifetime of one character to chronicle. Dog’s fetching antics, grumpy Sten, discovering the gender-bender golem Shale in the downloadable content—moments I’ll remember forever, not because I killed a foe in .2 seconds flat, but because I made a connection with these characters.

Like a good book, I’m excited to get to the end of Dragon Age: Origins, and when I get there, I’m heartbroken that it’s over. Luckily, this story can be retold in many ways, and each time I’ll catch another Alistair joke or a disparaging Oghren comment that seriously makes me pause and think, “Did Bioware just create life with this game when I wasn’t looking?”

 

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To access the official Dragon Age strategy site visit www.DragonAgeWalkthrough .com.

 

 

The Prima Collector’s Edition Guide and Prima Official Game Guide to Dragon Age: Origins are available wherever games are sold.