Curtis wrote:

There's your goal for a Normal campaign run:

Is Dubs 25465 places higher up the leaderboard than you?

Remember kids, HEADSHOTS. QUICK TIMES. USE MELEE TO KILL BIG SHITS (Romanovs). It's a little annoying that saving allies gives you score seeing as that's mostly out of your hands.

The only thing I was disappointed with in Vanquish was the forgettable ambient soundtrack. Especially after Bayonetta's effort.

What the fuck is Gremmil doing above Dubs in the leaderboard?

Right, done Act 1. Took about 1.5 hours in total, I reckon. Looks like I'd got some way into Act 3 last time I played.

I still don't find it all really flows for me, but it's enjoyable enough. I haven't been using cover at all.

To begin with I'll give each game a month until we switch. But if that proves too long we can always reconsider.

This is what you need to be doing

Gonna start on this tonight. The tips are appreciated gents, I played the demo using all the cover I could find and found the whole thing a bit... *shrugs*

A few things to notice about Vanquish. There are two very similar assault rifles. Why is that? Did they run out of ideas? No, that's your first clue. You can fire continuously if you switch between guns as you empty a clip.

Chaffs explode on contact with the floor, frags explode after a set time. You can't cook grenades but you can enter slomo and shoot them in the air.

Cigarettes don't just make you look super cool, they draw enemy fire while making you look super cool.

It's tempting to use your melee as the final dig to finish off a big fucker. The real trick is to rocket slide into a big bastard, use your melee, then use his bulk to protect you from the rest of the battle while unloading your guns into its face.

I honestly don't think I've ever been as good at a 3D game as any of the Platinum fans on here.  The way I see Bayo and Vanquish described boggles my mind.  I was decent at Quake III on Dreamcast, but only to the point where people didn't believe I was playing with a joypad (which is to say - still a way down from the top m&k players), I could hold my own in Halo mp against mates, and Halo 2 online for a good few months after launch.  Other than that I honestly struggle to think of anything non side scrolling that you'd describe me as good at if you watched me play.  NiGHTS, Virtua Fighter 2 and Trials - 3D gfx, mostly 2D gameplay, so they don't count.  Panzer Dragoon Zwei I could 100% with my eyes closed (apart from one level that I often ended up on 98% on after forgetting one enemy), but it was on rails.  Super Magnetic Neo was into the screen 3D platforming.  This is an epiphany of sorts, looking back at that paragraph; I've sucked at most games since 1994.

Moot it really is just practising stages over and over, honing your routine and timing, changing your approach a bit if needed.

I remember practising challenge 1 for days and doing just ok, then one day I came back from the dentists still feeling the effects of local anaesthetic and weirdness and pwned the leaderboard. Weird.

Drugs DO work?

The way I used to get good at games was to pick a small section and hammer it. Sometimes new mechanics would reveal themselves but I'd always come away with a better understanding of the whole game.

Vanquish had two demos before release. One area from the story, just before the first boss, and one of the challenges. Hammering those before release is how I got good. I was 2nd in the world on one hard stage.

The game came out 5 weeks before I was due to become a dad so I knew it was my last chance to be hardcore. I was one trophy away then and I'm one trophy away now.

Week 1 challenge: As well as just playing through the game, try to set a high score on Act 1.3 [Giant]. Ends at 10.00 pm Friday 22nd August.

Edit: On Normal difficulty.

Do you have to complete it before you can replay individual stages? My save was lost with my broken hdd.

Curtis wrote:

You should specify difficulty.

Oh yeah. I suppose Normal will do for most of us.