Mass Effect 3 Soldier Multiplayer Overview:

The Soldier is the probably the most widely used class in Mass Effect, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the Soldier is a very easy class to “pick up and play”, since the majority of powers and general attack strategy are fairly straightforward. In almost every soldier class you are heavily reliant on your main weapon, which means getting a good weapon early can really mean the difference between being the best or worst player in your squad. Most soldier builds allow you to take a bit more damage than other classes, which means you are usually in the thick of battle, holding the line for your weaker, more power based allies.

Strengths:

The Soldier class in the ME3 multiplayer is an excellent character to play for a number of reasons. Foremost is the ease of the gameplay, especially for the Human/Battlefield 3 classes. What I mean by “ease” is the fact that the Soldier class is not nearly as invested in power use as most of the other classes, which can be refreshing. Furthermore, this means the Soldier class is usually heavily dependent on their weapon, which is mostly a good thing. While powers tend to taper out in strength after a certain point, Weapons are something you can always pursue, especially since getting upgrades for guns like the Black Widow or Geth Plasma Shotgun can be quite a grind. The use of your weapon as the main form of damage also lets you really choose at what range you want to engage enemies, since you can easily switch between a Shotgun and a Sniper Rifle without penalty. Soldiers also tend to have more hitpoints and shields than most other classes, which is vital when you are on higher difficulties.

Weaknesses:

Many of the strengths of the Soldier class in the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer are also the weaknesses. While it is nice to be weapon dependent, sometimes it can be horrible, especially at early stages when you have not unlocked any good weapons or weapon mods. The soldier also lacks the support powers that many of the other classes have, which means your role is usually defined as pure damage, which can get a little boring after a while. Running out of ammo is always a threat, especially with weapons that don’t have much ammo to begin with, such a sniper rifles. It isn’t that difficult to get to an ammo crate, but it can be hard on some of the maps, especially on the 7th+ wave of enemies. I also find that the soldier is rather dependent on equipment, since special ammo and damage upgrades make your soldier significantly better.

Powers:

Adrenaline Rush:

This is the “standard” Soldier power available to the Human and Battlefield 3 Soldier classes. Adrenaline Rush allows you to improve accuracy, while also increasing attack damage and melee damage. Excellent with use of any scoped weapon, although the damage bonus is really good for anything.

Concussive Shot:

Concussive Shot is essentially a small grenade that is fired from your weapon, which can be upgraded to do AoE (Area of Effect) damage, or more damage to a single target. I always choose single target damage, since it is more useful against units like Banshees or Geth Primes, but AoE damage can be great against enemies like Husks and Cerberus Soldiers as well. Concussive Shot is available to the Human and Turian Soldier classes.

Frag Grenade:

This power is available only to the Human Soldier class in ME3 Multiplayer, and is pretty self explainatory. It’s a grenade, you throw it, it explodes stuff, nuff’ said. You can later upgrade it to do more damage to shields or armor, and also choose whether it does more damage or increases the amount you carry. I would go all into damage personally, although it can be annoying to be constantly running by ammo crates for a refill.

Carnage:

Carnage is a power available to the Krogan and Battlefield 3 Soldier classes, and essentially acts as an increased damage burst from your main weapon. Carnage does an immediate burst of damage, with a chance for exploding the enemy into bits of gore, which is always a treat. At later ranks you can either increase damage to armored targets, or just pure damage. It’s hard to say which is better, it really depends on which weapons you use and the build of your Soldier.

Fortification:

Fortification is a power used by the Krogan Soldier class in the ME3 Multiplayer. Fortification is pretty self explanatory, it gives a temporary boost to armor, which is essential, since the Krogan class tends to be a more close range combat class than the others. At later ranks you can either have a longer damage reduction bonus, or more damage reduction, all in all a pretty straightforward survival skill.

Inferno Grenade:

Inferno Grenade is another power available only to the Krogan Soldier in ME3. Acting essentially the same as the Frag Grenade, the Inferno Grenade adds fire damage which sticks to targets and does additional damage over time. At later ranks you can either increase damage, or damage to armored targets. I usually go pure damage, since I tend to use these grenades against groups of weaker targets anyways.

Marksman:

Marksman is a power available to the Turian Soldier in the ME3 Multiplayer. It allows you to increase the firing rate of your weapon while also increasing accuracy. Although it should be obvious, this skill is best used with a scoped weapon, usually a Sniper Rifle or Heavy Pistol, as it makes getting headshots much easier. At higher levels you can either choose to increase the bonuses of the skill, or the recharge rate of the skill itself.

Proximity Mine:

Proximity Mine is a power available only to the Turian Soldier (and Salarian Infiltrator), in Mass Effect 3. This power allows you to throw down a small mine which explodes when enemies come in contact with it. While overlooked, this power can be helpful, both as an early warning against enemies sneaking up on you, and as pure damage. The mine can do a decent amount of damage once fully upgraded, and you can either choose for it to slow enemies, or boost all damage done to that enemy over a period of time.

Please feel free to comment on this Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Soldier guide, any additional tips and tricks are welcome!

Looking for more strategy guides? Check out our Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Infiltrator guide and Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Adept Guide.

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Overview:

The multiplayer aspect of Mass Effect 3 is essentially a co-op based survival mode against waves of different enemies from the single player. Each game consists of 10 waves of enemies, with a “bonus” wave at the end as you attempt to survive extraction before being overrun. Every game has a maximum of only 4 players, making teamwork important, especially on harder difficulties. As far as the difficulty goes, it is split into Bronze, Silver, and Gold, with Bronze being closer to “normal” gameplay in single player, Silver similar to Hardcore, and Gold being Insanity. The difficulty can vary based on the enemy type, map, and your teammates.

At the beginning, you choose a class, and level that class from 1-20 by completing rounds successfully. Players also receive credits based on objectives during the attacking waves, and a bonus for completing the whole 10 wave match. Credits can be used to purchase character unlocks, weapons, and equipment via the multiplayer store. These are purchased in the form of equipment packs, which are general divided into Recruit, Veteran, and Spectre, and are priced accordingly. Recruit packs give you basic equipment and upgrades, and a small chance at a rare item or character unlock. Veteran packs give you a higher chance at rare items, and often have at least one medium/strong item. Spectre packs are expensive, but yield the best results, and give you a chance at the best weapons in the game.

General Strategy:

- Find a class that suits your playstyle and stick with it. Characters get MUCH stronger when they are high enough level to max out skills, and having a level 20 character is essential for Silver and Gold Challenges.

- Save your money. While it can be tempting to buy recruit packs, it is important at the beginning to unlock some weapons that can actually damage stronger enemies.

- Don’t be a hero. Nobody likes a teammate who tries to take on the entire Reaper offensive by themselves. Stick together and work as a team, because if you don’t, you’re an ass, and also you will die.

- Learn the maps. Effective use of the cover system is the difference between life and death in the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer. Know where the enemy spawns, the location of ammo boxes, and where the “safe” zones are.

- Know thy enemy. Learn the difference between Reaper, Geth, and Cerberus units, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Play bronze a few times with each enemy type, and please stay away from Banshees.

- Become familiar with objectives. Knowing the general areas where objectives spawn can be a huge asset. Learn how to fight while also supporting your team while they hack terminals and take out enemy priority targets.

Multiplayer Class Guides:

Mass Effect 3 Adept Guide

Mass Effect 3 Soldier Guide

Mass Effect 3 Engineer Guide

Mass Effect 3 Sentinel Guide

Mass Effect 3 Infiltrator Guide

Mass Effect 3 Vanguard Guide

Weapons:

Basic Weapons:

M-3 Predator
M-4 Shuriken
M-8 Avenger
M-23 Katana
M-92 Mantis

Heavy Pistols:

M-5 Phalanx
M-6 Carnifex
M-77 Paladin
M-358 Talon
Arc Pistol
Scorpion

Assault Rifles:

M-15 Vindicator
M-37 Falcon
M-76 Revenant
M-96 Mattock
M-99 Saber
Geth Pulse Rifle
Phaeston

Submachine Guns:

M-9 Tempest
M-12 Locust
M-25 Hornet

Shotguns:

M-11 Wraith
M-22 Eviscerator
M-27 Scimitar
M-300 Claymore
Disciple
Geth Plasma Shotgun
Graal Spike Thrower

Sniper Rifles:

M-13 Raptor
M-29 Incisor
M-97 Viper
M-98 Widow
Black Widow
Javelin

Multiplayer Maps:

Firebase Dagger:

This is one of the larger and easier maps to use in multiplayer, with a few solid locations to defend at higher levels. When fighting enemies like Reapers, it’s essential to have room to kite around enemies like Banshees, and avoid the fire from Ravagers. The best place in this map to stay around is the top hallway area, as it allows you to see the entire map, and also has suitable cover from ranged attacks.

Firebase Ghost:

Ghost is also one of the larger maps in the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer, which makes it a good choice against certain enemies. There are a couple drawbacks to this map however, the main one being the fact that certain objectives can be difficult to get to when there are alot of enemies. The extraction point is also a pain to defend on the last wave as well, since you don’t have a clear firing line.

Firebase Giant:

Firebase Giant is an interesting map, with a layout much like a long rectangle compared to the more square style of other maps. A good place to defend is the main bunker at the top, as the enemies usually spawn at the far side of the map, and you can thin them out a fair bit before they get close. Unfortunately, objectives also spawn at the far end, and can be a pain to get to from the bunker area.

Firebase Glacier:

This is easily the worst map in my opinion, since it is so small, close quarters combat is unavoidable. When fighting enemies like Reapers, it can extremely difficult to fight off multiple Banshees and Brutes at the same time without coordinated teamwork. On the flip side, on easier difficulties you can complete objectives and waves much quicker, since everything is so close together.

Firebase Reactor:

Reactor is a fairly medium sized map that can really go either way in terms of difficulty. While there are some good areas to defend, objectives can be hard to get to sometimes, as there are only a couple main routes between the main areas. If you are defending the starting area, as most be do, be wary of enemies flanking the far right side.

Firebase White:

Firebase White is another medium sized ME3 Multiplayer map. Probably one of my favorites, White is big enough to have room to fight, but also small enough that objectives are not too hard to complete. The best place to start is at the top area near the ammo box, as it gives you a clear view of all the enemy spawns.

The Infiltrator has quickly become my favorite class in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. They function as a sniper / DPS / support class, and when used by a skilled player can be extremely effective. The Infiltrator hinges on constant use of the Tactical Cloak skill, which provides an insane bonus to headshot damage, and also allows you to revive fallen teamates or capture objectives in relative safety. While it is possible to spec an infiltrator in Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer for assault rifles or even melee, I have found the sniper rifles to be by far the most effective. The Salarian Infiltrator is perhaps the most viable character in the game for Solo runs, even up to the gold diffculty as their Energy Drain power makes them lethal against any enemy type, and Tactical Cloak allows you time to escape most bad situations. While solo runs aren’t efficient in terms of gaining credits/XP, they do come with some serious bragging rights.

Strengths:

Headshots, headshots, headshots. It almost goes without saying, the Infiltrator lives or dies by their ability to pull off headshots over and over again. For this reason, they are most effective against Cerberus, and Geth, whose most lethal enemies can be taken down with relative ease by the heavy damage bonuses of this class. With full points allocated to Tactical Cloak and Alliance or Salarian Training, you stack up a 127.5% bonus to sniper rifle headshot damage, which when combined with the already insane damage of an upgraded Widow (or even a Mantis) is nothing to scoff at and will one shot most enemies in the game. Tactical Cloak also regenerates quickly enough to be used every shot when lightly equipped, and to make the deal even sweeter will allow you to escape dangerous situations, revive team mates, and capture objectives in safety. If you trigger Tac Cloak just before beginning a capture, you will remain safely cloaked for the entire cap. This generally allows a single Infiltrator to be a “runner” and capture all four objectives will the rest of the team takes care of the fighting.

Weaknesses:

One of the major drawbacks of the Infiltrator in Mass Effect 3 is their relatively weak damage mitigation, and the fact that your shields do not regenerate while cloaked. As you will be using cloak for each and every shot, this requires you to carefully manage your shields. Considering you will generally use the cloak to escape danger by running away, it is important to take a moment to regen once you reach safety. While it can be tempting to just cloak up and go for that last kill, this is very risky, and you should generally take a deep breath and let your shields recharge once you get to cover safely. It can also be tempting to go for a revive when a teammate is down as the cloak will keep you safe long enough to rez, but be cautious of getting swarmed or surrounded while doing so as the cloak will automatically expire after a revive. Close Combat is pretty poor for an Infiltrator, so make good use of your cloak to put some distance between yourself and any close quarters enemies like Geth Hunters or Pyros.

Infiltrator Multiplayer Builds:

I recommend using either the Human or Salarian Infiltrator, with a Sniper Rifle (ideally a Widow but the Mantis is also excellent until you unlock it) and a pistol equipped if you want a bit of extra shield damage and close quarters viability. A light equip setup with just a sniper rifle, or a rifle and a pistol will allow you enough power recharge to use the cloak constantly.
As the Infiltrator is a specialized class, max out 4 of your 5 skills, and leave one with 0 points. This will maximize your effectiveness and damage potential.
For the Salarian, put full points into Tactical Cloak, Energy Drain, Salarian Operative, and Fitness, always choosing sniper/headshot damage bonuses when available. For Energy Drain, take damage and recharge speed over armor increase and damage reduction. A little known fact about the Infiltrator is that you still get the sniper rifle damage boost for 1.5 seconds after leaving cloak, this means that the “Bonus Power” perk at Rank 6 of Tactical cloak is essentially redundant, as a skilled player will be able to drain shields, take a quick headshot, and move on. In the end, the extra 40% damage bonus for sniper rifles is a much better choice.

The Energy Drain skill for Salarians makes them highly effective in all situations, as the sniper rifle is already very effective against armored or unshielded enemies. A cloaked Energy Drain, combined with a headshot within 1.5 seconds will take down almost every enemy instantly when using an upgraded Widow. This is the key to Salarian’s solo viability, and in the hands of a highly skilled player with a few mods, even gold level solo’s are possible.

The Human Infiltrator is the next best choice, and with a decent team may actually be preferable. The build is the same, but with Sticky Grenades maxed out instead of Energy Drain. With teammates to help out with removing shields/barriers, the Human Infiltrator can focus on racking up kills and use the sticky grenades to clear out packs of light enemies or take down Brutes and other big boys quickly. Be sure to take the time to rotate between a few different ammo boxes, as the grenades will really increase your score by the end of a round.

Cryo Blast may be nice for beginner players, as it makes headshots much easier to line up. However, once you reach level 20 and are more comfortable with the sniper rifles it is not as effective as the Sticky Grenades so dont get tempted to waste any points on it. If you can’t get headshots, don’t take cryo blast, just choose another class!

The Quarian Infiltrator can be used as a Geth Specialist, as their Sabotage skill is very effective against this enemy race. However, as Infiltrators are already excellent against Geth, in most cases you are better off with either a Human or Salarian.

Clutch:

One of the best things about an Infiltrator is their ability to survive alone. If more than one team mate is alive, go for the revive chain and see if you can tough it out, but if only one squad member remains, take a moment to assess the situation. If there is a chance you will be surrounded or unable to escape after the rez, don’t risk it. With a bit of patience, you should be able to safely clear the remaining enemies on your own.

The key to a clutch round clear is to be patient, and keep moving. Make full advantage of Tactical Cloak, and just run away whenever it gets too hairy. The fact that enemies will not generally fire on you when cloaked means you can almost always remain at a safe distance. Take a deep breath, take your time, line up a kill, and move further away.Keep an eye on your shields, and always take the time to regen them, don’t get greedy! Remember that grenades can take out packs of light enemies, or Energy Drain can be used on shielded / barriered enemies. If you are careful and focus on taking out one enemy at a time while remaing safe, you should be able to make it to the next round with relative ease. I’ll say it again: don’t get greedy!

Please feel free to comment on this Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Infiltrator guide, any additional tips and tricks are welcome!

Looking for more strategy guides? Check out our Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Adept Guide.

Yet here we are, 2012 and platformers are almost a dead genre, left in the wake of shooters and action games that seem to dominate the majority of our time. Don’t get me wrong, I love series like Battlefield, and I don’t even mind Call of Duty as long as I mute all the children, yet it seems like there is a certain stagnation to the industry.

After lending some thought, you can start to see our fate if you look at the Hollywood movie industry, which is arguable a few years ahead of us in declination. No really unique movies come out, and almost every “blockbuster” seems to be a rehash of something that was already done in the 80′s. This is what happens when an industry makes too much money too quickly, people get complacent and afraid, and let’s be honest, can you blame them? If I was involved in a multimillion dollar franchise I would be hesitant to take risks as well, as it’s far too easy to churn out the status quo for a guaranteed paycheque.

The same applies to the video game industry, especially when looking at a franchise like CoD (sorry for the CoD hate but it’s such a perfect example). Call of Duty releases almost the exact same game every year, and are guaranteed massive profits, so why innovate? When looking for new games to play, it’s almost the same as looking for movies. It’s pretty much guaranteed many of the “blockbuster” games will give you some standard, expected fulfillment, but to find a unique experience you need to look at the secondary titles that don’t get as much attention.

Oh god, maybe I’ve become an old man already.

Mass Effect 3 Adept Multiplayer Overview:

The Adept is one of the more “support” style classes in the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, since the focus is on the use of biotic powers, and less on the weapons you use. Since you are relying heavily on powers such as Warp, Singularity, and Throw, it is often better to max out your power recharge time, which means using lighter weapons such as Sub-machine Guns and Heavy Pistols. The Adept is also one of the weakest characters in the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, and effective use of cover and location can easily mean the difference between life and death, especially on harder difficulties.

Strengths:

The effective use of biotic powers such as Singularity, Throw, Stasis, and Pull to support your team at higher difficulties can be a huge advantage. While it is quite easy to get kills using power combos, the main use of the Adept in the ME3 Multiplayer is more of a support role. Singularity can be used to block chokepoints and take enemies out of cover, allowing yourself and your team clear shots at targets. Stasis is excellent against stronger enemies, since you can essentially freeze an enemy unit in place, leaving the an easy kill for a sniper, best used against stronger units like Phantoms. Pull and Throw are great ways to control the battlefield, and can really mean the difference in tough situations, since cover is such a huge part of the game. Warp is also a great damage attack for the Human and Asari classes, and when combined with other biotic powers such ans singularity, can cause massive damage. All of these powers are better used for thinning out the weaker enemies.

Weaknesses:

While most of the biotic powers and fairly powerful and useful, they also tend to be pretty bad early in the game. Powers like Warp and Singularity really shine when maxed out with points, and are significantly weaker before that point. This fact, coupled with the relatively bad damage mitigation of the class, can make the earlier levels seem like quite a grind. The true strength of the Adept in the ME3 Multiplayer is against weaker units. This strength is also the main class weakness, because many of the biotic powers are far less effective against the stronger, more heavily armored enemies. Since the Adept is also more of a support class than direct combat, if you have bad teammates, you really feel it. Having good squadmates is almost essential while playing the Adept, especially at Silver and Gold levels.

Powers:

Warp:

Warp is the bread and butter attack power for the Human and Asari Adepts in the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer. It acts like most direct damage powers, you simply target and enemy and once it gets close it will lock on. This means you can angle it to hit enemies around cover with relative ease. At higher levels it deals enough damage to almost one hit weaker enemies.

Singularity:

Singularity is a spell only available to the Human Adept in ME3 Multiplayer. It allows you to create a mini singularity or “black hole” which can throw weaker enemies up in the air, and eventually do decent damage at higher levels. When paired with Warp, the combo can cause an awesome biotic explosion which will instantly kill basic enemy types once upgraded. At later levels you can choose to either make the Singularity field larger, or the damage greater. I would advise doing the damage route, unless you really need more crowd control.

Shockwave:

Shockwave is another biotic power available only to the Human Adept class. Like the name says, this power lets you create a biotic shockwave that can deal damage and stun enemies. Like Warp, Shockwave can be paired with Singularity to detonate the biotic field for an explosion and massive damage bonus. I personally prefer Warp, since it is a bit faster and better at range, but Shockwave is arguably better in close quarters, so it depends on the map/playstyle.

Throw:

Throw is a biotic ability abailable only to the Asari Adept in the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer. This one is pretty much a no brainer, it throws the targeted enemy in the direction they get hit from. While not the biggest damage dealer, this power is great for getting enemies out of cover and breaking up groups of hostiles. At high levels Throw has a very fast recharge rate and a pretty powerful kick to it as well.

Stasis:

Stasis is also an ability available onlt to the Asari in the ME3 Multiplayer. Stasis allows you to freeze the targeted enemy, allowing yourself or teammates to take it out with ease. At higher levels you can immediately freeze stronger targets such as Phantoms, and you can even Stasis multiple enemies at once, in a short radius. While not a real direct damage attack, Stasis is excellent in a support capability, especially against stronger, quicker enemies.

Reave:

Reave is a biotic power useable by the Drell Adept in ME3. It is a direct damage power that stops enemy health regeneration while also stealing some health as well. This goes well with the Drell Adept, since the playstyle is more of a combat role than support, compared to the other Adept classes. Reave can be useful once upgraded, and the health steal is great when you are taking a more agressive combat role.

Pull:

Pull is another biotic power available only to the Drell Adept in Mass Effect 3. This power is basically the opposite of Throw, as it pulls enemies towards you instead of Throwing them away. This ability, paired with the right weapon, can make the Drell quite powerful if used properly. You can also pull the shields away from the annoying Cerberus Guardian enemies, which is great when fighting Cerberus.

Cluster Grenade:

Cluster Grenade is the final power used by the Drell Adept in the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer. This ability allows you to throw a multiple grenade hit at the enemy, which can cause massive damage when facing groups of enemies together. While powerful, you have to constantly get more ammo, as you do not get to many grenades at one time. This can be annoying, especially at harder difficulties when it is not so easy to run to the ammo box.

Please feel free to comment on this Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Adept guide, any additional tips and tricks are welcome!

Looking for more strategy guides? Check out our Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Infiltrator guide.

Sexism has always been a part of gaming, and not in a good way.

Video games started as a largely male dominated hobby, and as such, the culture of gaming grew to be.. well, a male dominated culture. Let’s be honest, while there have always been female gamers, it’s really only been recently that females have become prevalent in the video game world, and as such, this poses some problems.

Recently there has been a ton of controversy surrounding the comments made on a show called Cross Assault, which features fighting games via livestream. The show, sponsored by Capcom, featured a mostly male roster, with the exception of several female players. While the controversy did not really boil over until mid season, I watched some of the earlier “episodes”, and it was pretty apparent the sexist comments and whatnot were going on since day one. Now, if the gamers involved were 13 years old, it wouldn’t be an issue, because really that’s what the comments sounded like, but when you get into your twenties, there are obviously some things that you should keep to yourself.

The main “antagonist”, who I won’t mention because I try to at least keep some semblance of professionalism, was at one point trying to guess the bra size of a female teammate, and then went so far as to say sexism was an integral part of fighting games when called on his comments by a twitch.tv community manager. Messed up as it is, I agree with him, sexism IS an integral part of gaming, it’s terrible, but it’s true. Thing is, there is a difference between acknowledging an unsavory part of the culture, and embracing it. You can shift to blame to Capcom, because lets be honest, none of this should have been anywhere near an officially sponsored gaming event, but that’s not really the issue at hand.

There are a ton of female gamers out there, but when do you ever hear females on voice chat, on PSN/XBL, or even acknowledging their gender? Female gamers are treated the equivalent of a racial minority in the 1920′s, which is pretty messed up. We all know it, we all allow it, and it persists even though it’s 2012. You can argue that gaming in general has a pretty volatile culture, and it definitely does, especially in competitive gaming, but do we really have to stoop so low as to alienate such a large percentage of gamers?

So next time you hear a female voice on Xbox, do the right thing, instead of screaming to see her tits, just throw a grenade and gun her down, like a civilized person.

GENERAL STRATEGY:

- Unlocks are key to survival in aircraft, since it is very easy to get shot down by ground to air missiles or heatseekers. IR Flares or ECM Jammer are a MUST.

- Learn the maps before you start playing seriously on them. There are many areas in maps than you can use to repair and avoid missiles, and knowing them is vital to survival. In my opinion all the Back to Karkand maps are great for vehicles, but any of them will do.

- Know how to properly engage targets without destroying yourself in the process. Once you get a general feel for how much damage enemy targets can take, from a tank to enemy infantry, it makes it much easier to gauge how to approach combat situations without getting yourself shot out of the sky.

- MOST IMPORTANTLY, learn how to recognize threats and survive. Once you play enough you can pretty much tell right away if an enemy jet is lining you up for a shot, or where enemy infantry like to hide with Stingers. A large part of surviving is experience, but make sure to play smart as well.

BIGGEST THREATS:

Jets:

Any Jet Pilot with experience and unlocks is going to be a real problem for you without support from the rest of your team. Most pilots will use their autocannons on you, since helicopters are a pretty easy target to hit for an experienced pilot. The only real defense is to get low to the ground, and get a heatseeker lock on the enemy jet as soon as you can. The Below Radar perk is especially helpful, as it will remove enemy air to air missile lock if you fly low enough. Use the environment, and if you survive the first pass you can usually shoot the jet down with the help of a skilled gunner.

Attack Helicopters:

If you have a helicopter, than it’s safe bet the enemy team has one too, and these can be equally as dangerous as jets if the enemy pilots are experienced players. Most enemy pilots will try to shoot you down with heatseekers, and it becomes a game of timing your flares while avoiding the enemy gunner. Dodging is key in this, because a salvo of the helicopters main gun can really do damage if you let it. Against an equally good pilot, there is no real way to avoid getting damaged in a head to head fight, so make sure to scan the Battlefield and be aware of enemy helicopters.

 Infantry:

Enemy infantry with air to ground missiles can be extremely annoying, especially if they take the time to spam rockets on you. Normal launchers such as Stingers are fairly easy to avoid, but Javelins with SOFLAM can be very dangerous, especially when combined with Jets and Helicopters, as you simply do not have enough countermeasures to block all incoming rockets. The best strategy is to hover and wait until they fire at you, the vapor trail from the rocket will show you roughly where the enemy is, and you should be able to kill them then. Enemy SOFLAM are hit or miss, some are really obvious and you can take them out easily enough, but if they are hidden in a building or in another hard to spot area, it’s pretty much GG until you take it out.

Tanks/APCs:

If there are alot of enemy ground vehicles in the area, the golden rule is to never fly low enough so they can hit you easily. Tanks will pretty much devastate you if you fly low, and flying high makes it hard for APCs to aim at you as well. TV and Guided Missiles are a great way to take out vehicles, for both the gunner and pilot, although a well aimed salvo from the main gun is enough to knock any vehicle out of commission for a little while. Rockets work great as well, but make sure you don’t fly low while using them, as it can be tempting to “just go a little lower” to line up the perfect salvo. 50cal mounted guns can be annoying as well, and while not an immediate threat, can pose a problem if not dealt with. Most tank gunners are engaged with enemy infantry, so this usually isn’t a huge problem.

UNLOCKS:

Stealth:
Increases the time it takes enemies to lock on your helicopter, and decreases the time you are spotted by enemies. This is a great survivability perk, usually good to have if you are in a big map getting locked on constantly.

IR Flares:
Infrared flares that distract enemy air to air and ground to air missiles. These are pretty much essential until you unlock ECM.

Heat seeking missiles:
Heat seeking missiles that can lock on enemy vehicles. These are good to have if there are alot of vehicles on the map, they are great for shooting down enemy helicopters jets.

Main cannon autoloader:
Decreases the time it takes your main cannon to load. A decent perk, but not really one of my favorites.

3X zoom optics:
A weapon sight for the gunner with optional 3X zoom optics. Useless unless you are terrible at aiming.

Proximity radar:
A proximity radar that reveals enemy units around your helicopter. Not a bad perk to have if you providing close air support, but with a solid team/gunner you shouldn’t really need this.

Air radar:
Increases the range of your air radar and allows you to track enemy jets and helicopters more easily. Another mediocre perk that is useful on some maps and useless on others. If you are getting harassed by jets constantly this can be useful, but again, it’s better to get used to knowing where targets are based on visual scanning and map awareness.

Guided missile:
Guided missiles for the helicopter gunner which can lock on enemy land vehicles. Solid perk, great against enemy tanks and APCs.

Extinguisher:
Extinguishes fires and helps a disabled helicopter to get back to operational levels. I’ve always had mixed feelings about this one, on one hand it’s great to have in some situations, but you really shouldn’t be taking enough damage to make it worthwhile.

Maintenance:
Improves your general repair rate. Same as above, a decent perk, but avoidance is better than relying on repairs.

Thermal optics:
A set of thermal optics for the gunner to easily spot and track enemy infantry and vehicles. An amazing unlock for the gunner, especially on maps that make it hard to spot infantry.

Laser painter:
Gives you the ability to paint targets from your helicopter. A decent unlock to have, and a great way to help out your team, but not as good if you are flying lonewolf.

ECM jammer:
A radar jammer/flare launcher that removes enemy missile locks and makes it difficult for people to get a lock for a short while. An excellent unlock for survivability, generally better than IR flares.

Guided rockets:
Increases the range and general accuracy of the main rockets. Not a bad unlock either, although its debatable if you already have good aim.

TV missile:
A missile for the gunner that can be flown manually into targets. Great with a skilled gunner, since you can hit almost anything if you are good enough. These will will do massive damage to ground vehicles especially.

Borderlands is one of those games that is great to play with friends, and pretty boring to play by yourself. That being said, I remember distinctly the moment when my friends and I beat the last boss of the first Borderlands, only to be greeted by a giant middle finger from the developers. Leading the entire game up to a singular point, and then removing that point seems like a cheap shot by developers, and honestly, this was the only MAJOR flaw in the game as far as I am concerned.

So here is to hoping, hoping that the devs have listened to our cries of rage and disappointment, and finally put an ending into a game that was otherwise pretty damn good.

On another note, if you haven’t already, you should go download the Mass Effect 3 demo and give it a try. Even if you don’t want to ruin the story with a short demo teaser, the multiplayer is pretty fun as well, albeit a less polished version of Gears of War horde mode at this point. I don’t mind though, I liked Horde Mode in Gears and I like Mass Effect, so it’s really just pure fun at this point.

Turns out Magic the Gathering is pretty damn awesome.

I admit I was rather skeptical about playing a card game, especially when Skyrim and Battlefield 3 are only a click away. However, within half an hour I had already forced my friends to buy it and we were happily engaged in FFA 4 player duels for several hours that night and a few hours the next. Even sitting at my desk in the studio, surrounded by games, I still just want to play Magic the Gathering.

I feel like all my blog posts for the next while are going to mention Skyrim, but my god its a great game. It does have some issues, such as the occasional broken texture or invisible head, but nothing totally game breaking so far, unlike my experience with Fallout: New Vegas, which is thoroughly unpleasant. If you have not started the Thieves Guild or Dark
Brotherhood quests, i recommend it, as they are among the best I have experienced so far in terms of quest diversity and fun. Also, if you are going to play them, I recommend wearing the armor they give you and using daggers or a bow, since the story is way more believable and immersive when you are in assassin armor and not 600 pounds of plate steel.

Alright. Back to work!

- Karoken

Well, i’ve decided to maybe blog. Well, I want to, but sometimes it’s difficult to consistently do something. Kind of like Twitter, it just feels like such a chore after a while.

Ah, yes, Blog.

I have decided to begin my memoirs of a gamer who also works in the video game industry. It seems like there is a stigma or unspoken rule within video games that we need to live in this politically correct bubble where every game gets 9/10 and the fastest way to make a buck is the norm.

So, I think i’m just gonna talk about it online, like an internet superhero. At least until I take over the studio I work for.

- Karoken

PS: Buy Skyrim. Seriously.