Mutant Storm FAQ Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Background Information i. Controls ii. Power-ups iii. Difficulties iv. Scoring v. Enemies III. Guide IV. Timeline V. Contact and Copywrite Info --- I. Introduction --- Mutant Storm is a game available through Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service. It's similar to Robotron, and very addicting. It has 89 levels (or rooms), and some of them are quite difficult. Thus, this guide. --- II. Background Information --- Before getting into specific strategies, I must cover the game basics. i. Controls Left Thumbstick: Moves your ship Right Thumbstick: Shoots lasers Right Trigger: Uses bomb ii. Power-ups Power-ups come in three types: Laser, shield, and points. There are different variations of these categories, differentiated by the border around them. Laser power-ups are red, and improve your firepower. Borders: Vertical lines- The lasers become larger and more powerful. Sets of three horizontal lines- The laser shoot in three directions. Circles in various sizes- You shoot homing missiles, which are more powerful them your normal laser. Shield power-ups are blue. Borders: Circular border- A small shield forms around your ship. This is the only power-up that follows you through multiple rooms. It will stay until you get hit. Arrows - A larger shield forms around you. It only lasts for a moment, but can kill almost any enemy that it touches. Good for breaking through crowds, but you will not get points for anything killed with the shield. Points power-ups are green. There is only one type. When you collect it, it adds some points to your score. iii. Difficulties Mutant Storm has 8 difficulty levels. Each is represented by a belt, like in martial arts. It goes from white, to yellow, etc., etc., all the way to black. As they increase in difficulty, they also increase in points, as it becomes easier to gain multipliers on higher difficulties. The downside is that it's easier to lose them. For instance, if you are playing white belt mode, have a x4 and die, you will come back with a x3. However, if this happened in yellow belt mode, you would respawn with a x2. You unlock new difficulty levels by performing well in the game. In the bottom left corner is a belt and a number. The color of these represents what difficulty you are currently playing on. To unlock the next difficulty, you must get this number up to the next multiple of 100. For example, if you are in white belt mode, you start with a zero. When you hit 100, you unlock yellow belt mode. Then you must reach 200 to unlock the next level. If you start a game on a higher difficulty, you automatically start with the number required to unlock that difficulty, so getting the next one is fairly easy. (Note: You must die while on the newly obtained difficulty to earn it.) iv. Scoring Multipliers On the top middle of the screen is a bar. The more enemies you kill, the more the bar fills up. When it fills completely, a "x2" will appear on it. From that point on, all the points you get are doubled. You can continue filling the bar, and soon enough your scores are tripled, quadrupled, quintupled. Dying will take you back to a lower multiplier. Time Bonus There's a timer for each room, shown in the bottom right corner of the screen. You get a time bonus each time you complete a room. To determine your time bonus, the game takes the amount left on the timer, rounds down to the nearest second, and multiplies it by the number of the difficulty level you're on (White belt is one, yellow is two, etc.) then multiplies it by 100.. Boxes Some levels have harmless boxes strewn throughout them. For every box still standing when you complete a room, you get 1,000 points (multipliers affect the amount). There are two things to remember about boxes: 1. They are not hurt by enemies. 2. Boxes can be destroyed by touching your shield. Bombs/Bomb Bonuses Pointwise, it's to your advantage not to use bombs. For one thing, anything that you kill with a bomb, you don't get points for. And then there are bomb bonuses. At every checkpoint (every tenth level), you are given a bomb bonus for your remaining bombs. 3,000 points for the first, 7,000 for the second, 10,000 for the third...And then it totals all those amounts, and adds that to your score as well. So, for having three bombs, you get 40,000 points. v. Enemies The game doesn't give names for enemies, so I've made up my own to classify them. Also given are short descriptions, and the number of points gained for killing that enemy without a multiplier. Name: Bogey Points: 50-100 First Appears In: Room 1 Description: There are two or three types of these, and some move faster then others, but they can all be killed with a single laser beam. Notes: None Name: Bogey Tank Points: 300 First Appears In: Room 3 Description: These are about the same size of bogeys, but are slower, and harder to kill. Will sometimes be referred to as tanks to save time. Notes: In addition to spawning regularly, sometimes a regular bogey will turn into a bogey tank. Name: Crystal Ball Points: 100 per part, making for a total of 2,300. First Appears In: Room 4 Description: Shoot one of these, and it turns into two pieces. Shoot the pieces, and they into two pieces. Shoot those pieces, and they turn into two pieces, making for a total of 16 tiny fragments. Notes: None Name: Maggot Points: 30 First Appears In: Room 5 Description: These things are tiny and weak, but when they appear, they're in massive waves. Notes: In addition to spawning regularly, they also appear in the wake/explosions of flower rockets. Name: Shover Robots Points: N/A First Appears In: Room 6 Description: These robots just amble about. You can't kill them, but since they can't fire anything, and don't pay any attention to you, they're harmless. Notes: In a more civilized setting, these robots would be serving humanity by pushing blind people to the store. Name: Flower Rockets Points: 2,000 First Appears In: Room 5 Description: These can only be killed by shooting a sensor on the front of it. They do not fire anything, but they spawn a bunch of maggots behind them. Notes: You can tell when one of these is coming because there will be a light spot on the field, and the rocket can be seen heading towards it in the background. Name: Electroball Points: 300 for cracking it open, then 300 for each ball Description: These large bumpy balls move randomly, until shot apart. Then they break into a bunch of tiny balls that home in on you. Notes: If you use a bomb to destroy an uncracked electroball, it will also destroy all of the balls within it. MORE TO BE ADDED --- III. Guide --- Room 1: A bunch of bogeys spawn either to your left or right. Just strafe up and down a little while shooting to make sure you get them all. Room 2: Bogeys form in the three corners of the triangular area and circle the perimeter. Room 3: Bogeys from inside the ring of boxes, then a second wave of them with some bogey tanks thrown in. Stay outside of the box ring and you'll be fine. Room 4: Move out into the ring of bogeys and get as many as you can before the crystal balls arrive. A handful of bogey tanks will spawn one at a time. Don't pay special attention to them, just hit them as you go. Room 5: Flower rockets are usually difficult, but since it's the only enemy in this room, it's an easy enough target. Fire right after it surfaces, then take out the maggots it leaves behind. Room 6: A pair of shoverbots are in this level, but they don't present much of a threat. Bogeys and an occasional tank will spawn along the left and right sides of the field. Just shoot up those spaces. Room 7: Four shoverbots walk in a circular pattern while a crystal ball spawns in each corner. You should be able to destroy them before the wave of bogeys spawns in the center. MORE TO BE ADDED --- IV. Timeline --- 3/16/05: Slight updates about difficulty levels and 3/6/05: First version submitted to Game FAQs. Guide is up to Room 7, background information complete except for some enemies. --- V. Contact and Copywrite Info --- This FAQ is copywrite 2005 to Zach Adams. Currently, the only site allowed to use it is GameFAQs.com. If you would like to host the guide, contribute, or ask questions, contact me at Phweemaggot@gmail.com. My Xbox Live tag is Phweemaggot. Add me to your friends list if you want some competition on the Mutant Storm scoreboard.