EDIT:  Game Cleared - Score: 509,810 + 5 Lives = Final Score of 514,810



Here's my best attempt so far.  Managed to one life it all the way to the final boss, then proceeded to blow it by losing 3 on him.  I might try for a 1 life clear again on the weekend, but I'm pretty much satisifed with these results.

Update:  495,170 (+7 Lives) 502,710. Died twice. messed up on the 3rd level boss and also lost point in the last stage when dropping off hostages (stupid helicopter, managed to shot him while he shot me). But, I'll take that score. Myabe try a no death run (I've done it before).




If anyone's wondering, there's a one spot to get some points (not much but some). 3rd level (destroyer boss level) the area where you drop off the refugees, there's a convoy truck that drops off men. Let them drop off all of them (I think its about 7 or 8 but don't hold me to that number). Also, don't bother shooting the addt'l tanks in the later levels during the boss run (unless of course they are in the way).

Just read the final rules for taking the picture..looks like it gives me a reason to play through again
 

That last boss is a BEAST.

Managed a perfect run until the final helipad, and then got greased by the fucking helicopter.
Reached the boss with tons of lives in reserve and he still put me through the meat grinder...

Yeah.... that's super frustrating with the helicopter. What I often do is constantly fire missiles while offloading hostages so that if a direct hit doesn't get the copter,the shrapnel spray will. Overall once you get the hang of where everything is the game is pretty easy and the enemy copters and the last boss are the only real challenges. On my best run,I no deathed it up to the final boss. I've never no-deathed the game although I've gotten close,so I'm looking forward to seeing if I can do it before the week is up.

Is there a bonus for speed my first level score fluxes big time from 24 to 28 no matter who i kill

No.  The point difference is whether or not you are uncovering the Bronze Star. (stars are worth 5k to reveal - worth nothing to grab, though)

Yeah, I'm 99.9% certain the only point difference between our scores is not getting hit by that fucking helicopter, so that you get the full hostage load on the final level (versus only getting 4 or 5 depending on how lucky you are after being hit).


Too bad lives max at 8, though...

Nice! The game definitely doesn't give you much of anything in terms of point racking as most tanks and what not that are involved in boss battles don't give you any points. I don't know if my score is a winning one or not,but it's definitely top ten. Going to try to win this week though as I just absolutely love this game.

I thought I noted the turrets in "The Wall" battle giving points, so there is a great benefit to reaching that boss with either fully upgraded weapons or just grenades, since otherwise the corners are extremely hard to hit.

The soldier truck that Caleb mentioned would be super-tedious (and actually really hard to milk, since not blowing up the truck would be difficult, I think).

As far as I could tell the repeated airplanes and repeated helicopters only persist as long as you are actively dropping off troops, so once you run out, they stop appearing (so they aren't really a grind-point).



Also, I've noticed that if you manage to beat the first boss without dying (i.e. you begin Level 2 fully equipped) there is an extra airplane and jeep at the very beginning of the level!

The only place that I noticed you could even remotely point rack was at the battleship boss with the tanks but you have to stay in a certain area or else they don't respawn. I haven't really investigated it though. Don't think it's really worth it as the tanks don't spawn that fast and there are only two on the screen at once.

I hope Tom graces us with a Jackal score as he is the TG record holder. I know he can definitely top my score.

I assume his official score involves multiple cycles through the game?

I'd be curious what his take is on a 1-cycle maximum, sans point racking.
(really, I don't see more than 5 - 10k that were missed in my comparable run, all from lost POWs on that helicopter)


Earlier Estimate Revised:  I don't know what points I was missing on my other run, but I think something more like 500k might be the absolute max if you get everything.
(that is to say, I cleared 486k and I had that stupid helicopter kill me so I only offload 3 or 4 guys out of 16)

Also, paid better attention and there is no additional clear bonus for waiting for the 2nd cycle.  I just missed the score update from the final boss last time.

515,710 -- (509,710 + 6 lives) Game Completed




Improved my overall score by wiping out the laser cannons and only dying twice on the final boss.

Lost a couple lives like a dummy on the battleship for some reason, so that cost me 1 or 2 "extra" missile launchers to kill in the swamp.  Also, I missed hitting one of the helicopters and one of the airplanes on the final level... so all together that is around 6-8k short... :/

You got 486k? Nice! Post that bad boy!

Edit: nevermind.

Are the final laser turrets worth points? I don't bother killing them, but if the competition gets fierce they might be needed to win.



Also, on top of Level 2 giving you an extra jeep and airplane to kill if you no-death the Level 1 boss, I have observed that Level 4 throws in a couple extra underwater missile launchers if you no-death the Level 3 boss.

And I paid better attention to the murder-helicopters and the airplanes that strike when you are dropping off troops... while they appear to keep coming, there are actually only 2 or 3 that come one at a time, over-and-over.  If you kill them consistently while unloading troops, they eventually stop showing up.  If you don't kill them, they appear to keep coming.

Ah,I don't remember. I don't think they are. I believe you get points for just blowing up the base.

Final Score=416,290      (412,290+4,000)

I have at my disposal are a machine gun and jeep.  You will have to procure other weapons on the battlefield. 

Games Free Download

So interesting development: even within a level the enemy placement is different depending on whether or not you have died.

There are numerous "extra" helicopters and spread guns in the last level, for instance, if you manage a no-death run.
(same goes for a number of other levels, in terms of extra airplanes, extra tanks, extra shooting heads).

I save a really good run at the beginning of the last level (only 1 death during the battleship, for some stupid reason), and spoofed it to get a no-death up to the final form of the final boss... resulting score 504k.

That 1 death on the battleship cost me 2 submerged missile launchers in Level 4, I think. So I think it is safe to say that a true no-grind "perfect" score on this game is MAYBE 510k, raw score.

(it is conceivable that there was a 5k bonus I failed to get on Level 3, since I always accidently blast the jeep with the gold star using my missiles, so it appears to only register the 50 points for the jeep rather than the 5k for the bonus reveal -- MAYBE hitting it with the machine gun to clear the parking space and THEN using a missile would get the bonus, I don't know)

What I can say, though, is I killed EVERYTHING, and I saved EVERYBODY, and that resulted in 504k.  (again, "spoofed", so I think it is unlikely I will have quite that good a run for real, but who knows)

Looking forward to trying to top your score arch. I figured 500k was possible,but was not sure about anything much higher than that.

I would like to break 500k on a legit run, since I know it can be done.

I think it is a really interesting mechanic that the difficulty of certain sections scales with how well you've done on that level and on the previous level.
Also, it means if you die in any level, even after dropping off your troop load, it is almost certainly not possible to break 500k, due to the missed extras.

That was what I was going for in the run I posted. Didn't make it of course,but still a really solid score. Your spoofed score just shows me that I missed a few things and I'm really looking forward to trying to get a perfect,clean run.

I'm impressed arch! I have my work cut out for me. I believe I can top that score,but I pretty much need a true perfect run....or about as close as possible. We'll see what I can do between now and sunday night.

^^^ Yeah, I still want to get a no-death run (or at least a "fewer" death run against the final boss). Also, I'd like to manage to pick off every single helicopter (and it occurs to me my estimate of the max might be off by a few hundred points since I haven't been in the habit of letting the troop transport fully unload -- I just shoot the truck while I'm blasting my way through that section)

Even if you don't max out your score is still impressive. I'm chomping at the bit to play but I have 2.5 hours remaining at work.

I updated my best clear of Jackal on Page 2.  509,810 before factoring in lives. 

I noticed you could milk the soldiers from the Stage 4 helicopter boss for a higher score if you really wanted to.  But since they're only worth 10 points a piece, it really isn't worth it, way too tedious.  Also, those laser turrets for the first phase of the final boss are worth some points.  I don't remember exactly how much though.