Bit Blaster XL Complete Bit Blaster XL Guide

Introduction

Bit Blaster XL is an incredibly addictive game as you can imagine, with the addition of the leader board (and thanks to it actually being moderated to remove cheaters) it can be quite competetive too, so this guide will hopefully help you to improve your score every time you play. There is a lot more to scoring huge amounts of points than simply survivng and blowing enemies up, collecting correct items at the right times is key to victory.

Know Your Ship

There are 7 ships in total to chose from in Bit Blaster XL. I will start by saying that the 7th ship in the arsenal is the best all-rounder as it has the most balanced values out of all of the available options, however, some of you may prefer to use some of the other options available (Ship 6 for example has an extra shield, but less speed and a lower firing rate than Ship 7), it's entirely your choice. I will run you through the ship information quickly before moving on in the guide, examine this image:

There are four attributes that player ships have, the first is the size. The larger your ship, the easier target it is for enemy projectiles, though all of the small ships have low overall attribute points. The other three attributes (from left to right in the image above) are Rate of Fire, Speed, and Shield Count.

Rate of Fire: Determines how quickly and often the ship of your choise fires it's weapon.

Speed: Self explanatory, the speed of your ship.

Shield Count: The amount of hits a ship can take before becoming vulnerable. The ship pictured for example has 3, meaning it takes a total of 4 hits to be destroyed.

And that's all there is to the ship menu, let's move along...

Know Your Weapons

Knowing what powerups are effective in what situation is important. Though one may feel the best, it may not be the best all round weapon to use throughout the duration of your play-through. The default weapon is incredibly basic, fires at an average rate and has long range. The only time I Would suggest maintaining the default weapon is up until around 4,000 points. Here are some descriptions of the weapons available to you with my advice on when it is the best situation to use them.

Firstly: Basic weapons best for gaining points in the early stage of the game.

Heat-Seeker / Homing [ H ]

The heat-seeker power-up maintains your default weapon but adds a bonus homing projectile that aims for specific targets, every time a target is destroyed by the projectile, a new one will spawn using up some of your extra ammunition. Very useful during early stages of the game but I wouldn't advise using this at any point later than 8,000 points.

Rapid [ R ]

Rapid projectiles are the same as your default projectile in terms of range and speed, but fire at twice the rate. This can be very helpful in early stages of the game and sometimes duirng late phases, however I wouldn't advise maintaining the Rapid projectile past the 10,000 point mark as other power-ups become essential around this time.

Laser [ L ]

The laser, or the Narwhal as I like to call it, is a fun weapon to use, but in terms of practicaility, you shouldn't ever make use of it past the 4,000 point mark. While fun to use, it is very short-ranged and puts you in a dangerous spot when enemies that shoot back come into frame. Personally I only ever use the laser power-up during the meteor phase of the game and revert to the default or pick-up any other power-up as soon as enemy ships start coming into the picture. Avoid picking up the laser power-up at all costs during late phases of the game as this could ultimately cause you to lose and is useless at building up points.

Next, good all-rounder weapons that can be used from start to finish.

Multiple [ M ]

The multi-shot projectile fires at the same range and speed as the default projectile, with the addition of another shot firing from the rear end of your ship. This is a very helpful power-up at all stages in the game as you become capable of taking out even more targets thus scoring higher points in the process. This is a good all-rounder weapon, but if better options become available, take them.

Blast Shot [ B ]

Blast shot or burst shot, a close range weapon that spreads outwards killing enemies within a respectable radius of the front of your ship. The blast shot is a great all-round weapon during early and mid-stages of the game, but the longer your progress, the more you're going to require something with a longer range. If there are no good alternatives appearing at the time, the Blast Shot is a great temporary weapon to fill the gap until a better weapon appears.

Giant [ G ]

The newest addition to the weapons is the Giant projectile, a slow firing large projectile that fires 4 default shots in 4 different directions upon impact with an enemy or the game border. Giant is handy in early and mid stages of the game, when the screen starts filling up with enemies it can prove to be very useful for accidentally taking out extra hazards, however, I would advise against picking this up instead of a late game weapon if it appears. Giant is the kind of weapon that should be used as an alternative to an early game weapon as soon as it appears.

Bounce [ B ]

Bounce is a very powerful weapon in mid-stages of the game, as the name suggests it is capable of bouncing off of the game borders and returning back to it's original firing location. Very useful for taking out multiple enemies and can be considered a good all-rounder weapon, however, it drains your ammunition very quickly and is very easy to confuse for enemy projectiles as they share a similar colour. Avoid using bounce when spam ships start spawning as it will cause your more confusion than it is worth, at least in my opinion.

Through [ T ]

As the name suggests, this weapon has the ability to go through incoming enemies, thus destroying everything in it's path. Through can be very useful and is an excellent all rounder weapon as it's projectiles are larger than average giving it a higher hit probabilty along with the Giant and Bounce power-ups. Definitely recommended during the 10,000 to 15,000 points margin as it has no real flaws, but after 15,000 points, look for better alternatives such as the upcoming power-ups.

Finally: The powerful and valuable late-game power-ups

Explosive [ E ]

My personal favourite, the explosive projectile is the best all-rounder weapon and perfect for late-game scoring. It is a medium range projectile that explodes upon impact killing anything within the blast radius, the medium range also works to your advantage as if you accidentally miss what you were aiming for, it's explosion is capable of killing other enemies within the region (and can also destroy the large meteors and all of it's clusters in one hit).

The explosive power-up is one I would advise hanging on to for as long as you possibly can (unless the S becomes available at 25,000 points), it is by far the best all-round weapon and the easiest to keep the ammunition count high for as it fires at an average rate.

An extra bennefit to the [ E ] power-up is that it is the only weapon that has the ability to destroy enemies before they spawn onto the screen. When enemies are about to appear, a beam of light appears from their location, if you recognise a beam of light that matches a particular enemy you would rather destroy before it becomes visible, aim for the wall and you will destroy them before they spawn. Extremely useful in all circumstances.

Spreader [ S ]

The spreader is the most powerful weapon in the game in terms of practicality, but is only of any use to you when you reach very late stages of the game when ammo pick-ups are literally everywhere. This power-up is capable of firing 3 shots in a decent radius from the front of your ship at the same firing rate as the default projectile, this gives you the ability to kill multiple enemies at an incredible rate and thus is very useful when the screen is filled with hostiles. The only flaw with the spreader projectile is howe quickly it drains your ammunition, which is why I would advise against picking this up until you have at least reached 20,000 points minimum. If you are capable of constantly picking up ammo power-ups, make sure you acquire the spreader and you are guaranteed to score big.

Know Your Enemy

There aren't a great number of enemies in Bit Blaster XL, but it's helpful to know which ones to kill off first if you are given the chance. I don't know the official names for the enemies so I'll just be using the names for them that first spring to my mind.

Meteor (Small)

A small circular meteor. Non-threatening and of very little value in terms of points.

Meteor (Large)

A large circular meteor. Non-threatening. These are excellent to rake up points with and to score some ammunition power-ups when you require them most. When hit once, they break up into four smaller pieces, all of which spawn power-ups or coins when dropped.

Meteor (Gold)

A large golden circular meteor. Non-threatening. Once destroyed, they spawn 4 golden coins which can be used to unlock other ships, however, in this guide I am assuming that you have already unlocked all of the ships too as Ship 7 is essential for scoring big... anyway... coins still have value to you even after you have unlocked everything, they are worth 100 points a piece so collecting them helps to raise your high score even higher. They don't normally appear until approximately 10,000 points or more, but to score high, it really helps to destroy these things.

Projectile Ship

The first enemy you are introduced to that can fire back at you. A very light threat in early phases of the game but can prove to be a nightmare when so many are on screen at one time. These should always be killed first when spawned (at least until the spam ships appear), they are easiest to dsitinguish from off screen as they show the narrowest beam of light, giving your forewarning that they're going to appear.

Missile

The missile is non-thretening until it reaches the center of the screen, which is when it will blow up and spawn projectiles in all directions. It's not a huge threat, but again, these can prove to be hazardous during later phases of the game. Prioritise killing the projectile ships first, and take out missiles afterwards, it takes a while for them to reach the center of the screen so you have time to take them out.

Meelee Ship

These vessels follows you around the screen pausing from quick rest stops once every so often, personally I don't find them to be very threatening and I always target projectile ships or missiles first as these tend to throw themselves right into your line of fire. If they start surrounding you from multiple directions they can prove to be a problem. Avoid letting too many build up at one time and they won't be an issue.

Spam Ship

I hate these things. They are small ships that fire loads of projectiles in one burst a few mere seconds after spawning. Easily the most dangerous enemy in the game, but they can be countered if you are capable of taking them out the second they appear on screen (or even off-screen if you have the [ E ] power-up equipped), if you are too later however and it starts firing, try and lure it's projectiles into one spot instead of all over the place so that you can avoid them with ease. After so long however, these become much more common making the screen a complete and utter death trap, the best counter for spam ships at that point in time is the [ S ] power-up.

The long and short of it: Kill them before they can fire, if you failed, lure their projectiles into one spot so that you have more free space.

Final Tips And Notes

There isn't much to this game that I haven't already mentioned above but here are few additional notes that I would advise you to follow to score more points.

Use the 7th Ship

I am assuming that if you are reading this guide, you already have all of the ships unlocked, if not, before even attempting to start scoring high points, make sure you have unlocked this and are using it. It is the best all round ship and is superior to all of the other alternatives. Period.

Pick up Coins

Coins are an easy way to earn extra points, especially from the golden meteors. They are worth 100 points a piece and become quite common in late phases of the game.

Save Ammo Pick-ups

Just become an ammo pick-up has been spawned, it doesn't mean it's a good idea to grab it instantly. Save them for when you actually need them, they never disappear and are drawn to your ship. If for example it is late game and you are waiting for an [ S ] power-up to appear, save the ammo pick-ups for when you have that equipped instead, but also pick up enough to keep your weapon firing in teh mean time.

Maintain Shields

Shields are crucial to your survival during late game and it is imperative that you keep the shield count as high as you possibly can. The best advice I can give you for this is to simply restart if you get hit at all from 0 to 8,000 points. You will need all of your shield power during the late phases of the game so keep them as long as you possibly can.

Maintain Boost Power

Boosting can get you out of very tight situations by outrunning enemy projectiles, do not waste the boost power by being impatient and speeding towards ammo or weapon pick-ups unless absolutely necessary.

Use a Controller

If you have a controller lying around, I highly recommend using one instead of the keyboard. They feel more responsive and allow for better movement, you will definitely feel the difference and freedom in your ships movement.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading and I hope that this guide has helped you understand the game a little bit further. I will be adding to this guide as time goes on and as updates are potentially made to the game, good luck and have fun!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=631675554

Complete Bit Blaster XL Guide