The Collectables is the latest effort from Crytek, the studio best known for its Far Cry and Crysis adventures. However, this game works a bit differently, asking you to guide a troop of rag-tag soldiers on a number of missions. You'll issue commands and watch them take down enemies, while occasionally calling in special attacks and power-ups to keep your team going.
Here are some tips to help you get through Mobage's latest release.
You move your soldiers around by dragging a finger on the screen to direct them to a certain location. This includes checkpoints as well as mission objectives, such as trucks or generators that need to be blown up.
You can guide the entire group with a simple tap, or individual members by tapping them and directing their routes. You can also guide them to cover, which you'll want to do often to avoid getting killed.
Your soldiers will automatically fire at enemies that get in the way, but it's important to put them into cover as often as you can to keep them from taking damage. For good measure, you'll want to move your team away from any grenades – you'll be able to see the blast radius.
In addition, you can also use secondary attacks, such as a knife or a firecracker grenade, simply by tapping on the power-up and dragging it over to the intended target. Try to save these for tougher enemies or large groups of enemies.
Before starting a mission, click on Manage Squad in the main menu. You'll go to the management screen, where you can choose from unlocked soldiers and add them. Try to stick with characters that specialize in firepower, as they will be able to get you through a mission quicker than the more technical engineers – though they can certainly hold their own in a firefight.
It's similar to squad management. Check out what's in your deck in the sub-menu before taking on a mission, and you'll be able to equip up to four cards for a mission. Try to save a couple of slots for heavier firepower, like firecrackers and a couple for Band-Aids, which heal your team; drag Band-Aids onto the desired character. Both of these will make a tremendous difference when it comes to keeping your team in one piece.
The key is leveling up with XP. You'll be able to do this over the course of a mission, as well as collect random briefcases scattered throughout each level. The more you collect, the better your soldiers will become throughout each mission.
By successfully completing missions – or making purchases at the in-game shop – you can unlock new cards that will bolster your deck and squad with ease. The missions provide a few decent ones, but devoted players will want to bite the bullet and make a purchase to get the most from their squad.
You'll get a decent amount of action for free, but if you really want to get into the game, you'll eventually have to pony up.
Each mission costs you a bit of energy from a meter, usually 20 charges or so. Once you run out, you'll either need to wait for it to refill over time (like a couple hours) or pay 99 gold for a quick refill. A Magnum energy pack is also available for 399 gold, expanding your meter by 700 points.
Some missions also require fuel to use the chopper to fly your team in and out, and you'll need to fill it up for anywhere from 149 to 999 gold, depending how much you want.
Card packs can also be purchased with gold earned in the game, ranging from 199 for a Random Booster pack to 8840 for a Legendary Booster pack, which, as you may expect, contains the best cards in the whole game. A Raging Midas limited edition pack is also available for a separate purchase of $4.99.
Finally, you can accumulate in-game gold, but to get higher amounts, you can pay real cash, ranging from $4.99 for 750 gold to $99.99 for 22,500 gold. It depends how deep you get into the game.
