If it wasn’t for a certain game also launching in June, Disintegration might have been one of the biggest games of the month. We both know what game I’m referring to, and it’s obviously Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom Re-Hydrated. It’s going to be the game of the year, I can feel it.
For those of you who have picked up Disintegration, either instead of or alongside The Last of Us Part 2, you might need a few beginner’s tips in order to succeed, especially on the harder difficulty settings. With that in mind, here are a few tips and tricks to survive in the world of Disintegration.
1. Some Guns Blazing (Don’t Be A Rambo)
This tip applies more for the early parts of the campaign, but it’s worth noting that playing carefully is often more beneficial than flying in all guns blazing. It can be all too easy to become swarmed by a hail of gunfire, so for the first few levels, it’s worth taking things slower and relying on your squadmates to deal the lion’s share of the damage.
Later levels will see your Gravcycle loadout altered in certain ways, which will affect your playstyle, and you’ll also upgrade your abilities so you can deal more damage while becoming more resistant in the process. Still, it’s worth playing conservatively, especially if you’re trying to play on Maverick or higher difficulty.
2. Command Your Squad (Stand By Me)
For the most part, your squad will effectively deal with oncoming threats, but they’ll tend to be a bit disorganised, leading to them stepping on enemy mines or being caught out of position more often than not. Sometimes, you need a steady hand to guide the ship, and that steady hand is you pressing the right bumper constantly.
Highlighting an enemy and pressing the right bumper will cause your squad to converge on them, which is a great way of focusing down much larger enemies, while pressing the right bumper on open ground will move your team to that location. No matter how you command your squad, you’ll want to stay close by. Firstly, it gives the enemy more targets to shoot, and secondly, if they get downed, you can quickly pick up their brain can and get them back in the fight.
3. Abilities Are Your Friend
Each member of your squad has a special ability which can be used to turn the tide of any fight. These abilities include slowing fields, concussion grenades, mortar strikes and huge ground slams, all of which are useful at controlling space, destroying huge clusters of enemies and mitigating sniper attacks.
These abilities do take time to recharge, so it’s not like they can be spammed, but there’s also no ammo counter for these abilities either. There’s no reason not to use your abilities freely, as you’ll probably get them back by the time the next fight starts, if not sooner. If you see an opportunity to use your abilities, take it.
4. Staggering
One of the most consistent and effective ways of dealing damage to enemies is by staggering them, and there are a number of ways to go about this. Explosions are the most common, either by explosive related abilities or by fellow enemies blowing up when they die, though squad melee attacks and shots from behind will also cause staggers. You can tell when an enemy is staggered as they start flashing yellow.
Staggering makes defeating the larger enemies much easier, so it’s always worth doing. A decent strategy is to fly around the back of an enemy and shoot them, causing a stagger. Then, simply command your squad to fire at the target and watch their health bar drain faster than me getting excited about a new Spider-Man game.
5. Healing
Healing in Disintegration is a curious one, as your weapon loadout each mission (which you have no control over) determines how you’ll distribute healing. During the campaign, you’ll be given two healing weapons, one that fires healing nanites at one ally at a time, and another which drops an area of effect healing that can also keep your health topped up.
Some missions, you won’t have any healing weapons at all, but there’s still ways to keep you and your squad topped up. Elite enemies, which are signified by their red armour, will drop healing for you and your squads, and there are containment fields which you can command your squad to open, which will also drop healing for everyone. Just make sure to command your squad to actually stand in the healing, lest you deal with them constantly complaining that they’re in critical condition. The healing is right there dude. Be the change you want to see in the world.
6. Reducing Cooldown
Following on from that tip, there’s an additional benefit to healing your squad that isn’t so heavily mentioned: squadmates in a healing field will have their cooldowns reduced on their abilities while being healed. Again, the game itself doesn’t make a huge deal of mentioning it, but it’s something you’ll notice as you play.
For those missions where you can independently heal your squad members, a good strategy is to constantly pump healing, even when your team is at full health, just to ensure that they’ll have a steady supply of abilities ready to unleash on the unsuspecting Rayonne forces.
7. Head Out The Clouds (Try Not To Fly Low)
This is a simple one, but worth repeating: try not to fly too low. It’s all too easy to become surrounded by enemy fire that you’ll explode before you have a chance to retaliate. Flying higher allows you to put a little distance between yourself and the fight so the AI should prioritise your teammates, while also giving you the vantage point you need to properly command. The added distance also gives you more time to use your boost dodge, evading further damage.
8. Scan Often
One of your most useful abilities as a Gravcycle pilot is the ability to scan your environment. While its benefits are practically self-explanatory while in the middle of a fight as it reveals enemy locations, it will also show valuable containment fields, which contain healing, and vital caches, scrapped cars and other locations which contain salvage and upgrade chips.
9. Salvage And Upgrades
Salvage can be gained from looting various caches and by killing enemies, and while you might think it’d be tied to a currency of some kind, it’s actually more like an EXP system than anything. Earning enough salvage will level you up, allowing you to use the upgrade chips you find to improve yourself and the rest of your squad.
Salvage and upgrade chips go hand in hand. There’s no point in obtaining a ton of salvage if you haven’t found any upgrade chips to go with it, and the opposite is also true. It’s also worth remembering that your squad changes each mission, so try to ensure you have enough upgrade chips for everyone.
10. Challenges
In between missions, you’ll be able to explore staging areas, where you can interact with various characters to understand more lore about the game, along with accepting challenges for the mission ahead, and you’ll want to accept these challenges. The rewards are absolutely worth it.
For the most part, you won’t be going too far out of your way to complete these challenges, aside from a couple of time trials and no one dying challenges. You’ll largely just be killing certain enemy types, or using certain abilities, and you’ll be earning upgrade chips for your troubles. If you want to ensure you have the most powerful Gravcycle and squad, you need to nail the challenges.
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