Reflections

For anyone not accustomed to side-scrolling shooters – very plausible given that SC2 is a real-time strategy game – the Lost Viking achievements may be one of the most annoying to obtain (at least as far as the campaign goes). However, given a bit of effort, it is far from impossible for even the most casual gamer. Here are a few general tips…

Power-ups

• Plasma vs. side missiles – Though the plasmas will take down bosses much quicker than the rockets, it is hard to use them elsewhere in the scenario. In general, the latter is much more user-friendly; the former is for those who have great skill in aiming while maneuvering through enemy fire.
• Drones – These little guys are amazing; they help take down opposing units and also sacrifice themselves should you take a hit, acting as an extra life. Two of these should be gotten as soon as possible (wait for the power-ups to morph if need be).
• Bombs – Bombs are literally the PANIC! button in this minigame and there is no shortage of them after having finished upgrading the ship’s weaponry and obtaining the drones. They should be used whenever you’re in a “crap, I’m screwed”-spot (typically during the Zerg and Terran bosses).

Levels

• The Protoss level is pretty straightforward; there aren’t too many things worth mentioning about it. One interesting thing to note is that you can “farm” the interceptors that the boss throws out for points; this can actually get you past the 500k point barrier without having to fight Terra-Tron for a 3rd time.
• For the Zerg, it is best not to move around a lot as you take down the scourges. By staying motionless, the enemy “firing” pattern is much less chaotic. Of course, moving as little as possible is a general rule in most shooters so… As for the boss here, the main thing to watch out for is the tentacles; the stockpile of bombs will come in useful here though they aren’t completely necessary.
• Terra-Tron is by far the biggest threat in the third level, with lasers, bullets, and even a homing saw at its disposal. The laser can be avoided by being at the opposite side of the screen from where Terra-Tron starts firing; the saw isn’t too hard to dodge, at least on its own. The hail of bullets on the other hand is quite annoying given the clunky, imprecise controls. Again, the bomb stockpile will serve quite nicely here.

Controls

One interesting thing to note is that spamming the spacebar continuously is much more effective than keeping it held down. This gets rather tiring and distracting so, me being me, I wrote a quick AutoHotkey script to automate this process.

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Activated := 0
 
Loop {
	If (Activated) {
		Send {Space}
		Sleep, 50
	}
}
 
$Space::
	Activated := !Activated

Press the spacebar once and the ship will fire continuously at maximum speed without any further direction. It makes it much easier to focus on dodging fire and using bombs when necessary.

Anyway, Happy Hallowe’en!