Extraction: Project Outbreak differs from what we’ve come to expect from Chillingo games on Windows Phone. Besides a complete lack of cuteness, it’s also pretty tough! At first players will have to come to grips with the game’s unique controls. Then they’ll encounter a steep rise in difficulty that seems designed to encourage spending money on PDLC and/or pad the length of the game more than anything else.
Thankfully your favorite Windows Phone Central game reviewer/ninja has unlocked all 20 of Extraction’s Achievements and will now help you do the same.
General tips
- If you’re about to die or otherwise fail a mission, always try to pause and restart. You won’t gain any progress from the previous attempt, but you’ll avoid losing Reputation.
- Never switch to Hardcore difficulty. You won’t be able to switch back, and many objectives will be crazy difficult by the game’s end.
- Whenever your character’s animation bugs out and he starts spasming around randomly, relaunch the game. The bug makes him either fire his gun less or not at all, leading to unfair death and a loss of Reputation. I have heard the buggy animation state makes melee kills easier to perform, though.
- Reinforcement missions (yellow dots on the map) are the best place to grind just about everything. Skip to ‘Pimp my Arsenal’ at the end of this guide for more Reinforcement strategies.
Kill-based Achievements
Progress towards these Achievements can be made at any time; they do not require the purchase of special weapons. I highly recommend working on Pugilist first as it gets harder to make melee kills as you progress through the game.
Destroyer: Kill 25 enemies with exploding objects.
Some levels contain either single red barrels or groups of them. Shooting a barrel while enemies are near it will damage and possibly kill those enemies, while groups of barrels always kill them. These kills give you an explosive kill bonus. The targeting reticule doesn’t like to lock onto barrels, so you might need to try more than once to shoot at a barrel. To make groups of barrels more effective, get nearby enemies to follow you before triggering the explosion.
Also, when enemies destroy your Sentry Gun or Droid special weapons, those weapons will explode, often resulting in an unintentional explosive kill.
Eagle Eyes: Kill 50 enemies with skill shots.
At the top right corner of the screen lies the skill shot bar, which looks like a small green rectangle when you’re not shooting. Whenever you start locking onto a series of enemies, the speed at which your finger moves causes a red bar to fill up. Release while it touches the green bar (initiating the attack) and you’ll perform an extra-damaging skill shot.
Each weapon has a different sized green line, making some better for skill shots than others. According to Xbox360Achievements.org user MikeRo, the starting assault rifle FAMAS has the largest green bar. Still, there’s no need to stick with the FAMAS over other assault rifles. Just use rifles as your main weapon and you’ll rack up 50 skill shots over the course of the game without even trying.
Grenadier: Kill 50 enemies with grenades.
As the tutorial shows us, you can tap and drag a grenade from the lower-left corner of the screen to somewhere on the playing field in order to use it. Grenades instantly kill any enemies within their blast radius. You can get ‘Grenadier’ early on by making sure to throw grenades whenever a group of enemies rushes towards you, but remember, melee kills should be your main priority until you've unlocked 'Pugilist.'
Pugilist: Kill 50 enemies using the Melee attack.
When an enemy gets very close to your character, swipe left and right over the baddie to melee it; you’ll hear a punching sound if it works. Much of the time you’ll shoot the enemy by accident because the melee controls are terrible. It also becomes harder to melee enemies as you get farther in the game because your opponents start dealing more damage. Thus, try to melee as much as possible, especially on Exterminate (kill X enemies) missions. Don’t take too many risks on the other mission types.
Private, Captain, and Commando (3 Achievements): Kill 150, 500, and 2000 enemies.
You’ll kill more than 2000 enemies as you complete missions, so these are gimmes. All types of kills count, including special weapons.
Mission-based Achievements
Majestic: Earn the best Reputation level.
Each time you complete a mission while completing all primary objectives (save all scientists, kill all enemies, etc.) your reputation goes up by one, up to a maximum of five. Completing a mission by calling for extraction or reaching the end of a soldier escort mission with one soldier killed does not affect reputation. Losing a mission or dying decreases reputation by one mark each time. Once you reach five reputation marks, you’ll get the Achievement. Reputation is saved, so this doesn’t need to be done in one sitting.
Colonel Fix It: Repair 25 weapons installations.
Repair missions appear as teal/blue circles on the map. You’ll need to defend a mechanic as he repairs three turrets. Stand within range of the mechanic (not on the other side of the turret) and pick off all approaching enemies. Special weapons, particularly the Sentry Gun and Droid, help a lot on repair missions. If the mechanic fixes a turret but one of you takes much damage in the process, just head back and call for extraction. You’ll get credit for however many turrets he fixed if you leave early, but not if you die.
Guardian: Escort 25 soldiers to their destination.
Escort missions appear as orange circles on the map. You’ll need to escort two soldiers along a linear path toward the exit – if one soldier dies, you’ll receive credit for rescuing the other, but both soldiers dying results in a failure. The exit is not marked on the map, but it’s always a room with blue smoke (just like the rooms that hold scientists).
It becomes tough to keep the soldiers alive as you get further in the game. Unlock and use the Droid, making it clear as much of the path as possible before advancing. If you don’t have the Droid or yours dies, make sure you stay in front of the soldiers at all times.
Saviour: Save 25 scientists.
Rescue missions appear as green circles on the map. You’ll need to save as many of the four scientists as possible by finding them and bringing them back to the extraction point – all within a strict time limit.
These missions aren’t too bad early on, but later in the game it becomes extremely hard to save more than two scientists within the time limit and without dying. I did save all four once, but it felt like a miracle. Thus, make sure you do as many rescue missions as possible while they’re still easy. Once the difficulty ratchets up, start bringing each scientist back to the extraction point before seeking the next one. If your life or time run low, just call for extraction.
Special weapon-based Achievements
Master at Arms: Deploy all 4 special weapons, 10 times each.
To deploy a special weapon after unlocking it, tap the bar at the bottom-right corner of the screen and then drag the weapon onto the battlefield. You’ll acquire this naturally while working towards the other special weapon Achievements.
Armageddon: Kill 100 enemies with Missile Drones.
The Missile Drone bombards the battlefield with missiles for a short time. The best use of the drone is to clear rooms that you haven’t entered yet – you can let it do its thing without worrying about enemies rushing towards you. You can also use Drones while grinding Reinforcement missions for credits.
Forsaken: Hit 100 enemies with Defectant .Gas.
Gas is the least effective special weapon, but thankfully you only need to hit the targets, not kill them. Just toss it at groups of enemies and hope for the best.
Gunishment: Kill 100 enemies with Sentry Guns.
Sentry Guns are powerful turrets that you can aim by rotating their field of vision cones. You can probably get 100 kills just by using them on Repair missions, but Reinforcement missions are also perfect for them. Currently a bug makes Sentry Guns slide around endlessly if a character or enemy bumps into them, so try to place them against walls and out of harm’s way whenever possible.
Rolling Thunder: Kill 100 enemies with Droids.
Droids are like AI companions that you command. They are invaluable on Escort missions, but you can also use them as stationary turrets on Reinforcement missions.
Long-term Achievements
Money Bags: Earn 500,000 credits.
This is cumulative, so you don’t need to have all of the credits at once. If you don’t earn the credits naturally, just grind Reinforcement missions after completing the game.
Elite Soldier: Level up to Elite Level.
Kills made by your own soldier or special weapons give you XP, which contributes towards leveling up. The max level is 21, which unlocks the Achievement. As with many other objectives, Reinforcement missions are the best place to grind for XP if needed.
Hero: Complete the game.
Once you’ve completed enough missions to reveal the 20th area, you’ll be able to fight the boss, Subject 88. You can’t see him on the map, but after you pick certain missions, he’ll appear instead of the selected mission.
Subject 88 is a super tough gun-firing soldier. To win, you’ll want to let your Sentry Guns and Droids do all the work. Drop them as quickly as possible and then stay out of harm’s way and within the special weapons’ area of protection as they kill him. A few seconds after he dies, the Achievement unlocks and you can proceed northeast to the exit.
Pimp My Arsenal: Buy every weapon and fully upgrade it.
This will likely be your final Achievement, unless you’re like me and have a tough time with the Rescue missions.
Reinforcement missions (which appear as yellow dots on the map) are by far the best way to earn credits. Complete one with all seven soldiers alive and a full reputation to 50,600 credits. On the early waves, use one or two Droids to guard certain pathways while you help the soldiers watch the remaining paths. Once the Droids die out, replace them with Sentry Guns. After the Guns run out of ammo, stay close to the soldiers and help as many of them to keep breathing as possible.
Thanks to Arsenic17 for some advice and corrections!
