I have spent most of my weekend slaughtering thousands of systems corp mercenaries in the just released "Thing-Thing 4." I have almost completed the entire game, all that I need to do to finish is get 5000 kills (just a matter of time, lots of time) and beat hard mode (not that hard, I've just been putting it off). I thought that I would make a topic with useful hints and tips that I have discovered. These are in no particular order.
Making melee kills easier: Normally, with your lead pipe, it takes 6-8 hits to take down an enemy. This makes it extremely hard to get the 500 melee kills that you need to get the sword and complete the game. In order to make melee kills easier, you need to weaken the enemy with a gun before you hit him with your pipe. I found that most weapons in the game either do a crapload of damage, or fire really fast. You need to use a weapon that fires reasonably fast, and does a lot of damage without killing the enemy. The best weapon for this, that I have found, is the Viper .44 Magnum. Always carry one while trying to get melee kills. You shoot the enemy once in the head, then bash him 2-3 times with the pipe. It's that simple.
Preparing for hard mode: The biggest differences that I noticed in hard mode are these: enemies have more health (or your weapons do less damage), and you regenerate faster. This means that you need something that can hit enemies hard and fast. After you beat easy mode, you unlock the armory, which can be accessed through the level select. Make sure to pay it a trip. The first thing that you should reach for is the Hades Rifle. This is very useful in early levels and levels like the zombie/bean chambers, since it passes through multiple enemies, killing almost everything in it's path. The hades rifle isn't the best thing for some situations though, due to it's slow fire rate. In hard mode, shotguns are your friends! The do enormous amounts of damage and have a pretty good to spectacular fire rate. The only disadvantage is the lackof amo, which can be bypassed by using the armory. As soon as you encounter the white and black enemies, you are going to want to get the brain driller. It instakills anything (I haven't tested it on a boss... yet). I'll be sure to post more on this when I beat hard mode (I'm just a couple levels away).
Picking your special weapons: You will see red lights in various levels. If you are smart you will shoot them. Somewhere in the level, a door will open. You need to get a keycard that is somewhere in the unlocked area. Use it to open another door somewhere else in the same area. Behind the second door there will be three weapons. The game is very hard to beat without using these. This applies to easy mode only, since you can find everything in the armory after you beat it. The first selection of weapons that you unlock is this: The HK 91, a powerful rifle with a good fire rate. Take it. A grenade launcher. Low fire rate, low ammo, but extremely powerful damage-wise. Leave it. A Benelli 12-Gauge Shotgun. High ammo, high damage, and a good fire rate. Take it. The second time you unlock the special weapons, you will be presented with: A Gauss Shotgun. One of the most powerful weapons in the game. You will need it to kill the boss. Take it, but use it sparingly! The Laser Cannon. Acts much like a gauss weapon, but it is far more powerful. I found it useful when killing zombies. Take it. The HK 21. You have already seen this weapon from after you beat the first boss. It is just like the HK 91 except it has a much better fire rate. Leave it. Next, you will be able to choose between three more weapons. You need to keep your Gauss Shotgun, so only take one. The Brain Driller. The most powerful weapon in the game, it intakills anything. This one has a very small amount of ammo, so leave it. The Pancor Jackhammer. An automatic shotgun. Pretty powerful, but not the weapon you need for the upcoming levels. Tha Desert Eagle. The second magnum weapon in the game, a headshot will instakill a standard enemy in normal mode. It has an acceptable fire rate and a good amount of ammo. Take it.
Unlockable weapons: Doing certain things in the game will get you unlockable weapons. Some of the ones listed in the above section are only available in the "secret spots." Those would be the Desert Eagle, Laser Cannon, Gauss Shotgun, HK 21, and Brain Driller. Another kind-of-unlockable weapon is the "Universal Bean Cannon," which you can get by waiting for the second door to open in a certain level instead of going into the "reanimation chamber." Another unlockable is the sword, which replaces your lead pipe after you get 500 melee kills. I looks pretty sweet
Another unlockable is the Hades rifle, which is only available after you kill Hades. From then on you can get it form the armory. The last unlockable is the N.U.K.E. I haven't gotten this weapon, but I have seen pictures of it in the high scores lists. You get it after you complete all of the "goals" in the game. You can see what these are by clicking "options" then "game stats."
The last level: After you see the cutscene with the room with the TVs, just let yourself die. There is no point in fighting, you can no longer regenerate your hp. The game will end and you will win. It is a little reminiscent of the first SHIFT game.
sighs all I can say is major posting, overall though great guide. You should make improvements such as actually trying out different wpns instead of just saying this wpn is great and then later on you try after you've written it isnt a good sign of a walkthrough gamer.
I don't want to burst anybodies bubble or anything, but I would like to point something out. Perhaps the opening of level exits isn't related to how many kills you get, but maybe how much time you spend in the level? Try this out. Go to a level where you know there is a safe spot that nobody can hit you ( don't kill anybody) or just avoid being shot at in general and wait 5 minutes or so. I suspect that the exit will open whether or not you kill anybody anyway. Just because it's thing thing doesn't mean you need to kill to get to the next level. Just a thought but one to keep in mind. I might not even be right, but i tried it out on service tunnel 3 by waiting by the exit door for 3 or 4 minutes and without killing more than 3 or 4 mercs, the door opened. Try it if you think i'm wrong. And no, i didn't hack.