Weapon Upgrade Tips

Pariah™ is a gorgeous first-person shooter with an accent on fast action. An absorbing story line, a robust map editor, and online multiplayer all combine with superior graphics and smooth controls to draw you in and keep you hooked. Best of all, the game's powerful weapons set is upgradeable, packing more punch as the game progresses—and it's completely up to you which weapon to improve.

Each weapon can be boosted three times, and the upgrades are progressive. That is, you have to get the first before you can get the second, and you have to get the first two before you can get the third. Collect pick-ups called Weapons Energy Cores (WECs), both in the story mode and on multiplayer maps. These can be redeemed at any time for weapon upgrades (provided you have enough WECs to pay for them).

The weapons here are some of the basic tools you receive in the first few levels of the game, but they are powerful enough to see you right through to the end. For your own tailor-made arsenal, simply collect every WEC you find and save them until you have enough to trick out your favorite firearm the way you want.

Does your Bulldog bite?

The primary weapon you use in the game is the Bulldog assault rifle. This is a solid weapon with a good rate of fire that does decent damage. On the down side, it suffers from considerable recoil that can spoil your aim, and it's difficult to take down heavily armored enemies. On the other hand, its zoom is extremely useful (although limited) and if you stop, crouch, and aim carefully, the reticule will shrink down to about the size of an enemy's head. Then all you need to do is open fire.

Upgrading the Bulldog is like the weapon itself—a solid decision that will pay off in any battle you face. The first upgrade is a Fire Accelerator that costs a single WEC. You notice a slight increase in the Bulldog's offensive punch after this initial upgrade, but the Fire Accelerator really shines when you combine it with upgrade two, the Recoil Stabilizer. This keeps the barrel of the gun from jerking after each round and makes it far easier to keep the target in your sights. At a price of two WECs, the Recoil Stabilizer gives you better accuracy, which makes the extra dose of firepower from the Fire Accelerator all the more lethal. Now you can reliably put more rounds into the target in less time. The end result? The enemy drops more quickly, even when you're punching through several layers of body armor.

The final upgrade, Armor Piercing, is the most expensive (three WECs), but it completes the Bulldog's journey from decent default weapon to first-choice. With Armor Piercing rounds you can cut through waves of heavily armed scavengers like a hot knife through butter. Fully upgraded, the Bulldog has the best combination of speed, strength, and reliability in the game. Toss in the fact that it's the bad guy's weapon of choice and you have no shortage of free ammo. In a pinch, hold off on the Armor Piercing upgrade, but if you want to use the Bulldog at all in the later levels, you at least want to buy the first two.

You go boom when I say so.

Upgrading the Grenade Launcher has the most dramatic impact on the weapon's performance. The first upgrade, Remote Detonator, makes a crucial change by allowing you to detonate the projectile on command instead of waiting for the timer to expire or scoring a direct hit. Once you fire the grenade, a device appears in your hand and your thumb's on the button. Press the button to set off the explosion in mid-air or just as the enemy troops are charging past. This adds a strong strategic element to your grenade-tossing, because if you've mastered the art of precise placement you can really blow the opposition away. The second upgrade, Fragment Attractor, adds a bit of oomph to your offense, but the third, Target Leech, changes all the rules again by allowing you to stick mines to enemy bodies. With all three upgrades in place you can stick a grenade to an opponent, wait until he runs back among his squadmates, and then blow them all up with the press of a button.

The Sniper Rifle starts with a poor night-vision scope (for low-light, long-distance shooting) and a four-round clip. It's a good gun, but it doesn't reach its peak until you add at least the first upgrade, Enhanced Vision. Now you have a thermal-based scope that really distinguishes the enemy from their surroundings, and it's especially good for headshots. One round to the dome will drop anyone who isn't wearing a helmet (and sometimes even then ... if not, just take a second shot at the now-defenseless noggin), but sometimes there are more than four targets to tackle. When that becomes a problem, just buy the second upgrade, Extra Clip, which adds two more bullets before you have to disengage the scope and reload. The last upgrade adds Armor Piercing capabilities to the gun, which makes it far easier to take down hostile forces with body shots. A basic Sniper Rifle can go through a whole clip of torso shots and still not kill the target, but once you've got all three, it takes one or two shots at most, no matter how thick the chestplate is.

Plasma runs rings around the competition.

The Healing Tool isn't a weapon, but it's important not to overlook it when it comes time to upgrade. The first, Quick Injector, speeds up the time it takes for the device to restore one of your health bars—this can save your life in desperate circumstances. From there, the upgrades aren't quite so flashy—both Health Boost and Adrenaline Increase add an extra square to your health meter, bumping it from four to six squares if you buy both upgrades. As with the Bulldog, I'd recommend getting the first two upgrades for sure and holding off on the third. If you're getting better at avoiding damage (or letting it regenerate before you lose a square), you might not need that last segment.

Pariah has a lot more in the way of very powerful weapons that become even more devastating with some smart fine-tuning, like the rocket-launcher that becomes a tactical nuclear device after three upgrades. For now, use these tips to get yourself started and make your way through the stages until you have a chance to find some of the really big guns later on.

By J.N. Cobb