Aerial Predator Trophy tips

[SiskoBlue]

Just in case other people are still struggling getting this trophy I've scoured some sites and these are the best tips I've found.

1) Ignore the big stuff, go for the small and many - MOST IMPORTANT A lot of the time the bigger enemies hang there and you shoot away and maybe you get half of them, maybe all, but generally that's only what 3-10 kills? If you don't shoot them at all they eventually fly past so just move your character around the screen, you'll shoot them a bit but if there's small birds/bats flying in a swarm past, they are DEFINITELY your first priority. One hit kills and there's definitely more than 160 of them. That's where you beat this trophy, killing small things.

2) Hold R2 & release quickly - 2nd MOST IMPORTANT Use the lock on feature and paint your targets. But don't waste time try to get the most targets you can while holding R2. You can target 10 or more enemies but you only fire 5 missiles so the time spent targeting those extra 5 was pointless. Plus the longer you take the further out of range they get. I finally succeeded on this by painting only 2-4 targets at a time. Hold, release, hold, release, as quick as it is to say that, that's how quickly I was shooting. I'd try to get 5 targets but regardless of what I had I release the shot after 1-2 seconds max even if it's just one target.

3) Learn where the swarms come - The swarms of small green & brown bird/bats, and keep an eye out for slightly larger brown bats that fly straight past. After a playthrough or two you'll be ready for when the come. It's all about maximising how many of them you shoot. Be as fast as you can, ignore everything else.

4) Increase your pointer sensitivity - Go into options, in there you will see X sensitivity (horizontal) and Y sensitivity. The default is quite low. Ratchet this up much higher, then when you're painting targets with your reticule you can sweep around the screen much faster. Because your using lock-on rockets accuracy is not the point, sweeping the pointer wildly all around the screen is.

5) Don't muck about with saves mid way and try to die and accumulate kills - I can't confirm this even works, or how people who say they're doing are doing it, why take the risk and complicate things.

This trophy is very doable if you use these methods. I struggled with this for a while but raised my sensitivity, ignored (mostly) the bigger guys unless there was nothing else to shoot, and really just sprayed and prayed lock-on targetting as fast as I could on every swarm. Tapping the R2 button just enough to get some locks rather than holding and aiming. Got it first try and a fair way before the end of the rider too.

Hope this helps.

[MiiAmigo]

I wish somebody could tell us how many kills we should be at every checkpoint. It would make so much better to give you an idea how many kills are needed then. I keep hearing to get about 30-40 kills before the cavern but that only helps me so much. I managed to get 39 but I always come out short in the end by about 19. I guess I could give your method a go and see where I end up.

[MiiAmigo]

WOW! Got 171 by following your tips. It was freakin easy then. Thanks for that bud. I thought I would never get it.

[lordhong]

Originally Posted by SiskoBlue

3) Learn where the swarms come - The swarms of small green & brown bird/bats, and keep an eye out for slightly larger brown bats that fly straight past. After a playthrough or two you'll be ready for when the come. It's all about maximising how many of them you shoot. Be as fast as you can, ignore everything else.

This is the most important imo. Swarms are the majority of the kills, and they sometimes fly in patterns or speeds that will make late shooting useless. Learn to target them fast and release quick.

[SiskoBlue]

I don't understand the checkpoint system. As far as I can tell there is only one fairly early on and there's not much to kill before you get there. I'm probably missing something but it's not likes it's so long you really need to save your progress. Just don't bother with the big stuff and quick shoot-release so you're not missing loads trying to get a better shot.

[TXHustler]

Thanks for the tips sisko... just got my platinum!!!

I never thought about turning the sensitivity all the way up... it helped A LOT catching those fast moving swarms

[BendeR_BomB]

hahhahaha i suck cause even with your awesome tips i barely did it as i got 160 kills exactly lol but thanks so much!!

[sekter9]

anyone knows, whether the game difficulty affects the number of hits the enemies can take? Currently playing on apocalyptic and having a hard time getting the 160 kills.

[disch]

Finally got it. I recommend making a save just after the checkpoint at the beginning of the first cave. That way you dont have to replay the first part where no swarms are thus making no difference.
When you reach the finish (exit of last cave) quickly check your kills, if you only miss like ~10 I recommend loading the last autosave and try again, else just load your save from first cave and go from there.

[vtwin650]

just got this one myself, I took note of how many kills I had prior to the killing spree on wings, and kept tallies by checking the statistics menu for kills / blood spilled etc. I'll skip to the important parts, 1) this isn't a great run by any means or trying to showboat (because I just made it!)
2) I only made it by 1 kill in the end because my trigger jammed a little.
3) there is a checkpoint as you drop down into the lava tube to confront the mini-boss, save just after you see the logo in the lower left indicating saving to disk. If you have a good run up to here you only need to repeat the last half of it.

I had 486 when I began, therefore the target was 646 (160 kills)


497 when I just head out of the waterfall
513 when flying up into building before heading into the streets
528 when flying into the cave
588 at checkpoint where you drop down into lava channel
648 rounding the last corner with no more baddies