What the hell ?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AUSPUFF]

Originally Posted by Big D Playa

Nicely said, that is what I did when I was playing. Also, try driving around near highways, and find the armor crates, these add more health to your character.

That's a good hint too, more specifically you will find those at each left and right support columns of highway overpasses. Those are stand-alone pick-ups, not part of village/cities discovery.

But unfortunately, I'm not entirely convinced it helps THAT much, as the enemies seem to level up as you do. I wander why they left the faction guys you do missions for so helpless and wielding punny regular pistols and SMG's with no body armor. While the leveled up military, is all decked out, even in the most obscure and out of this world, forgotten dead-end dump village.

What I'm most annoyed with on hardcore, is that when you die, it breaks the progress flow and immersion in your game. It takes you back miles away, with expanded ammo and lost form of transport. I can't recall details, but I remember that this was handled much better in "The Saboteur" and "Mercenaries 2".

[kfree7]

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time. I've have a tougher time with some other games but this one was not one of them. I miss this game. Would love to have another one. Try using the tops of buildings to sit on and kill people down below. I hid like crazy and it worked for me on several of the building levels.

[TheViper4Life]

I just got this game the other day, and started on Hardcore, so I don't have the easier difficulties to compare to...I had a rough time at first, but you'll get into your own rythm. Just finished all 9 Strongholds...the only problem I really have is no matter how much health you upgraded into (I'm up to 43 Armor crates so far), the enemies will knock that health down REALLY fast, which gets a bit annoying.

But the number 1 tip I can give you is to utilize that grappling hook for EVERYTHING, it'll save your life. Also hide until your heat level goes all the way down, that way the enemies focus is no longer on you, and you have time to recooperate.

[blinkkam182]

As soon as I say this people are going to be like "GTFO! FU! GFY! AAFTHG!"
but I really didn't find this too difficult, one of the last agency missions where you jump into like that mount rushmore looking area (won't say more because I don't want to spoil it) was a little difficult at first but it wasn't too bad.

just like everyone else said:
1. use the grappling hook to kill enemies, flee, hide, sprint, etc. the grappling hook does everything for you
2. spam R1 like crazy to run to cover if you're about to die, the AI obviously don't know how to aim at a rolling jumping guy
3. Clearing out areas is (IMO) the best part of this game, so just complete areas all the time and you will eventually find quite a bit of weapon parts and armor parts that will make combat infinitely easier
4. Only use the assault rifle, sub machine gun, machine gun, and grenades and upgrade only these weapons, everything else is not nearly as affective as these.

follow those steps and this game is not very hard at all, some parts are frustrating and a little annoying, but its definitely doable without smashing a controller.

[RRDude_PBB]

lol at this thread. i recently beat the game on Hardcore, which was my first attempt. i didn't find it hard at all. sure i got killed a few times and had to replay some missions but overall this game is a piece of cake. just use cover and R1 diving a lot to evade fire. upgrade your armor for taking more damage.

[cocoa_sg]

If you start your first playthrough on Hardcore, the difficulty actually will come naturally to you, like me.

The key here is to keep rolling/dodging around the base you want to capture. Use the grapple hook most of the time to get from one side of the base to another in a very short time. But first, before starting off, grab a helicopter nearby or right in the base if you want, and get rid of all the major structures first. Then, use the helicopter as much as you can to land near supplies and grab them, until it is finally shot down.

As long as you use my strategy of rolling/dodging all the time when moving around the base, most of the enemy's gunfire will miss you and you can even survive an outright assault for quite a while. Use dual guns to quickly mow down enemies. You will find this easier than you think, trust me. Have fun! =3

[TheViper4Life]

The helicopter method never works for me...as soon as I come near a military base and they become aware (which is usually right away), those SAMs shoot me down.

A Method that works well for me, is to find a mounted gun, press to carry it around and plow through people/objects with it. It's only downside is it makes you slow and vulnerable.

[Jungalist]

Grapple hook and dodging worked best for me for this game. They your life savers for Hardcore Difficulty in my opinion for sure.