Iji: Done a few playthroughs of this so far. Awesomely fun indie platformer game, at least to me. And the little nuances from what you can do are impressive to say the least. (Also: only NOW saw what you want that mine for). Short enough for great replay value, long enough to be immersive. Need to do a few more runs to see what kind of other nuances I can get in the long run...
The fact that you can get almost every non-boss weapon in the game (and -a- boss weapon, if you know where to look) is impressive to say the least.
But as something to do: Weapon and ability rating time!
Shotgun: Starting weapon, and let's be fair, it's actually pretty good for a starter. The infinite ammo doesn't hurt, either. Range and random spread are issues, but it's serviceable.
Machine Gun: This...honestly isn't good at all. You're almost never going to use it for its base form. What you ARE going to use it for is the fusions it gives. Far more effective for those than on its own--though it can at least be used to detonate objects at further ranges than the shotgun.
Rocket Launcher: A nice first heavy weapon. However, it starts falling off once better weapons become available, and worse: Berserkers love to reflect them and they're useless against Assassins. It has its uses, and is still a nice wall-buster for a while.
Devastator: Rocket Launcher on crack, and one of the strongest weapons in the game as far as damage-per-shot goes. Three shots, all of which are explosive type, with the second largest blast of a weapon in the game. This is your mainstay for taking out Annihilators, presumably. If you want it for a fight, you -need- the Strength 10 bonus, though.
Resonance Detonator: Slow. Prohibitively so. Good for getting groups of enemies out of the way if your Strength is awesome. But the recharge time is so fucking slow that it's insane. Not that useful.
Pulse Cannon: More 'accurate', shorter-range machine gun. Treat it like the machine gun, too, albeit with better raw damage.
Shocksplinter: Never actually used it that much. Presumably, however, it faces the same problems as the rocket launcher insofar as being reflectable goes. This is a problem. Its altfire is awesome, though.
(Komato 10 weapon): Haven't used this too much either. Mainly because by the time I get one, I also have my hands on the Tasen 10 weapon and Crack 10, which means I just use its altfire. Not that this is by any means a bad thing.
Kick: Depends on how strong you are. If you're strong, it wins. If not, it fails. However, sending Scouts and Soldiers flying is nothing short of hilarious. This is the truth.
Hacking: Depends on luck, speed, and Cracking stat. Almost invariably useful, however, if you can do it.
Turret Soccer: Hilarious. Useless later on, but hilarious.
Buster Gun: AUTO-SHOTGUN. Seriously, though, this thing kicks ass, particularly for its low requirements (Tasen 3, Crack 3). For this, you get something that shreds through earlygame enemies like few others. Helpful lategame as well, though for very different reasons. EATS your machine gun ammo like nothing else, though.
Splinter Gun: By the time I normally get this, it's not that useful, and you have the awesomeness of the Plasma Cannon anyway. I presume if you get it ASAP, you can tear apart earlygame enemies like few others. It has splash damage as well. The downside is that the projectiles, annoyingly enough, are reflectable. Therefore, less than useful against Berserkers, useless against Assassins. Probably does its share against other types, and I can imagine that it's useful against Annihilators to some small extent.
Spread Rockets: Nice. Very nice. These things do some serious damage early on, and it shows. In fact, they're useful against Berserkers and things that duck your rockets normally. Their damage is also solid. The downside? Triple ammo expenditure, and it's slow to recover. Still hilarious early on.
Nuke: FULLSCREEN BOMB. In actuality, its utility purposes are better than its weapon use. The blast sends you flying back--letting you cross gaps you can't clear by jumping--and it hits just about anything onscreen. Also good as an emergency weapon to send everything flying: It autohits the screen, and you're more than likely to do damage. However, the ammo's useful to the Devastator, sadly, and it uses THREE shots for this blast.
Resonance Reflector: Tough to use for most of the game. REQUIRED for the endboss, though. It's a pain that you can't use it repeatedly like Berserkers can.
Hyper Pulse: Another solid weapon. Strength dependent, but it's got both combat and utility use. Nothing else lets you break down doors at range. And the stun once it does enough damage is -always- useful.
Plasma Cannon: Mainstay weapon for most of the game. THIS son of a bitch is the heaviest single-shot weapon you can reasonably use on Assassins, outside of possibly the Nuke; Assassins reflect the rest automatically. And, hoo boy, it does its job well. You want the Shocksplinter ammo for this, not the Shocksplinter itself. And at a high enough Attack rank, it oneshots the evasive bastards. Clears rooms of enemies not Annihilators, to boot. Arguably one of the best weapons in the game, and it's more efficient with its ammo than some hackweapons are.
"BEAM CANNON FROM HELL": Let's be honest. This thing destroys anything short of an Annihilator within seconds. And it pierces walls. It's the only gun that does this. You will love it for many reasons, but it has one drawback: It eats ammo like few others.
Strength 10: Longer invulnerability is always a help. As is being able to fire the Devastator without getting knocked on your ass. Kicks of doom and usefulness from the Hyper Pulse are also benefits.
Attack 10: Rather "meh". Fast recharge is good for the Devastator and Plasma Cannon. On the plus side, the damage alone is a benefit--being able to oneshot Assassins definitely helps.
Assimilate 10: Kinda sucks. You get extra healing (1 healing from green, +1 healing from red), but...eh. Probably better on the higher difficulties. 100% armor repair for any pickup is decent, though, and the ammo capacity helps if you want certain guns.
Health 10: -NICE-. Reducing all Health damage to 1 is an amazing durability booster. Given that anything that did health damage before aside from non-Annihilator melee did 2+ (Rockets did 2, Plasmas and Devastators did 3...), this is a massive boon, especially if you go for the optional "hard" last fight.
Crack 10: Which is better: making the Iosa fight easier, or getting access to the best gun in the game? Or just hacking everyone's suits when they're not looking? No matter which way you put it, it's amusing. The extra time is helpful, to say the least.
Tasen 10: Devastator. Enough said. This is a just reward for Rank 10 in Tasen weaponry.
Komato 10: Not so good without Tasen 10 and Crack 10. With both, you get the best gun in the game, hands down--and an easy bypass in Sector X. Without it...eh. The lightning thingy may not be too bad, I guess.
