Space Giraffe Walkthrough Part 2

Here is the part 2 of the walkthrough, covering Level 5 to 9.

Original text/videos by: Jeff Minter
Additional text by: fuwafuwa

Back to Part 1

Level 5: Take Second Exit

This is another connected surface similar to level 3. This time there are many more enemies and they shoot more frequently and are faster. The same basic techniques apply – try to collect a powerup early in the level and hold it to use in case you run out of Power Zone, shoot away or avoid the enemy bullets, and bull enemies off the edge when you get a chance. In your first few plays just concentrate more on shooting stuff to stay safe and avoiding getting shot. As you grow more experienced and more comfortable, try to raise the Bonus Multiplier by bulling, and to shoot away enemy shots for better score and end of level bonuses.
You should be starting to pick out various audio and visual cues by now. Listen for the sound effect and watch for the “muzzle flash” when an enemy fires. You’ll learn to be aware of these little clueful details even when your gaze is directed elsewhere in the level and you’re just seeing them with your peripheral vision. You’ll also start to learn to “see with your ears” to an extent – by hearing certain key events, such as enemy shot firing, you’ll be informed that there is a new threat added to the scenario and have some idea of what its nature is even if you weren’t looking at where the shot was fired at the time.

Level 6: 3AM External

This C-shaped level is quite short, but quite tricky by dint of the fact that enemy shots are very fast on this level. You need to be very careful to avoid making precipitous, sweeping runs across the surface while the enemies are actively climbing up towards you. When you do move, use the right analogue stick to sweep your firing ahead of you, hopefully shooting away any enemy shots that may be racing up towards you.

For a more seasoned and strategic player this level is much less terrifying. Position yourself at the top of the C and shoot enemies until a powerup appears. Then, basically, apply the same technique as we used to get that powerup on level 2. Grab the powerup. Stay at the top of the C while the enemies swarm up – you’ll be safe and out of the way of their fast shots. Only a fixed number of enemies emerge at a time, so eventually they’ll all be at the top and no more will be rising up and shooting. Use jump to quickly refill the Power Zone, then bull them all off. This will usually generate another powerup, which you can collect and repeat the manoeuvre until the level ends.

Whichever way you play, just be careful of those very fast enemy shots!

Level 7: Up Your Alley

In this level you will be faced with a relentless, steady attack by many trigger-happy enemies. The good news is that their shots aren’t as scarily fast as in the previous level, so are much less of a threat being easier to shoot or avoid.

The real key to this level is to understand that although at first it seems difficult, with many enemies attacking at once, it is the very fact that it is such a “target-rich environment” that can work to your advantage. Since you’re constantly shooting enemies your Power Zone should be near-constantly full. So even if you miss shooting some of the bad guys they aren’t even a threat and you can just push them off if they get near you. It’s pretty easy just to choose one of the main sections of the surface and hang in those few lanes shooting bullets and baddies and “shrugging off” any bad guys who approach you on the rim. The frequency of enemy fire increases towards the end of the level, but stay calm and defend your territory and you’ll be fine. Watch out for juggled bullets returning to the surface – they can catch you unawares.

A more experienced player will be looking to quickly bull the multiplier up to x9 early in the level and then establish a position where he can sit and shot-juggle as much as possible, using the right analogue stick to shoot away shots to either side of where he’s sitting as well as those directly in front of him, and to collect up as many as possible before the end of the level so as to enjoy a good Sneeze Bonus when the level ends.

Level 8: Valley of the Bulls

This level is all about learning to trust the fact that bulling enemies off the rim is not only the best way to cope with certain circumstances, sometimes it’s the only effective way to deal with things.

The enemies don’t fire, so it’s quite safe to make big, sweeping moves, and in fact this level is designed to encourage you to do exactly that. At first the rate at which they come at you is reasonable, and you could just shoot them all before they get to the top, but before long they are coming up so fast that you are sure to miss some and they will get to the rim and you’ll have to bull them off.

Really, once you’re used to it, this level is a simple and fun bull-fest. Shoot enough baddies to get a powerup, just for insurance’s sake. Then let a bunch arrive at the rim, jump briefly if you’re out of Power Zone but you probably won’t be so just bull em off. That’ll give you more Power Zone and likely another powerup. Rinse and repeat until the level ends – let them come, bull them off, collect powerups. With a little practice you should be able to achieve a x9 Bonus Multiplier on this level with ease.

Level 9: Cube is Not for Yiffing

This is the last level of the demo, and the first level to introduce the Flower. Flowers may at first appear to be an annoying threat, but in fact there are ways in which they can be helpful to the player.

In every other respect this level is quite similar to the connected levels that you’ve played before, and the same techniques apply. Grab a powerup for insurance purposes, shoot or avoid enemy shots, shoot or collect and bull enemies themselves. The only further complication is the flowers, and there are a variety of ways of dealing with those.

The first way is to shoot them early for bonus points. Look down the centre of the surface to the space beyond, and note the colour of the traces created by arriving enemies. Most of them are red, but every now and again you’ll see green ones. The green ones represent arriving flowers, and with a little practice you’ll be able to spot where they are going to land, and be ready to shoot them before they really get a chance to grow. You’ll get a special bonus if you shoot them early enough.

You can also shoot down a flower that has started to grow. Each successive shot will shorten the flower, and also give you extra Power Zone. Eventually you will shoot he flower down to nothing and it will be destroyed.

Flowers will eventually grow up to a certain level and then stop growing. This is when they are at their most dangerous, because they will remain in that state for a short period of time and then their heads come off and move up and out of the surface, creating a dangerous, unshootable obstruction as they do. If you see that a flower has stopped growing, examine the stem before you move over the top of it. If the stem is green, you are safe to move over it. If the stem is white then the flower is about to lose its head and you should avoid being in front of it when it does!

Flowers make a distinctive sound when shot, and also when their heads come off. Listen for these auditory cues and use them to inform your perception of any level containing Flowers.

Flowers may behave in different ways in some levels too – they may grow very short or very long or very quickly or any combination of those, and in behaving that way present particular extra hazards and challenges to the player.

On this level, a more experienced player might try going for the tricky Ewige Blumenkraft achievement. Try to “cultivate” the first flower that appears in the level, and keep it alive until the end of the level. Keep shooting it to prevent it from ever “maturing” and losing its head, but don’t shoot it so much that you destroy it.

One piece of general advice that applies to any level – keep picking up powerups whenever you can. Not only do they give you the ability to jump (and the peace of mind of an instant refill of the Power Zone whenever you want one), they also count towards getting extra lives and better bonuses.

Further into the deep psychedelic space…

Well, that’s about it for this intro to Space Giraffe. How much can you score on the first nine levels? Getting over 10 million should be easy for a reasonable player.

As you’ve seen these first nine levels are meant as gentle playground to get familiar with how Space Giraffe works. We recommend you to play from Level 1 at first. Soon the Power Zone, bulling, audio-visual cues….they will all click, and you’ll find yourself dancing. If you want to learn further about Space Giraffe, please take a look at Gameplay Elements and Enemies pages. Also LS blog will cover challenging levels starting from level 13.

To demo players: While the demo has only 9 levels and 2 types of enemies, you can practice fundamental Space Giraffe skills here. Play it through several times, and you will be ready to challenge the following 91 levels. The full game offers much much more than the demo version. 100 levels(200 levels in PC version. Also there is the Super Ox mode that provides endless random fun) and 7 types of enemies await you.

If you are a 360 player, you can purchase the full game for Xbox 360 from Xbox LIVE marketplace. If you are a PC player, visit Llamasoft shop for the full version. I look forward to seeing you enjoy the game fully very soon!