Dead Nation FAQ/Guide

                                 Copyright 2011 - Tomas Brenlla


 -- Introduction --

 Since there's no guide for this game in gamefaqs and lots of people are 
now playing it thanks to Sony's "Welcome Back" i might as well write one.
 Let me give you a little heads up here, i'm from Argentina, so english is 
not my first language, thus, there WILL be a number of grammar mistakes 
along the way. If you find one, i'd appreciate if you let me know, 
and i'll change it in my next update.


 -- Copyright--

 This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except 
for personal, private use.
 It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed 
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide 
on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly 
prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
 If you have a website and for some reason feel like using my guide, then 
e-mail me and ask me, i might just give you permission.


 -- Contact--

 If you need/want to send me a mail with requests, contructive criticism 
and the likes feel free to do it at "[email protected]"
 If you want to send me hate mail, mean criticism, viruses, strange offers 
and things like that well go hug a cactus.


 -- Controls--
 
 If for some reason you fail to see the screen that shows up before every 
single mission here you'll find what each button does

Left analog stick - Move
 Not much to explain here, your character moves in the direction you 
pull it.

Right analog stick - Aim
 Your Character will aim his weapon in the direccion you pull it, 
note that this is completely independant to your movement so you can 
strafe while you shoot or back down while you shoot those in front of you.

L2 - Rush
 Your Character charges in the direction you pull the left analog stick, 
while you do this you're pretty much invincible, so save it 
for thight spots 
*minor spoilers*
(Altough i believe Cutter can still chop you in half while you rush).
*end spoilers*
 This is also the only mean to save yourself if you catch on fire so you 
might want to be extra careful with this when around fire or while using 
fire based weapons. this is also used to cross fire safely, wich is 
needed to advance in some points of the campaign but mostly toget 
some loot.

L1 - Throw item
 Throws the item you have currently selected (as in flares, grenades, 
mines, molotov cocktails or dynamite). The distance that the object gets 
thrown is determined by your movement speed, so if you're running 
full speed you'll throw it almost to the edge of the screen. If you 
throw it while standing it will land just far enough for it not to hit 
you if it's a grenade. If you throw it while backing up  it will land 
in the spot you released it. Note that mines tend to travel 
shorter distances.

R2 - Melee
 You'll hit whatever is standing in front of you with your weapon, this 
can do quite some damage but it's usually not encouraged unless you're 
sure you'll kill what you hit or you're facing only one enemy. 
There is, however, a little trick that can be done to mow down 
rows of zombies in a few slashes (specially useful if you're aiming for the
"Up close and personal" trophy), more on that later. 
R2 is also used to open crates, car trunks, activate soda machines, 
pressing buttons, opening doors and activating 
weapon shops. Handy little button, you can use it if you're a daredevil.

R1 - Fire weapon
 Open fire on those reanimated dead (or cars, oil cans, vending machines 
or flower bases for that matter). 
*minor spoilers*
 Rifle, Shotgun, Blade thrower and Launcher fire in semi-auto 
(one shot per button push)
 SMG, Flamethrower and Shocker fire in full-auto (you'll continue to 
lay fire on those pesky zombies as long as you keep the button pressed)
*end spoilers*
In addition, while using the Rifle you can hold R1 to charge a powershot, 
wich deals heavy damage and has the ability to pierce 
through several zombies.

R3 (click the right analog stick)- Reload
 Reloads your currently selected weapon, obviously has no effect 
if the weapon is already fully loaded or you have no ammo left. The rifle 
has infinite ammo and all other's weapons ammo can be bought from the 
weapons shop or found in blue crates. The rifle has the fastest reload 
animation while others, such as the SMG have crippling reload times. 
 You can't shoot while reloading, not even with the shotgun, but you can 
melee (for any of its functions), rush, throw items or 
(more importantly) change weapons. 
If you change weapons while reloading you will perform a reload-cancel, 
which automatically finishes reloading. So, let's say you're fighting off 
a horde of zombies with the SMG and you run out of bullets (in your 
magazine, not completely out of bullets). you can start reloading and as 
soon as the reload animation starts change to any other weapon and 
immediately back to the SMG. You'll have a full clip again. Also useful 
when you use your launcher, fire 2-3 rockets and when you're done with it, 
you reload before switching to your next weapon, that way you'll have a 
full charge next time you need it. Whenever you reload a Heads Up Display 
shows up in the shape of a bar to let you know how long it takes yo 
finish the reload.


-- Weapons--
You have seven different weapons to choose, and they all have their 
weaknesses and strenghts. 
All weapons, except for the rifle can be bought from the weapons shop, 
their ammo can be either bought, gotten from killed zombies or 
found in blue crates.

-Rifle
 Your starting weapon and most likely the one you'll use most of the time 
it fires in full auto and its shot can be charged un to "powershots" 
wich pierce trough several zombies and are around seven times more 
powerfull than a regular rifleshot. You can keep your next shot powered 
for as long as you can ( given that you continue to hold R1 ) and you'll 
only loose it if you rush. Note that you'll run slower when you have a 
charged up shot. You'll know that you're at full power because the laser 
sight will be wider and brighter. The laser sight comes with the rifle by 
default. you can upgrade this weapon's fire rate, firepower and capacity, 
and i advice to start with firepower/ rate. You will most likely have 
it fully upgraded by the time you start mission 2

-SMG
 Available to buy as soon as you start for 10,000 Gold. It fires 
considerably faster than the rifle and it fires in full auto mode. 
When they're both fully upgraded, the SMG hits for about one third 
of the rifle's firepower. Best used against skinless zombies, since one 
shot will kill them, regardless of the firepower. You can upgrade this 
weapon's fire rate,firepower, capacity and inventory capacity 
(the amount of ammo you can carry in your inventory). 
It has a considerably higher amount of upgrades than the rifle, so it 
might take a while to get the best out of it. The laser sight is 
available to buy from the shop for 25,000. I use this weapon to deal 
with Cutters and Mouths, since once upgraded you'll have a high 
Damage Per Second rate.

- Shotgun
 Available to buy once you start the second mission for 20,000 Gold. 
It fires shells in a (give or take) twenty degree spread. It's quite 
powerful and you can use it to kill a soldier in a single blow. You can 
upgrade this weapon's fire rate, firepower, capacity and inventory 
capacity (the amount of ammo you can carry in your inventory). You can 
kill a couple zombies with a single shot but i advice against using it 
against hordes. Some people use it to kill Cutters, Mouths, and 
Jumpers, i usually use the SMG but i tried this out and it's quite 
effective, it might be a little dangerous against Cutters, but works 
specially well against Jumpers and Mouths. There's a laser sight 
available to buy for this weapon.

- Flame Thrower
Not my favorite, but a must if you're going for the Pyromaniac trophy. 
It is, nonetheless an effective weapon. It can be bought for 30,000 Gold.
This weapon fires a stream of burning liquid that sets on fire whatever
it comes in contact with (even you or your partner), any zombie 
(or you or your partner) that comes in contact with a flaming 
zombie wll catch on fire too, yay! 
 If you happen to be set on fire rush (L2) and the fire will go out. 
It might be a good idea to only use this weapon when you have the 
rush available.
 This weapon is best used by short bursts. Hold the fire button 
(never before so aptly named) and move the stream of fire from 
side to side of the horde at medium speed. Hopefully they'll all 
catch on fire. If you use it as a SMG and shower a zombie untill it dies 
you're not getting the most out of the weapon, since the shots themselves 
are not particulary damaging, and you'll use up all your ammo quickly.
 The good thing about setting zombies on fire it's not the fact that 
they take continuous damage, but the fact that while they're on 
fire they'll stop chasing you and will start run around helpless, 
giving you time to run, grab any loot you want, reload or kill them all 
(taking advantage of the fact that they'll be weakened). Zombies will 
also become slower while on fire.
 You can upgrade this weapon's power, range, capacity and inventory 
capacity. there's no laser sight for this weapon (not that it's 
necessary)
 Bombies and Cutters won't stop chasing you while on fire.

- Blade thrower
 Beautiful, Beautiful weapon, you'll love it specially in the final 
mission, but we'll get to that later.
 This weapon costs 100,000 Gold and has lesser upgrades than all 
previous weapons, but they're all more expensive.
 This beautiful piece of hardware shoots rotating blades that resemble 
huge metal fans and fly forward beheading any number of misfortunate 
undead standing in front of it. You can use it to kill dozens of zombies 
in a single shot, if they're lined up. Useful when combined with flares.
 Really big enemies, like Cutters and Jumpers won't die when hit 
by this, and i don't know how much damage it does to them, but the blade 
gets lodged on its body and looks really cool (no that that's a reason 
to use it against them, but you can check this out if you have the chance).
 If the blade hits a wall it will ricochet.
 You can upgrade blade size, inventory capacity and buy a laser sight.

- Launcher
 A rocket launcher, not much to say here. You can buy this thing for 
100,000 Gold, and like the Blade Thrower, it has few but expensive 
upgrades.
 It will kill just about any zombie withing blast radius, 
given that it's not a really large enemy, like a Cutter. 
The blast radius is shown by a red outline around the rocket.
 Be careful when using this thing since it will damage you if you're 
within blast radius, it's also possible to be outside of the explosion's 
range when the rocket impact but get damaged by the shockwave 
it causes if you continue walking.
 You can upgrade blast radius and inventory capacity.

- Shocker
 This thing shoots out electricity, it paralyzes any zombie that hits for 
a few moments, while the electrical current still courses through its 
body. The electricity also arcs to nearby enemies, so this is most likely 
the most all-around weapon you have. However, it's not cheap, it's 
probably the most expensive weapon in the game to fully upgrade.
 You can buy it for 100,000 Gold and you can upgrade it's power, range 
(wich i guess it's the distance that the electricity can jump from 
target to target), capacity and inventory capacity.
 Very effective against Soldiers and Fat Zombies, and -seems- to me 
that it's not very effective against runners


--Throwable Items--
You have five different items to throw at your deceased adversaries, 
see "L1 - Throw item" in "-- Controls--" for more information.

- Flare
 You'll start with one, this handy little things will attract any zombies 
giving you a chance to run, kill them or whatever you fancy. You can 
get really close to the flare and kill them with melee, as long as the 
flare is on they won't hit you.
 Note that there's a maximum amount of zombies a flare can attract, 
if you're facing too many zombies some may ignore the flare 
and go after you.
 You can upgrade their duration and the amount you can carry (up 
to four). You can buy them from the shop, find them in blue 
crates or as a drop from killing zombies.

- Grenade
 You'll start with one, you throw them, they'll attract zombies and 
explode after a few seconds, pretty much killing any normal zombies 
within blast radius (demarked by the red circle). If a stronger zombie 
is within blast radius but away from the center of the explosion it 
will take damage buy won't die. Aditionally, soldiers might survive 
in higher dificulties.
 Much like the flare, they have a maximum amount of 
zombies that it can attract.
 You can upgrade blast radius and amount you can carry.

- Mine
 You throw them and they remain innocently on the floor until a zombie 
steps on it, then it explodes much like a grenade. You can upgrade them 
to explode more than once, wich makes them extremely useful in occasions, 
for example when you get trapped in a alley or you're going  to get 
loot and you know zombies will spawn behind you.  You can upgrade the 
amount of time they explode (from one to five) and the amount you can 
carry (up to four).

- Molotov cocktail
 When this thing hits the ground it will create a wall of fire, useful 
for closing alleys since most zombies won't cross it.
 The good thing about setting zombies on fire it's not the fact that they 
take continuous damage, but the fact that while they're on fire they'll 
stop chasing you and will start run around helpless, giving you time to 
run, grab any loot you want, reload or kill them all (taking advantage 
of the fact that they'll be weakened). Zombies will also become slower 
while on fire.
 Be careful no to set you our yourslef on fire, though. In case you do, 
L2 to extinguish it.
 You can only upgrade capacity, up to four.

- Dinamite
 A total beast.
 Work similar to a grenade but takes longer to detonate and has a much 
greater blast radius.
 You can only upgrade capacity, up to a grand total of 
two (hey, it's gotta have a downside).


 -- What's to come -- 

 I will soon update this guide, but i have exams coming up so i can't 
continue it right now but it's a good oportunity for me to receive any 
mails with suggestions, critics or questions you might have and do my 
best to satisfy your needs. If a question is of significant importance 
or gets asked many times i'll post it here, if it doesn't i'll answer 
them privately. I'll also want to know what else do you want this guide 
to have. What IT IS going to have it's the following:
* A bestiary, with all types of enemies and how to deal with them, 
how much gold and multiplier they drop and how much does it take to 
kill them.
* A small level guide, giving you an overview of every level.
* An armor guide, telling you what does armor do, and the stats of 
every one of them.
* An update on the weapons section, with detailed info on upgrade costs 
and effects.
* A "before you start" guide with small tips on how to play and game 
mechanics.
* A description on menus, world rankings, virus cycles, 
gallerys and the like.
* A Content guide, wich seems useless right now.
* And hopefully a full wlakthrough, but that's going to take some time
 Once again, contact me to "[email protected]"

 Thanks for reading my guide! Don't hesitate to ask me whatever you want
(related to the game) and i'll do my best to help you. 
I'll update this as soon as i can.