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X-Morph: Defense Trophy Guide and Roadmap


Poindexter2291

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ROADMAP

 

Overview:

 

  • Estimated trophy difficulty: 5/10 (Personal Rating) (Platinum Difficulty Thread)
  • Offline trophies: 31 (17(B), 7(S), 6(G), 1(P))
  • Online trophies: 0 (7 trophies require local co-op and/or a second controller)
  • Approximate amount of time to Platinum: 26-35 hours (Personal Rating) (Estimated Time to Platinum)
  • Minimum number of playthroughs: 2+ cleanup
  • Number of missable trophies: 0 - there are trophies that can be missed in two missions, but any mission can be replayed/restarted at any time so nothing is truly missable
  • Glitched trophies: None (to my knowledge)
  • Does difficulty affect trophies?: Yes, you must get a gold trophy on all missions, which is impossible while playing on easy
  • Do trophies stack?: N/A
  • Do cheat codes disable trophies?: No known cheat codes

 

INTRODUCTION

 

X-Morph: Defense is a mix between a top-down shooter/shoot em up, and tower defense. You are part of an alien invasion tasked with planting and protecting your alien core in a selected Earth city. You will have infinite time between waves of enemies to build towers to defeat the incoming hordes. You can also destroy the environment and use it to your advantage, for example, by toppling a building onto a pathway in order to alter the route of an enemy wave. While a wave is in progress, you will be able to shoot enemies with your ship, and build, move, and upgrade your towers. The platinum trophy and game are enjoyable and only moderately difficult & time consuming at worst. There is no trophy that requires an extreme amount of grinding, however the trophy for getting a gold trophy in all missions may test your patience and skill.

 

WALKTHROUGH

 

 

Step 1 - Complete all main missions in co-op campaign on easy with a 2nd controller (or friend)

 

Co-op increases the health of enemy hordes, but you will also have more resources to build with since you have a second player. Focus on destroying as many environmental objects as you can in between waves. In between waves, use the resources that you have gathered with both controllers in order to build the best combination of towers. While waves are in progress, put your second player in ghost mode (triangle), and leave it near the core. While the optional missions are not necessary, you can complete them to earn additional upgrades if you are stuck on a main mission. They will also help you progress towards the various accumulation-based trophies.

 

By the end of the step you will receive:

 

  • Alien invaders
  • I hate spiders
  • Your armor is too thin
  • Air superiority
  • The bigger the are, the harder they fall

 

You may or may not receive the following:

 

  • Bunker buster
  • Extra money
  • This airspace belongs to us now
  • Flies are annoying
  • This world is too small for us
  • Hunting season
  • BOOM!
  • Can’t touch this

 

Step 2 - Complete all missions (main and optional) in solo campaign on easy

 

Unfortunately, none of your upgrades from your co-op campaign will carry over to your solo campaign. I recommend doing a quick playthrough on easy first, because achieving a gold trophy without any upgrades will prove quite challenging. Destroying environmental objects is less of a concern in this step if you are playing on easy for your first playthrough, as you will be playing all missions a second time to get the gold trophy.

 

By the end of this step you will receive:

 

  • This planet is yours now
  • Something unnecessary
  • Easily distracted

 

You may or may not receive the following:

 

  • Destruction Begins
  • Kill, crush and destroy
  • One shot, one kill
  • Fireworks
  • They won’t need it anymore
  • I’m looking for treasure

 

Step 3 - Complete all missions (main and optional) on hard, focusing on zero core damage and speed

 

At this point you will have all tower, core and ship upgrades. Gold trophies cannot be achieved on easy difficulty, and while I have heard it is possible on medium, I personally have not gotten any gold trophies on medium even with 0 core damage. I got all gold trophies on hard. Your number one priority should be preventing core damage. Your second priority should be time. Debris collected and zero regenerations (deaths) are nice additional bonuses, but they should not take priority over the other two categories.

 

By the end of this step you will receive:

 

  • Ready for battle
  • Good enough
  • Simply the best

 

You will also likely earn (B)Everything under control, since minimizing core damage will be the highest priority during this step.

 

Step 4 - Clean up

 

In this step you will focus on the last few trophies, if you have not earned them in previous steps.

 

  • Bunker buster
  • Extra money
  • Tower defense
  • We might have underestimated them
  • Everything under control
  • Can’t touch this
  • You shall not pass!
  • I’m looking for treasure

 

General tips

-When going for gold trophies, if your core drops down to 75% or less health, restart from checkpoint. Move towers around accordingly to make up for the shortfalls you experienced in your failed attempt.

-Wait until you have all upgrades before attempting to get gold trophies

-Use your ship’s laser firing mode for large, slow, durable enemies. The laser deals damage that increases over time. The singularity weapon is most effective against small, fast, weak enemies, and is very useful when you have enemies approaching your core from multiple directions. Use the singularity to handle one of the groups, and focus your ship’s fire on the other group. Use missiles for flying enemies. The EMP blast is useful for when you are surrounded by multiple flying enemies. Use bombs for small, but fast enemies, including ground forces. The dark matter bomb is very useful against groups of strong enemies, including bosses. Some bosses are easily defeated using the laser, if you can maintain your fire on the attack point. If you are constantly moving around and cannot attack a fixed point for a long period of time, bombs are more appropriate. I personally almost never used the plasma firing modes once I had these three firing modes unlocked.

-In waves that contain artillery enemies, place your own artillery towers near the start of enemy paths. Enemy artillery units will destroy your towers if you do not have a means to destroy them quickly.

-Destroy enemy anti-aircraft units (medics) as soon as possible, as they will continue to repair enemies until they are destroyed.

Edited by stgermain
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TROPHY GUIDE

 

a27.jpg

Mission complete (P)

Earn all other trophies.

 

This is unlocked after earning all other trophies

 

1e7.jpg This planet is yours now (G)

Finish the single player campaign.

 

Unlocked by beating the main missions (South Africa, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, USA, Mexico, Hawaii, China & Japan) in solo campaign (any difficulty).

 

38a.jpg Alien Invaders (B)

Finish the co-op campaign.

 

Unlocked by beating the main missions (South Africa, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, USA, Mexico, Hawaii, China & Japan) in co-op campaign (any difficulty).

 

d1f.jpg Bunker buster (B)

Destroy the airbase headquarters during the Hawaii mission before the reinforcements are called in.

 

In the Hawaii mission, at the end of wave 3, a new portion of the map will open up to the north. This area will consist of multiple towers that will try and shoot at you, and a headquarters that you must destroy within a certain time limit. Head immediately for the headquarters (it looks like a hangar) and drop a fully charged dark matter bomb (R2). Then proceed to use bombs as you circle the headquarters. Do not worry about destroying the towers that are attacking you, but keep moving around the headquarters to evade incoming fire. The attacks will consist of lasers, which will only hit you if you stay in one place for too long, and standard gunfire. If you need to go into ghost mode briefly to avoid dying you can. If you fail this part, you can restart from checkpoint to re-do wave 3, or come back to this at a later point when you have more upgrades.

 

[ame]

[/ame]

 

d17.jpg Extra money (B)

Destroy the convoy with military resources during the mission in the USA.

 

In the USA mission, halfway through wave 4 you will get a notification that there is an unarmored convoy detected, and that you can receive additional resources by “intercepting” it (destroying it). A new portion of the map will open up to the West. Go and place 2 or 3 basic towers along this path and this should be enough to destroy the convoy. If you notice parts of the convoy making it past your towers, add more towers, or use your ship to destroy them. This is very easy, but may be slightly challenging if you’re trying to do this during a hard gold trophy attempt. I recommend getting this on one of your easy playthroughs. You should get the trophy before the end of wave 4.

 

[ame]

[/ame]

 

060.jpg Tower defense (B)

Build all types of towers in one mission.

 

Once you have everything upgraded, start any mission on any difficulty, and build one of every tower when you have enough resources to do so. This includes every upgraded version of every tower (9 total tower varitaions).

 

0ed.jpg Ready for battle (B)

Start a mission with your ship fully upgraded.

 

Once you have everything upgraded, start any mission on any difficulty and the trophy will unlock.

 

c02.jpg Something unnecessary (B)

Finish one optional mission.

 

See Easily distracted

 

6f4.jpg Easily distracted (G)

Finish all optional missions.

 

The optional missions are indented in the mission select menu (Canada, Argentina, Australia, Nigeria & Egypt). Simply complete all of them on easy to earn this trophy. A gold trophy must be earned on these missions for Simply the best, so you will earn this on your way to the platinum.

 

d79.jpg We might have underestimated them... (B)

Finish a mission with less than 10% core integrity.

 

I recommend getting this trophy before you upgrade your core, as it is much easier to time your attacks in a way that destroys all enemy attackers at the right time. The upgrades include a stronger core and offensive/defensive attacks for the core that will destroy attacking units. If you do not have any upgrades, wait until the last wave of any mission, and let just 1 or 2 units attack your core until it has only a sliver of health left before destroying them. If you have all the core upgrades, you will have to leave more attacking units alive and time it so your core does not destroy all enemy attackers on its own. It gets tricky because if you have too many attackers, they will overwhelm your core. If you only have a few attackers, your core’s upgrades will destroy them before they reduce your core’s health to 10%.

 

543.jpg Everything under control (B)

Finish a mission with 100% core integrity.

 

You will likely get this while going for gold trophies because minimizing core damage will be your highest priority. If you still don’t have this after getting all gold trophies, play the first mission on easy and this should be a very easy trophy to get. Build fences and towers to extend enemy routes as long as possible if you are struggling. Also use your singularities and dark matter bombs on faster and tougher enemies, respectively.

 

a95.jpg Can’t touch this (S)

Finish a mission without dying even once.

 

If you are playing co-op this is very easy. Put your main character/profile in ghost mode for the entire match and use the 2nd controller to build towers and attack. Even in solo campaign this is easily achievable on your first playthrough. Play the first mission on easy and you should get this no problem.

 

ad2.jpg Good enough (S)

Finish all missions with at least a silver trophy.

 

See Simply the best

 

b89.jpg Simply the best (G)

Finish all missions with a gold trophy.

 

In order to get a gold trophy, you must earn 150,000 points in the mission. The two biggest contributors to this score will be core damage and time limit. You should aim for zero core damage, but in later levels this will be tough to achieve. As long as you keep core health at or above 75% you will most likely get gold as long as you focus on destroying attacking units as quickly as possible and don’t spend a bunch of unnecessary time between rounds building towers.

 

The difficulty multipliers are as follows: easy (0.25x), medium (0.5x), hard (1.00x), brutal (1.5)

 

It is impossible to get a gold trophy on easy because the score multiplier is so low. I was also not able to get any gold trophies on medium. Therefore I recommend doing all missions on hard (or brutal for earlier missions). The enemies will be tougher and you will have fewer resources, but if you build your towers appropriately and use your ship to prioritize and kill attacking units that pose the greatest threat to your core, earning the gold trophy is just a matter of planning and practice. I did not have any issues with time limit, however if you waste too much time between waves, or build insanely long paths for enemies, this will extend your time which will reduce your score. Core damage is still your highest priority! It is advisable to extend enemy attack routes as much as is needed to maintain core health. As I said, I did not have any issues with time limit, and I used towers to carve long paths for enemies. At the same time, I used my ship to try and destroy attacking units as quickly as possible.

 

If you need help with getting gold trophies, see my playlist. I have every mission EXCEPT South Africa, Canada & Great Britain (1st 3 missions), but by using the strategies listed above and demonstrated in the videos for other missions, getting a gold trophy in these shouldn’t be a problem.

 

Gold trophy playlist:

 

fec.jpg You shall not pass! (S)

Create a 1200 meters long path for enemies during the Canada mission.

 

There are probably multiple potential paths that could meet the requirements for this trophy, but essentially you want to create as long a path as you can. This can be achieved with fewer resources if you have the upgrade that extends the length of a laser fence, as you will need fewer towers built to create any given length of fence. Wait until rounds 3 or 4, when you’ve got enough resources, and build the longest path you can. See below for the path I used to get the trophy.

 

[ame]

[/ame] Edited by stgermain
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d37.jpg I hate spiders (S)

Destroy the boss in the South Africa mission.

 

This will be one of the first trophies you earn. This boss is slow-moving, and can be destroyed in 2 ways: 1) destroy all 4 legs, or 2) destroy the “base” of the boss, located in its center. On easy difficulty this is quite easy to achieve. You can collapse tall buildings to redirect/extend the boss’s path. You can also use singularities/dark matter bombs to slow and inflict high damage to the boss, respectively. Once you have it unlocked, the laser is very effective in destroying the legs of the boss if you can maintain contact.

 

963.jpg Your armor is too thin (G)

Destroy the boss in the Germany mission.

 

This boss is a large tank that has a variety of attacks. It has an EMP blast that will temporarily disable all of your ships weapons, as well as long range missiles & demolisher cannon that can greatly damage your core. For this reason, you should build a bunch of anti-air (missile) towers near your core. You can sell previously built towers, or move previously built towers and repurpose them into anti-air towers. The towers will destroy the boss’s missiles but will not prevent damage from the demolisher cannon. When you get the notification that the boss’s demolisher cannon is preparing for an attack, use your ship to attack the boss. Disable the cannon before it has a chance to fire at your core, as it can cause a lot of damage. You can collapse tall buildings to redirect/extend the boss’s path. You can also use singularities/dark matter bombs to slow and inflict high damage to the boss, respectively. You can build laser towers near the boss’s path to inflict damage, however they will get destroyed so you will need to constantly rebuild them.

 

62d.jpg Air superiority (G)

Destroy the boss in the Russia mission.

 

This boss first shows up in wave 6. It is a large helicopter that has a variety of attacks. It’s most dangerous one is a laser attack that will cause massive damage to your core. Whenever you hear the enemy announce the laser attack is beginning, use your ships laser attack to destroy either laser on the sides of the boss. You only need to destroy one side, and your ship’s lasers should be able to do this within 10 seconds. This boss also has multiple forms of long range missiles that it can fire. One form is many, small missiles (the enemy will say “commencing missile barrage against enemy core”), which can easily be destroyed with a few anti-air (missile) towers. The second form is fewer, but larger/more powerful missiles (the enemy will say “attacking enemy core with heavy long range missiles”), that require more damage to destroy. Either build more anti-air (missile) towers, or use your ship’s missiles to focus on these and prevent them from reaching your core. Lastly, this boss will drop enemy units along it’s path, so you must keep at least some of your normal towers that you built during the mission. I never had issues with these units reaching my core, but ALWAYS keep an eye on your mini map. If you see enemy units getting close to your core, forget about the boss and attack them. Along with dropping enemy units, the boss will drop mines via parachute that will gravitate towards your ship, so be sure to avoid or destroy them.

 

This boss can also be destroyed in more than one way: 1) destroy all it’s engine components, or 2) destroy the “base” of the boss, located in its center. The base is harder to destroy because there are so many components surrounding it. The easiest way to hit it’s base is from it’s front, but you would be vulnerable to most of it’s attacks from this spot. I opted to shoot at the boss from the sides, using a mix of my ship’s missiles and lasers, in order to destroy all it’s engine components.

 

4ec.jpg The bigger they are, the harder they fall (G)

Destroy the boss in the Japan mission.

 

This is the end-game boss. It is very durable and will take all 3 waves to destroy. On hard, you will need to collapse multiple tall buildings in order to extend the boss’s path to your core. As for attacking units, the good news is that there are only 2 routes you need to worry about - one from the north, and one from the south(east). The bad news is that these waves get very tough and you will need to commit a bunch of resources to stopping them from reaching your core. Use railgun towers on long, straight stretches of road. Focus on the hordes until the boss is fully repaired; you cannot do any damage to it anyway until it starts to move.

 

Like the others, this boss has multiple attacks. For the purposes of maintaining core health, the one you should be most concerned with is the missiles. You will want to build multiple (at least 2-3) anti-air (missile) towers to destroy incoming boss missiles. You may also need to use your ships missiles to destroy them, as they are the big, durable missiles. You can also build laser towers along the boss’s path in order to help destroy it. Besides the missiles, your main concern with this boss (after the hordes are destroyed) is your ship being destroyed, but this really isn’t a big deal. Most of this boss’s attacks are aimed at your ship, so you may die quite often. If the boss gets far enough along its path to the point it starts destroying your built towers, AND you still have hordes heading towards your core, you may need to quickly build/rebuild towers. Once the hordes are destroyed, you can repurpose the towers you have previously placed to either defend your core from the boss’s missiles, or attack the boss along it’s route. While attacking the boss, focus all your fire on the cockpit (center).

 

817.jpg Destruction begins (B)

Destroy 5000 enemy ground units in the single player campaign.

 

See Kill, crush and destroy.

 

125.jpg Hunting season (B)

Destroy 6000 enemy ground units in the co-op campaign.

 

See This world is too small for us.

 

606.jpg Kill, crush and destroy (S)

Destroy 17500 enemy ground units in the single player campaign.

 

This should come naturally while going for gold trophies, as you will likely be playing most, if not all, missions at least twice. I did not have to grind for a single accumulation-based trophy.

 

88a.jpg This world is too small for us (B)

Destroy 20000 enemy ground units in the co-op campaign.

 

If you do not have this by the time you’ve completed all main missions in co-op campaign, either replay some of the main missions or play some of the optional missions. If you did not play any of the optional missions in your co-op campaign, you may have a small grind. I got this well before the final mission while playing all main and optional missions in co-op campaign.

 

58f.jpg One shot, one kill (B)

Destroy 2500 enemy air units in the single player campaign.

 

See Fireworks.

 

dd6.jpg Flies are annoying (B)

Destroy 3000 enemy air units in the co-op campaign.

 

See This airspace belongs to us now.

Edited by stgermain
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a99.jpg Fireworks (S)

Destroy 10000 enemy air units in the single player campaign.

 

This should come naturally while going for gold trophies, as you will likely be playing most, if not all, missions at least twice. The Hawaii mission has a large number of flying enemies if you need to grind kills.

 

ba4.jpg This airspace belongs to us now (B)

Destroy 12000 enemy air units in the co-op campaign.

 

If you do not have this by the time you’ve completed all main missions in co-op campaign, either replay some of the main missions or play some of the optional missions. If you did not play any of the optional missions in your co-op campaign, you may have a small grind. The Hawaii mission has a large number of flying enemies if you need to grind kills. I got this well before the final mission while playing all main and optional missions in co-op campaign.

 

f95.jpg They won’t need it anymore (B)

Destroy 2000 destructibles in the single player campaign.

 

See I’m looking for treasure.

 

498.jpg I’m looking for treasure (S)

Destroy 5000 destructibles in the single player campaign.

 

This should come naturally while going for gold trophies, as you will likely be playing most, if not all, missions at least twice. China is a good mission to farm because it has multiple spots with tons of barrels & boxes. Just destroy everything you can in between rounds and this shouldn’t take you more than a couple missions to clean up. Charged attacks have immediate recharge in between rounds, so you can just spam the dark matter bomb to make this quicker.

 

204.jpg It was ugly anyway... (B)

Destroy 2500 destructibles in the co-op campaign.

 

See BOOM!.

 

a72.jpg BOOM! (B)

Destroy 6000 destructibles in the co-op campaign.

 

If you do not have this by the time you’ve completed all main missions in co-op campaign, either replay some of the main missions or play some of the optional missions. I got this well before the final mission while playing all main and optional missions in co-op campaign. If you did not play any of the optional missions in your co-op campaign, you may have a small grind. China is a good mission to farm because it has multiple spots with tons of barrels & boxes. Just destroy everything you can in between rounds and this shouldn’t take you more than a couple missions to clean up. Charged attacks have immediate recharge in between rounds, so you can just spam the dark matter bomb to make this quicker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: This is my first attempt at a roadmap/guide. I have read the guidances and proofread my posts, but I will continue reviewing them for errors. Any tips/corrections will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I also know this game is over a year old now, but I see it on sale all the time (which is why I bought it), and there is very little online, so this may benefit a handful of people.

Edited by stgermain
Editorial Sweep.
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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks for this guide! Two short questions:

 

1. Do both players get trophies when playing co-op?

2. Are gold medals easier when playing co-op with a friend?

 

Sorry for the delay, I thought I had responded but apparently not.

 

1. I am 99% sure that my guest account was earning trophies while I was playing co-op. Unless I am thinking of another game, but I play very few games in local co-op so I'm almost certain it was this one.

2. I have heard that co-op campaign is harder than single player in the form of stronger enemies, but I cannot personally confirm or deny because I played co-op on easy and got all my gold medals in single player on hard. However, playing with a friend does give you the benefit of more resources to start with, as well as being able to defend multiple fronts at once and/or have one player attack and the other defend/build/upgrade/move towers. It is also probably more fun playing co-op, and while you will likely fail many of the levels while going for gold, a few practice attempts/checkpoint restarts (learning when and where enemies spawn and what your weak points are) should allow you to adapt and figure out a way to avoid core damage in order to get the golds.

 

Edit: I can confirm that player 2 DOES get trophies when playing in co-op. In fact, I booted up a co-op save file had all levels completed in co-op campaign. Started a level in co-op, and player 2 got the accumulation-based trophies after destroying one unit of the respective group. For example, after destroying a single air unit, player 2 received Flies are annoying and This airspace belongs to us now for destroying 3000 and 12000 enemy air units, respectively. The same thing occurred for ground units and destructibles.

 

Co op also seemed to be quite a bit more difficult on the same difficulty. In single player campaign, I had virtually no enemy units reach my core in the USA mission during a practice run. Playing the same map in co-op, my core took a fair amount of damage. Granted I was only playing with one of the controllers, and I wasn't giving 100%, but in solo it was very easy to avoid core damage on the same difficulty. It appears that co-op increases durability of enemies.

Edited by Poindexter2291
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  • 2 weeks later...

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