Charted! - Crushing Trophy in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Crushing Mode is the hardest difficulty to play the Campaign in Uncharted 3 and is unlocked only when the game has already been beaten once on any other difficulty. There are no alternate paths through the game and the puzzle solutions are all identical on lower difficulties, the only differences are the enemy types, how much damage you can take before you die and how long it takes for the damage you've taken to heal. With having an entire playthrough previous to taking on this challenge, you will be fairly well versed in the techniques of using cover, melee combat, headshots, using the environment to your advantage and the choices of gun for each scenario. The checkpoint system in Uncharted has always been very generous and never pegs you back too far from where you died and so much trial and error is usually the foremost solution to any problematic areas but below is a handful of hints and tips to aid you through the story and some of it's trickier parts:

• Use Cover. It may not be as exciting and gung-ho as running around with a Sawn Off like a madman but most enemies, even the lightly armed ones will tear you apart if you are stood in the open. Much of the time will be spent simply restoring health in heavily fortified areas leaning against archways but it's the slow and steady approach that will get you through most areas.
• Headshots. Sounds obvious I know but there really is no better way to get a handle on things in a crossfire than to drop a few bad guys with headshots from a distance.
• Timing your fire. When you are in cover and a bunch of enemies are too, watch for their bursts of fire and time your retaliation. On a single bad guy, anticipate him peeping out to fire by hanging the reticule by where they peep out to fire. In a group, try to wait for breaks in fire to line up the reticule and aim for the closest guy.
• Drop the Grenade. You really should make the most of the games increased grenade ratio and shoot any guy you see winding up to throw a grenade. It's the same value as a headshot as it will be an insta-kill and possibly even better if there's any other goons close by.
• Stay Stocked. After you close down an area heavily populated by goons, sweep all areas high and low for guns and ammo, it's never long before another confrontation and you don't want to be short handed when that happens.
• Stealth. You will often encounter a hostile area undetected and are able to carefully creep around taking out enemies silently. This not only reduces the chances of dying in a gunfight but silently killed enemies often drop more ammo and a grenade as a little bonus.

These tips should just about pull you over the line but there's a few nasty little areas in specific that can have you climbing the walls in frustration without a reasonable strategy. Below are some of the more common areas where this sort of thing is most prominent and the strategy that got me through them:

Chapter 14 - Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

Your first proper encounter takes place on the main deck after hopping over some containers. The ship will list badly and throw you and all enemies around you from side to side giving you no control over your position, and a PAK-80 carrying guy will also enter the fray, capable of mowing you down in seconds. Your play should be to wait for his arrival as it also seems to trigger a yellow container in the centre of the deck to come loose and slide out of the rows to the right. Jump on it, and then head for cover in the narrow passage it has left. You will be safe here but not from grenades which Mr PAK-80 likes to throw in bunches of 3. Throw back any you can but you are bound to take a little damage now and then. Cautiously edge forward and take a few shots at his head and recede back again to heal, do this until he is eventually downed. You may be short on ammo now so dive down and either grab a good rifle of even better his PAK-80 and the rest should comparatively easy.

Right after this area is another tricky little part, through the red door and into the ballroom. A few armoured guys patrol here as well as regular enemies who aren't really a trouble but when you head to the other side of the ballroom things get nasty, a few snipers from above appear as well as more armoured grunts and the usual regulars. You must take out the Hammer guy on the balcony first of all as he is the main cause of headaches in this part, then the armoured guys as they like to flank you down near the stage. There's a Tau Sniper off stage to the left which is ideal for the balcony snipers and if you can make it, head back to where you came in and you may find the Hammer guy dropped his Hammer when you shot him, this will do just fine for armoured guys especially. At the end a few regulars come in from outside but the worst of it is over by the time they arrive.

Chapter 15 - Sink or Swim

At the beginning you will be cornered and under fire right from the get go. Your best bet is to clear the armored shotgun dude and the riot shield guy to reach the other side of the cargo hold before jumping up onto the container at the end. From here you have a good vantage point for picking off the rest of the enemies including snipers on the other side of the hold. You will know you've cleared the area when a cutscene plays but there is no actual exit from this cargo hold so just wait it out once the last bad guy is done for.

Chapter 16 - One Shot at This

After you and Elena break the jeep through the gates there's a few guys to kill. Do that and hop through the open window pane to the left and into a hangar-come-garage. This area is enemy heavy and some can be done by stealth but you will eventually be seen and when that happens you need to be prepared. There's a T-Bolt in one of the blue containers in the centre of the area, grab this and keep it for the heavy armour dudes. Use anything available and keep on the move, a Hammer and a T-Bolt enemy will appear on the highest container in the yard and spray the area wherever you go so you need to take these guys out real fast. After that it's making sure you avoid the heavy armour dudes and headshot them with the T-Bolt to drop them in one. It's tempting to hide out in the garage by the car but this isn't advised as you will get flanked easily and die pretty quickly.

Chapter 19 - Settlement

This patch of enemies are the first lot you encounter after your wander through the desert. You will be swarmed by a group of bad guys and you have no weapon to start with at all. You need to melee one guy and grab his gun in order to return fire, I suggest taking out the guy to the left of your starting position as he has an M9, way better than the handguns most of the others have. There's also an armoured guy on the roof in front of you who will be constantly shooting at you and hurling grenades your way, best throw these back to try and score some throwback kills until the crowd wanes and you can come out of cover for a bit more ammo. Take out the armoured grunt last of all as he stays there the whole time, enemies are much more dangerous when they are on the move.

On the same Chapter but a bit later on you will pass through an archway only to be shot at by a dude with an RPG, you will take cover in a small area and be under constant fire from a vehicle mounted turret. The best possible start you can give yourself here is to watch closely for one of the guys under the platform the vehicle is on to prepare to throw a grenade. Quickly fire off a round so he drops it, he will blow anywhere up to 4 guys away and knock out much of the support keeping the platform up that the vehicle firing at you is on. Time your bursts of fire at the remaining pillars until you topple the vehicle to the ground, then sweep up the remaining bad guys. There's a couple of armoured dudes will come down and another RPG firing guy, take cover in the small area in the opposite side of where you started to avoid rockets, waiting for the armoured guys to come down before taking them out. The last one to fall should be the RPG guy in the distance so slowly edge out of cover and take him out from a safe distance.

For anyone that needs any help, here's a superb playlist (courtesy of Dr.HelmutMarko): HERE