It took me a while before I completely understood how the game worked. So below I'll give some tips I wish I'd known when I first started playing the game. - Take your time. Scout enemy strongholds and checkpoints to see how many enemies there are and where you can find extra ammo or a mounted gun. Don't rush in using the obvious road but look for a 'side entrance' with less enemies. - Use stealth. As long as you keep a low profile enemies won't attack you. So instead of driving into a checkpoint or compound go by foot. Crouch and stay in the underbrush. Once you get the hang of this it's amazing how close you can get without being spotted. If you use your machete or silenced weapons it'll take even longer before the enemy comes looking for you. - Don't pick up the weapons of your enemies unless you just want to try them out. They're in bad shape when you pick them up and deteriorate quickly. Use the weapons of the weapon dealers instead. Once bought you can pick up new weapons at no cost. You'll also be able to restock your ammo at a weapons dealer. - Save often. After finishing a mission or when you've found a lot of diamonds go to a safe house (or weapons dealer) to save your game. - Only buy the weapons that suit you're playing style instead of buying as many as you can. Invest in things like assault webbing so you can carry more munition instead. This will help you more than having a lot of guns unlocked. - Use the assault truck instead of other cars if you can. It has unlimited ammo and you can quickly switch from driving to shooting. - If you decide to spend diamonds on vehicles invest in the assault truck and swamp boat first. They're the most useful vehicles in the game. By buying the upgrade the vehicles can take more hits and can be repaired in half the time. - Invest in primary and secondary weapon crates. You can store an extra gun in them which you can pick up at any Safe house. This is much quicker then having to travel to one of only four weapon dealers. - When you buy a new gun, make sure to have some extra diamonds (4-8) to buy the two upgrades. It's relatively cheap and makes a big difference in the game. Upgrades stay locked until you actually own the gun. So after buying your gun, log into the computer again to buy the upgrades. - If you like to play stealthily invest in the camouflage upgrade. It's expensive but it allows you to stay hidden much easier. - It's not just soldiers that respawn at checkpoints. Ammo crates and medical kits will also be refilled. Use this when you're running low on supplies. - Download some maps with the location of the diamonds if you plan on going diamond hunting. While some are easily found while you drive from A to B a lot of diamonds are hidden in hard to find spots and are easy to miss. - Use fire to distract and kill enemies. You can use molotov cocktails or a special weapon (i.e. flamethrower) to start fires. - When you accept a mission one of your buddies will usually suggest an alternative way to complete the mission. It will be more difficult but also more profitable. Plus you're buddy will enhance your safe houses if you do him favors. This will add more and more supplies (medkits, ammo, grenades, etc.) to all of your safe houses. This means you won't have to rely on raiding checkpoints to restock. - You can use the cars as stepping stones. This will help you get at some of the diamond cases. I was able to reach a diamond case this way which would otherwise require the use of a hang-glider. I hope these tips will help you enjoy the game (even more). As you can see some tips are counter intuitive and this game asks for a more methodical approach than most of the other FPS. But once I mastered the tips above I really started to enjoy the game. Travelling takes a while but there are a lot of beautiful vistas to enjoy. I also like the way the game immerses you by having a minimal HUD and not switching to a 3rd person view when you're driving or looking at the map. The game has it's flaws but it's not broken unlike other games that have tried to break the mould (Jurrasic Park Trespasser...). It can be hard at times but it's never impossible to finish a mission.
