HOW TO PLAY

Controls

You control the titular Hive Bomber in the battle against the nefarious Cyber Bee Empire. Success will require bombarding each hive, taking out their defenses, and defeating the Queens.

The game supports several control options, including keyboard and mouse, however a twin stick controller is recommended.

By default, the left stick controls the player's positioning around the hive and the right stick is used for aiming. The R1 button is used to teleport to the other side of the hive and the L1 button is used for executing the special ability of whatever Hive Bomber form is active. Each form has its own special ability and there is also a button for switching between forms.

There are several customization options that should accommodate your preferences. You can even set it up to be controlled solely by a mouse.

Gameplay Steps

1. Bombard the hive. At the start of the level, fire at the hive cells to destroy them. Since cannon shots bounce off the hive cells, enemy bees can essentially use any area of the hive as a shield. Minimize their advantage by carving out a section of the hive as early as possible, and using that area to battle them.
2. Find and shoot the honey cores. Shooting all four of the hive's honey cores is essential for completing a level.
1. On odd levels, a drone bee will be released once a honey core is revealed. Shoot him before he escapes for bonus points. After getting all four honey cores, the hive will self-destruct.
2. On even levels, shooting all honey cores will deactivate the queen bee's shield.
3. Destroy the queen (on even levels). The queen will always be located near the center of the hive. It's best not to release her until all the cores have been found. Once the queen is destroyed, the hive will self-destruct.
4. Eliminate any remaining enemies. Most enemies will be destroyed by the hive explosion, but there may be one or two stragglers from time to time. The level won't end until there are no enemies left on screen.

Tips

Success in Hive Bomber will require some level of multitasking. Don't get too fixated on destroying hive cells and keep your eyes out for enemy bees. They'll come up on you when you least expect it!

Don't forget to use the special abilities. They can help get you out of many tough situations. Although you may think about conserving them, you will find that they refill fairly quickly. The same goes with teleports. If there are numerous bees closing in, teleport to the other side of the hive. It will usually be safe there.

Every hive, aside from the first one, will have a form power up in one of its cells. In casual observation, they may seem randomly chosen, but this isn't the case at all. The form you get is dependent on your actions during the previous hive battle. Each form has a specific action tied to it along with a hierarchy rank. For example, the Sparrow form will appear if you kill four Fighter Bees in a row in the previous level. It also has a rank of five. This means that you'll get the Sparrow form as long as you don't do anything to trigger a form of a rank higher than five. Try to see if you can figure out what the triggers are for each form. That way, you'll have some control in getting the form you want.