Wave Break - How to survive the early game

Let’s face it. Wave Break is tough. Tons of players picking up the controller to play this game are going to be stymied by its surprising difficulty. As an experiment, I put my 19-year-old son in front of Wave Break. He’s the best gamer I know. He beat his head against the wall until he couldn’t stand it anymore, then went back to decimating Zombies in Call of Duty, muttering “Good luck” over his shoulder as he stalked away.

I’m not the guy to deliver a tips & tricks move guide for Wave Race. I don’t have the patience for that, and I am still learning many of the moves myself. No, I’m going to tell you how I overcame the game’s blistering punishment and got to the point where I could beat the campaign. Spoiler: It’s all about making that cold, hard cash.

But before we get to that, you need to know how to improve your character. Its easy enough, but Wave Break isn’t telling you. From the main menu, go to Shops. Do not buy any cosmetic items – those are for later in the game, after you have some skills under your belt. Go to the Gym. Here you will see the entire list of upgrades. Just a few points in each of these are going to make you life much, much easier. But the real place you want to focus is the “Grind” skill.

Note that each level of upgrade increases in cost dramatically. If you want to stabilize your character (and trust me, you do), you are going to need a lot of money. Further note that most cash rewards in the campaign offer a mere pittance.

It is my feeling that you should just leave that first campaign level alone for a while. Sure, check if out, but don’t get caught up trying to complete the challenges. There isn’t enough cash in the entire first level to get you anywhere near competent enough to advance to the next stage. You will end up cruising that first level for the rest of your life, struggling against wonky controls and unmanageable grind meters. You need another way to make money.

Luckily, the other activities in the game pay out in cash money. So here’s what I did to get paid (there may be better ways, but this is the best I’ve found so far):

Go to Play, then Time Attack. Tap “Y” to customize the game. Move the timer to ten minutes, and lower the number of players to one (unless you want someone taking pot shots at you while you learn).

Jump in and start doing as many tricks as you can. The more points you get in the allotted time, the more money you earn at the end of the session (though there seems to be a cap of $2500). As soon as you can, start pouring money into your Grind Stat.

Bump everything else up a level or two, but really push that Grind. Before long, you will have to start saving up for the next level. Do it. It is so worth it. This stat alone will make Wave Break playable for you.

Side note: don’t be like me. Don’t push a bunch of money into another character. For the first stage, you need the bear, so put your money into the bear. It is so disappointing to ramp up that weasel thing just to discover that you can’t take him into the campaign’s first level.

Before long, your tricks will get longer, and your combos will become more complex. I tend to dismount a grind if I am getting close to losing balance, choosing instead to add a kickflip or some other trick (X and B) to give me the multiplier I need. Its better to land a 3000-point trick than faceplant on a 20,000-point trick.

If you find yourself crashing at the end of each trick run, remember to take your finger off of any trick buttons about a half second before you land. Don’t jam buttons all the way down, as you will be mid-trick when you hit the water, causing a bloody mess.

I hope you found some of this helpful. Wave Break really opens up once you have expanded your abilities a bit, and you will find yourself doing things you previously thought were impossible. Fill your stats = grind around the pool. It’s the only way to go.