Since I can remember there has been devices for cheating in
games, Game Genies, Action Replay, and Gameshark, the latest being Xploder,
newly released for PS4 this software for PC or MAC allows for the downloading
of games saves and resigning them to your PSN login, then uploading them onto
your PS4 in order to unlock levels, items, and more in the games you own.
Previously I had dabbled with a program called PS3
Bruteforce Save Data which worked in an almost identical way, load up the
software, insert a USB stick with at least 1 of your own save files to set the
default profile with, then browse the database for the file you want, download
it, resign it to your ID, pop it onto your console and most of the time the
save file did what it was meant to.
Bruteforce save files generally came with instructions, if
you were wanting a particular unlock, it would say “Saved before X event, walk
into room to complete” or “Starts at X location, shoot X enemy to fulfil
requirement”, it wasn’t the easiest software to use but nine times out of ten
it worked.
My expectations of Xploder were the same, if not more, it
was easy to install and the software interface was easy to use, even giving
tutorial steps on first use, I loaded my PSN ID onto it and began to check the
database, of the 160+ saves available I had about 40 of the games, I started
with a few that I had gained via Playstation Plus and had already finished or
hadn’t been too keen on, Guacamelee!, Resident Evil HD Remaster, and Infamous:
First Light.
Next I booted up Infamous: First Light, loaded up the
Xploder save and found myself in-game at the 67% completion mark, I checked the
upgrades menu to see if it contained maximum abilities or collectibles, no, my
first thought, what is the point of this save? My interest was piqued by
Xploder and the previous softwares to unlock trophies or run rampage through a
game with every bit of the arsenal available, without having to do any of the
grunt work myself, as a semi-functioning adult member of society my game time
is limited y’see.
This trend continued as I tried more saves, Helldivers
didn’t work, Batman: Arkham Knight did, Resident Evil 4 didn’t work, GTA V did,
I wasn’t massively fussed when saves didn’t work but it did tend to be on
titles I would’ve preferred had worked, Batman: Arkham Knight was a 240% save,
story and new game+ both completed 120%, loaded it up, had a look around, and
then I had no idea what to actually do next, apart from the challenges
everything was complete, trophies didn’t retroactively unlock and the only
fights I could pick were low-level thugs who were easily pummelled due to
having full upgrades already applied.
And this is where the problem with, or at least my problem with Xploder lies, why would
I want a complete save of Batman or GTA V or any other games for that matter?
If everything has been finished and trophies don’t pop when you load in, surely
all you’ve achieved is rendering your game useless, even for a trophy whore
such as myself, at the end of the day, if you’ve got a platinum without putting
in the work, isn’t that a hollow victory?
Anyway, to get a better view I tried more games, Resident
Evil 6 worked very well, 99% characters completed, weapons and upgrades
unlocked, collectible trophies popped, this was great, this game actually promotes
multiple play-throughs and if it wasn’t the worst in the RE series, I probably
would have, then I tried out Doom, yes, completed on the hardest difficulty, a
feat I could never have achieved, but none of the rune unlocks, and then
Bloodborne, none of the level unlocks, but all items and upgrades.
For all its best intentions, I find it hard to recommend
Xploder, it’s incredibly hit and miss with regards to what works and what doesn’t,
as well as what the save you download actually ends up doing, previously with
Brute Force, you could modify saves to multiply inventory items or tweak
character stats, you could download save-states that would load your game into
a point where in-game trophy progress was at 99% in order to perform the final
requirement yourself and score an easy trophy, but with Xploder there’s none of
this.
It strikes me as a bit of an oversight from the Xploder team
that these facilities aren’t featured, but not knowing the size of the team
behind Xploder or what their intentions are for future options, it’s not
outside the realms of possibility that we could see this kind of thing
appearing, and given that the PS4 version has only been available since August
2017, it’s still early days.
Overall, with a current catalogue of 170+ game saves in its
database, there is certainly no shortage of titles to choose from, the problem
is however that it really promises more than it delivers, and proves unreliable
whether a save will actually work
once you’ve got past the software lagging as it updates its database, but doesn’t
tell you that’s what it’s doing, in theory Xploder is a great idea, but
practically it falls short, too inconsistent and in its current form it sadly
borders on irrelevant.
Xploder PS4 Cheat System Ultimate Edition is out now at shop.xploder.net