Kit your superscientists out with the best gear.

Research and Destroy aptly gives you quite a lot to both research and destroy throughout its fairly lengthy campaign. It’s what makes it such a compelling turn-based RPG and a fantastic game on the PS4. You’ll need the best guns and gadgets the superscientist community has to offer in order to take down those pesky monsters. Fortunately, there are nine gadgets at your disposal that’ll assist you in coming out victorious.

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Not all gadgets are born equal, however. For every sounds-super-cool-but-is-totally-ineffective jetpack skateboard - we’d love to see Tony Hawk ride that - there’s an Uncertainty Helmet. We’re of the persuasion that knowing which gadget is actually worth using before heading into battle is a great idea and, fortunately, we’ve broken it down for you.

One of the very first gadgets you’ll get in Research and Destroy is the Propeller. While it absolutely sounds like a little hat that makes you fly into the sky - oh how we wish it was - it’s actually a transferable jump pad that can be deployed at any location. The verticality of any map in Research and Destroy is incredibly important. Often, enemies or objectives will be hidden on top of a building, or perhaps, like Obi-wan, you just want the higher ground. Whatever the reason, getting up high is always a good idea, and the Propeller can really help with that.

Additionally, the Propeller is a great get out of jail free card, so to speak. If you find yourself surrounded by a band of zombies and want to escape quickly, then throw down a Propeller. It’ll launch anyone who steps on it a great distance away from the enemy and into relative safety. Sure, the Propeller isn’t the sexiest tool in your veritable box of cool gadgets, but it is incredibly useful and adds a nice layer of strategy to the game. It’ll get you out of tricky situations and move you to more desirable locations.

It’s gadgets like these that make Research and Destroy one of the most compelling alternatives to XCOM 2. It is also just a fun time, as watching your superscientists be launched fifty feet into the air never gets old.

Have you ever wondered what a dancing zombie would look like? Well, if you have, then we got the gadget for you. Enter the Subdueler, a boom box gadget that, once deployed, makes any and all monsters in front of it uncontrollably dance.

We’re not joking with this one, there really is a gadget that makes vampires, zombies, ghosts and trolls alike dance like there’s no tomorrow. Of course, this has a practical purpose beyond making monsters dance, but who really cares about that. We just want to see a vampire assassin do the boogie.

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We should probably talk about the actual use of the Subdueler, as it is rather effective in combat. By deploying the gadget and making everyone dance, you’ll essentially stun them for a turn or so. In doing so, the enemy can’t move or attack you during that time. If you’re being chased by a handful of Zombie Runners or can’t see how to manouvere your way out of a sticky situation, then throwing one of these down will give you just enough time to get out of there pronto.

It’s also a handy tool for mopping the floor with monsters, as you can shoot them to your heart’s content without ever worrying about them turning on you. Well, that is until the boombox turns off and the dancing stops. Never stop a zombie from dancing, they hate it. Trust us, we’d know.

Sometimes a gadget needs a funny name like the Subdueler or the Uncertainty Helmet. Other times it just needs a simple, rather literal name like the Gravity Distorter.

As it says on the tin, the Gravity Distorter distorts gravity. By launching this gadget, you’ll create a black hole of sorts that rips time and space apart. Enemies will be sucked towards it - a word of warning, so will you - and be bundled up into a nice neat little ball which you can blast to smithereens. The Gravity Distorter is a truly deadly gadget and immensely effective at getting rid of a large group of monsters all at once.

You just have to be really careful with it. While Research and Destroy is a great co-op game, using the Gravity Distorter near your friend may make them never want to play again. No one is safe from the pull of this dangerous gadget, not even projectiles. If you shoot, or are shot, near this gadget, it will rip the projectile from the air and into its sphere. Suffice to say, keep anything that isn’t a snarling, growling or maniacally laughing monster away from it.

Imagine waking up mere minutes before you have to go to work, popping on your trusty Rocket Boots and blasting your way to the office. Think of all the extra minutes of sleep you could get, or all the extra times you could die in Elden Ring before finally giving up and going to bed. Unfortunately, that technology doesn’t exist yet in our world yet - one of these days -, but it does in Research and Destroy.

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Much like the Propeller, the Rocket Boots are an effective tool for escaping dangerous situations. You’ll have them equipped at all times and simply need to press a button and aim at where you want to go before your superscientist is launched into the air. However, unlike the Propeller, the Rocket Boots are far more accurate, or at least it's easier to see just where you’ll land. A helpful arced line indicates where your superscientist’s face will meet the ground. This is, of course, extremely useful, but you’ll have to be prepared, as aiming for too long will eat away at your time and result in your superscientist never leaving the floor.

If you’ve come here questioning just what an Uncertainty Helmet is, well we’re not quite certain either. The Uncertainty Helmet is definitely one of the more unique gadgets in Research and Destroy and not just because of its cryptic name.

This device will split whichever character has it equipped in two. When your superscientist first splits, there’s a 50% chance that either version is the real deal.

Both versions will then have a percentage of certainty that they’re the real one. You don’t know, the game doesn’t know, the monsters don’t know.

However, once you start moving or shooting with either of the versions, their chances of being the real one goes up. You move them an inch or two, and suddenly they’re at 60% real. So, you have two versions that can shoot and move just as effectively, but you’ll not know which one you can sacrifice and which one needs to be kept safe.

It essentially adds a fun layer of risk and strategy to combat, making each move feel far more intense than ever before, but also doubles up how much you can shoot. Unfortunately, the Uncertainty Helmet can’t last forever. Whenever one of the versions is injured or healed, it’ll be revealed which is the original. So, keep that in mind as you charge into battle without a care in the world.

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Tom is a freelance journalist and an aspiring novelist. After completing his Masters in Multimedia Journalism, Tom went on to work in the games journalism sphere. Now, he has joined TheGamer as a list writer. Outside of work, he's an avid Yu-Gi-Oh player and a proponent of terrible video games.