Stuck in the Command Deck of BioShock Infinite

[Rabby]

I'm an average gamer, but I've beat a lot of games. I can't get past Command Deck of BioShock Infinite at hard difficulty. I've looked at walkthroughs, and have resorted to the unthinkable - yes, changing to medium difficulty - but the game won't take the change. WTF? I guess this is a Rubik's Cube of approaches.

[Clockwork Undertaker]

Honestly that portion has a lot of different strategies to get through it. Your just gonna have to replay and replay that portion till you find one that works for you.

[merchantmudcrab]

fire return to sender orbs on the reactor, cover it with the orbs from all sides, they will act like a shield and absorb all damage so you can take your time to defeat the waves.

[Armstrong Houston]

Surrounding it with return will make it pretty much immune to damage. Then use charge to fly around the map killing things quickly with the shotgun. Once the patriot(s)(cant remember if theres more than one) come in just use return to sender to quickly remove like a third of their health with each blast.

Just be sure to kill things quickly before they suicide into the ball.

[Shadowspaz]

Also, if/when they start pushing up to the reactor all the time, you can keep calling Songbird down right there. And, unless you're targeting a ship or a zeppelin, he recharges pretty quickly.

The zeppelins should be your top priority at that point; Patriots will keep spawning until you take them all out.

[Stabby]

Killing each wave of enemies quickly and efficiently while using songbird often is key. Use pistols/rifles to score headshots on the regular guys. Kill patriots quickly by shooting the gear in the back. Using shock jockey often to stun enemies will keep them stationary and unable to shoot you or the core.

Don't forget to switch up your clothing accessories to maximize your effectiveness with the guns/vigors/whatever you are using. The ones that beef up your headshot damage and reload speed are pretty good, in my opinion.

[Rabby]

I'm very grateful to all of you. Had this game incorporated quick save I think I could've beaten it by now. I got Song Bird to take out two of three Vox Zeppelins, only to run out of time and restart the fight; I'm not fond of checkpoint save.