1. Path of Least Resistance
2. The Cathedral
3. Outgunned
1. "Path Of Least Resistance"
Convoy Recovery
Manchester, England
July 12th, 1951 0938 GMT
You start off in Manchester dropped into the middle of absolute mayhem. Move forward a bit and get behind the cover of the large concrete chunk and plant yourself firmly there. The incoming Chimera seem endless, and you and your allies fight with everything you have to knock them back. Make good use of your tags, and look for small pockets of Chimera to throw in a grenade or blast one from your grenade launcher to take out as many at once as possible. Keep an eye on your health and be sure to duck behind cover to allow yourself to regenerate as often as possible. There is a lot of health lying around for you to pick up, but you'll have to leave cover to get it and it may not be worth the risk to retrieve. Keep killing the Hybrids and make sure to watch for any that might break through to where you are hiding. These guys can be more dangerous than the rainstorms of Bullseye rounds you
are facing on the other side of the cover. Eventually, there will seem to be a break and some of your allies will start to move ahead. Pay attention to when you hear someone yell "Keep moving forward!" That is generally the indication that the area is clear.
When you do move forward, you aren't going very far. In fact, you are only going to the area of bunkers where the Hybrids you just defeated were attacking from. Gather up everything you can find in this area without getting too close to the gap between the buildings. Once you have collected everything you think you can find, the next battle will rage in that gap you were just avoiding. There won't be as many to fight this time, but the battle will be just as fierce. If you can catch them when they have gathered into a small group, thats a great time to toss in a grenade and quickly cut back their numbers. Use the bunkers that were previously being used against you to keep yourself behind cover and you will soon be encouraged to move forward again.
Head down into the gap you just cleared out and you'll find yourself facing another area similar to the first. There will be Hybrids taking cover down in the bunkers in the center of this area and this time there will be some up in the windows of the buildings behind the bunkers just to keep things interesting. Once again, throw whatever you have at them to eliminate this wave of Hybrids. I can't stress enough the need to rely on your tag function and keep an eye on your health so you can regenerate in a timely manner. You'll soon find that you have this wave under control as well as long as you follow these tips. Once again, gather up everything you can find when this wave has passed.
Again, pass through the gap between the buildings and be ready for a single Hybrid to pop out of the doorway to the left. After that, there will be some Hybrids shooting from the other side of the wall in front of you. Stay back and shoot them from up here if you can. When you get to the bottom of this hill, you will turn to the right and see more Hybrids up in the building in front of you as well as get the added bonus of a Leaper attack. Stay calm, use the cover you have and take care of everything one at a time and you'll make it through just fine. The health is plentiful around here, but don't abuse it or you will run out. Get out from behind this area and finish cleaning up the Hybrids in the street and in the buildings and be ready for another Leaper attack once you get to the street.
Once that area is clear, once again, gather up everything you can find and proceed again between the buildings. If you enter this gap too soon, you'll be met with a vicious group of Hybrids, so either wait for them to come out before you proceed, or enter the gap with your grenade launcher at the ready because they will come at you in a pack. Don't fire it too close, or you'll end up killing yourself. Work your way down to this next street and continue to kill Hybrids in this seemingly endless battle. When this area is cleared, you will see that your only wait out is past a bus off to the right side of this area. Enter this narrow pathway past the bus and be prepared for Hybrids to pop out from behind the barricades you'll find on the other side of the bus as well as behind the bus itself. After the battles you have been through to get this far, the few Hybrids you'll encounter on the way down this street will seem easy in comparison.
When you make it to the end of the street, the road will continue to the right and down a hill. As you start down the hill, you'll be treated to yet another Leaper attack from over the top of the buildings at the bottom of the hill. At this point, and with the assistance of your allies, you should be able to handle this wave in your sleep. When they are gone, continue down to the bottom of the hill and head up the street to the left. Be sure and pick up the grenades on this corner if you are out of them. As you near the barricade at the end of the street past the bus, be ready for two more Hybrids to your right as you come to the gap in the barricade. Take care of these two and proceed further up the road past them.
In the distance, past a couple of cars, there are four more Hybrids. Two on each side of the road behind a barricade. Keep your distance and eliminate this threat as well. Keep an eye out as they have a tendency to throw out a Hedgehog every now and again. When you've finished with those fellas, approach the bridge, but don't cross it yet. Instead, head to the left and take the stairs down below the bridge. Follow the path and you'll find some 40mm grenade ammo and Intelligence Document #9. When you have them, head back up to the bridge and start to cross.
Not long after you pass the bus, you'll see 4 Hybrids run into positions at the other end of the bridge. This isn't your standard bunker, however, because this little party has a turret down there. The turret is on the right side of the bridge, so be wary of it, keep your distance and think about using the 40mm grenades you just picked up to take care of this little problem. When they have been eliminated, arm yourself with the Rossmore and approach the entrance to the Cathedral that is to your left and prepare yourself for something new . . . finally.
As you get near the opening to enter the Cathedral, a new creature will jump up over the wall. Meet the Howler. This is the biggest, meanest dog you'll ever meet. If you read the last Intelligence Document you picked up, you'll see why I told you to arm the Rossmore. This animal is going to come right at you and he's going to do it quickly. He'll be in your face before you know it, and when he is, put a double shot (L1) of Rossmore in HIS face. The Howler will shake off the first shot and come at you again, so put a second double shot into his face and he'll go down for good. When the Howler is dead you will have reached the moment you have been waiting for. Your vision will blur and this disaster of a chapter will be over.
2. "The Cathedral"
Convoy Recovery
Manchester, England
July 12th, 1951 1114 GMT
You're inside the Cathedral now, and in the midst of Leaper Hell. Leapers in numbers greater than you've ever seen are pouring off the walls to both sides of you. As soon as you have control, immediately back all the way up to the door to the Cathedral and arm the Rossmore. This is a wide doorway, but you can still use it to try to funnel the rush of Leapers. Just keep shooting into the groups to keep them from making it to you. You're going to need all the health you can keep when this is over, so don't let them get to you. As long as you keep spraying the doorway with the Rossmore, you should easily keep yourself scratch free by the time they stop coming at you. Don't worry about your friends. There was nothing you could have done for them anyway. When the wash of Leapers has stopped, you will still hear the screaming and if you look carefully ahead to the other end of the Cathedral, you'll still see a bunch of them collected down near the end. Move forward just a bit and spray the remainder with your Carbine. Things will fall silent when they are all dead, but this only lasts for a couple of seconds.
Watch the boards blocking the opposite end of the Cathedral and they will soon disappear into a cloud of dust. Get just close enough to this archway so that you can throw 2 or 3 grenades into the dust cloud as soon as it happens. Ladies and gentleman, meet the Steelheads. The Steelheads are much larger, much stronger versions of the Hybrids and they are wielding the weapon known as the Auger. There is no escape from the Auger, as it has the ability to shoot through cover, and as the round passes through cover, it actually increases in strength. If you managed to get about 3 grenades into the archway before you even saw the Steelheads, there is a pretty good chance you got both of them down before they got too close to you, but if one does make it through, he probably took a beating from the grenades and shouldn't take much to lay him down. If you didn't have any grenades, keep moving to avoid the Auger rounds. Stop long enough to put a tag on one of them and empty a clip as you dodge back and forth. When they are down and done for, arm yourself with the Rossmore and cautiously head for the freshly opened archway.
As you get to the archway, you'll be met from the other side by a Hybrid and a Howler. The Hybrid is going to stay on his side, but the Howler wants a bite of your butt, so back away from him and put two double shots from the Rossmore in his face to lay him down. If you haven't already, snatch up an Auger of your very own from one of the recently deceased Steelheads and head back up to the archway to take care of the first Hybrid you saw and two more that decide to join in the fray as well. Stay on your side of the wall and use the Auger to shoot them through the wall. The reticle will turn red when you have an enemy in the Augers sites, so just fire right into the wall and wait for the screams from the other side. When those three are silent, take some time to explore the Cathedral, pick up any health and ammo you need and be sure to find. As you pass through the archway, be sure to check the shelves to your left for Intelligence Document #10.
Before rushing out the big hole in the wall on the right side of the Cathedral, zoom in on that area and take note of the two Hybrids on the upper level of the building across from you. Once is to the right and inside the building while the other is to the left and standing on a small platform on the outside of the building. For pure entertainment, shoot the supports on the platform and watch that Hybrid fall to his death. Take care of the other Hybrid patrolling back and forth. Once you've taken care of those two from a distance, approach the hole in the wall and look to the right as you exit for two more Hybrids down on your level. There is enough cover in this area, you should easily be able to take them out one at a time and if you snuck up to the hole quietly enough, the one closest to you will have his back to you and not know you're there. You can have him dead before he ever gets a chance to fire.
When the area is clear, cross the street and enter the building. (For those of you on the second play through, look just inside the first doorway on your left when you enter the building to pick up the Backlash Grenades. If it's your first playthrough, you don't get them. Stop crying, at least you got your Auger!) Exit through the doorway on the other side of the building and you'll meet up with a couple of allies. Head down the stairs to your left and stop before you get to the corner. Just around the corner to the right there are two Hybrids waiting for you and when you have their attention, you'll also trigger a Leaper attack. Great time to chuck a grenade and temporarily retreat. Take out whatever is left over with the Carbine or Bullseye.
Continue carefully on down the street and two more Hybrids will pop out near the next barricade a little further down. Eliminate them and once again, stop short before you get to the next corner. You don't want to go rushing down this next street to the left without knowing what you are in for. On street level with you are 5 Hybrids and a Steelhead with an Auger. For obvious reasons, you're going to want to eliminate the Steelhead first. Then you can "pop and shoot" to get some of the Hybrids out of the way. In addition to the 5 on ground level (one of the 5 is in a bunker in the far right corner behind a dumpster, so you can save him for later if you want), there is also a 6th in the far building on the right, and a 7th that will appear on the walkway above you at the very end of the street. Take care of all of them before you reach the end of the street where it turns left again because when you do you will be near the bottom of some stairs and an 8th Hybrid will be at the top of them ready to do you in.
When the area has been cleared, go up to the top of the steps, but stay out from in front of the archway to your right for a minute. There is a Hybrid up on a ledge on the corner of a building when you look through this archway. You won't be able to miss him. Just follow his trail of Bullseye rounds when you stick your head out to look. This is a great time to whip out the Auger and shoot him through the wall. When you've taken him down, proceed through the archway and turn left down the road toward the courtyard with the big tree in the middle. Arm yourself with the Rossmore and get ready for a double dose of Howler action. One will come from the left and the other from the right. Draw them out and back out the way you came in and keep smacking them in the face with double shots. If you back too far out, they will retreat to their original hiding spots, which is good to know if they are giving you a good beating. When the Howlers are gone, cross over to the other side of the courtyard and stop before you step onto the sidewalk. Things are about to get "sticky".
There are three mine portals on the sidewalk in front of you. These suckers are going to pop up some Hedgehogs at you, and all three pop up at the same time. creep forward just enough to make them pop up and then quickly retreat back toward the courtyard to get out of their range and avoid damage. You need to drop down into the grassy area to the left now, but drop off straight ahead next to the barbed wire. This grassy area is a mine field and many of the portals are VERY well hidden in the grass. Stay right next to the barbed wire and slowly continue forward. Another mine will pop up just to your left and this is a new kind of mine. The Radial mines shoot out a shock wave, some explode low allowing you to jump over the wave, while others explode high allowing you to duck under. This one always seems to explode low and if you are crammed right up against the barbed wire, it shouldn't much matter because the wave won't reach you anyway. Two more mines are just ahead and to the left of you as you continue. You should be able to see the portals for these. These are also low detonating Radial mines and as long as you stay up against the barbed wire, and back quickly away, you should avoid their blast as well. Your goal is to get to the little wooden bridge on your right.
When you make it to the bridge, drop off the right side of it and follow the trench down to the dead soldier at the end to find Intelligence Document #11 lying next to him. When you've got it, follow the trench back to the other end and walk up the incline to get back to where you would have been if you had finished crossing the bridge. Look ahead to the low bunker up the grassy slope. Hidden just on the other side of the bunker are two more mine portals that deploy Hedgehogs. Knowing they are there should give you enough time to back away from them before their spines can reach you. You should now begin to hear the grumblings of the Hybrids up above you to your left. Ascend carefully, because as soon as your head is visible, they know you're there and they pull out all the stops coming after you. There are 5 of them up there and when you appear over the wall, you are pretty much there for the taking with little cover to work with. Throw a couple of grenades their way and run to the right to find at least a little cover around the wall. You can then use this chance to pick them off one at a time or line up a couple of more good grenade tosses. They also have Hedgehog grenades, so keep an eye out for those as well.
When you've managed to clear them out, pick up whatever you need that is lying around and head up behind and to the left of where the Hybrids just were. As the grassy area narrows down and you approach a big tree, be alert for the two Hedgehog mine portals hidden in the grass just behind the tree. Those are the last two hidden portals you'll have to deal with, so move forward down onto the sidewalk to continue. When you approach the entrance to the street, you'll see five not-so-hidden mine portals right in the middle of this open area. These are all high detonating Radial mines, so either back away quickly, or be ready to duck to get past them all.
After you've made it past the five mines, three Hybrids will come running up from the alley straight in front of you. To quickly take care of this situation, toss a grenade at the car between you and them and when the car blows up, so do all of them. With them out of the way, head down the alley that they came from, but stop short of the corner. There are six kinds of trouble waiting for you around the corner. First and foremost are going to be the three Hedgehog mine portals that you will practically be standing on top of when you peek around the corner, and as if that isn't enough, an Auger wielding Steelhead will be right behind them. Back out of the alley to avoid the Hedgehogs and the Auger blasts coming through the wall. The Steelhead should follow you around, so pick him off as he comes around the corner. When that is out of the way, go back around the corner and there will be two Hybrids in this dead end, one on a platform up above and to your left, and another on the ground also to your left. Tag and frag these guys.
You need to enter the doorway of the building beneath the platform the Hybrid was standing on. Approach cautiously, as when you near the doorway, you will see another Hybrid standing a floor above you through the destroyed ceiling in this room. When he is down, and as you step through the doorway, another Hybrid will pop out of the closet underneath the stairs. Back out of the doorway and use it for cover to take care of this guy. When they are gone, go up the stairs and around the back side of the room and stand just in the doorway to the next room. Look through the hole in the floor and you should be able to slap a tag on the Hybrid below before he even knows you're there. Empty a clip into him and he's no problem anymore.
Drop down to the floor below and exit through the only door out into the small alley. Again, approach the corner with caution because just around it are three more Hedgehog mines that you'll be right on top of that also trigger a small Leaper attack. Back into the building you came from and funnel the leapers in through to door to get rid of them. Leapers out of the way, look back around the corner to the end of the next alley for a Hybrid standing on the wall at the end. Tag and remove this dude.
Continue forward to the next alley that leads off to the left. You'll see three more mine portals ahead of you, but these are going to make you walk into the alley to set them off. They are high detonating Radial mines, so just be ready to duck to avoid the blast. As you continue down the alley, stop when you are standing on top of the mine portals. Two Hybrids will come through the archway in front of you, fortunately they give you enough time to kill one, before the other one appears. When they are gone, advance slightly forward and look to your left down another alley where a third Hybrid waits to take you out. Tag and frag him.
You now have a choice. You can follow the alley to the left where the lone Hybrid came from or you can go straight ahead through the archway in front of you. Both paths lead to the same place, but the one to the left will put you directly in the path of a turret that won't hesitate to cut you in half. Walk through the archway and move slowly ahead looking to the left through the short fence for a stack of Power Cores. As soon as you see it, hit it with a Carbine round and you will have relieved the Hybrid manning the turret of his duty without ever having to see his nasty face.
Return back around to take the path you chose not to take a few moments ago and head behind the turret. Don't bother to look around the walkway to the left of the turret as there is nothing there but a Hedgehog trap to put a hurting on you. Climb up the stairs behind the turret and the chapter is complete.
3. "Outgunned"
Convoy Recovery
Manchester, England
July 12th, 1951 1335 GMT
You are thrown into another chaotic battle, but this time in the midst of a "roundabout" with a large fountain structure in the middle. You'll need to help the allies push through to the opposite side of the roundabout and there are a lot of Hybrids between you and that other side. Work your way about halfway around one side of the roundabout, then go back and start to work your way around the other. Work all the way to the back side until you have cleared all the Hybrids around the outside, then work on the few in the fountain that are working on your allies.
When it seems like you have just about cleared out the area, a large drop ship will fly in right over the area where you first came in. It will drop in a huge container which contains another swarm of Hybrids with a couple of Auger wielding Steelheads for good measure. Work your way back around to finish off this new group. (Believe me, you're going to be glad you're on that side of the fountain in a minute) When the last of the second wave has been taken care of and you are standing back near where you came in to this chapter, look off into the distance between the buildings and you'll see your newest headache approaching, The Stalker.
The Stalker is a 4-legged walking vehicle that’s armed to the teeth. It has a missile launcher, a machine gun and an anti-aircraft cannon. For a big, lumbering piece of equipment, it's also pretty damn quick. You will appear to have met your match and have a tendency to want to run around like an idiot to avoid its fire, but follow these instructions and you'll never have to change position, never get a scratch on you and you'll take this thing down with nothing but your trusty Carbine.
Without even knowing it, the Chimera gave you the best cover you could ask for. Get inside the container that the drop ship left a short while ago. Now all you have to do is watch the Stalker. When it can't see you, it has no interest in you, so it will chase your allied friends around the circle. What you are waiting for is for the Stalker to turn it's "back" to you. On the back of the main body, there is a round unit with yellow glowing lights on it. It looks like an oversize Power Core. Hit that with your Carbine and you will momentarily stun the Stalker, at which time you can empty an entire clip into this Power Core. Don't be afraid to do this from a very long distance. Your rounds are just as effective when you can barely see the silly thing as they are when you are right up on it.
Of course, the Stalker will only be stunned for so long, and when it snaps out of it, it will very much be interested in you now. Just duck back inside the container and nothing it has in its arsenal can touch you. After a minute or so of that, the Stalker will once again lose interest in you and move on. Wait for the Stalker to turn its back to you and repeat the process. As you continue to damage the Stalker, you will get more and more encouragement over the radio and the Stalker will start to smoke and get an eerie blue glow to it. When you've just about exhausted your Carbine, the Stalker will finally explode and there will be nothing left for you to do but watch the cut scene that ends the chapter.
Continue to Nottingham . . . |
