1. The Gauntlet
2. A Lone Survivor
3. Spires
1. "The Gauntlet"
Operation: Deliverance
York, England
July 11, 1951 0613 GMT
Congratulations! You are Sergeant Nathan Hale, so grab your rifle and get ready to fight because we're not going to play around with "training missions". I hope you've reviewed the controls, because you are about 5 seconds from your first confrontation with the Chimera and most likely this entire group of allies you've just joined is going to be wiped out within 10 seconds. There’s nothing like tossing you right into the action.
You'll head straight down the street and your first view of the Chimera Hybrids will show them quickly mowing down your allied friends right in front of your face. Take aim with your Carbine and shoot for the face if at all possible. The head shots will kill them quicker, but hit them where you can hit them quickest, because it's going to be a while before you see any health power ups or regeneration of health. What damage you get now, you are stuck with, so keep yourself as healthy as possible. Save your allies at the last second for a "Hero Moment" and you will be able to take them with you as you progress through York. Don't count on them being around for very long though.
Make good use of the blockades and barriers around you for cover as you progress down the street. A couple more Chimera will come looking for you as you move on and they don't usually announce themselves first. Follow the path through the barriers until you reach the downed U/AV-17 Hawk. A couple of allies will tumble from the wreckage on fire, but you'll have to let them go. There is nothing you can do for them, so be on alert for more Chimera to attack from behind and keep yourself healthy.
Continue to move forward and always be on alert. As you round a corner, you will see a U/AV-17 Hawk hovering and more troops dropping in to help you out. Follow this fresh load of allied meat down the road, avoiding the mortar explosions that slam into the street on both sides taking out most of the new troops you just got. Keep going down the road until you reach a small square with buildings in front of you and barriers, vehicles and a fountain to use as cover. Take cover quickly and keep your eyes toward the buildings in front of you. Most gamers of even moderate experience know, if you walk into an area that is littered with places to take cover, there is a pretty good chance you're going to need it.
Use the cover in this area to work your way up to the building. A couple of Chimera will come from the balcony, at least one of whom will jump down to the street. Getting close enough will also prompt a couple more to come running out of the doorway on ground level to your left. Keep your eyes on all of them, keep your head down behind cover and pop out just long enough to put a few rounds in each one until they are down. Unless you run right up to them, they aren't going to come to you, so keep yourself back a bit and "pop and shoot" to take them out. The two that come out of the doorway can be quickly dealt with by a well placed round from the grenade launcher you have attached to your Carbine.
When this area falls quiet, take the time to run around and load up on ammo. (Make sure to reload your weapon by pushing the square button to be sure and get a full load when grabbing the ammo pick-ups) When you have a full load, enter the building where the two Chimera came out. A lone Chimera will run up the stairs in front of you, but don't waste any ammo on him. A couple of allies will take him out when he gets to the top of the stairs. There are some things you want in this building, but lets clear it of Chimera first to be on the safe side. Head up the stairs and meet up with the allies that took care of the retreating Chimera just a moment ago. Follow them into the next room carefully. They will get ambushed and if you hold back a bit, you will be able to see where the fire is coming from without taking any hits. They will take care of a couple of enemies for you, but they won't last long, so be prepared to clear the last couple out yourself. There are usually about two Chimera in the next room using crates for cover, so pick them off so you can proceed.
Pass through this room with the crates and you'll come out on the balcony above the square where you entered this building and you first saw the Chimera come out looking for you. Step carefully back into the other doorway on this balcony, because there is Chimera hiding inside the next doorway in front of you, and another in the doorway to your right. Take care of the one to your right first because he can put the biggest hurting on you at the moment, then go through the doorway he was in and circle around behind the other one to take him out without taking any damage. At this point, the building is clear of enemies, so go back downstairs via the big hole in the floor of the room you are in. In the room below, you should find at least one dead allied soldier on the floor and somewhere nearby you should see a yellow document folder also lying on the floor. Walk up to it and claim it with the triangle button. You have just picked up Intelligence Document #1. (See "Intelligence Documents")
Grabbing your first goody and clearing out a house isn't going to end this first chapter for you yet. There is still more to do, so go back upstairs and look for the broken fire escape that leads down the back side of the building to another street that leads off to your left. There is a fire at the bottom of the broken stairway, but just drop down to the street and it won't be an issue for you. There won't be any Chimera coming after you for a moment, so head down the street to the left until you reach a dead Chimera lying on the left side of the road. Lying right next to him will be your very first Bullseye rifle! Walk over it and you will automatically arm yourself with it.
Proceed further down the street toward the two allies waiting for you. You will see a bus and some barricades in front of you. Run quickly up and hide behind the barricades on your left to avoid the Chimeran fire that is about to come from the area of the bus. The safest bet here is to hide all the way to the left out of view of the Chimera and bounce a grenade off the bus into the area they are in. The one grenade usually takes care of all the Chimera over there. When they are quiet, search the raised area behind the bus for ammo and grenades. Back in the street, just before the burning bus, look for a small alleyway to your left. In this alleyway you'll find Intelligence Document #2.
Continue down the street and cautiously approach the courtyard at the end. There is a low wall with a gap in it that follows a sidewalk up to a large arched entryway. Focus your attention to the center of that archway because an ambush of Chimera are about to come through it. At the first sign of life, throw a grenade into the onslaught and you'll put a serious dent in the little group and you'll need only to use this low wall for cover now to pick off whoever is left. If you didn't back at the bus, take this opportunity to practice with the "Tag" function of the Bullseye. When the ambush has been silenced, approach the archway, but don't round the corner yet. Take a quick peek around and two Chimera will take shots at you, but just duck back behind the archway and wait a second. The two Chimera will be killed by some, as of yet, unseen allies.
You are safe now up to the end of the chapter, so gather up whatever ammo you can find lying about and jump down into the grassy area below where your allied friends are waiting. Follow them down the grassy hill and along the dry creek bed until your vision fades away ending the chapter.
2. "A Lone Survivor"
York, England
July 11, 1951 0747 GMT
I hope you enjoyed the lovely cut scene with the Crawlers going in and out of your mouth and nose. As sick as it was, it's the best thing that will happen to you in the whole game. From this point forward, when you are injured, your health will regenerate up to the nearest 25% mark when you out of harms way. To be more specific, your health meter has 4 bars and all are yellow when your health is full. You get in a battle and your health is knocked back to say, 2 and a half bars. Find some cover and don't get hit by anything for a few seconds, and the health bar will fill back up to give you 3 bars.
You'll also be able to find health pick ups, each one giving you 25% of your health back. These are bright yellow containers filled with a substance called Sym-Bac Serum. From this point forward they will be referred to as "health" because Sym-Bac Serum is a pain in the heiny to type and I've got a lot more typing to do. Just know what I mean when I say "grab the health". They are yellow and they kind of glow, so they are going to be hard to miss anyway. On with this chapter . . . .
Head down the dry creek bed with your new friend. In just a few seconds, you'll be startled by a couple of crawling creatures that make a high pitched squealing sound. They will run away and not bother you for the moment, but you can be sure they are a bad sign. As you round the next corner, you'll be met with the same squealing sound, only you'll know that this sound isn't just coming from one or two of them. It'll sound something like a stadium full of chipmunks at a Metallica concert. This will be your first battle with the Leapers. The oversize scorpion-like creatures will swarm after you and your friend. Have the Carbine at the ready and just start spraying the crowd. If you've got the time, save your friend, but mostly keep the Leapers off of you. For the most part, spraying the crowd will take care of most of them, then you'll just have to pick off the stragglers that snuck through, and they'll be surrounding you and your friend (if he's still alive) like hungry dogs. Pick them off before they can jump on you and cause you damage. When the screaming stops, the ambush is over. Don't get comfortable.
Proceed a little further down the path and be prepared for yet another Leaper ambush. They'll come pouring over the concrete spillway in front of you. Another ally will join in the fight from a set of stairs to your left. Use the same method to eliminate this pack and then head up the stairs. Follow the path a little further and keep the eyes and ears open for more Leapers before you reach the little wooden bridge. When all is clear, cross the bridge and prepare for one more Leaper attack from over a little hill ahead of you and to the left slightly. When this last wave has been handled, head over the hill that the Leapers came from and back down into the bottom of the creek bed. You'll now be in what appears to have been a slaughter of your allies. Take this as a sign.
Before you round the corner, be prepared that the creek bed will end at the back of a large building and you'll be well below it. High above you at the entrance level of the building, 3 Chimera Hybrids will be waiting for you to pop your head out. You won't miss the incoming Bullseye fire. I wouldn't worry about your friend too much, he's not going to make it. You may get to take out all 3 Chimera, or you may take out 1 and the other 2 will run off and hide. Either way, when that happens, you are safe to take the stairs up to the building. In the area where the slaughter happened and on the stairs up to the building, you will see your first health pick ups. Grab them if you need them.
At the top of the stairs, you'll find some ammo and grenades and Intelligence Document #3. Grab up all the goodies and step in the doorway of the building. It is pretty quiet in here and you are pretty safe on the first floor. There is a closet underneath the stairs in this room that contains Intelligence Document #4. When all has been gathered, head up the stairs to the second floor, which will once again have no activity on it. You know it's not going to stay this way for long. Carefully head up the next set of stairs and keep your eyes up and to the right as you go up. The ceiling of the third floor has a giant hole in it and there is a Chimeran Hybrid up on the fourth floor looking down at you. Take him out quickly as he isn't the only one in this area out to get you, he's just the first and most dangerous at this point. More Chimera are on the third floor with you. As you are coming up the stairs, they will be behind and to the right of you in a doorway and behind some crates. Chuck a grenade over in the corner to take them out, or stay behind the boxes and play hide and seek with them and pick them off carefully.
When those kind fellas are done for, don't go rushing into the next room. Instead, stay back and peek into the room, creeping from right to left. Once again, look up through the blown out ceiling in that next room for two more Chimera looking down at you from the fourth floor. Tag and frag those guys and there will be more down on the same floor with you as you enter the room. Relieve them of vital signs and peer down into the next room. A couple of Chimera will enter this next room from a balcony on the other side so take them down as they come in. There are also a couple in the room below you already that you should be able to take out with a grenade. You may have to drop down into the room to take out the last one who will be hiding behind a crate on your left as you drop into the room. You have encountered your last face to face battle for this chapter, so move forward with confidence for now. Go out onto the balcony, drop to the level below and take the stairs down to the street. Run across to the M-12 Sabertooth tank that is idling across the street. Approach it from the side and press the triangle button to climb in. Stuff is about to get fun!
Driving the tank takes a little getting used to, but firing its weapons is nothing short of spectacular. Move the tank forward by pressing forward on the left analog stick and backwards by doing the opposite. Turn the tank as well as aim the turret with the left stick. The R1 button will fire the cannon and the L1 fires the machine gun. Both weapons have a meter on the screen. After firing the cannon, you must wait through a brief reload period, and the machine gun has a temperature meter. The machine gun can over heat with extended use, and if it does, you must wait until it cools back down before you can use it again. You've also got a meter on the bottom left of the screen showing the tanks armor. It is possible to have this tank damaged to the point you fail the mission, but if you blast away with the cannon and the machine gun, more than likely you'll finish with more than half the tank's armor left at the end.
Blow through the barrier in front of you and proceed on down the street. You can't get lost because there is only one way to go. Use your newfound weaponry to clear your path of attacking Chimera Hybrids and keep an eye out for the occasional anti aircraft turret placed here and there along the path. There are explosive barrels along the way to help out as well, but with the power of the cannon, you will a) not need them and b) probably blow them up anyway. At one point near the beginning of the trip, look high up to the top floor of a building for a couple of Chimera shooting down at you. A quick cannon blast will put a stop to that. You'll also approach an area where there is a destroyed building in the middle of a square. Watch for anti-aircraft turrets in this area, one to the left of you as you enter, one right in front of you, one that blends into the scenery near the destroyed building and one in the back left corner as you head out of this area. You also have the option of switching to the machine gun turret by pressing the circle button, but I never had to do it, so the choice is really yours. After this area with the destroyed building, you will pass under an archway. Drive forward and once again your vision will blur indicating the end of the chapter.
3. "Spires"
York, England
July 11th, 1951 0916 GMT
You've made it to the bus terminal and you've got one hell of a fight on your hands. As soon as you have control, step out onto the roof area and immediately watch for two Chimera to come at you from the front and one from your left as you exit the door. The one to your left is the most dangerous as there is no cover to get behind to avoid his shots, so be aware of the other two and stay behind the boxes while you take care of the one. When all three have been downed, head down the set of stairs that the single Chimera came from and follow the walkway until you find Intelligence Document #5. When you've got it, head back up to the roof area.
At this point, you have a couple of options as to how you proceed. You have 3 turret positions that the Chimera have dug into and you need to clear out all 3 of them. Find some cover near the railing and look to the distance ahead of you. You will see one turret position almost right in front of you between some buses. Further to your left, you will see a gas station and in the windows of the gas station itself you will see the other turret position. The Chimera in these locations don't see you right away because you are too far away, but you can bet as soon as you fire the first shot, they're going to know and they'll be firing back. The third turret position is to your left over the other railing and in the distance, but we can save that one for last.
This is where you can make the decision to either stay up top and attempt to take out the first two positions from the relative safety of your roof, or drop through the hole in the roof down into the bus terminal and head into the fray head-on. There are pros to doing it either way, but my choice was to stay up top and do as much damage as I could from up there. Stay behind cover and use your Tag feature on the Bullseye to start picking off the Chimera at the closest location. Oddly, the turret position itself isn't as important as the free roaming Chimera in the area, so focus on those guys first. Take out as many "free roamers" as you can from the first location, and then start in on the same for the gas station group. The good part about this second group is that some of them have a tendency to position themselves under the roof by the gas pumps. That's right, I said gas pumps. Shoot the pumps, kill the dimwits hiding under the roof.
At this point, you're probably running low on ammo and you are running out of reachable targets from this vantage point, so now drop down into the garage below and look around in here for health and ammo to stock yourself back up. Some of it can be found just outside the doors. You should have cleared enough Chimera from the first location to work your way forward and only have to pick off one or two stragglers as you head to the right side of the turret. You should be able to find a path that keeps you out of view of the turret and eventually find yourself to the side of the turret operator where he can't shoot you with the turret. Quickly pick him off before he turns on you with his Bullseye. Take care of any other stragglers you may find, and when the first turret is secured, you'll get a radio message telling you so.
Continue to move across behind the first turret position toward the gas station containing the second position. There are actually two turrets in that building, but one of them is pointed directly left and can't reach you from where you are. Make good use of cover and take out the turret operator and any stragglers in the area. Don't be a victim of your own bright ideas and hide behind a gas pump. Not good. When you have a clear path to the building, you should be able to take out the second operator through the windows of the gas station. If you don't get the radio message that the second position is secured, carefully search the area in front of the gas station for one or two more stragglers.
When that area is secure, stand with the gas pumps behind you and look straight ahead. (The roof you started on in this area will be up and to your left) You will be looking at the back side of the third turret position. Work your way straight ahead, and you'll be looking at the back of the unsuspecting turret operator. By this time, most of the "free roamers" for the third position will have been picked off by your allies, so just take care of the Chimera in the turret bunker and you should have all three positions taken care of. The radio call when the third turret position is taken sounds pretty optimistic, but things aren't going to stay that way for long, so grab up all the ammo and health you can get your hands on and make your way back to the bus terminal that you started out on.
Another wave of Chimera will soon attack from the area of the first turret position and a bit to the right. The wave of attackers is intense, but not nearly as long as the battles for the turret positions were. Keep them from getting back into the turrets if you can help it, but if not, use the same tactic of flanking to the right to take them out. Keep your eyes always peeled during this wave, as this group of Chimera are much more mobile and move around more randomly than the first groups holding the turrets.
After the first wave has been cleared, a second wave will come in from over near the gas station. Again, these guys are more mobile and won't hesitate to come to you. Keep them back, use the tag function and stay behind cover and it won't be long before this wave has been ground up as well. When the bus depot falls silent and the smoke begins to clear, you will get the final cut scene for this chapter and for the York locations. In just a moment, you will find out that the entire attempt to secure the bus depot was just a big waste of time and ammunition.
Continue to Grimsby . . . |
