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| Halo [R]Evolved - Assault on the Control Room | |
| Posted By: SonGoharotto <SonGoharotto@gmail.com> | Date: 5/8/11 9:31 a.m. |
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Assault on the Control Room "Wave after wave of Covenant stand between you and Halo's Control Room." I Would Have Been Your Daddy... {Cutscene} Inside one of Halo's large interior shafts, a Grunt paces along an open platform where other sleep. Two mounted Plasma Cannons sit unattended. The Grunt pauses as he hears the keening of fans. Master Chief's Hornet rises up from beneath the platform. The Grunt yelps, alerting the others, and all run for the tall door. • Cortana: "End of the line, Chief. We'll have to make it to the Control Center on foot." Master Chief lands the Hornet and jumps out, weapon at the ready. {Gameplay} A small patrol of Covenant emerge from the door. An Elite immediately opens fire while Grunts make a break for the mounted guns. Master Chief claims one for himself and easily wipes out these meager forces. Just inside the door, two surprised Jackals haven't engaged their Point Defense Gauntlets yet. They and more Grunts barely slow the Chief down as he presses into the tunnels. The player can also choose to get back in the Hornet. The animation for entering the Hornet will give the Grunts just enough time to man those Plasma Cannons, but you will have far heavier firepower. Attempting to descend the shaft will eventually reveal a kill barrier. Perhaps there can be a smaller platform leading to an Easter Egg room. The Chief enters a chamber that rings another; a basic template of this alien architecture. Perhaps these are security checkpoints. Regardless of their purpose, the room is occupied by a mixed Covenant patrol. After clearing these: • Cortana: "The Covenant presence here is stronger than I predicted. The battlenet is alight with chatter from their search teams. They seem to have the entire region secured." The tunnels lead out to a bi-leveled bridge, where more Grunts are sleeping. • Cortana: "Interesting... The weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather. A Pelican flies over the bridge, carrying a Scorpion tank. Alerting any Covenant that the Chief hasn't eliminated yet, they man Shade turrets and open fire on the Pelican. Another squad at the other end of the bridge follows suit. • Fire Team Zulu Sergeant (COM): "This is Fire Team Zulu requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces. Does anyone copy? Over."
The Pelican descends below the bridge. Master Chief clears the bridge, taking care to destroy the Shade turrets which have now trained their sights on him. [I always thought Cortana was talking to the Pelican crew, but the original game script identifies the Marine as one who is on the ground. That creates a weird disconnect between what the player is seeing and what the player is hearing. Figured it would be a minor alteration to make this the Pelican that you see having been shot down later in the level.] More tunnels across the bridge lead to another checkpoint and an elevator down. This next area is larger; it appears to be some kind of viewing chamber. In the center area, an Elite directs several Engineers. The patrols in this area can be bypassed with little trouble. Master Chief finally comes out into a snowy canyon. Marines are pinned down by fire from Covenant infantry supported by Ghosts, as well as a Shade turret on a mound inaccessible by foot. Jackals lead by a Sniper hide amidst rocks nearby. In the distance, a Wraith tank is shelling the area with plasma mortars. A Spectre holds position nearby. Master Chief kills a Grunt manning the Spectre's turret, then hijacks it, running over its former driver. He picks up the Marines and strikes back at the Covenant. Amidst these trees, bodies and ammo can be found. Behind the burning wreckage of a Warthog is a new weapon: the Spartan Laser, ideal for punching through the heaviest of Covenant armor. Sweeping through the valley, Master Chief passes another hill with a Shade turret on top, behind which hide infantry. Down a short cliff is a frozen river, where more Marines from Fire Team Zulu engage in a firefight from behind their downed Pelican. After saving them: • Fire Team Zulu Marine: "That's the last of them, Sarge. Area secure."
[Changing Zuka 'Zamamee's fate a bit here, but with the player now aware of a specific Elite dogging his trail, this is a neat way of keeping Zuka involved.] • Cortana: "Then why is your team out here?"
A Scorpion Main Battle Tank is just downriver, upside down in the snow. Master Chief flips it over with ease. • Marine: "Bloody hell! Can we just ride you, Chief?"
This Scorpion is the latter version of the series, in which the coaxial gun must be manned by a passenger. The Sergeant takes this position, with other Fire Team members riding the hotseats on the treads. Any Marines left over will get into available vehicles; the Chief's Spectre or Ghosts that survived the firefight. Master Chief and Fire Team Zulu have a choice of paths, following the frozen river or down into a tunnel. Both lead to a larger canyon where the Covenant have established a strong presence. A Wraith in the middle is supported by infantry and Ghosts. There are three Shade emplacements, two of which flank a tunnel leading underground. Another Wraith occupies a cliff over the tunnel, shelling from behind cover. Approaching the tunnel will attract Hunters from below and Banshees from above. [By the way, if at any time the player hijacks a Banshee and attempts to fly out of the canyons, they will meet a soft barrier that pushes you back down and hear a warning form Cortana. • Cortana: "No good, Chief. The weather is too severe to get anymore altitude."] A set of giant blast doors in the tunnel opens to a cavern across which two bridges span, but one seems incomplete. The Scorpion makes short work of Shades and infantry posted here. The Chief and Fire Team Zulu cross the bridge and open a second set of blast doors. Rolling Thunder Fighting his way up a rocky slope, Master Chief encounters trouble in the form of Elites bearing Plasma Cannons and Grunt Heavies armed with Plasma Launchers. At the mouth of the cave above, a Spirit is dropping off more infantry and a fully-loaded Spectre. The canyon beyond features an enormous spire of rock and alien architecture overlooking a frozen lake. On either side of the spire is a Shade around which patrol Ghosts. When passing by, infantry will emerge from doors on either side of the spire. Master Chief can enter the structure and encounter a team of SpecOps Elites. Here he has a choice of picking up an Overshield or an Active Camo. There is alien machinery above, but no way to ascend from the inside. [Again, if the player is in a Banshee, they will only find locked doors.] Around a bend are more infantry and a sheer drop off, which can be scaled via spiraling ramp. Master Chief eliminates Shades posted on a cliff across the canyon, then rescues the final members of Fire Team Zulu from a pair of Hunters. Upon reaching the bottom, another a Spirit will drop off more infantry on the cliff above, including Grunt Heavies. The pass below is now too narrow for the Scorpion to pass. Master Chief proceeds on foot through a cave, in which he finds the remains of slaughtered Marines. [Another Spartan Laser and a Sniper Rifle can be found here.] SpecOps Elites with swords bar the way. Master Chief and Fire Team Zulu scale a ridge and engage Covenant infantry. They are soon set upon by Ghosts and Banshees. When these are neutralized, a Spectre will emerge from an artificial trench. Shades are strategically placed at the only available exit. (Although there are doors in the trench, these remain locked for now.) A duo of bridges span the canyon well above. • Cortana: "Cortana to Fire Team Zulu. I'm detecting Pelican traffic, so I've sent a distress signal tagged with this position. Hold down the fort and your evac will be along soon. The Master Chief and I are going to continue on ahead."
Master Chief enters a door in the canyon wall, passing through another viewing chamber, then riding an elevator to a checkpoint, dealing with Covenant patrols along the way. Walking out onto the first bridge, it seems eerily quiet. Master Chief crosses, picking apart lightly armed patrols of Grunts and Jackals. If a firefight breaks out, the force on the other bridge will shoot across at the Chief. The checkpoint linking the two bridges appears to be some kind of command center and is occupied largely by Elites, but this is not the Control Room. Slipping past them and emerging on the other bridge, all appears to be clear (unless the Covenant on this side weren't eliminated already). However, jetpack-equipped Ranger Elites will emerge from the first bridge, using hit-and-run tactics. When they are defeated, a team of Elite and Grunt Ultras with heavy weapons will attempt to sweep Master Chief off the bridge. The next checkpoint seems to be occupied only by Grunts and Jackals, but the Chief again runs afoul of SpecOps Elites. Finally, an Elite Zealot and a Hunter pair bar the exit. • Cortana: "Resistance seems to be increasing. We must be close to the control center." If I Had a Super Weapon... Master Chief emerges onto a span of rock in the final canyon. An enormous pyramid-like structure dominates one end of the canyon, opposite a frozen waterfall. The Covenant are dug in here. • Cortana: "Cross-referencing with data from the Silent Cartographer. Yes, this is the installation we're looking for. Subtle. The entrance to the Control Room is likely to be at the top. Bring me up there and I should be able to get us inside." The rock span is occupied by a small force, but there are two parked Banshees. If Master Chief moves quick, he can capture one of these and descend directly to the top of the pyramid, skipping past most of its fortifications. Otherwise, the Chief will proceed through another series of checkpoint, elevator, and viewing chamber. A cache of Covenant heavy weaponry can be found here. At the bottom of the canyon, Master Chief must contend with Ghosts and Wraiths. Emergency cover may be taken in a crevice at the foot of the pyramid. Ramps zig-zag up its face, with Shade turrets and other fortifications along the way. Finally, there remains only the enormous doors that lead into the structure at the top. Upon their opening, Master Chief comes face to face with a very angry Zealot. Flanked by SpecOps Elites and a small army of Grunts, two of whom man Plasma Cannons at the back of the hall, they provide the last line of defense to keep the SPARTAN out. The Chief eliminates this threat and opens the final door to the Control Room. {Cutscene} • Cortana: "This is it. Halo's control center." Master Chief enters a massive chamber, following the walkway to a console and complex holograms representing the ringworld, as well as Threshold and Basis, the gas giant and its moon between which Halo orbits. Areas in red seem to indicate locations of UNSC or Covenant activity... or maybe something else. • Cortana: "That terminal, there. I'm picking up carrier signal. Place my chip on it and I should be able to access the mainframe directly." The Chief does as instructed. After a moment, Cortana's avatar emerges amidst the holograms like a giant. Foreign symbols rush along the contours of her body at great speed and she now shifts in color, seeming to assimilate the graphical qualities of this alien system. • Master Chief: "You all right?"
Master Chief turns and runs from the Control Room. Level ends.
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