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 Home | Cairo Station | Outskirts | Metropolis | The Arbiter | Oracle | Delta Halo | Regret OutskirtsOverview:This level is about evenly split between on-foot and vehicular combat. The first half has you holding a defensive position against waves of attacking Covenant and battling through the narrow streets and alleys of New Mombasa. You'll encounter a few new enemies here, including the familiar jackals and the newly pumped-up hunters, as well as the universally despised jackal snipers, who are so loathsome and irritating that they belong in a category of their own. Fortunately, you'll also have access to plenty of long-range sniper weapons. The second half will bring vehicles into play for the first time as you race across the beach and through underground tunnels on your way to the city center. You'll have access to the warthog and ghost, and be harassed by the new and improved Phantom dropship and the Shadow ground transport. Part 1: They'll Regret That TooHeh. Sarge is a funny guy. Much like Halo 1, you begin your first outdoor level with a crash landing. When you regain your senses, head through the doorway ahead of you and down the stairs where you'll encounter one lone, pitiful grunt. You might as well use your SMG just for the hell of it. The observation that you could kill a whole platoon of grunts with the battle rifle in the time it takes to kill one with the SMG should pretty much clear up any lingering doubts about our choice of weapons. Outside you'll find two more grunts ahead of you, as well as two jackals approaching from around the side of the building. As you can see, the jackals behave pretty much the same as they did in Halo 1. As with grunts, one battle rifle headshot will take care of them, further strengthening the usefulness of this weapon. When they start taking fire they'll usually hunker down behind their shields, so it's a good idea to hit them early while their heads are still in plain view. Once they're shielded, you have a few options. One possibility is the old charged shot/battle rifle combo. However, they somehow seem less susceptible to this tactic than in Halo 1, particularly at longer ranges. One shot through the firing aperture on the right side of the shield with the battle rifle or (later on) a sniper weapon will knock them back, and open them up for a few seconds for a follow-up headshot. A well-placed frag grenade at their feet will also do the job well. It should be noted at this point that it's possible to skip almost the entire first half of the level by climbing over the rooftops as shown in the next video. QuickTime (5.2 mb) | WMP9 (5.5 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. The building defense battle is one of my favorites, though, so I'd highly recommend fighting it out. In any case, once you deal with the stragglers outside (and discard your SMG in favor of the plasma pistol in the process), approach the front entrance of the building ahead and prepare for—big surprise—two elites and a couple of grunts who run down the stairs. Finish them off and head up the stairs to the second level balcony. So far, so good...nice defensive position, so let's take a minute to... *ZAP!*By now, the Chief has most likely fallen to the ground dead, a shocked and puzzled expression undoubtedly still frozen on his face beneath the helmet, his aura of strength and invincibility dispelled in a single pink shot. Meet your new nemesis: the jackal sniper. Allow me to editorialize for a minute in order to express properly how much I despise this new enemy. It's not so much that they're difficult; indeed, once you go through the initially torturous, brute-force process of memorizing their locations one cheap death at a time, they are more or less downgraded from the level of aneurysm-inducing frustration to severe nuisance. My problem at this point is largely with the way that they shatter the immersion of the game. It's just ridiculous when you can watch every other enemy in the game except drones—including your unshielded marines, and even grunts, for God's sake—absorb multiple beam rifle shots, and yet the Chief, icon of the series, with his fancy armor and upgraded shield, always dies from a single shot. This sort of incongruity serves only to reduce the experience from that of a balanced, consistent interactive world to typical, cheap video game capriciousness. There's also the fact that the presence of jackal snipers, with their one-shot kills and supernatural accuracy and reaction time, tends to limit your options in many areas, subverting the open-endedness of the combat which otherwise is the series' best quality. Bungie, if you're listening: please...don't do this to us again, ok? It's just annoying. Well, I suppose complaining isn't going to help us stay alive; so instead, for this battle we're going to respond to this affront simply by refusing to engage the snipers. You may feel inclined to take out the first three on the rooftop across the street, which I usually do; otherwise, though, stay at street level underneath the overhang of the second floor where you're almost completely covered from sniper fire. Sarge, with the slight advantages of unlimited sniper ammo and total invincibility, will do an admirable job of handling any snipers that appear throughout the upcoming battle while you're occupied with the rest of the Covenant troops. As far as the upcoming battle goes, nothing fancy is necessary: there's plenty of battle rifle ammo scattered around the building, and the grunts provide a constant source of fresh plasma pistols; you know what to do. In describing the upcoming battle, "front" will refer to the side of the building from which you entered, while "left" indicates the side facing the street. As you deal (or not) with the first three snipers, Covenant troops will begin to appear in several waves, each triggered by the death of the last member of the preceding wave and ending with a checkpoint:
QuickTime (2.1 mb) | WMP9 (2.0 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. It's entirely possible that the hunters will shoot you, since you really are a sitting duck up there, but it's still easier than the alternatives; and that's what checkpoints are for, after all. Once they're dead, head through the newly demolished doorway. As you round the bend, you'll encounter another sniper jackal. This time, we'll give him a taste of his own medicine, as shown in the next video. Use the battle rifle, sniper rifle, or frag grenades to finish off the other assorted jackals (or just wait for Sarge to handle everything). QuickTime (2.2 mb) | WMP9 (2.3 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Alternatively, you could just take Sarge's sniper rifle, but I always feel vaguely guilty for doing that. However, if you wish to arm your marines with sniper weapons for the upcoming battle, that would give you an extra one. Whatever you decide, continue onward and prepare for what can be a very annoying battle around the next bend. This time, you have not one but five of the little bastards with which to contend. Just resign yourself to the fact that no matter how good you are or how well-prepared, sooner or later your luck is going to run out when dealing with these guys, even if you know exactly where they are. It's only the abundance of checkpoints that keeps this unfortunate reality from breaking the entire game. Still, as the next video shows, rote memorization can go a long way toward making these sections more manageable. QuickTime (5.6 mb) | WMP9 (6.0 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Note that the snipers pretty much always occupy these same positions. Also, the number, composition, and spawning location of the cloaked elites that appear once you move past the alley can vary; sometimes, they don't even appear at all. When you're finished, equip the sniper rifle and follow the main alley around to the left; before you get too far, zoom once and walk slowly forward until you get a checkpoint, which spawns the first of four additional snipers pretty much right in your crosshairs. The next video shows how I usually handle them. QuickTime (3.1 mb) | WMP9 (3.3 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Note that sometimes they'll take cover and refuse to come out; in that case, move a bit closer (that is, within their hearing range) and fire a shot to lure them out. As you saw in the last video, killing the final sniper will trigger the first of several waves of Covenant attackers from the passages ahead of you, each consisting of the all-too-familiar 1 elite + grunts (shocking, I know). This battle can be fun, and you have several choices about how to proceed, depending on your preferences. If you want to hang around and slug it out with the entire group, I'd recommend moving right up to the fork in the alley and standing your ground there. At that point, the usual plasma pistol/battle rifle combo is all that's really necessary. The plasma pistol/plasma grenade combo is also quite useful here, as the elites usually engage you at a comfortable grenade-throwing distance, and grenades tend to pile up with each wave. For a somewhat more aggressive challenge, you could also choose the battle rifle/energy sword combo. Just keep an eye on your motion tracker, and don't let yourself get flanked. You may be inclined to try sniping your way through the battle, given the sudden abundance of sniper weapons, but it's certainly not necessary, nor even particularly advisable. If you're in a hurry, it's also possible just to charge right on through from the start, which prevents the subsequent waves of Covenant from appearing at all. Just watch out for the sniper up on the building to the left, once you pass the fork in the alley. At this point, pretty much any of the usual weapon selections will suffice for the remainder of the level. Plasma pistol/battle rifle, obviously. Dual plasma pistol/magnum+battle rifle will work. Battle rifle/sniper weapon is also an effective, more conservative approach. If you plan on killing everything that moves in the upcoming vehicle section, you'll probably want to bring a sniper rifle to deal with the jackal snipers from afar. Personally, I think battle rifle/energy sword is the most fun, though it's somewhat more risky. If there's not a sword lying around anywhere, you can always manipulate the upcoming gray elite into dropping one. Whatever you choose, continue onward down the road; I usually go left, as it brings you closer to the plasma turret and the aforementioned gray elite. Eliminate them in whatever way your heart desires, and enter the lovely Hotel Zanzibar, where you'll find a dark, spooky hallway. I'm sure you will be greatly surprised to learn that a group of 2 elites + grunts will ambush you from around the bend as you near the end of the hallway shortly after you see some plasma fire. At this point, I assume that you're comfortable enough with the use of your chosen weapons to slaughter them without detailed instructions from me, though the next video shows an example using the energy sword/battle rifle. QuickTime (3.8 mb) | WMP9 (3.8 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Right about the time you finish off the last few grunts outside, a phantom should be arriving to drop off some reinforcements: usually a few elites + grunts. The battle rifle will let you pick off the grunts at long range before most of them can get anywhere near you, leaving the elites, which you can finish off with the plasma pistol/battle rifle, of the sword (or whatever). Exchange the sword for a nearby plasma pistol, if it's more comfortable. About this time, a warthog should be pulling up on the road beneath you, horn blaring. Finally, a vehicle. Hop in, let your passengers get situated, and start driving, ignoring the ghosts trying to harass you. Part 2: A Day at the BeachDrive. ... No, seriously. Ok, well, you can drive around in circles with the warthog until your gunner kills every last ghost and elite if you really want to, but personally I find that to be pretty tedious. As the next video shows, you can greatly expedite your day at the beach simply by driving past everything. QuickTime (4.8 mb) | WMP9 (4.7 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk. Note that you can minimize your chances of being sniped if you keep moving, drive straight at the snipers, and don't face the driver's side of the warthog toward them. Part 3: Speed Zone aheadKeep driving. The next video shows a nice route that reduces your exposure to enemy fire as you speed ahead recklessly through the tunnel, ruthlessly ignoring your foes. QuickTime (9.2 mb) | WMP9 (8.7 mb) Right-click (option-click on a Mac) and "Save As" to save to disk.
I almost feel guilty about that, but, as FrogBlast put it, just think of them as being killed by the game engine once you move on. Home | Cairo Station | Outskirts | Metropolis | The Arbiter | Oracle | Delta Halo | Regret |
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