VIII. Top

"Lt. Stokes has been pinned down by Replica snipers and needs assistance. Sgt. Griffin reported seeing a woman in need of help and is trying to locate her. And Snake Fist radioed that Genevieve Aristide just showed up at his present location with Armacham black ops soldiers in pursuit. He needs immediate assistance."

You begin the mission by navigating the dilapidated halls and offices of the building. Three enemies await you in this first section, which means to walk carefully ahead to avoid being overwhelmed. Flip over the couch or table in the break room for cover while firing at them. [INTEL #37, "EPA manual #1": Situated on a desk in a cubicle in this first area.] Exit the building to meet up with Stokes in the debris-riddled alley.

Your objective is to rush up to the rooftop. Use the stairwell through the red door in the next building. A sniper rifle awaits at the top, as well as a sniper that you should deal with before picking up the rifle. Now, you need to equip the rifle and take out the other snipers. The second one is directly across from you in the burning building. Crouch and zoom in on him from the doorway so that he doesn't see you. The third sniper is below the one you just shot. He's had to see; watch your reticle turn red to figure out the shot. The fourth guy hides behind a pillar in the corner building to the right. Wait for him to pop out from the pillar and nail him. Another nests on the floor below the fourth sniper, around the same area.

Upon killing the final sniper, three guys will attempt to flank you by running across the top floor of the corner building. Snipe the first one, if you're quick. Then, position yourself with the automatic shotgun or assault rifle to hit them as they come out of the building onto the rooftop where you're positioned. When they're down, an APC arrives at street level. If you held onto the rocket launcher, all it takes is three shots and it's out. Otherwise, just unloaded on it with the rifle until it explodes.

Stokes leaves the area, leaving you to deal with a couple more snipers and a handful of assault guards. Immediately after destroying the APC turret, take cover and pull out that sniper rifle. Where you killed that second sniper across the street, another needs to be taken out. use the red laser sight of his rifle to pinpoint his location. Be very careful, though, to move in and out of cover fast enough to avoid being shot. A couple of guards will come up the stairs on the far end of the building. Kill them, then go down one flight of stairs. At this point, the final sniper goes in place and two more guards come in at street level. Like the last sniper, take cover and use the red laser to pinpoint his position to get rid of him. Next, take a position by the stairs so as to nail the two guys as they run up to get you. Grab an supplies you need from the second floor, then head to the street.

More dudes to deal with: one hops out of the back of the APC and another near the fire in the middle of the street. Hit slow-mo to take them both out quickly. Next, you have to fight another guy that comes in from the far corner. Walk around the debris to fight another couple enemies that come out of the building. Where they came out is exactly where you need to go. Enter and go down the stairs (which were blocked by fire if you tried to access them from the second floor).

Go through the red door and hallways. Exit the building to see a couple enemies and an Elite Powered Armor. Seize it and start ravaging enemies. You can use the infrared sights to find enemies a little easier. Just continue down the broken streets until you reach a garage. Get out of the Elite, press the red button near the door to open it, and continue with the Elite. [INTEL #38, "EPA manual #2": Up on the second floor of the garage is a small office. The intel sits on top of a desk inside that office.] [REFLEX INJECTOR #6: Next to the intel.]

Proceed to the next street. Fight your way to the parking garage, taking out the armors and foot soldiers you encounter. Expect plenty more resistance as you make your way up each level of the parking garage. It's best to use the infrared sights, especially as the Elite takes damage and the grain filters make it difficult to make out enemies. When you can't go any further up the garage, exit the Elite and head down the stairs on the far corner. Continue through the back alley, then the fallen building to meet up with Stokes. Watch the scene unfold, then climb down the ladder and enter the transport to complete the mission.

IX. Elementary

"Alma killed Sgt. Griffin. You were powerless to stop her. now you and your surviving team members are headed for Wade Elementary School to try to prevent Colonel Vanek's men from reaching Snake Fist and Genevieve Aristide."

After the witty banter comes to an end, you find yourself outside of Wade Elementary School in search of the mysterious Snake Fist. The front door is blocked by a bunch of bookcases, chairs, and other debris. You can still get in though. To the right of the main entrance is a metal grating secured with a padlock. Shoot it, open the grating, and head into the wrecked classroom. [INTEL #39, "Conference request": Located on the floor near the teacher's desk.] Move the bookcase tipped in front of the door to access the hallway.

Venture through the hallway and up the stairs to reach the second level. [INTEL #40, "Status report": Before going into the classroom on your left, go all the way down the hall through the double doors to find this intel.] Enter the first classroom to your left after coming up the stairs. [INTEL #41, "School attendance": Located in the classroom near the dead Armacham soldier.] Go through the classroom's back door and across the metal beam to reach another classroom. Check out the creepy Bart Simpson chalkboard writing before exiting the room to the hallway. Follow Stokes as she drops down the opening in the floor at the end of the hall. Enter the classroom.

When you come back to reality, you're separated from Stokes in a completely different area of the school. Exit the classroom, go down the hall, then through the music practice room. Make your way to the full music classroom to find a tendril enemy. Just like the first one you meet on the streets, you need to concentrate on firing on him, taking out any of his puppets as he raises them from the ground. It takes a couple minutes, but he's not difficult in the least. Slide the bookcase out from in front of the doorway in the cubicle area of the room, then position the book cart so you can crouch past the piano and reach the red exit door.

Walk down the hallway and pretend to be freaked out by the lockers opening and closing. [REFLEX INJECTOR #7: In the first classroom to your right, slide the cart with the projector on top to reveal the reflex injector underneath.] The next section is somewhat annoying, if not disorienting. Turn right when you reach the end of the hall. Equip your pistol to fight off the ghosts as you make your way through the area. The lights flash on and off, which makes it pretty difficult to see where you're going; moreover, your flashlights doesn't function. Every time you see a ghost appear, pop it with your pistol. Climb through the floor-to-ceiling windows and through the double doors to continue.

Watch the scene unfold, then continue down the hallway to reach the courtyard. Unsurprisingly, you have to fight off a bunch of enemies that come in from the opposite corner. Take cover behind the pillars on your side of the courtyard, chucking grenades and popping out to take well-aimed shots. There's a medkit in the hallway you just left, so don't worry about using one and going back to pick up that one. When the enemies are all killed, continue through the door in which they came into the courtyard. Kill the soldier with the shotgun, collect any supplies you need, then head back outside to the courtyard.

Switch to your rocket launcher (which you should either still have from earlier or just picked up) and take out the armor that drops into the courtyard. It takes about 6-7 hit for it to go down. After destroying it, use the collapsed rooftop as a ramp to the second floor. Climb through the window into the classroom, then exit to the hall. [INTEL #42, "Event flyer": Located in the classroom across the hall.] Continue down the hallway to reach a set of windows leading out to the courtyard overhanging. If you have the sniper rifle in your inventory, pull it out and snipe the enemies in the classroom on the second floor on the opposite side of the courtyard. If not, walk carefully across the overhanging and kill any enemies that shoot at you from the classroom.

Upon reaching the classroom, climb through the windows then climb out another set of windows on the other side to reach another overhanging. More enemies will bear down on you from the other side of the overhanging. Take care of them, then walk to the window they climbed through to reach the gas valve. Turn in and hop down to the ground floor. Scramble over the debris to reach the crashed helicopter, being mindful to avoid the rotating blade and fires. Walk up the hallway next to the helicopter, dropping through the hole in the floor to meet up with Stokes and Keegan.

X. Nurse's Office

"Armacham black ops teams are fighting Replica forces that appear to be converging on the school from an unknown location. Alma attacked you again but you were unable to drive her away. You managed to link up with Lt. Stokes and Sgt. Keegan near the Admin building but suffered another staggering headache and blacked out."

Open the red double doors and walk into another courtyard. Immediately, you're thrust into a fight against half a dozen enemies. Stay close to the doors, using the bricks for cover. These guys aren't particularly tough but don't take any chances rushing up the steps. Kill them one-by-one and then move across the courtyard to the next building. When you get inside, turn the corner and throw a grenade after cooking it for a second. That will take out the three guys walking down the hall. More await down the hall, so go into the rooms to the right and kill them as you move up.

Continue through the rest of the building until you reach the playground. Stay inside the building after the two soldiers are killed, as this will give you better protection from the two hammerheads and others that will assault you. If you still have the sniper rifle in your inventory, this is a great place to use it. Kill the first hammerhead then eliminate the soldiers that come in from the other side of the playground. A second hammerhead will appear, take him out too. When the playground looks clear, step out of the building. A couple of enemies will come down from the rooftop to you right, shoot them as they drop down. Proceed by walking to the other side of the playground where the basketball court is, shoot the padlock off the metal grating on the ground, then drop down and into the classroom there.

Exit the classroom, going down the hall to reach the library. About a handful of soldiers are milling about here, take them out. Grenades and the hammerhead (if you picked one up from the playground) work well. Continue through the next hallway until you reach boys and girls restrooms. There's a medkit in the girls' restroom, but you need to go through the hole in the wall in the boys bathroom to continue to the computer lab. [INTEL #43, "Updated schedule": Located on a bookshelf in the computer lab.] Exit the lab and venture up the set of stairs through the double doors. [INTEL #44, "Student essay": Instead of going up the stairs, continue down the hallway to reach a classroom with a projector. Go inside and check the bookcase near the projector for the intel.]

Once upstairs, just walk down the hall to the janitor's closet. [REFLEX INJECTOR #8: In a stall in the girls' bathroom.] Exit the closet to reach the rooftops. Your goal here is to eliminate all of the Replica soldiers first. Hide behind the vents and protrusions on the roof to avoid getting hit, popping out to kill them one-by-one. There's about half a dozen guys up here. When the coast seems clear, make your way around the roof and take the small stairs to the platform where the helicopter dropped off the first set of enemies. Two more soldiers appear above. After killing them, walk around that little building and jump onto an air vent that leads you to a set of windows. Break one of them to drop down into the area adjacent to the cafeteria.

As you enter the cafeteria, you come to the backs of two soldiers. Cook a grenade and throw it near them to obliterate them at once. Next, crouch and slowly come through the doorway, taking aim at the enemies on the cafeteria floor. There's around a handful of guys. When clear, step off the stage and walk toward the kitchen. More soldiers crash through the windows on the roof. Kill them and head into the kitchen. Another handful of enemies wait inside. Grenades are your friends in here. After eliminating all of the forces in the kitchen, go to the freezer unit in the back. [INTEL #45, "Supplements": Sitting on a shelf in the first freezer room.]

In the second freezer room is a hatch that drops you down into the maintenance section of the school. Crawl from where you drop down to the pipe corridor. Things start to get freaky, so pull out your pistol for shooting the ghosts that appear as you wind through the area. Keep your flashlight on, as it's dark and the lightning goes in and out. Work through the area until you reach a gas pipe leak. Walk to the left of the leak to find the valve; turn it to shut the leak off. Back track and the door to the now-stopped leak gets blocked. Turn right and shoot the padlock off the chain link fence door. Go through the door, make your way to where the gas leak was, and flip the burning desk over the edge. Climb down to continue.

The next area thankfully doesn't have any more ghosts, but there are soldiers to deal with. If you still have the sniper rifle, pull it out; otherwise, stick to the assault rifle. When you come to the long hallway with a couple of soldiers at the end on a raised level, snipe them. Move forward into a stock room and take out the enemies there as you make your way to the elevator as seen from the hallway. [INTEL #46, "Updated orders": As you turn left on the second level of the stock room to reach the elevator, look on a desk to the right for this intel.] Naturally, call the elevator and take it up.

Man, if this isn't the biggest elementary school on planet earth! Step out of the elevator and immediately take aim at the soldier at the far end of the reception area. There are two more guys to the left, get them quickly before stocking up on supplies. [INTEL #47, "Info: Ladybugs": One of the cubicles in the office underneath the Wade Elementary sign houses this intel.]

Go through the double doors across from the reception desk. [INTEL #48, "Info: Bluebirds": Located on a desk in the first office to your right after going through the double doors.] Follow the soldier that just darted across the hall and find that the door he went through requires a key card. Find it by going through the door behind you. Fight the four guys in the break room and then walk down the hallway to take the elevator up to administration.

Upon arriving, make your way through the maze of offices and hallways to the principal's office. The key card is on his secretary's desk. After the bizarre occurrence, start backtracking to the elevator. [INTEL #49, "Strange nightmares": In the principal's office, on the floor in front of the broken window.] [INTEL #50, "Dress code": Sitting on the principal's desk.] As you head back to the elevator, you find yourself confronting another psychic tendril dude. Oh goodie. Using the same tactics as before, kill it and call the elevator. When it comes, pry the doors open and drop down.

Walk to the door leading to the nurse's office and use the key card to open it. Fight the few guys inside the first room. [INTEL #51, "Info: Treefrogs": Located on a cart next to a camcorder in the nurse's office area.] Continue up the raised floor to reach the nurse's office reception area. Kill the three enemies here--one in the program coordinator's office and two in the reception waiting area. [INTEL #52, "PARAGON manual": Inside the program coordinator's office.] Access the nurse's office using the key card and execute the Bluebird program on the computer inside to finish the mission.

XI. Snake Fist

"Sgt. Keegan was too impaired to continue, so Lt. Stokes escorted him back to the APC and sent you ahead to locate Snake Fist. You fought through Replica and Armacham forces to reach the Nurse's Office, which turned out to be a disguised elevator. You're about to find out where it leads."

The elevator takes you into an underground Armacham facility. Exit the elevator and receive instructions from Snake Fist on how to override the security lock down in order to escape the room. [INTEL #53, "Elevator checklist": On the lower level of the complex is a piece of intel on a desk next to a computer.] use the computer terminal in the office overlooking the sector to unlock the doors. When you do that, soldiers rush in from both doors on the opposite end of the room. Take them out and walk into the next room. Eliminate the enemies in here, using the gas canisters mounted against the walls for quick kills. Continue through to the next room, dropping down through a broken window to the next area of the facility.

From the hallway you jumped into, go into the room to your right, killing the trio of soldiers. Crouch through the door on the other end of the room and walk down the hall. [INTEL #54, "Supplement notes": Climb down the ladder located beyond a set of broken windows to access the maintenance area beneath the floor. Next to the ladder is a piece of intel.] [INTEL #55, "Cancellation": Located inside Chem Lab c400. Hop through the broken window to enter the room.] Turn right when you reach the stairs leading up to the control room to find a yellow ladder. Climb down and follow the pipe to reach another ladder leading up into the control room. Reverse the lock down and exit the control room through the door. [REFLEX INJECTOR #9: Underneath an object in a recess within Chem Lab c400. Access it when you turn the auxiliary power on from the control room.

Now that the power has been restored and the lock down reversed, go through the door to the viewing room in front of the experiment chair. [INTEL #56, "PARAGON findings": On the ground next to the chair in the round room.] Walk around the chair to go through a door on the other side. In the next room, you see Colonel Vanek with a squad of soldiers that then rush out to attack you. Work through the labs to reach Vanek, eliminating enemies along the way. You want to get to the room where the soldiers first come out, which means moving up a set of stairs and fighting your way across a catwalk. Kill the guys in the room upon entering and then use the door on the other end of the room to reach Vanek. [INTEL #57, "Recommendation": Break the glass on a rolling cabinet in the room before reaching Vanek to grab this intel.] Activate the decontamination process on the terminal, then open the door, and complete the button sequence.

Move through the decontamination chamber to arrive in the specimen holding area. As soon as you crouch through the door, you're going to be dealing with a bunch of crawlers. What you need to do is make it to the control room on the second floor. Take the first set of stairs up and slowly walk by the holding cells. As crawlers pop out, kill them. When you reach the control room, bypass the lock down. [INTEL #58, "Test results": Next to the terminal is the intel.] Now you can go through the door on the first floor to reach the next area. Of course, you have to deal with the creature banging on the control room window first.

Exit the holding area. Stop off at security to load up on ammunition before your rendezvous with Snake Fist in the office ahead. [INTEL #59, "I.M. transcript #4": On a table inside Snake Fist's office.] Following the conversation and his passing to you the powerful pulse gun, start backtracking. The security room is now surrounded by enemies, which are easily obliterated with a blast from your pulse gun. Upon reaching the holding area, more enemies await. Use the pulse gun on the hammerhead and any soldiers paired up together; otherwise, save the ammunition and use your assault rifle instead. Go to the control room and exit the area via the locked door that now has a small hole in it. Climb down the ladder, take out the enemies in the room ahead from a distance and continue forward. Kill the dudes on the floor below before jumping over the railing.

You're now back in the circular room with the chair. Go to the hallway, fighting off enemies from inside the room before heading out. When you exit the room, there's a hammerhead at the end of the hallway in front of a now-open door. Chuck some grenades and/or use your pulse gun on him. Head through that door into a locker room, then through that to reach the main lobby. You're up against a new enemy here: cloaking Replicas. Tread carefully as these guys flit about the lobby and randomly attack. A few shots kills them, but they're extremely fast and hard to track. Stay on the second floor and kill them all before heading downstairs to call the elevator. When the elevator comes, prepare to shoot at a final cloaked Replica when the doors open. The elevator takes you up and your objective is to escape to the APC. Step out and kill the two soldiers in the classroom, then exit to the hallway. Eliminate the two guys at the end of the hallway and join the others in the APC to finish the level.

XII. Keegan

"Snake Fist is dead, killed by a Replica assassin. His real name was Terry Halford, a staff member working for Genevieve Aristide on project Harbinger. Before he died, he urged you to go to Still Island and use the Telesthetic Amplifier there to destroy Alma."

Manny crashes the APC down in the subway system, which avoids the Replica forces on the surface but forces you and the team to hoof it to Still Island. Your first task is to mount the turret on the APC and beat back Replica soldiers that bear down on the squad. The first wave comes at the back of the APC, with a second, longer wave to the left. It's not hard, just focus on nailing enemies as they appear. There's no need to zoom in, as you should be able to aim easily enough.

When all of the Replicas are eliminated, you automatically exit the turret. Form up with the rest of the squad. Keegan separates from the group and you're ordered to go after him. Crawl through the gate and follow the hallways to another set of subway tracks. Walk along the tunnel until reaching another hallway, go through that to momentarily find Keegan. Follow him to reach another set of tracks, this one with a lit subway car. Head toward it and then turn left to enter a passenger boarding area. Jump down from the platform to the next set of tracks, then up the other side. There are three cloaked Replicas in the area, so stay on your toes. Slow-mo works well against them. [INTEL #60, "Auburn woes": Sitting on a desk inside the information booth next to the gate.]

Walk up the escalator, hit slow-mo, and take out a pair of cloaked Replicas that appear. Another pair await you after hitting the checkpoint that activates as you walk to the other side of the second floor. [REFLEX INJECTOR #10: You probably noticed the injector behind the bars when you first entered the area on the first floor. Get it by turning right and walking down the set of escalators there.] Move the vending machine out of the way so you can proceed to the next set of tracks. [INTEL #61, "Electrical hazard": Lying on the ground next to the third tiled column on the waiting platform.] Drop onto the tracks, following it until you encounter a section of street that has caved in on the subway. A couple of Replica soldiers jump in to fight you, both easily killed. Watch your ammunition, though. Use the street as a ramp onto the passenger platform to encounter a hammerhead Replica and a couple more soldiers.