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RED Volunteers: Medatron of the Void
Posted By: Mark LevinDate: 4/6/04 11:59 a.m.

The "real" start to the second part of RED brings us to a sort of complex on the surface of PX-39. There are a few things to see here before beginning the level proper. The area you're in has a few extra places to jump around in, and 2 new creatures: The human Scout Drone and the massive Spider Tank. Ian apparently made a lot of changes to the plot after designing that page, since he says that he recently changed the tank from the human side to the Pfhor side but in the game the tank is on the human side, and the nearby terminal even claims the humans invented it. Don't piss it off, because it's very hard to kill and armed with dual machine guns. There are some stairs to climb that don't lead anywhere, and a terminal up on a balcony that I don't believe is accessible in-game.

The ground-level terminal gives a short history of PX-39 and explains your new mission: You've been "signed up with the local law enforcement" asked to check out a disturbance at the local power plant. The idea that the player is some sort of high-tech mercenary is a popular one in FPSes in general, since it lets the player be thrust into all sorts of situations without having to weave an extensive backstory to justify his involvement. Head on in...

Immediately upon entering the power station, you're attacked by a set of small floating spheres, a thing that resembled a flying light bulb, and a tall, gangly black creature that spit a stream of green energy blasts. The Mercury is the primary weapon on this level, since it fires fast enough to lock the enemies in "flinch" and prevent them from shooting back, and you'll probably have a ton of ammo for it since you were using the flamethrower on the Organics. Forget about that now; metals are completely immune to both triggers.

This power station has been overrun by the Metaloids[sic], identified on the RED site as "Armies of Michael". Let's see what we have:


  • Sphere Bot. The weakest of the Metalloids (I'm going to spell it properly even if Ian doesn't), these guys fire essentially drone bolts. Watch them fall to the ground leaving trails of smoke. Ian calls them his most pathetic monster.
  • Head Bot. These are a real problem. Ian says they shoot drone bolts, but they actually shoot the same shot as the minor floaters, and they also move very quickly and can be extremely hard to hit. You have to aim very slightly above them to hit their real body, and unless you're very good with the mouse this is best done at close range. There are actually an infinite supply of these bastards here, so try not to backtrack if you can help it.
  • Minor Floater. The primary Metalloid enemy. These guys move pretty slowly, but they hit hard with Compiler bolts. You can usually hear them coming since they are constantly emitting garbled radio transmissions. The pulse rifle works best on them, but the Mercury can be used in a pinch.

The Metalloids, it turns out, form themselves by collecting random bits of metal and machinery and connecting them together; any Metalloid that ends up with a gun sticking out of it is sent to the front lines. This information is on the web page, but won't be revealed in the game for a while.

After surviving the first ambush (be careful: Sometimes not all of the enemies will activate at once), head into the building, then immediately turn around and shoot the Metal who has just come out of the floor, then turn back and kill the yellow Metalloid to the right. Run past him and into the bathroom, then use it as a home base to kill all the other nearby Metalloids (2 in the small room nearby, possibly more coming down the corridor or popping out of the floor. Pick up the uranium ammo near the blocked-off hallway, then find the tiny switch in the room nearby. Don't hit it yet.

The yellow guys you've been shooting are Major Floaters, and they fire seeking yellow bolts even faster than the minor ones do. It takes a second or two of Mercury fire to bring one down, fortunately this level is composed mostly of narrow passageways that prevent their friends from shooting you while you hold them in place.

Head along the corridor to the left turn. If you're lucky, you can Mercury the major floaters without the minors down the corridor waking up. You may get charged by another head bot at this point, try to fight him in the corridor so you don't get hung up on the furniture in the nearby room. Hit the small button in that room, then go back and hit the small button in the first room. This has opened a connection passage in the major floater room which has let in more enemies, go through it and kill everyone. There are a few rooms here containing the remains of the power station's human crew. There's also a set of stairs going up, which the second small button opened (the one in the blue room- I hit them out of order to keep the enemies manageable). Step into these stairs, fire a single shot, then retreat and kill the head bot when he comes down at you (much better than fighting him on the stairs). Then head up. It's actually really hard to get back down these stairs, since you keep banging your head on the ceiling- fortunately you don't ever need to.

Kill the 3 major floaters (one by the terminal, 2 in the next room) while being careful not to get hung up on rubble, then read the terminal. Rampant droids? Seems like the polar opposite of the mutated monsters you fought in space. The building is entirely shut down, but there's a new power source that looks strangely like a generator. Well, Joshua enjoyed large amounts of power... hmm.

The next room is just tedious. There's a switch on the wall that will open the door for about two seconds. In the room beyond are at least 3 major floaters. If you enter the room to fight them, the door will close behind you and you will die. If you try to play the usual door games, you can only get off one or two poorly aimed pulse shots before the door slams shut again. When all the enemies are finally dead (watch out for head bots that are fast enough to make it through the door before it closes), you can FINALLY save with the pattern buffer at the rear of the room.

Jump into the labyrinth underneath the power plant, and prepare to get startled by major floaters dropping out of the ceiling. If you head left at the first branch and then down to the right end of the corridor, a 1x health canister will appear. Jump down to the level below this one. This area is full of spooky pieces of scenery that resemble Metalloid enemies; try not to waste ammo on them. Find the switch at the bottom of the catacombs.

When you hit this switch, it opens to reveal a new room. Strafe-run through this room- it's about to fill with Metalloids. Hit the door and keep strafe-running until you hit the end of the room, then look left and head into the safe area, charge up with the 1x panel, and save again. If you want, you can try killing the Metalloids in the room to gain access to the 2x health charger, but this is especially hard because the monsters in there are a third class of Metalloid, the Gunner. They float faster than the others and tend to fire in bursts, and there are an infinite number of them. It's actually possible to get a full 2x charge by stealing a little bit of it at a time and dodging back before the Metalloids get into firing position and smack you down. Read the terminal to get teleported to a different tunnel section.

When you jump down into the arena, a few Metalloids teleport in- ignore them and run into the small alcove with the terminal. The wall closes up behind you, and you can read its important message without being disturbed. This one is written in a randomly capitalized form similar to l33tspek, which you'll come to recognize as the sign ofMichael, the "Builder of the Metalic legions"[sic again]. He tells you that you have already been "tainted" by Joshua and that he has no interest in meeting you, but neither of you have a choice when you hit the small switch to your right.

Fighting Michael is like the boss fights common in other games- he's invincible, so all you have to do is survive and find a way out. As soon as you're released from the starting point, run around the column and hit the switch in the wall. Then, make another circuit around the column while waiting for the door to open. Don't even bother shooting Michael, you won't hurt him and you should be trying to dodge his energy blasts. Run into the opened area and the wall slams shut behind you (again). Ian tells you that Michael has retreated for some reason and gone through a now-silent city park. Step into the teleporter to follow.

This level was indeed extremely difficult, and I could see how vidding it would be nearly impossible. Having several levels' worth of ammo for the Mercury was the key to my defeating it.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

RED Volunteers: Medatron of the VoidMark Levin 4/6/04 11:59 a.m.
     Re: RED Volunteers: Medatron of the VoidSteve Levinson 4/6/04 2:25 p.m.
     Re: RED Volunteers: Medatron of the VoidDr. John Sumner 4/6/04 3:08 p.m.
           Re: RED Volunteers: Medatron of the VoidMark Levin 4/6/04 4:04 p.m.
                 Re: RED Volunteers: Medatron of the VoidDr. John Sumner 4/6/04 5:12 p.m.
                       Re: RED Volunteers: Medatron of the VoidSteve Levinson 4/6/04 6:48 p.m.

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