Sorry if this is too close on the heels of the last post, but I'm in the zone. I'm making this one a 3-fer, as Trapped is really a continuation of Omen and Men in Plaid is a very, very short level not worthy of much discussion. Omen itself is considered by some to be one of the more difficult levels. I'm sure it's difficult the way John plays it, but all-in-all I found it to be a very straight-forward, fun level. One of the things that helps is a pattern buffer and 2X recharger, right near the beginning of the level. The player starts out, however, in an open underground area, surrounded by lava and immediately under assault. A quick retreat to a nearby alcove is the trick. Inside is an instruction terminal and a switch that raises a necessary walkway out of the lava - be sure to lock that walkway in the up position! Our mission is simple - Ossinder needs more data and we are going to read all the terminals here and help him get it. The exit teleporter from this area is visible across the way and Ossinder tells us as much, but even if you can find a way to launch yourself over there (can't seem to rocket launch without taking damage in the M1 engine, however), you still would be sent back - there are 3 terminals that must be read to complete the level mission.
First stop across the walkway is that PB and 2X recharger. Just around the corner is a lava filled walkway with a platform that we need to take across to a raised walkway. There are fighters and an invisible compiler that will fire on you that are fairly easy to take out, and hunters further ahead that can also be fairly easily dispatched with a snipe and dodge strategy. The platform, BTW, goes down into the lava, so you may want to wait until you see it rising before stepping onto it. You'll be glad it goes all the way down, however, if you fall into the lava.
Directly ahead from the platform is a raised walkway - the platform will continue to raise further, so be sure to step off in time - and the first of multiple juggernauts. Don't bother taking these out - you can easily outrun them and it's not worth using your ammo on them. Next you will come to a long room that is filled with monsters. The attack is pretty heavy, but I find that I can usually circle them and get them to take each other out - at least on TC. At the other end of the walkway is a door to another raised walkway that leads to an important juncture - a room with multiple teleporters that will take you directly to the places you have to go. This room is also filled with troopers. There is a 1X recharger in this room, and off the room is a corridor that leads to a room with a PB. Beyond that room is another room with a stairway that leads down to the lava - I'm not sure that you really need to go there, but it does provide an alternate way out of the lava if you need it, once you clear the stairway of all the monsters.
The first two teleporters will take you to two of the terminals. There are switches at each of these locations as well - I'm not really sure what the switches do, however - I suspect that they activate the exit. The content of the terminals is not all that interesting, but I'd love to hear from anyone who can decipher a hidden message in them. The third terminal is reached through a doorway off the teleporter room. This is where it gets tricky. The teleporter you need to reach is behind a 3 part door. A switch behind you activates the left half of the door, and the right half is easily activated by tabbing on it, but the middle section is very narrow and difficult to open without closing the right section. This teleporter takes you to one of the areas from which you were being assailed - hopefully you already took out the monsters there. There is an alternate way to get there, BTW. Instead of getting off that platform when it reaches the raised walkway, ride it all the way to the top and then leap across to the area from which the fighter and compiler were shooting at you. There is some ammo to reward you for your efforts, and you can then leap down into the area with the 3rd terminal. After reading it, there are two exit teleporters to choose from - the one to the left of the term takes you back to the beginning of the level. The one to the right takes you across the way by way of a trooper-filled walkway. Read the final terminal here and proceed to the left to exit. If you did not read all the terminals, however, you'll have to head instead to the right to go back.
Ossinder has kindly trapped some aliens in an area where we can roast them. First we must deal with a contingent near the switch to turn up the heat. Among them is a new alien - a black hunter, that is a bit of a bear to kill - but still fairly easy to fist to death. Turn on the heat and head out the final exit teleporter to be taken to Trapped, where you can watch the aliens that Ossinder trapped kill each other. Of course in Infinity or AO their death could have been made more realistic by adding a thin layer of invisible plasma - but that'll have to wait for the port. Once the aliens are dead, we'll be taken to Men in Plaid, which is more of a breakpoint before the next level, where we will once again be under Shaki's control. There are just a few fighters here that we can easily take out. Notice the interesting architecture of this docking hangar - those PBs you can't reach do indeed work. Before exiting, be sure to read Ossinder's terminal, directly across from the PB. It seems there is indeed some type of force that is keeping the aliens from leaving, lending credence to the theory that someone or something brought them here (what a surprise). More interesting is that the aliens are sending ships down to the planet which the New Arizona moon is orbiting. This will come into play a bit later in the scenario.
