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	Re: Evil Volunteers: For This I Went To College?
	Posted By: Steve Levinson	Date: 2/3/04 1:40 p.m.
	In Response To: Evil Volunteers: For This I Went To College? (Mark Levin) : This level is quite spooky, a throwback to the first few levels of the game, : with its roving Devlins and tight, darkened halls. Your objectives will : take you all over the level, unlocking doors all over the place, in a : process that does involved some backtracking. It's also not one of my favorite levels, but I've never been crazy about facing hoards of simulcrums. In terms of the Devlins, I wonder if these were on the station as a client race of the Mystics or Pfhor or possibly as their pets, or if we were doing some experiments on them and, as with the simulcrums, things went awry. The one devlin that is captive on this level suggests to me that these may have been our specimens. : The first thing you have to do is clear out all the Sims on the upper level; : as you do this you can secure a pattern buffer and read about some : experimental progress. And you can activate a platform that will kill a bunch of them in a chamber. Not much to watch though. : Next, a number of doors on the main level near the start has opened. : Exploring them will give you some ammo, some trivial fights with escaped : Fighters and a Devlin, and the nuke gun and MOW/MDN if for some reason you : don't have them already. Perhaps this level was meant to be a Rebellion : level too? It would make sense, as it's been Rebellion every other time : we've woken up in a cryo tube, and there are also several shotguns to pick : up. This is one thing that has really bothered me. Would they really send us into stasis for 35 years with all our weapons? Would our weapons function after 35 years? This really should have been a rebellion level by every other account. My best guess is that the beta testers came back with complaints of inadequate ammo in the later levels and, hence, the rebellion flag was removed. Another possibility was that the secret bypass of the the rebellion level, Cryo, would have been less significant if this too were a rebellion level. From the standpoint of my esthetics and of plot consistency, I would have definitely prefered that this have been a rebellion level, with extra ammo stores available to compensate. : In the end, you go back to the main lab and open up the medical wing. There : are several Devlins and groups of sims running around in here, and even : more in the lab once you reach it. You have to retrieve a chip from the : operating room and insert it in the lab. Unfortunately for anyone trying : to beat the level without losing health, the only way to reach the chip is : to grenade hop over the low wall on the opposite side of the room (if you : have no philosophical objection to taking damage, a nearby 2x health : charger makes the process painless). Charger or not, I have a real problem with a level that requires hang time, even if it's relatively easy. Bungie never did. To me this puts the scenario beyond the reach of the novice player, although there are a number of rough spots in Evil that probably already do so. I didn't realize that that back door is locked until the chip is inserted - a definite error in the Spoiler Guide. If the door had been open, the player would at least have the choice of battling a jugger and a bunch of devlins to get the chip rather than using a trivially easy grenade jump. Hmm . . . maybe not such a good idea after all. : then you have a choice between : returning to the medical wing through the large lift to the east or : braving a platform puzzle even more annoying than the one on Ten Thousand : Spoons for 2x health and an extra rocket pack (probably not worth it, : since you'll most likely still have some of the 3x health you picked up in : the smashing room). : There's a fairly large optional area I skipped here, which leads from the : trash compactor in the southeast through a hidden passage full of Devlins : and lets you into the hangar ahead of schedule. However, this will not let : you get the medical wing chip early and skip the grenade hop since there's : a door that doesn't open until that chip is installed, and the level is : only marked as Repair so you don't need to kill every last monster. If you take the optional path, you will have to use that platform puzzle to get out of the hanger if you jump in. Personally, I like to take in the optional area, and I haven't found the platform puzzle to be at all difficult in my numerous runs through the scenario. Taking the optional route doesn't cost the player anything, and it gives the player the opportunity to scout out the hanger ahead of time and to obliterate most of the sims in advance. There is also a termianl to read in the hanger, but it basicaly tells you to get the hell out of there! One important point - watch your O2. The next level is a vacuum level and you don't want to start out with your oxygen stores depleated.

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Replies:

	Evil Volunteers: For This I Went To College?	Mark Levin	2/3/04 12:13 p.m.
	Re: Evil Volunteers: For This I Went To College?	Steve Levinson	2/3/04 1:40 p.m.

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