As it says in a terminal on the next level, Abel without Cain is little better than Cain without Abel. And so we resume our Volunteers Series on the great 3rd party scenario, Trojan. Cain's in charge now and Able, his former overseer, is on the run. Still, he wields a mean sward (as evidenced by his logon pict), and he won't fail to use it if we fail to do his bidding. Our mission is to destroy the connections between this section and the rest of the network so that Abel can flush toilets all day without fear of reprisal from Cain. Actually, Abel will play a very important role in the rest of the scenario, but for now we're his pawn.
The Spoiler Guide hardly does justice to the layout of this level, which has a very nice progression and well-paced action. My one gripe is that it's often unclear where the player needs to go next - doors are often far from the switches that activate them, although Able does provide ample instructions. Trojan is the first major scenario that I know of that requires the use of a grenade jump. For players who are used to scenarios that play nice and that leave the hang time manouvers to the secret finders, this can come as a complete surprise. I remember distinctly that I had to consult the Spoiler Guide the first time I played Trojan - I just didn't even consider that a grenade jump would be needed in normal gameplay.
There are some nice secrets here - a small ammo stash behind a wall in one of the octagonal rooms, for example, but there is one big ammo stash that I have yet to figure out how to access. It's located behind a locked compartment door in the southeast corner of the map. I have tried virtually every secret finder's trick in the book and have yet to figure this one out. I would love to hear from anyone who has!
Overall I like this level, in spite of the need to keep retracing one's steps. In a few days we'll tackle the next chapter in the Trojan saga, as a rival corporation comes by to lend us some "help".
