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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 15 - Sorry Don't Make It So : Previously on Tour of Duty, we were introduced to the absolute monstrosity : that is the Pfhor texture set, ran through a gauntlet full of Troopers, : Simulacrums, and Hunters, and grabbed a Rocket Launcher and Shotguns with : which we can blow off the heads of our foes. : Still sweating from the intensity of the gauntlet, with the evil laughter of : Jason Jones in our ears and a vision of Greg Kirkpatrick (aka gjk ) : shaking his head and saying "Why'd he have to put these two levels : back-to-back?", we are teleported into-- : : Wait... Why does this feel familiar? : : I stared through the window of transparent metal alloy and out into space. : For a moment I'd thought we were still at the colony, still on the alien : ship in orbit around Tau Ceti. But there were too many stars here, and the : sun was too red and the planet too big. : The ship felt different, too. Cleaner, but older. The scars of the battle : which had nearly consumed it had been erased. Most of them, anyway: I : thought that I remembered firing the grenade which had buckled the armor : plating in the hallway outside the room where I awoke. The dent was still : there, if you looked close enough. Painted over and smoothed out, but : still there. : Not much time to think, though, because as soon as we arrive, a group of : Cyborgs and... robed guys... teleport in at the end of the corridor. They : sure don't look friendly, and they're closing in pretty quickly. If you're : playing through from the previous levels, you'll have the ammo necessary : to take these guys on, but if you're scratch-starting, you'll only have a : pistol, three clips, and your fists; definitely not enough to survive this : encounter the normal way. : There is just enough room here to squeeze past the swarm of enemies and run. : Ignore the first and second doors on the right, and ignore the robed guys : that continue to teleport in as you run past. It's the third door you're : interested in. Heading through it, you'll find one or two more of the : robed guys teleporting in just ahead of you, at the bottom of some stairs. : These are the new Enforcers, and they are just as scary as ever, if not : slightly more so. The new Alien Weapon, while not very effective in our : hands, is truly annoying in theirs. : : Even just the two guys you'll find right here are a little scary; appropriate : fist action is kind of necessary. See Jim Mitchell's film of this level : for an idea of that might work. Once they're dead, heading up the stairs : will trigger a mass of Fighters to teleport in ahead of you. While you're : punching them, there's a good chance that some of the Cyborgs and : Enforcers from earlier will have followed you all the way here, making : things a bit trickier. Learning how to use your fists appropriately is : critical to survive this bit. The hard part is that you're in a low : gravity environment, making it even harder to deal with the situation. : Once you've secured the area, however, the reward is immense: a 3x Shield : Charger. While we have a breather, let's look at the map: : Basically, this level is a tweaked version of Pfhor Your Eyes Only done : backwards with a whole second half added onto it. : You're currently at the 3x Charger just east of point A. If you look around, : you'll find that nearby is a pool of red slime (pink on the map). If you : move close enough to it, you'll trigger a Fighter to teleport in just : above the slime, promptly falling in and dying. Makes you feel lucky your : own teleporting accidents haven't ended so badly! There's also a Pattern : Buffer under the slime. You may feel a little uneasy about using it, but : really, it's not that big of a deal. Just hop down, use it, and swim back : up to the Charger. You'll be just fine. At least it's better than having : to return to the Pattern Buffer at the end of last level and repeat those : intense starting moments! Also, there's some AR ammo in the northern : corner of the room between the stairs and the door. : Now armed with an Alien Weapon dropped by an Enforcer, we can proceed to : clear the level. Backtracking, you can mop up the Cyborgs and Enforcers : that ambushed you earlier. Just be sure to kill the Enforcers with : something other than the Alien Weapon, else you'll set them on fire and : they won't drop a weapon. Also avoid using explosive weapons if you have : any, because now Enforcers have a hard death sequence as well as a soft : death one - in M1 they only had a soft death sequence, so unless you : burned them to death, they would always drop their gun. : The first door (which is easily ignored) can't be opened, because the other : side is flooded with slime. The second door leads to a large room with an : offshoot. A ton of Cyborgs, Enforcers, and Fighters teleport in around : here. The 1x Shield Charger here is truly useless unless you're incredibly : desperate. Heading up the stairs, a bunch more Fighters teleport in. : They're easily dispatched now, though, given that we're not having to deal : with a bunch of other baddies and there's plenty of room to run around in : as you punch them to death - you don't even need to use the Alien Weapon! : Once the Fighters are dead, you'll find a terminal at the top of the : stairs. It's all red - Tycho, perhaps? : : Yup, Tycho. This terminal gives us a better sense of Tycho's motives; he was : irritated with the way the humans simply used and abused him, providing : him with menial tasks. Clearly he did not enjoy the job of a science AI. : Sounds a bit like Durandal. At the same time, this doesn't sound exactly : like the Tycho we saw in M1: I want you to pay for what you've done to : these poor : people. All of these people whom you've killed. They : deserve vengeance. : Wait, when did Tycho shift from feeling merciful towards humans to hating : them? When did 'these poor people' become 'the colonists who never did : anything but use me'? All in all, Tycho's motives are kind of strange. : Next to this terminal is a ledge overlooking a later part of the corridor. : Jumping down has some pros and cons. The main pro is that you can avoid : some enemies and immediately head for the exit to the second half of the : level. The main con is that in order to get to the secret exit to the : second half (which is better than the main one), you have to backtrack : through all the enemies you skipped, and you can't just retreat to a nice : safe 3x Shield Charger - you instead have to secure a different, much less : useful one. Usually, I just head back down the stairs and return to the : corridor to continue normally. Enemies will ambush you all throughout. : Past the ledge you were at a moment ago, you'll find a door that's stuck in : the open state, with a big yellow room with Cyborgs and Enforcers in it. : This room is strangely tricky, though I can't remember why exactly. I : think it may be that the Cyborgs here have Flamethrowers as well as the : usual Bouncy Grenades. It might also be that the retina-melting colors : here are very distracting, but I doubt that accounts for all of it. In : addition, as you head up the stairs past it, there's some Cyborgs that : teleport in just ahead of you, forcing you to retreat to the main room and : take them out in the open space. At least once you've secured the room, : there's another 3x Shield Charger down beneath some slime. Just like with : the Pattern Buffer from earlier, you need to jump down, use it, and then : swim back out. Nowhere near as rewarding as the first Shield Charger, but : it can still be kind of useful if you get desperate. : At the top of the stairs is a ledge overlooking a river of slime with two : Fighters at the top looking exactly the wrong way. This river of slime is : actually the 'normal' way to reach the second half of the level, but I : wouldn't recommend using it that way. Instead, just head further south : along the corridor, and wipe out the mass of enemies at the very end of it : (which was actually the spot where we originally teleported into and out : of Pfhor Your Eyes Only ). Despite the number of enemies there, they : don't seem to be particularly problematic. You don't even really need to : deal with them; you can actually ignore them if you want, despite the fact : that the Vidmasters might protest (it's so hard to please them). : Returning to the first 3x Shield Charger and the beginning of the level, our : next task is to get to the southern half of the level. Remember how in the : original Pfhor Your Eyes Only there was that switch out in the main : hallway that you could use to activate a platform that took you to a : teleporter that brought you to that room with all the Alien Weapons and : the [?deactivated] Hunters? : : Yeah, you remember. Well guess what? The switch, platform and teleporter : (point D on the map above) are all still there, but now, instead of taking : you to a secret room, the teleporter takes you to the second half of the : level, specifically point C on the map. This will drop you onto a ledge : with an Enforcer, overlooking some more Cyborgs and Enforcers. Normally : you'd be in the midst of the ones on the ground while being sniped from : above by this Enforcer. By exploiting the secret, you make your entry more : favorable, as you don't have to swim through the slime and you aren't : being crowded or sniped. : Heading through the door down below, you find yourself in another long : corridor like the one from the first half. Usually, there's a Mother of : all Cyborgs (sort of like the MoaH of last level, but for Cyborgs and with : no distinctive color palette, just size, health, and a bigger explosion) : at point B, but lately, every time I play the level, I find it already : active and roaming as soon as I leave the room at point C. This isn't too : big a deal if you have the weapons from earlier levels, but if you're : scratch-starting, you may just need to try avoiding the MoaC. Thank god : we're not as slow as we were in PiD! : There's four quarters of this area, all attached to the river of slime that : constitutes the 'normal' entrance. The north-western quarter can be : ignored if you want to, but it's better to kill everyone and everything, : don't you agree? Your first goal is probably to secure the north-eastern : quarter. From there, you can jump around some slime to reach a 2x Shield : Charger - a nice backup plan if things go horribly wrong from here. Mind : you, it's guarded by a Cyborg, but that shouldn't be too much of a worry, : especially if you jump into that room and jump back to shoot the Cyborg : from around the corner. : From here, head for the south-western quarter at point B. That's where the : end terminal is located, along with a Pattern Buffer (I think; correct me : if I'm wrong). Be careful if you didn't see the MoaC in the main corridor, : because that probably means it's still at point B. Luckily there are two : exits and entrances to that room, which should hopefully make it a little : easier to lead the MoaC away. You could read the end terminal now, but : there's another secret to look for. Remember that river of slime that : those two Fighters were overlooking before you snapped their spines? Well : that's where you need to go. Get charged up as much as possible, and then : jump into the slime in the northern part of the outside corridor here. : Move further north as quick as possible, to point E, where a submerged : Flamethrower awaits you. Once you've grabbed it, immediately swim back. : With a bit of practice, you should be able to do it. I know I haven't, but : to be honest, I haven't ever really tried. Once you're safe again, charge : up and read the end terminal. : : : That sure explains a lot. Rhymes with Psycho indeed! Also, anyone else : notice the references to 'polygons' in this terminal? A bit of Bungie : humor, perhaps? A teaser? An error from Forge? Who knows. In any case, we : are done here. With our lungs panting heavily, our heart beating like that : of a squirrel, and charity for-- Wait, I messed up my line... : *WOOSH!* : Vale, : Perseus
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