Last Updated: December 16, 2006
by Alan Chan (joylock @ hotmail.com)
The Usual:
This document is mine. Please don't rip it off or take credit for it. That
being said, feel free to post it on any site you want, provided you a)
don't make any changes to it, and b) don't charge money for it. You
don't even have to get my permission to post it (as long as it remains
unaltered), but it would be nice if you emailed me and let me know
(joylock @ hotmail.com).
The information and statistics in this guide were arrived at through my
own original observation and research, so you must credit me if you use
my information or stats for your own guide or other publication.
Version History:
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* *
*1.0: Initial Release *
* *
*1.1: General Updates and Corrections *
* *
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The latest version of this FAQ can be found at www.gamefaqs.com.
NOTE: Obviously, this guide contains ***SPOILERS***. Be aware.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Game Mechanics
- Weapons
- Mutation
- Enemies
- On Normal difficulty, your character can survive about 19 to 20 bullet
hits or 4 to 5 melee hits.
- On Hard difficulty, enemies do between 20% to 33% more damage than normal
(20% more for most attacks, 33% more for assault rifle and BBG attacks).
- On Easy difficulty, enemies do between 20% to 33% less damage than
normal.
- Difficulty setting does not appear to affect the amount of health enemies
have. Enemies on Hard difficulty seem to drop ammo clips less often.
- There are 2 types of health items in the game: small health syringes and
large health syringes. Small syringes restore 50% of your health, while
large syringes restore 100% of your health. The same holds true for the
mutagen syringes which restore your mutagen, the exception being that
mutagen syringes are orange instead of green.
- Headshots do 1.5 times more damage than a shot to the chest, while a shot
to the legs does 1.5 times less damage than a shot to the chest.
- Weapon damage values and enemy health are educated guesses I made, because
Area 51 has no SDK for me to browse the character files, and the
damage system in the game is somewhat tough to figure out.
- Your character can survive 4 times as much damage as the average enemy in
the game. I.E. a BlackOps soldier dies after 5 assault rifle bullets, while
it takes 19 to 20 assault rifle bullets to kill you.
Melee Attack:
Damage: Above Average
Base Damage: 10
Damage vs Flesh: 20 to 25
Another game that has jumped on the Halo bandwagon, Area 51 lets you perform
a close-range melee attack with any weapon you're carrying by letting you
hit an enemy with the butt of your gun if they get too close to you.
If you miss your swing, you'll be off-balance and have to wait a second before
you can swing again (giving your enemy a chance to whack you upside the head
with their own melee attack). However, if you manage to hit the enemy with
your swing, pressing the melee button again twice will allow you to perform
a quick 3-hit combo that will kill most enemies in the game instantly. The
3-hit combo attack also stuns your enemy and prevents them from
counter-attacking.
The melee attack works great against the many swarming alien mutants you'll
be facing. If an enemy manages to get too close to you or if you're caught
reloading, bash them with a 3-hit combo to kill them before they can hit you.
M11 "Scorpion" Pistol:
Damage: Above Average
Base Damage: 20
Damage vs Flesh: 24
Accuracy: Very High
Clip Size: 8
Max Ammo: 8 + 120
Ammo type: 10mm JHP
Secondary Fire: Laser dot reflex scope
Secondary Ability: Combat flashlight
This high-caliber pistol is the first weapon you acquire in the game. It has
surprisingly high stopping power; the bullets are almost as powerful as a
sniper rifle round, and can kill most enemies with just a few shots. The pistol
is also highly accurate, even during rapid-fire. Almost all bullets will hit
dead-center on the crosshair if you aim using the laser sight. The pistol
only becomes inaccurate at its very highest rate of fire, when you press the
fire button extremely rapidly.
The pistol is a semi-automatic weapon, and thus you need to press the fire
button each time to fire every individual shot. The pistol nonetheless has
a very high rate of fire if you press the fire button quickly enough. It is
also equipped with a holographic laser dot sight you can use by pressing the
secondary fire. The sight doesn't have a zoom feature, but it does make
targeting somewhat easier.
The big drawback to the pistol is its small clip size, which means you'll
have to reload frequently in an extended firefight. For this reason, the
pistol is more of a secondary weapon, and you'll generally rely more on the
assault rifle or BBG to do the majority of your fighting with. Although the
pistol does more damage than the assault rifle or BBG, the difference isn't
too dramatic, and the low clip size significantly hinders the pistol's
effectiveness.
Pistol ammo is less common than assault rifle or shotgun ammo, especially
in the game's later levels. This creates another reason why you probably won't
be using it very much. Still, the pistol is a decent fallback weapon if you
start running low on assault rifle or shotgun ammo, and it can also be handy
for picking off one or two distant foes at longer range.
XM-32 "Viper" Assault Rifle:
Damage: Below Average
Base Damage: 10
Accuracy: Average
Clip Size: 30
Max Ammo: 30 + 270
Ammo type: 6.8mm FMJ
Secondary Fire: 1.5x zoom
Secondary Ability: Combat flashlight
The assault rifle will be your standard weapon throughout much of the game.
It's a decent and reliable weapon, and its ammo type is the most common, so
you'll be relying on it as your primary weapon for most levels.
The assault rifle has a fast rate of fire and decent stopping power. While
the individual bullets are the weakest in the game, they're still reasonably
powerful against all but the toughest opponents; it only takes around 5
bullets to the torso to kill most of the humanoid enemies you'll be facing
throughout the game. With the assault rifle's high rate of fire, you can kill
most enemies quite quickly. The assault rifle is also equipped with a 1.5x
scope that you can use to slightly zoom in on more distant targets.
The only drawback to the assault rifle is that your accuracy decreases the
longer you hold down the fire button during full automatic fire. The first
shot is usually dead on, but each successive bullet will drift further and
further from the center of the crosshair, so that after a couple seconds the
bullets become wildly inaccurate. Thus, to use the assault rifle effectively
at medium to long range, you should fire in short bursts rather than spraying
bullets with full auto. A full auto spray works fine at close range, however,
especially when a crowd of mutants is charging straight at you.
One trick with the assault rifle is that the reload time is faster than it
appears. You can start firing immediately once you slam a new clip into the
rifle, you don't have to wait for your character to cock the rifle. This fast
reload is useful to keep in mind when you're being swarmed by mutants.
Assault rifles can be dual-wielded if you pick up a second assault rifle while
already carrying one. Firing an assault rifle in each hand doubles your rate
of fire, but it also doubles your inaccuracy as well. You also cannot reload
or use the scope while carrying two assault rifles. Once you use up the current
clips in the dual assault rifles, you'll discard one and reload the other,
and be back to using only one assault rifle until you pick up another one
again.
M-170 "Hammer" Combat Shotgun:
Damage: High
Base Damage: 15 x 4
Accuracy: Average
Clip Size: 10
Max Ammo: 10 + 40
Ammo type: 12-gauge XXX buckshot
Secondary Fire: Fire 2 shells at once
Secondary Ability: Combat flashlight
The combat shotgun fires a spread of 4 pellets and does reasonably high damage,
especially at close range. The pellet spread is rather tight and thus
the shotgun is still effective at medium range, but it does the most damage
up close and personal. However, due to the tight spread and small number
of pellets, the shotgun doesn't have a wide hit area (unlike other FPS
shotguns), so you need to be fairly precise with your shots.
The shotgun's rate of fire is relatively fast and features fully automatic
fire, but there is still a slight delay between shots. Although strong, the
shotgun is not uber-powerful: at anything past 10 feet or so, it usually takes
2 shots to kill most foes. Still, it does more raw damage than any other
weapon, especially against particularly tough foes such as turrets or Grays.
The shotgun's secondary fire shoots two shells at once, resulting in a shot
that does double damage. However, the extra recoil results in a wider spread,
as well as a slower rate of fire, since the secondary fire is pump-action and
thus requires a new shell to be pumped into the chamber after each shot.
Although more powerful than the assault rifle, the shotgun is less effective
at longer range. Still, it's a good weapon for close combat or for when you're
running low on assault rifle ammo. Shotgun ammo is almost as common as assault
rifle ammo, so you can use it relatively frequently.
Like the assault rifle, the combat shotgun can be dual-wielded, doubling the
rate of fire as well as the number of rounds you can shoot before needing
to reload. The primary fire will shoot one shell from each shotgun, while
the secondary fire shoots two shells from each shotgun for a grand total of
four shells per shot. As with the assault rifle, you cannot reload while
dual-wielding, and once you use up your clips you'll discard one shotgun and
reload the other.
SR-125 "Wraith" Special Purpose Rifle:
Damage: Above Average
Base Damage: 20
Damage vs Flesh: 35
Accuracy: Excellent
Clip Size: 6
Max Ammo: 6 + 24
Ammo type: 7.62mm SLAP (sabot light armor penetrator)
Secondary Fire: 2x and 10x scoped zoom
This is your basic FPS sniper rifle. It has perfect accuracy and a long-range
zoom. The sniper rifle is good for picking off distant foes, and it's accurate
enough for you to fire it from the hip unzoomed if you really want to. The
sniper rifle is semi-automatic, but the rate of fire is strictly average.
Unfortunately, the sniper rifle isn't significantly stronger than your other
weapons. Against organic enemies (aka Leapers or Black Ops), the sniper rifle
does only slightly more damage than the pistol. Against most other opponents
(i.e. turrets or Grays), it does the same amount of damage as the pistol.
On the whole, most of Area 51 takes place in tight corridors or small rooms,
and much of the combat takes place at medium range. There aren't many long
range areas where a sniper rifle would really be needed. In fact, the pistol
does just as much damage as the sniper rifle with a much higher rate of fire,
and due to its high accuracy you can actually snipe quite well with it as
long as you can deal with not having a scope to zoom with. Thus, you generally
won't find much use for the sniper rifle.
One advantage the sniper rifle has over the pistol is that the sniper rifle
has perfect accuracy even when unzoomed, which allows you to run-and-gun with
it if you really want to.
If you do use the sniper rifle, try to aim for the head. It usually takes
at least 2 shots to the body to kill an enemy, but a single headshot is
sufficient to drop most foes.
Ammo for the sniper rifle is rarer than for the assault rifle or shotgun,
but you can still find a decent amount of it throughout the game.
If you're playing the PC version of the game, the sniper rifle is a bit buggy.
Unlike most FPS games, the mouse movement when zoomed does not become less
sensitive to compensate for the fact you're aiming at a distant space. Thus,
the scope view is actually TOO sensitive, making it hard to aim properly.
It also doesn't move very smoothly, either. Thus, you'll generally want to
use the sniper rifle unzoomed, and only zoom when the crosshair is already
over your target.
BBG-11 Meson Autorifle:
Damage: Average
Base Damage: 15
Damage vs Flesh: 25
Accuracy: Excellent
Clip Size: 50
Max Ammo: 50
Ammo type: Meson particles
Secondary Fire: Laser targeting
The Meson autorifle, aka the BBG, is an energy rifle using alien technology.
It fires a 3-shot burst of fast moving energy balls about the size of a
person's head. There's a slight delay between bursts, but the BBG still has
a good rate of fire. The balls bounce off surfaces, and stick to enemies.
Once they attach to an enemy, they'll explode after a second or so, damaging
the enemy. (oddly, when enemies use the BBG against you, the projectiles
explode upon impact rather than having a slight delay).
Unlike the needler from Halo, damage does not increase exponentially based
on how many energy balls attach to the target. Each individual BBG shot does
the same amount of damage, regardless of how many other BBG shots are also
attached to the enemy. The individual BBG shots do average damage, and are
somewhat more powerful than an assault rifle bullet. Against organic
enemies, the BBG does more than twice as much damage as the assault rifle.
The BBG is an excellent weapon. It has perfect accuracy, each shot will land
dead-center where you point the crosshair. A single 3-shot burst is
sufficient to kill most of the game's humanoid enemies. Once you acquire the
BBG, you'll probably end up using it as your primary weapon instead of the
assault rifle. The only downside to the BBG is that there's a second's delay
between when the energy shot hits the enemy and when it explodes and does
damage. As a result, you'll want to fire at long range and/or from behind
cover to avoid the enemy's counterattacks. The BBG also does not have an
attached flashlight, so if you're in the dark you'll need to switch to the
assault rifle or combat shotgun to light your path.
One of the best features of the BBG is that it has infinite ammo. The BBG
starts with a reserve of 50 energy units. Each 3-shot burst uses up 3 units,
but the energy units automatically regenerate at a decent speed.
The secondary fire of the BBG creates a laser beam that reflects off walls
and thus shows you the path the BBG projectiles will take. The beam also turns
red when it touches an enemy, showing you when bouncing projectiles would
hit that enemy. This feature allows you to pull off trick shots, but this
isn't particularly useful. Worse, the laser beam drains your BBG energy
supply for as long as you have it on. There's really no reason to use it,
since with the BBG's perfect accuracy you can do perfectly fine with normal
straight shots.
MC-11 Meson Cannon:
Damage: High
Base Damage: approx. 20
Damage vs Flesh: Instant Disintegration
Accuracy: Excellent
Clip Size: 1
Max Ammo: 1 + 2
Ammo type: Unstable Meson particles
Secondary Fire: N/A
The game's superweapon, you won't acquire the Meson cannon until the last
few levels of the game. The Meson cannon fires a blue energy ball that moves
at average speed. When the ball impacts a surface such as a wall, floor, or
enemy, it will form a funky blue vortex from which blue energy tentacles will
emerge and start zapping every enemy in the room within the vortex's line
of sight (kinda like those electric plasma globes you see in your local
science museum).
The energy tentacles will disintegrate humanoid enemies, such as Black Ops
soldiers or mutants. At the same time, the Meson cannon actually doesn't do
much raw damage; against enemies who can take a lot of hits, such as turrets
or Grays, a hit from the Meson cannon only does about as much damage as a
normal frag grenade.
Thus, the Meson cannon is good for clearing a room of normal enemies, but
it's wasted on high-end foes or boss monsters. Still, it's good for certain
occasions, such as for mopping up the groups of Black Ops minions that Grays
spawn into a room.
Ammo for the Meson cannon is quite rare, so you should save it for when you
really need it.
M-25 Frag Grenade:
Damage: High
Base Damage: 50
Max Ammo: 5
Explosive type: High-explosive Dual-purpose
This is your basic FPS frag grenade. You throw it, and it flies in a
gravity-affected arc in front of you. Grenades explode either on impact with
an enemy, or a couple seconds after hitting the floor. The splash damage has
a decent radius and does decent damage. A direct grenade hit will kill any
normal humanoid enemy, even those with higher-than-average health such as
mutant scientists or RedOps soldiers. Like in Halo, you can toss grenades
while carrying a rifle without having to switch between them manually.
Frag grenades are great for taking out tight groups of mutants or soldiers.
It's also good for taking out enemies hiding behind cover. Grenades are less
common than bullets, but there's still a reasonable amount of them in each
level, and enemies sometimes drop grenades when killed.
Unfortunately, grenades aren't very powerful against tough enemies like
turrets or bosses, so you should only use them against groups of normal
enemies.
XM-197 JB Grenade:
Damage: Very High
Base Damage: 150
Max Ammo: 5
Explosive type: Graviton-plasma
An alien weapon, the JB grenade is thrown just like a regular frag grenade,
but it doesn't simply explode. The JB grenade produces a small initial
explosion; this creates a blue energy vortex which creates a much larger
explosion a couple seconds later. The secondary explosion is powerful and
has a large splash damage radius. This standard version of the JB grenade
acts simply as a more powerful version of the frag grenade.
An acquirable upgrade for the the JB grenade causes it to behave more like
a self-contained rocket launcher. When thrown, the upgraded grenade behaves
like a rocket and flies in a straight line towards where-ever you were aiming
it. They will then explode when they either hit a solid object or pass very
close to an enemy. For best results, treat them like you would a rocket
launcher: if your enemy is moving around, aim at their feet to catch them
with the splash damage. JB grenades are great for taking out groups of enemies
clustered together, and the rocket propulsion means you can even use them
at long range.
A full hit from a JB grenade does approximately 3 times as much damage as
a regular frag grenade. A direct hit will kill almost any enemy in the game,
with the exception of Grays and other boss characters. When you pick JB
grenades up, they "stack" on top of your frag grenades in your inventory,
and you will be unable to use your frag grenades until you've thrown all of
your JB grenades. JB grenades are less common than frag grenades, but become
more common in the game's later levels.
About 1/4th of the way through the game, your character is infected with the
alien virus and gains the ability to mutate into a more powerful mutant form.
This mutant mode is fueled by a mutation bar, which appears over your health
bar. Staying in mutant mode slowly drains the mutation bar, and when you run
out of mutation you revert back to human form. The mutation bar slows
regenerates itself over time. It can also be replenished by hitting enemies
with the mutant mode melee attack, picking up mutagen syringes, or sucking
mutagen out of particular mutant corpses (eww...) With a full mutation bar,
you have approximately 65 seconds of mutant mode.
While in mutant mode, your pupils become heavily dilated: your vision becomes
softer, edges blur, and lights become much more intense. This makes it easier
to see in darker areas, but also can almost blind you in brightly lit rooms.
Enemies also become outlined with a red aura in mutant mode, making it much
easier to spot them. The cloaking devices used by RedOps soldiers conceals
this red aura, but the mutant vision's extreme sensitivity to light makes
the distortion effect of the RedOp's cloak highly visible.
Finally, time moves more slowly around you when you're in mutant mode
(apparently as a result of higher mutant reflexes). Enemies slow down, but
you yourself continue to aim, react, and move at normal speeds. This gives
you a significant speed advantage, especially against fast enemies such
as mutant leapers.
Unfortunately, mutant mode does not reduce the amount of damage you take from
enemy attacks, so don't charge heavily armed enemies recklessly.
Claws:
Damage: High
Base Damage: 10
Damage vs Flesh: 50
Mutagen Gain: 10%
Your claws are your most basic mutant mode attack. In mutant mode your melee
attack is very powerful, and will kill most enemies in a single hit. One claw
swipe will kill both Leapers and Black Ops soldiers, and Red Ops soldiers
die after 2 hits. Combined with the slight "slow-motion" effect granted by
mutant mode, this can allow you to tear through a group of enemies with speed
and efficiency.
Additionally, every successful hit against an enemy with your claws will
restore 10% of your mutagen bar. Although your mutagen bar regenerates itself
slowly over time, meleeing enemies is a good way to fill the bar quickly so
you can use your other mutant attacks.
Just be sure to hit your enemies quickly once you get into melee range,
otherwise they can counter-attack with their own very harmful melee hits.
Also, you're still vulnerable to bullets in mutant mode, so be careful about
charging a large group of soldiers at long range.
Parasites:
Damage: Above Average
Base Damage: 60 per stream, 2 streams per shot
Damage vs Flesh: 35 per stream, 2 streams per shot
Mutagen Cost: 18%
Health Gain: 20%
You gain this special attack soon after you initially acquire your mutation
ability. Pressing the fire button while in mutant mode will launch two streams
of several quick-moving, flying parasites from your hands. These two parasite
streams will home in on nearby enemies. Each parasite stream does decent
damage (about equal to a shotgun blast), and if both hit the same enemy it
will kill them in one hit. Also, the parasites steal your enemy's health and
transfer it back to you.
The parasite attack is a good way to heal your character, but it uses up your
mutagen quite quickly. You'll either have to kill enemies with melee attacks
to refill your mutagen, or return to human form and wait for it to regenerate
on its own. The parasites also become less effective the further away from
the enemy you are; the parasites' homing ability is below average, and can
be quite random at times.
Contagion:
Damage: Special
Mutagen Cost: 80%
About half-way through the game, you gain your final mutant ability,
contagion. Pressing the secondary fire button while in mutant mode will
discharge a large stream of contagious material that flies out ahead of you.
This attack will infect a single enemy, causing them to go berserk and attack
everything in sight. They usually focus on attacking their former allies,
but they will also shoot at you if there's nothing else around. After several
seconds, the infected enemy will collapse and die.
Unfortunately, this attack is pretty much useless. Not only does it use up
almost all of your mutagen, but it only affects a single enemy. Also, enemies
do very little damage to each other, and instead of killing your foes an
infected enemy generally only serves as a distraction. Worst of all, any enemy
you infect with contagious will only last for a dozen seconds or so before
dying, which may make you feel cheated that you spend so much mutagen for
such a temporary effect.
Mutant Scientist:
Description: Humanoid mutant wearing torn remains of lab coat.
Health: 85
Attacks: Claws (25% damage)
Hits to Kill: Melee - 3
Pistol - 4
Assault Rifle - 9
Shotgun - 2
Sniper Rifle - X
BBG - X
Meson Cannon - X
Frag Grenade - 1
JHB Grenade - 1
Mutant Claw - X
Parasites - X
Mutated scientists are the first enemies you'll encounter in the game.
Suprisingly, they're actually somewhat tougher than average, being able to
do slightly more damage and take slightly more hits than the basic mutant
security guard or BlackOps soldier. The difference isn't major, though, and
individually they're still pretty easy to take down.
Mutant Scientists are utterly lacking in tactics, they just charge straight at
you and try to claw at you when they get close enough. Their attacks are quite
strong and can kill you in 4 hits. Fortunately, they're actually rather slow;
their speed is more of a loping gait than a full-scale sprint. It should be
fairly easy to mow them down with your assault rifle before they can get close
enough to hurt you. If a mutant does get within clawing range, immedietely use
your rifle butt to smack them with a 3-hit melee combo attack. This should
kill them before they have a chance to hit you.
Mutants are encountered exclusively in the first 1/4th of the game, during
the 5 missions when you'll be accompanied by a squad of fellow Hazmat Team
members. Mutant scientists are mixed in together with mutant security guards,
and large groups of the two will generally swarm you and your mates throughout
the early levels.
Mutant security guards will be your primary enemy throughout the first 1/4
of the game. Like mutant scientists, they swarm you in large groups, and their
tactics are generally limited to rushing straight at you and clawing you when
they get close. However, although many are unarmed, quite a few mutant
security guards retain enough human intelligence to use weapons. They usually
carry assault rifles, but some even carry shotguns. Fortunately, they're not
very smart with regards to their weapons: they simply rush at you while firing.
Also, their aim is below average, and when they get close they usually drop
their weapons in order to try and claw at you with their hands. They also
are unable to reload, and will discard their guns as soon as they use up the
ammo clip.
Mutant security guards are somewhat faster than mutant scientists; they can
run at a full-scale sprint, and can occasionally leap at you from several
feet away. They can also slide sideways when shot in an attempt to evade
your fire. However, they're not any faster than you are, and are still
fairly easy to mow down individually.
Fighting them is fairly simple; just mow them down with your assault rifle
before they can get close enough to claw at you. Their firearm attacks often
won't hit you and don't do much damage even when they do, but their claw
attacks can kill you in 5 hits. Like mutated scientists, they're not
particularly fast, so shooting them down shouldn't be too difficult to do.
If one does get too close to you, a 3-hit melee combo should put it down before
it's able to strike at you.
The final stage of the viral transformation; the Leaper has lost all vestiges
of its humanity. Leapers are faster than regular mutants, and can leap at
you from several feet away as well as crawl along the walls and ceilings. They
also do more damage than regular mutants with their claw attacks, but they're
also slightly less durable and can be brought down with slightly fewer bullets.
Be careful though, because they can take off 1/4th of your health in a single
swipe.
Like mutants, Leapers lack any form of finesse, and will basically swarm
straight at you. They are usually pretty easy to see coming, but there are
a few locations where Leapers will appear from all directions, including from
behind you. The basic "mow em' down before they get close to you" rule applies,
with the assault rifle, shotgun, and BBG all working quite well. It's a bit
harder to do this with Leapers than with mutants, though, since they're
faster (they're not xenomorphs or FEAR Asssassins, though. Leapers run only
slightly faster than you do).
Perhaps the best way to defeat Leapers is with your own mutation ability.
When in mutant mode, time slows down somewhat, which counter-acts the
Leaper's speed advantage and allows you to smash them before they can claw
you, or strafe around their claw attacks and hit them from behind. This is a
great way to beat up on Leapers and prevent them from sneaking up on you from
behind.
Leapers occupy the game's middle levels, replacing the mutated humans as your
main mutated enemies. They begin to appear immedietely after you lose your
squad and acquire your own mutant powers, and will stop appearing once you
actually enter the alien dimension.
The genetically engineered alien-human hybrid soldiers of the Illuminati,
BlackOps troops fight intelligently, instead of with the savage fury of
virus-mutated mutants. In fact, these enemies use the same A.I. and have
all the same moves and abilities as your Hazard Team squadmates.
BlackOps soldiers carry a variety of weapons; primarily they fight with
assault rifles and (in the later levels) BBGs, but they also occasionally
can be found carrying shotguns or sniper rifles. BlackOps also like to toss
frag grenades at you; these really hurt, and it can be hard to avoid them
since they detonate only a second after landing and have a large splash damage
radius. Finally, if you get too close, BlackOps can smack you with the butts
of their rifles, which can knock off a big chunk of your health.
BlackOps begin to appear after the first 1/4th of the game, soon after you
lose your squad and acquire mutant powers. They will be your primary opponents
for the rest of the game.
BEHAVIOR:
BlackOps act relatively intelligently: They often take cover, strafe while
firing, and will seldom charge you recklessly. At the same time, they tend
to stay in one area instead of spreading out in a room, and you can often
catch them standing still in one place firing at you, giving you an
opportunity to draw a bead on them with your weapon of choice. It's really
not too difficult to kill a single BlackOps with your assault rifle or BBG.
Unfortunately, they often attack you in squads of 4 or 5 BlackOps at a time,
and have relatively good aim even at longer range.
At medium range, BlackOps love to use frag grenades to flush you out if you
try to hide behind cover. This is very annoying, especially on Hard
difficulty, and can lead to frequent deaths. Always be sure to keep moving
when fighting them, and don't camp out in a single spot for too long.
KILL STRATEGY:
Mutant mode works great against BlackOps. A single swipe from your claw attack
will kill them instantly, and you enhanced speed makes getting within melee
range easier. If they do take down your health, you can refill it by using
your parasite attack to suck the health out of them. Just avoid charging
groups of more than 3 or 4 BlackOps, as their combined fire will mow you
down before you can kill them.
If you want to fight BlackOps with your guns, you need to take cover behind
a wall or object, lean around the corner or strafe out, and shoot them with
your assault rifle or BBG, then strafe back behind cover before you get shot
up. Use grenades against large, tightly spaced groups. Be sure not to get
too close to a BlackOps, because their melee attacks really hurt. Also watch
out for grenades, as BlackOps will often use them to blast you when you
try to hide behind cover. If BlackOps keep throwing grenades at an area
where you're trying to take cover, try going into mutant mode and charging
them instead.
Due to their good aim and hit-scan weaponry, you'll consistently lose health
when fighting Black Ops. Fortunately, health pickups are quite plentiful in
this game, so you shouldn't have to worry about running low. Just focus on
not taking too much damage during each individual encounter.
BlackOps Leaders, or RedOps, are easily distinguished by the glowing red
energy streams that line their armor. You will usually find one or two RedOps
soldiers leading a squad of BlackOps. They are slightly tougher than BlackOps,
but not significantly so: it only takes 1 or 2 extra bullets to put them down.
Most RedOps carry BBGs, but many carry assault rifles. RedOps with assault
rifles are extremely dangerous, especially on Hard difficulty. They have a
high rate of fire and deadly accuracy, and can mow you down in seconds;
you need to be particularly wary of them. BBGs are less of a threat, as the
projectiles move slow enough for you to dodge them by strafing.
RedOps are also equipped with cloaking devices, which allow them to become
nearly invisible. They can still be spotted by the distortion effect created
by the cloak when they move around (similar to the movie Predator). Despite
their cloak, RedOps are relatively easy to spot because of this distortion
effect, as long as you know roughly where to look. Alternatively, you can
enter mutant mode; your enhanced sensitivity to light will make their cloak's
distortion effect extremely visible. Finally, you can easily spot them by
their muzzle flashes when they shoot at you. Red Ops will lose their cloaking
ability after they've lost most of their health, so you should know that
they're about to die if they suddenly become visible.
On the whole, RedOps can be taken out using the same strategy you use against
BlackOps. Just be extra careful against them if they're carrying assault
rifles, and always be sure to use cover to avoid their fire.
Gray:
Description: Thin, 4-foot tall little gray alien with large head, big eyes,
and small mouth.
Health: 600
Attacks: Summon BlackOps
Hits to Kill: Melee - X
Pistol - 30
Assault Rifle - 100
Shotgun - 16
Sniper Rifle - ~35
BBG - 61
Meson Cannon - ?
Frag Grenade - ?
JHB Grenade - ?
Mutant Claw - X
Parasites - 10
The Grays are the masterminds behind the whole mess, and you'll confront them
in the game's last few missions. The Grays don't fight you directly; in fact,
they don't do much of anything. They stand still in a fixed position inside
a small chamber, surrounded by a glowing energy shield. Instead of attacking
you, Grays create floating balls of energy which transform into BlackOps
soldiers and BlackOps leaders, who will proceed to attack you. Grays are also
very tough, as it takes a lot of firepower for you to destroy their energy
shields. As you damage the shield, it will change color from green to yellow
to orange to red. Once you do enough damage to the shield, it will implode,
killing the Gray instantly.
Grays can be quite dangerous opponents. They can take a lot of hits before
going down, and their ability to constantly summon an endless supply of
BlackOps soldiers can be deadly, as the soldiers will quickly gang up on your
and mow you down. Thus, to kill the Grays you need to wipe them out as quickly
as possible. If you're getting overwhelmed, you should kill some soldiers
and try to retreat to cover and pick up some health syringes.
The two most effective weapons against Grays are either your mutant parasite
attack, or dual shotguns. On Normal difficulty, a full mutation bar's worth
of parasite attacks should be sufficient to destroy the energy shield and
kill the Gray. Alternatively, 16 or so shotgun blasts will do the job, which
you can quickly deliver in less than a dozen seconds with fully loaded dual
shotguns (use the rapid primary fire instead of the overpowered secondary
fire to ensure more shots actually hit the Gray). If you run out of parasites
and the Gray isn't dead yet, switch to the shotgun (or vice versa). If the
Gray is too far away for you to use the shotgun, use your parasite attack
then switch to JB grenades and the BBG if you need to finish it off. If the
BlackOps soldiers the Gray is summoning in are giving you problems, you can
use the Meson Cannon to wipe the room clean of them while also doing some
damage to the Gray's shield.
Grays do not show up until the last few levels of the game, inside the alien
dimension. Even then they're quite rare, and you will only ever fight 5 of
them throughout the entire game.
Mite:
Description: Foot-long, spider-like orange bug with scorpion-like claws.
Health: 10
Attacks: Bite (10% damage)
Hits to Kill: Any Weapon - 1
These mutated insect pests infest many areas of the Area 51 base. They attack
in swarms of several at a time and strike from air vent, ventilations shafts,
and the ceiling. Mites skitter towards you at relatively high speed, and will
leap at you and bite you. The Mite's bite does decent damage, and their small
size and high speed can allow them to sneak up on you, especially when you're
facing many of them at once coming from multiple directions.
A single hit from any weapon will kill a Mite, so rapid-fire and/or
high-spread weapons (aka the assault rifle or shotgun) are ideal against them,
especially when they attack in groups. Mites also have limited jumping range,
so you can avoid their attacks by climbing up a pile of crates to get off
the floor.
Alien Parasite:
Description: Bouncing purple glowing bubbles.
Health: Special
Attacks: Burst (varies)
Hits to Kill: Varies
These purple bouncing bubbles are actually swarms of many, many tiny alien
parasites grouped together. They slowly bounce around a room, homing in on
you. If a parasite swarm collides with you, it will burst open and do damage.
The amount of damage you take depends on the size of the swarm: the smaller
swarms do very little damage, but a hit from a big swarm will knock off more
than half of your health.
A single shot from any weapon will break up a parasite swarm, but the annoying
thing about parasite swarms is that shooting them doesn't kill them instantly.
Instead, they'll break up into several smaller swarms, which will continue
chasing you. Swarms come in three sizes: large, medium, and small. You have
to keep breaking up the swarms until they're all small, then destroy the small
swarms to get rid of them once and for all.
While it might be tempting to use the BBG against parasites to save ammo,
this is somewhat ineffective. The BBG lacks the spread or rate of fire to
effectively clear out multiplying parasites, and you'll usually run out of
ammo before an entire swarm has been successfully exterminated. Instead, the
rate of fire and wide spread of the assault rifle or shotgun makes them the
best weapons for mowing down a parasite swarm. You can also use a Meson Cannon
shot to disintegrate an entire roomful of parasites, but you might want to
save your precious Meson Cannon ammo for more dangerous situations.
JB grenades are also highly effective against parasite swarms. Each JB
grenade explodes twice, so the first explosion will kill some
parasites and break up others, while the second explosion will kill
whatever's left of the rest. The large blast radius also helps you to clear
out a large roomful of parasites with one blast.
These automated, ceiling-mounted chainguns are quite rare; I only counted
3 of them throughout the entire game. Automated turrets guard particularly
sensitive areas of the Area 51 base and are programmed to attack mutants and
unauthorized personnel, which includes you on both counts.
When a turret spots you, it will unleash a stream of heavy-caliber rounds
in your direction. Turrets have good accuracy and their bullets do decent
damage; they can kill you in 11 hits.
Not surprisingly, the best way to deal with turrets is to fight them from
behind cover. Pop out, shoot them a few times, then dodge back behind cover
before they can return fire. Turrets take a second or so to spin up before
they can begin firing, so you can use this time to get free hits in on them
without being shot. Ideally, you should fight a turret from as far away as
possible to reduce its ability to hit you.
Turrets can take quite a few hits before going down. The most effective weapon
to use against them is the pistol; with it's high accuracy and rate of fire,
you can destroy a turret using 2 clips worth of ammo. Just target the turret
with the laser zoom, quickly unload a clip into it, then duck behind cover
to reload. You can also use the same tactic with the BBG (with it's high rate
of fire and perfect accuracy), but it will take more shots to do the job.
Alien Turret Lifeform:
Description: Glowing purple sphere emerging from nooks in the walls.
Health: 100 to 200
Attacks: BBG Turret (9.5% damage)
Hits to Kill: Melee - 10 to 20
Pistol - 7 to 14
Assault Rifle - 10 to 20
Shotgun - 4 to 7
Sniper Rifle - 7 to 14
BBG - 10 to 19
Meson Cannon - ?
Frag Grenade - 2 to 4
JHB Grenade - 1 to 2
Mutant Claw - 10 to 20
Parasites - 4 to 7
Alien turret lifeforms appear throughout the alien dimension, about 3/4ths
of the way through the game. These spherical devices emerge from circular
holes in the walls, and fire bursts of 4 consecutive BBG shots at you. Alien
turrets usually are positioned guarding doorways: they generally appear on
both sides of a door, and you need to destroy both turrets before the door
can be opened.
Alien turrets have a high rate of fire, so the best way to avoid them is to
take cover behind a solid object such as a console or pillar. Lean out, shoot
the turret, then lean back behind cover before it can retaliate. Turrets will
sometimes retract back into the wall if they are unable to shoot you; to get
them to reappear so you can kill them, stand in their line of fire until they
re-emerge. If you're facing multiple turrets, be sure that you position
yourself so that only one turret can see you: fight that one turret, while
remaining hidden from any others near it.
Bullets are generally more effective on alien turrets than the BBG, and you
can kill them more quickly with the pistol or assault rifle than with BBG
shots. On the other hand, the BBG is still reasonable effective against them,
so if you want to save ammo and have a decent place to take cover, you can
use the BBG as well.
Sharks with Laser Beams:
Description: Great white sharks with laser guns strapped to their heads.
Health: 300
Attacks: Head-mounted Laser Beams (8% damage)
Hits to Kill: Melee - X
Pistol - 15
Assault Rifle - 30
Shotgun - 5
Sniper Rifle - 15
BBG - 20
Meson Cannon - ?
Frag Grenade - 6
JHB Grenade - 2
Mutant Claw - X
Parasites - 5
Dr. Evil's pet of choice makes a secret appearance as an Easter Egg at the
beginning of the first alien dimension level, "The Grays". After killing the
first set of Black Ops, you'll enter a room with a console that raises the
alien train up to the next level. Once you activate the console, backtrack
to the beginning of the level, jump on the monorail track, and proceed down
to the blue portal. This will teleport you to a secret room with 3 sharks.
The first shark hangs from the ceiling, and rotates like a turret gun. The
other two sharks are swimming around in the water inside the room. All 3 sharks
are equipped with rapid-fire lasers mounted on their heads.
The sharks can take quite a lot of damage before dying, and they can kill
you surprisingly quickly. To kill the first shark, stay at the back of the
tunnel outside it's range of fire, and shoot it from a distance until it dies
(it will emit a high-pitched Dr. Evil shriek when it does). Afterwards, using
the tunnel as cover, pop out to shoot at the swimming sharks, then retreat
back into the tunnel before they can shoot you. The sharks can be tough to
hit and take quite a few hits to kill, so the quickest way to kill them is
to hit each one with a couple JB grenades (be sure to lead your shots to
compensate for the fact the sharks are moving around).
Your reward for killing the sharks is a crapload of ammo, as well as a Meson
Cannon (which you would otherwise have to wait until the end of the level
to obtain). These items will be waiting for you back at the end of the tunnel,
near the entrance (which will take you back outside).
Crispy:
Description: Humanoid mutant wearing Hazmat Team armor
Health: 370
Attacks: Claws (20% damage)
Hits to Kill: Melee - 15
Pistol - 16
Assault Rifle - 37
Shotgun - 7
Sniper Rifle - X
BBG - X
Meson Cannon - X
Frag Grenade - 8
JHB Grenade - X
Mutant Claw - X
Parasites - X
A time will come when your wiseguy teammate Crispy ends up mutated by the
virus, at which point he'll become a mindless killing machine and you'll be
forced to put him out of your misery.
Crispy has several times as much health as a regular mutated human, but
actually isn't all that tough. I really only categorize him as a "boss"
because there's only one of him in the entire game. He has the same moves and
abilities as the regular mutant security guards. Like the regular mutated
humans, Crispy's sole attack consists of charging at you and slashing you
with his claws. Since you move at the same speed he does, it's relatively
easy to avoid him by backing away and strafing around him.
It doesn't take a lot to kill Crispy. He'll go down after about a full clip
of assault rifle fire, or 7 shotgun blasts. Thus, you can mow him down in
a dozen seconds or so with the assault rifle or dual shotguns (2 hits from
the dual shotgun alt-fire will end the fight nearly instantly). Crispy IS
tough enough that grenades are useless against him; you can score direct hits
with all 5 of your frag grenades, and he'll still keep coming.
The only caveat in this fight is that you'll be fighting Crispy in a relatively
small room in nearly total darkness, and for some reason your flashlight seems
ineffective at this particular moment. Still, Crispy moves slow enough that
it's pretty easy to keep track of him, making it unlikely he'll be able to
ambush you in the darkness.
Theta:
Description: Huge, 15-foot tall Leaper with two extra arms sticking out of
its chest, and a organic BBG grown into its left arm.
Health: 2500
Attacks: Claws (10% damage)
BBG (5.5% damage)
Stomp Attack (100% damage)
Hits to Kill: Melee - 104
Pistol - ?
Assault Rifle - ?
Shotgun - ?
Sniper Rifle - ?
BBG - 97
Meson Cannon - ?
Frag Grenade - ?
JHB Grenade - ?
Mutant Claw - 45
Parasites - ?
DESCRIPTION:
About 3/4s of the way into the game you'll finally confront Theta, Dr. Cray's
monster responsible for the whole mess back at Area 51, including the deaths
of all your Hazmat Team buddies. Theta's an old-school FPS boss: He's big,
he's bad, and he can take a crapload of punishment before dying.
BEHAVIOR:
Theta has 3 basic attacks. At close range, he'll charge at you and try to
ram you with his shoulders, or claw at you if you get right next to him. At
longer range, he'll fire a burst of 3 shots from his BBG, then charge at you.
Finally, he can leap into the air at you and slam into the ground close to
you in a massive stomp attack.
Theta's melee and BBG attacks are actually surprisingly weak. However, his
stomp attack is absolutely deadly: a direct hit will kill you instantly, and
even if you're a dozen feet away from the point of impact you'll still lose
a large chunk of your lifebar. Fortunately, his melee and BBG attacks are
the most common, while his stomp attack is quite rare... he'll usually only
use it once or twice in the battle.
When Theta charges at you, strafe sideways to avoid his attack. Strafing also
allows you to dodge his BBG bursts rather easily. To prevent Theta from using
his devastating stomp attack, stay relatively close to him: Theta only tries
to jump on you if you get too far away from him. Theta's charge attack is
relatively fast, but otherwise he's no quicker than your average mutant, and
should be fairly easy to avoid.
After you shoot Theta several times, he'll summon 4 Leapers into the arena
to help him fight you. He does this twice in the battle: once when you've
knock off about 20% of his health, and again once you've taken off about 50%
of his health. The Leapers are best dealt with by using mutant mode, this
slows down time and helps you keep track of multiple targets coming at you
from all directions.
KILL STRATEGY:
There are two basic ways to defeat Theta: an easy way and a more challenging
way.
The easy way is to simply switch to mutant mode and circle strafe around Theta
while clawing him relentlessly. Each time you hit Theta, it'll restore 10%
of your mutagen bar, and thus you'll never run out of mutant mode mojo. The
constantly circle strafing should also prevent Theta from successfully
hitting you. If he does manage to damage you, just use your parasite attack
to hit him and steal his health, then restore your mutagen by hitting him
with your claws. This tactic often also has the added bonus of distracting
Theta so much he totally forgets to summon the Leapers against you.
The more challenging way to beat Theta is to take him on as a mere human.
Theta is highly resistant against human projectile weapons, and takes less
than 50% damage from bullets or buckshot. You can still beat him using your
assault rifle and shotgun, but you'd use up most of your ammo in the process.
The BBG works well against him, however. Just keep shooting Theta with BBG
bursts while avoiding his attacks. Pick up a health syringe or use your mutant
mode parasites if you end up taking damage. Theta should go down after a few
minutes and a 100 or so shots.
The helipad-type area where you fight Theta is rather large, and there are
health syringes and ammo scattered around to help you if you start running
low. There are also several exploding cannisters laying around, which you
can use to damage Theta by shooting them when he's near them. Overall, this
fight is relatively easy, as long as you're not unlucky enough to have Theta
jump on your head and kill you instantly.
Super Theta:
Description: A Theta with huge boiling pustles of disease popping out of its
back.
Health: 3000
Attacks: Claws (10% damage)
BBG (5.5% damage)
Stomp Attack (100% damage)
Infection Attack (25% damage)
Hits to Kill: Melee - 126
Pistol - ?
Assault Rifle - approx. 400
Shotgun - ?
Sniper Rifle - ?
BBG - 126
Meson Cannon - ?
Frag Grenade - ?
JHB Grenade - ?
Mutant Claw - 45
Parasites - ?
You'll fight the game's big bad boss, the prototype Super Theta, near the
end of the game's second-to-last level. This fight is actually very similar
to your previous battle against Theta. Super Theta has somewhat more health
than Theta, but otherwise uses the same attacks and behaves in the same manner.
The main difference in this fight is that the arena is much smaller, and there
are no exploding barrels or health/ammo pickups lying around to help you.
You can still use your parasite attack to steal Super Theta's life and heal
yourself, however.
After you shoot him several times, Super Theta will jump up onto one of the
four large cannisters in the room and smash it, releasing the parasites swarms
inside. Stay away from him when he does this, or else you'll die when he jumps
back down and lands on you. Use your assault rifle or shotgun to mop up the
parasites, then continue attacking Super Theta with your BBG. Alternatively,
a shot from the Meson Cannon should wipe out the parasites and do some damage
against Super Theta.
After you've taken away about 60% of Super Theta's health, the pustles on
his back will explode and swarms of tiny parasites will start orbiting his
body. At this point, Super Theta gains a new attack: he'll spray the parasites
all over the room, and they'll all gather together, slam into you, and fly
back to Super Theta. This attack knocks off a large portion of your health
and is impossible to avoid, and Super Theta uses it at regular intervals
against you. Thus, once he starts using it, you need to kill him as quickly
as possible or else you'll die after a few hits.
Overall, the same two strategies that worked against Theta also work against
Super Theta. For an easy win, just go mutant and circle strafe around him
while slashing him with your claws. For a more challenging fight, use the
BBG and dodge his attacks by strafing, being sure to stay close to him to
prevent him from using his stomp attack. The only difference is that you'll
need to kill Super Theta as quickly as possible once he starts using his
parasite attack. So, if your BBG's low on ammo, instead of waiting for it
to recharge you probably want to switch to your shotgun or mutant mode to
finish Super Theta off. Remember, you can always use your parasite attack
on Super Theta to steal his health if you start running low.
Mothership Core:
Description: A very large purple sphere, the size of a house, rotating
in the middle of the room.
Health: Core Shields = 350
Core Turrets = 200
Attacks: Plasma Flare (20% damage)
BBG Turret (9.5% damage)
Hits to Kill (Core Shields): Melee - X
Pistol - 15
Assault Rifle - 15
Shotgun - 4
Sniper Rifle - 10
BBG - 5
Meson Cannon - X
Frag Grenade - X
JHB Grenade - X
Mutant Claw - X
Parasites - X
Hits to Kill (Core Turrets): Melee - X
Pistol - 14
Assault Rifle - 20
Shotgun - 7
Sniper Rifle - 14
BBG - 19
Meson Cannon - X
Frag Grenade - X
JHB Grenade - X
Mutant Claw - X
Parasites - X
For the game's final battle, this fight is actually surprisingly easy. Like
in Half Life 2 or F.E.A.R., instead of fighting a big final boss, you'll just
have to destroy the enemy's main power generator. The difference here is that
the main power generator fights back, at least somewhat more than the ones
in Half Life 2 or F.E.A.R. do.
The fight takes place in a large circular chamber with a balcony running
around the outer edge. The Mothership Core is a large rotating ball floating
in the middle of the room. On the side of the Core are 6 Core Shields that
you'll need to destroy. Initially, the Core won't attack you at all, so at
first you can take your time destroying the shields.
The best weapon to destroy the shields is the BBG. The shields are weak
against BBG shots (taking twice as much damage as normal),and the BBG can
crack each shield with 2 bursts. The delayed effect of the BBG also ensures
you won't be standing in front of the shield when it explodes; this prevents
you from being injured by the plasma flare that bursts out of the Core from
each destroyed shield segment.
Once a Core Shield is destroyed, a massive plasma flare will blast out of
that section of the Core for the rest of the battle. The flares rotate around
the room as the Core spins, and if you touch them you'll lose a large amount
of your health. The only way to avoid the flares is to use the spinning red
shields on your own side of the chamber as cover. It's a good idea to find
a red shield as soon as the fight begins and follow it around for protection.
After you destroy all six Core Shields, the Core will begin rotating
diagonally, and a pair of Alien Turret Lifeforms will emerge from the top
and bottom of the Core. You need to destroy both turrets. Because the Core
is spinning so quickly, it can be difficult to hit the turrets with most of
your weapons. The best weapon for the job is the assault rifle, which hits
rapidly and instantly. A few bursts should be sufficient to destroy each
turret. Be sure to strafe and use the shields as cover to avoid the turrets'
shots as well as the rotating plasma flares. Once both turrets are gone, the
Core will implode and a winner you will be.
