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Dead Space 2 – FAQ/Walkthrough
PlayStation 3
FAQ/Walkthrough by SENIORBILL
Version: 1.2 | Updated: 03/07/2011
Dead Space 2 FAQ/Walkthrough for XBOX 360 and PS3 By SENIORBILL Version 1.0 February 20, 2011 Copyright 2011 by William Poneta E-mail: email@example.com TABLE OF CONTENTS <I001> INTRODUCTION <I002> TOOLS OF THE TRADE <I003> NECROMORPHS <I004> WALKTHROUGH <c001> Chapter 1 BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! <c002> Chapter 2 SHOPPING MAULS AND CHOO CHOO TRAMS <c003> Chapter 3 TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE <c004> Chapter 4 LUNATIC-OLOGY <c005> Chapter 5 BLOOD AND CRYPTS <c006> Chapter 6 WHATS A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOIN'. . .? <c007> Chapter 7 ARRAY OF HOPE! <c008> Chapter 8 NO PRESSURE! <c009> Chapter 9 CAN I HAVE A RIDE? <c010> Chapter 10 WELCOME BACK, ISAAC CLARKE <o011> Chapter 11 STROSSED OUT <c012> Chapter 12 YOU KNOW THE DRILL! <c013> Chapter 13 EXACTLY HOW MANY OF YOU GUYS ARE THERE? <c014> Chapter 14 SAY UNCLE-UBER! <c015> Chapter 15 WOULD YOU GO AWAY ALREADY? Version 1.1 February 21, 2011: I have corrected the Line Gun upgrade matrix and added extensive detail throughout the document. I have also removed some redundant debris and, hopefully, removed the typos. Version 1.2 March 6, 2011: I have added substantial detail and additional content throughout the document, including all Text and Audio logs. INTRODUCTION <I001> It's been three years since the fateful events aboard the Ishimura, but Isaac Clarke has no recollection of those years. When he awakens in a straightjacket, what he does remember returns, not as the nightmare voyage that it was, but as his reality. The Marker and its offspring, the Necromorphs, are back. He must now run for his life through the Sprawl, a massive spaceport orbiting Saturn's moon Titan, looking for answers and retribution. Like the original, Dead Space, Dead Space 2 delivers a rousing adventure as Isaac battles the Necromorphs, struggles with his past and with the demons that have been planted in his brain by those still trying to exploit the Marker. This walkthrough chronicles an initial game played on "Normal." I will specify the tactics used, the weapons purchased, used and carried and the upgrades made- these suggestions are based on what I consider the optimal choices for success during an initial playthrough. Oftentimes I will say, "deploy a grenade from the Line Gun," or "use the Force Gun," which implies that you are carrying it. I try to be fairly specific in how to tackle both the Necromorphs and the Sprawl's challenging environment. This is not meant to suggest it is the only way or the best-just, the way advocated in this walkthrough. The general details will adapt to any approach. TOOLS OF THE TRADE <I002> Dead Space 2 retains all the weapons from the original game and adds a number of others. You can carry four weapons in assigned slots, changing them for others in your "Safe" whenever you reach the scattered stores. Following is a brief personal assessment of each your survival tools. Note: The weapon evaluations are based on an initial playthrough and the average upgrades one can expect to make during that campaign, not on the full potential that can be achieved in subsequent playthroughs. Stasis: You will acquire a device, the Stasis Mod, early in the game that allows you to place Necromorphs or environmental objects in extreme slow motion for a brief interval. This is a critical power that allows you to level the field with your numerous enemies. Your Module will automatically recharge over time or can be recharged at stasis stations or filled with portable Stasis Packs, which you can carry in inventory. The Stasis Module can be upgraded by placing Power Nodes into its matrix. This should be a high priority as Power Nodes are acquired. Stasis is absolutely critical to your survival-make liberal use of it. Kinesis: Acquired early in the game, kinesis is critical to completion of the game. It will allow you to gain access to areas and equipment, retrieve objects and it can be used to impale the enemy with rods and other environmental objects. It is an unlimited resource. Looting: The Sprawl is littered with loot-in containers, lockers, crates, lying about and on fresh kills. Often you must stomp or melee the later to expose the loot. You will find ammo, Med Packs of various sizes, Stasis Packs and credits as well as valuable Semiconductors and Schematics that will allow you to download its specs in order to purchase new gear-like weapons, ammo, Stasis Packs, Med Packs and Suit upgrades. Don't pass up opportunities to pilfer; you will not survive long if you do. You're inventory space, however, is limited, causing you to make prudent choices in what you keep. Schematics: Schematics can be found scattered about the Sprawl. You will run across them periodically. Schematics will allow the purchase of weapons, ammo, Stasis Packs, Med Packs and Power Nodes once they are downloaded. At times you will have to decide whether or not a schematic is more valuable than something else in your brimming inventory. As a rule you want to keep weapon, Health, Stasis and Power Node schematics-these can be key items to a successful campaign. Keeping ammo schematics for your favorite weapons is also a good idea, but if the choice is a schematic for a weapon you haven't purchased or you aren't using, don't replace something more useful with it. During the numerous playthroughs used to gather data for this document, I didn't purchase a single round of ammo-the environment, unless you overuse a favorite weapon, will normally provide sufficient ammo. Plasma Cutter: This is the first weapon available in the game and one's of its most useful. While not as potent as others, like the Line Gun, it can handle most enemies and the game provides ample ammunition for it. Its primary fire is a vertical line of energy and its alternate fire a horizontal line-perfect for dismembering bad guys that truly need it. Each inventory slot can hold 25 rounds of Plasma Energy, giving it great utility, and providing adequate firepower without extreme overkill. You won't have to squander the ammo of more potent weapons on lesser targets. It will rarely leave its equipment slot during this walkthrough. Pulse Rifle: The Pulse Rifle is available at the start of chapter 3. Like the Plasma Rifle it is a utility weapon. It has a high rate of fire, and will thus go through ammo rapidly. Like the Plasma Cutter, it can handle most enemies. Its alternate attack mode is a grenade that will deal major damage-but a single shot will cost you 25 rounds of ammo. A single inventory slot can hold up to 100 rounds. In the early going and at specific points of the game it is a very useful weapon, but comes in second best to the Plasma Cutter for general utility. Javelin Gun: This is a new weapon. It fires a javelin with its primary fire, which can be electrified with its alternate attack. Firing a single projectile makes it harder to hit moving targets, and oftentimes the enemy, not being dismembered, survives the attack. Its rate of fire is also slow. It is a decent weapon but will quickly outlive its usefulness as better weapons enter the scene. Line Gun: The Line Gun is one of the game's premier weapons. It fires a wide horizontal line of energy that is effective against all comers, near and far. Its alternate attack allows it to fire a timed grenade that is lethal and integral to success as outlined in this document. It also expends only a single round doing so. It is not a utility weapon since an inventory slot holds only 6 rounds but it is a must buy as soon as it is available. It will monopolize a weapon slot for the balance of the game even though it was purchased early in Chapter 2. Ripper: Once you acquire the Ripper in Chapter 5 you have a game changer. It allows you to suspend a saw blade in front of yourself for a short but devastating interval, chewing up anything in its path. For close quarter combat it has no equal. Brute or Juvenile-all the same-Necroburger. It's an equal opportunity shredder and because so much of the combat is up close and personal, it won't likely leave its assigned weapon slot once acquired. Adding to its utility is its alternate mode, allowing the user to shoot a blade at range. Even better, an inventory slot can hold 15 blades and ammo is not scarce. R-R-Rip away! Detonator: This new weapon becomes available in Chapter 5 and it will break your heart if you have to place it in your safe-which you'll probably do only if you run out of mines. It will deploy a contact mine that, when placed on a surface- vertically or horizontally, will kill most and badly main the baddest-even when fresh from the box. You can carry 10 mines per slot and it will become a valued friend when the hot breath of the enemy is all around. Adding to its value is the fact that it can be used like a grenade launcher. Gauge an enemy's speed and direction and place one in its path. This offensive tactic further enhances its value. You don't have to leave deployed mines in your wake-just press alternate fire to deactivate it and put it back into inventory. Enough! Flamethrower: Surprisingly the Flamethrower is not as useful as one might expect. It will kill, but ranged attackers are free to hit you and charging Necromorphs often keep coming and even afire they don't go down quickly. Its alternate attack is devastating-it will hurl an entire canister of fuel-but you will find yourself with an empty weapon. Other weapons will serve you better. Seeker Rifle: The Seeker Rifle is a new offering and can be had in Chapter 6. While a good addition its function is limited in this game of sudden, mostly close up encounters. There just aren't enough sniping opportunities to allow you to dedicate a slot to this weapon. Its alternate fire mode is a zoom. Force Gun: The Force Gun is available in Chapter 7. It fires a blast of energy over a wide area. It is good for pushing back enemies but it is unequalled at ridding yourself of pesky small, hard to hit enemies like packing Juveniles, Swarm and Divider Spawn. It is relatively fast and its alternate fire directs its energy into a smaller hit box, allowing it to kill as well as push back. This gun has its uses and is vital in the final stage of the game. Ammo slots can hold 15 rounds. Contact Beam: Available in Chapter 7, the Contact Beam, like the Force Gun, projects an energy blast, but its primary fire is extremely powerful and will kill most Necromorphs. It would be supreme but for its slow charging time and slow reload speed. Put an enemy in stasis, hit it with this weapon and its all over; but in the sudden, in your face encounters of Dead Space 2, it isn't always the answer. Its alternate fire will broadcast a concussive ring that will knock-back nearby enemies. I would choose the Line Gun over it for dispatching the tougher foes, because of its charge time. That said, it is a superb killing tool in the right circumstances. It is vital in the final stage of the game. Like the Line Gun, an ammo slot holds only 6 rounds. NECROMORPHS <I003> Slasher and Super Slasher: The Slasher is the most common of the morphed-dead. They still retain many of their human features. They are hostile, fast and will attack with sword-like claws, slashing their victim to pieces, impaling and biting. Kill them by dismembering them. The Super Slasher has morphed into a darker creature, tougher and one no longer possessing human features. It employs the same attack style as the Slasher, slashing and administering a lethal bite, but it is more lethal and considerably harder to put down. Puker and Super Puker: These disgusting creatures have a long range vomiting attack that can put you into slow motion. With the in your face nature of the game this can mean death from other Necromorphs in the area as you struggle to move. They also have an acidic close range vomit attack that is not only abhorrent but also extremely damaging. If they get hold of you they will pour vomit into you, causing a gross death animation. The Super Puker is a darker version of the Puker, but is much tougher. Puker-types, whatever the flavor-bad word-are priority targets because of their long range attack capability. Spitter: In the fast paced dimly lit corridors and rooms of the Sprawl it is difficult to distinguish the Spitter from the Slasher. It has sword-like claws that they brandish like a Slasher; but, unlike the Slasher, they can launch a long-range punishing spit attack. At close range, however, it attacks like a Slasher. I'm certain I have misidentified many of these creatures in this walkthrough. Leaper and Super Leaper: Leapers aren't called Leapers for nothing-they leap, oftentimes coming at you along walls, ceilings and from dark places. They will frequently be in your face before you know they are there. They are quite fast despite the fact that they have only one set of clawed front limbs. They attack by clawing, biting and whipping their clawed tail. They are also seldom alone. A darker tougher version appears later in the game and they are a handful. Stalker and Super Stalker: These fast, cunning Necromorphs sound and hunt like a pack of Velociraptors-at least like the movie ones. They will stalk you, peeking around cover to try to surprise you, but in the end they aren't any tougher than the other Necromorphs. Once they smell blood, they will charge at you, allowing you to tackle them with stasis and a potent weapon. The Super variant operates the same way but will need a bit more TLC. Lurker: These smallish three tentacled Necromorphs can be a pain. They can travel anywhere, like walls and roofs, and they have a tendency to hide in the dark. Their small size, especially when they retract their tentacles make them hard to see as they scurry about trying to get a shot at you, and the projectile attack from their tentacles can administer a lot of damage even from long range. They also like to come in groups and will frequently accompany other Necromorphs, harassing you as you dismember a more in-your-face foe-hate em'. Infector: The Infector has two purposes in life-to animate dead bodies and to kill you and bring you back as a "nekkie." They perform this repulsive function with an elongated beak as they hover over a corpse on bat-like wings. They are high priority targets because they will reanimate until you take them out-so take them out ASAP. A Line Gun round into the beak or a grenade attack will turn the trick. Pregnant: The Pregnant appears clumsy but will close on you faster than you think. They use a deadly slashing attack like a Slasher and they are a priority target when they are in the field. You must dismember them-three limbs-to put them down, without hitting their torso. If you hit their torso they will release a Swarm that can easily tip a heated battle in the their favor. Swarm: The Swarm is the spawn of the Pregnant. If you misfire on a Pregnant you get a flood of them, but they can also appear when there are no Pregnants around. They will swarm onto you. Individuals do little harm and can be shaken off; but in numbers they can kill you, or make you susceptible to other Necromorphs. If you have a Force Gun, they are toast. Its large area of effect will take out a whole Swarm with a single round. Divider: The Divider is a tall, gangly, deadly and, fortuitously, rare Necromorph. If they get close they will employ a tongue attack that will remove your head. Killing them isn't the end and they are tough to kill. A flood of pesky hard-to-hit Spawn will drop from them to make life difficult. Divider Spawn: Divider Spawn spring from Divider Necromorphs. They frequently survive the death of the Divider. The skull-like menaces will scurry about on skittering tentacles trying to get to you. They will leap onto your head and dish out substantial damage and if they get the best of you, they will turn you into a Necromorph just like an Infector. They are hard to hit because of their small size and unpredictable movement and they normally come in small groups of four to six. At times you will encounter them when there is no Divider around. Juvenile: The maniacal Juveniles still have human-like features. They will usually attack in packs, sprinting, crawling and jumping with one purpose, getting to you to slash your face with claws and to bite your throat for the kill. A single Juvenile can be taken with melee tactics or with a single Plasma round, but in numbers their swirling attacks can be deadly. Late in the game an evolved version that looks more like a dark little demon will appear, using the same tactics as their more human looking buddies. Exploder: These ungainly, lurking screeching pests are easy to kill-just target the prominent yellow sack as they lurch along. Trouble is they always show up at the wrong time. While your shredding a baddy close up and personal it comes around the corner and is on you. A nearby explosion can easily be fatal, especially if your health meter is low. They also like to lurk near glass windows that are allergic to explosions. If you sever the explosive sack, they will still have to be dismembered. Crawler: These trundling Necromorphs have an explosive cocoon that you don't want going off nearby. While not nearly as potent as an Exploder, they like to come in groups and they oftentimes travel with other bad guys. The weakest of weapons will kill them with a single round. Cyst: You will come to recognize the distinctive grunting of the repugnant Cyst. They reside in small groups, and for want of a better analogy, they resemble a giant pimple, but one that will fire acid at anyone passing near it, doing major damage. They are permanently attached to surfaces, so you will sometimes have to search for them because they oftentimes hide in dark or in unexpected places. They are easily killed with a couple of Plasma rounds. Guardian: As the name implies, Guardians stake out a territory and diligently defend it. Because they adhere to walls, they can only move their multiple flailing appendages. You cannot get past them-they will seize you if you get close and tear your head off-even when placed in stasis. They will immediately detect your incursion, and will deploy a number of pods that act like a stationary one-tentacled Lurker. A single Line Gun grenade placed at its feet or a Detonator mine will usually kill it. You can also take off its limbs to destroy it. Pod: Pods are the spawn of the Guardian. When threatened the Guardian will spew Pods. They will remain immobile while deploying a single tentacle. They will shoot a projectile at you from that lone appendage. A single Plasma round will take them out. Brute: The Brute is an enormous Necromorph that will charge like a battering ram, bashing and biting if it gets hold of you. It can also spit a boulder-like fireball at you if you cripple it. It has large glowing areas that must be targeted to bring it down. Use stasis on it and pound the weak spots on its shoulders. The Plasma Cutter will do the job and if frozen the Ripper will also do the job. Later in the game the Contact Beam can kill it with a couple of shots. Tripod: Like the Brute these are a large battering ram type. They travel on three legs, with two of them having "weak spots." It will charge and try to overwhelm you and it has a nasty stinger on its long tentacle. Concentrate on its shoulder weak spots to kill it and sever that stinger before approaching it. Blob: This nesting Necromorph seems to prefer hostile environments, like the vacuum of space or depressurized areas of the Sprawl. They resemble a huge pile of chewed bubble gum, sticking fast to surfaces. They will attack when approached by opening and releasing three waving tentacles that fire homing projectiles at you. Every time you encounter them you can kill them by enticing them into revealing their tentacles and parking a Line Gun grenade on top of the Blob. You rarely have to use a second. Ubermorph: The Ubermorph is akin to a tall Super Slasher. It even employs a similar attack. The biggest difference is that it can't be killed. Put it in stasis, shred it into Necro-nuggets and about five seconds later it's back for more. Encounters with the Ubermorph, in themselves, are little worse than a Super Slasher but the thing just won't stay dead and it is encountered near the game's end when Necromorphs abound. WALKTHROUGH <I004> The following walkthrough is based on playthroughs on both the PS3 and the XBOX 360. The gameplay on the consoles is identical. The details are based on an initial playthrough on "Normal." Critical locations or items like SAVE STATIONS, POWER NODES or SCHEMATICS will appear in upper case letters. CHAPTER 1: BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! <c001> After a cut scene recalling past events and horrors connected with the ill-fated events aboard the Ishimura, a dazed Isaac Clarke awakens, confined in a straightjacket. A frightened orderly named Franco has located him for someone named Daina, and tells him he is in grave danger. An Infector then attacks Franco; and Isaac, still in the straightjacket, must immediately flee for his life. When you gain control of Isaac, sprint down the left hallway without pausing. Pass through the left opening and then bear right after the first large support column in the broad hallway. You can run past the rampaging Necromorphs if you just keep sprinting. Pass through the two open doorways and turn left, sprinting ahead through the open doorway, bearing right and right again toward the large door ahead. Go through the door and pump the action button to fend off the clutching Necromorph, which, if you're successful, is crushed in the closing doorway. Move forward and you will find a SAVE STATION. Use the adjacent doorway. Turn right to see two security guards succumb to the Necromorphs. Follow the passage. It is linear and fairly easy to follow. Go up the stairwell and into the "Observation Room." Go left down the stairs, over the glass-roofed patient rooms and watch a truly disturbed Nolan Stross on the monitor. He is being badgered about the "symbols." The procedures have completely broken him and have brought back fearsome memories of his past and dread of his current predicament. Continue out the door beyond, and go down the hall and into the next room where a troubled medical research officer, after a disquieting encounter, cuts Isaac free of his straightjacket. Take the Med Pack and the flashlight from the locker and exit the room after witnessing the bloody suicide. The locator will now be operational, giving a path to the objective. Pressing the right thumbstick will momentarily lay a "blue" path to your objective. If you toggle the "D" Pad," it will also point to the nearest STORE (yellow path), WORKBENCH (purple path) or SAVE STATION (green path). The mystery woman, Daina, addresses Isaac before he enters the "Patient Rec Room" elevator. She tells him she can cure his induced dementia and can help him get to safety. He wonders how and why she knows these things, and why the interest in his safety? She gives him an escape route to follow. Now free of his confinement Isaac, can use melee and stomping tactics. Take the elevator and use the blue objective path and the flashlight to make your way through the dark corpse-strewn "Rec Room." Turn right as you exit, off the path, and grab the first Text Log, "Popsicle Sticks" from the dark side corridor. Continue along the path and you will come to another SAVE STATION. Go into the shower room. After experiencing the first of many hallucinogenic episodes, follow the objective path to a service duct. Crawl through it and you will fall into a sealed chamber. The assertive Daina again offers help and Isaac again wonders why she is so intent on helping him. Someone named Tiedemann is mentioned for the first time. Interact with the Telekinetic Surgical console. The suspended corpse will fall and you will acquire the instrument's Kinesis Module during the cut scene. You are now trapped in the chamber. Use kinesis to grab a rod from the floor and shoot it at one of the two all-glass wall panels. After it crumbles two Slashers will attack, one at a time. Impale them using kinesis to propel rods into them. Grab another rod and stomp or melee the corpses to get their booty-ammo, Med Packs, credits, etc. Take the rod with you into the "Surgical Observation Area" elevator. Take the Med Pack and activate the elevator. Exit the elevator and turn right carrying the rod into the short-railed dead end alcove and wait there for the three Slashers. They will come one at a time. Use the rod you brought along and the two lying there to impale them. You can also use melee punches if you miss with the rods- they are fairly effective against weaker opponents. Stomp or melee their corpses for their item drops. Make your way to the exit door, using the lower path to get there, since a heavy, unmovable object blocks the locator's path. As always search fresh-killed corpses and the environment for pick-ups. From this time forward, I will take it for granted that you do so-you won't survive if you fail to do so. Generally only POWER NODES, valuable SEMICONDUCTORS or SCHEMATICS will be individually flagged. Audio and Text Logs will also be flagged. They are frequently encountered and often provide insight into the activities and intrigues of the Sprawl. Pick-up items are largely random, but heavily favor the weapons you are carrying. Plasma Energy will, therefore, dominate munitions items in the early part of the game. Exit the "Surgical Observation" Room, stomp the crate, as instructed by the tutorial, and stomp or melee the corpses for pick-ups. Only fresh kills typically produce pick-ups, these two are exceptional. Proceed into "Intensive Care." On an operating table a terrified patient in restraints pleads for help. Raid the three empty medical rooms to find some Plasma Energy and other items. Ignore the writhing Slasher on the gurney for now. Enter the surgical chamber with the pleading patient. Interact with the console to release the man but a Slasher will enter and kill him. You will receive the Plasma Cutter during a cut scene. Dismember the Slasher to destroy it. Another follows it. You can dismember it or grab a claw from your first victim and use kinesis to propel it into the second Slasher-this tactic is fairly effective when conditions allow it. It won't always kill the enemy but it can still help conserve ammo. Stomp both corpses to build up your supplies. Shoot a limb off of the thrashing Slasher on the gurney, melee it, and take its drop. Move out of the room, following the objective pathway. After Daina informs Isaac that dismembering the creatures is the best strategy- at fact he is well aware of-continue on to another SAVE STATION. Enter the "Intensive Care Waiting Area" and after the fire suppression is triggered, three Slashers will attack. Two from the corridor near the scorched area and one from behind. Dismember them and stomp the corpses and then loot the area. If you look into the burning area with the collapsed wreckage you can grab a crate using kinesis-every little bit helps. You can also retrieve the first Audio Log called "Shit The Bed" in the same area. Use kinesis to pull it out. These logs can be found throughout the game and can be played by pressing "select" when you find them or by bringing them up on the HUD. They provide official and personal information and insights on the progression, effects, intrigues, ethics, secrecy, etc. of the Marker research and of life in general in the Sprawl. Continue along the objective path, looting the Necromorph-free areas until you reach the "Upper Lobby," where a warning horn is sounding. Before exiting, grab the Text Log, "Orderly TPS Report: 1411" from the small patient room. Nolan Stross, the distressed patient you saw earlier on the video, is now on the loose. He entreats you to follow him out of the area. Follow him, but your pursuit falls short when there is a security lockdown. Stross seems to know Isaac, but Issac doesn't remember him. Stross is patient number five. Daina's route is now blocked. Stay near the exit where Stross led you, because five Slashers will come at you from the lobby area. They will enter one at a time. If you're pressed, you can cripple some of them and then finish them off as they crawl toward you. Loot the bodies and then the area. You can even return to the "Upper Lobby" for any items that you missed because of your pursuit of Stross. After a brief spat with the pushy Daina, she sends you an alternate route and Tiedemann-obviously the bad guy-now seems to be hampering your rescue by jamming communications. You will acquire your first POWER NODE and the Text Log, "Anxiety Spike" from the circular receptionist's desk in the lower lobby. Looting complete, follow the objective path to another SAVE STATION. Enter the nearby "Triage Room." Grab the Text Log, "Heisenberg." You must now hack your first console. It will be on the left side in a brown cabinet. Interact with it to remove its cover and simply rotate the left analog stick, clockwise or counterclockwise, or back and forth if you pass a desired field, to locate a blue field on the monitor, press the action button to select it and repeat the procedure two more times before the timer, as indicated by the bar at the top of the monitor, runs down. You will encounter identical consoles throughout the Sprawl. They all work the same way. If you hit the action button on any field other than blue, you will be pushed away and will have to try again. You now have your Stasis Module and you must immediately put it to use as a Slasher's charge is briefly slowed as it moves through a stasis field. Quickly hit the Slasher with stasis to slow its charge and then dismember it. Refill your Stasis Mod from the wall Refill Station. The Stasis Mod also has the capability to slowly recharge itself over time. Activate the barred exit gate from the console, freeze it in the open position with a stasis shot and run out of the room. Note: Stasis places a person or object in extreme slow motion but if you get too close they can still deal a bit of damage. Your Stasis Module will auto recharge over time or can be filled from a Stasis Refill Station. Portable Stasis Packs can also be found or purchased and carried in inventory. Survival in the Sprawl would be impossible without this technology. Upgrading it is likely the best "upgrade" path to take when you reach your first WORKBENCH. As you proceed, you will witness a grisly death and two repulsive Pukers, will need killing in the corpse filled morgue. Pukers project an acidic stream of vomit from short range and spew sticky material from longer range that will briefly make normal movement difficult. They are priority targets, if you can distinguish them from their brethren freaks in the poorly illuminated Sprawl. Try to use the environment to stay out of their line of "fire." Look around the doorway; hit the Puker with stasis and then dismember it. Give its buddy the same treatment. Always wait until a Puker is completely down and out. They can release a damaging flood of acidic vomit while in their death throes. Loot the area and the corpses. Be sure to seize the POWER NODE from the sink's countertop. Take the "Elevator to Patient Care," and say how-de-do, in the dark, to a spooky manifestation of Nicole-it definitely won't be the last of her! Exit the elevator and raid the area. Be sure to grab the POWER NODE and the Text Log, "Secrecy" from the near the roses on the Gift Shop's desk. Enter the "Critical Needs Patient Room." The window ahead will begin to fracture. During the ensuing cut scene, the room will depressurize, sucking everything but you out into the void. When your weapon is enabled, shoot the red triangular emblem above the fractured glass to bring down the emergency barrier, sealing the breach. This scripted scene is to demonstrate what must be done when a room depressurizes. From now on you will have to seal breaches by shooting the symbol to prevent being swept out into space or being mangled by the slamming blast door. At times creating a breach is your best bet of survival as you battle your way across the Sprawl. Exit the area and you are near a SAVE STATION and your first STORE, but beware of the corpse lying on the floor, just past the entrance. It will ambush you if you proceed into the room. Kill it as it lays, and then take the POWER NODE from the wall box. Enter the STORE cubicle. The Engineering Suit is a mandatory purchase and since there is a 1,000 credit chip on the nearby table, it's certainly affordable to all. It will allow you to travel in Zero-G and has a small built in O2 supply. It also provides a 5% increase in protective armor and has ten inventory slots. It will cost only 1,000 Credits. Nothing else is available for purchase at this time. Proceed into the Zero-G area, following the objective pathway to get through the tangled area. Just beyond in the large "Emergency Arrival Area" a Tripod will attack from the window area. Too bad you can't shoot this glass out. The Tripod travels on three legs and two of them have glowing weak spots. In additional to battering ram tactics it will lash at you with a glowing stinger on the end of a whip-like tentacle. Put it in stasis and concentrate on one of its legs. Destroying one of the glowing knuckles will cripple it, hampering its pursuit. Run to keep your distance, using the large central column to slow its movement. When your Stasis Mod is depleted run for the re-charge station. If you're the patient type you can use one stasis shot to damage it and the last to freeze it, allowing you an unhindered re-charge. Take off the other leg and it will crumble; but you must shoot the stinger tentacle off before you approach it for the GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR that it drops. Ransack the room and refill your Stasis Mod before exiting. After Daina fills you in about your three missing years and raises your hopes about a cure, follow the objective path into the "Vehicle Maintenance Bay" workshop, grabbing every item along the way. The path will lead you to a maintenance duct. Use kinesis on the distinctive blue "grip enabled" symbol to expose the portal. This symbol will be present whenever environmental obstacles or routes can be manipulated with kinesis. CHAPTER 2 SHOPPING MAULS AND CHOO CHOO TRAMS <c002> You will emerge into a room with a STORE and a WORKBENCH. The WORKBENCH will allow you to upgrade your equipment, using Power Nodes, which can be picked up during your trek or purchased after they become available at the STORE. Take the Audio Log, "Cut Off Their Limbs." It is located on the floor near this store. The STORE will now have the Line Gun, Javelin Gun, Plasma Energy and Small Medical Packs for sale. Sell your GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR for 3,000 Credits and purchase one of the other weapons. With credits still building-only 17,000-I purchased the Line Gun for 9,000 credits. It will provide excellent service throughout the remainder of the game, but the Javelin Gun, new in Dead Space 2, is also a decent weapon. Note: The Line Gun is a powerful weapon but you can only carry six rounds of ammo per inventory slot. It therefore is obviously not a utility weapon and should not be routinely used against weaker foes, like Slashers. Use the Plasma Cutter as much as possible to conserve its ammo. The Line Gun's alternate attack is an energy grenade that is a valuable resource and is lethal. I will frequently advocate using it in challenging encounters. If you have plenty of Plasma Energy or Med Packs, put some into your safe to free up inventory slots so you don't have to pass up too many drops. Keeping 75 rounds of Plasma Energy should easily be a sufficient safety margin. I was able to store 40 rounds of Plasma Energy and two small Med Packs. This freed up four inventory slots. From now on ammo drops can include Javelin spears as well as ammo for your equipped weapons; so don't pass up the chance to grab ammo for what you're carrying. With additional items available the drops will be somewhat less productive. You should now have four Power Nodes, which you can spend at the WORKBENCH or maintain in inventory. I spent three nodes updating the Stasis Module, placing the first in "Duration," then a "Connecting" slot and the next in "Energy," allowing an additional longer shot before the Module is depleted. What you update is a matter of personal preference, updating the Rig or a weapon is also a good path. ALWAYS keep at least one Power Node to allow access to locked storerooms-these locked storerooms often contain critical Schematics as well as other lucrative plunder. A Slasher, playing dead on the automated walkway, will attack as you enter the adjacent room. Use stasis to freeze it and then dismember it. One of the pick- ups in this area is a Stasis Pack, which will allow you to quickly re-charge your Mod. You will find out that Tiedemann is the Director-the bigwig-of the Sprawl and that a station wide emergency is now in effect. Watch out! He says looters will be shot on sight. Guess you better stay out of sight. At the far end of the area, past the SAVE STATION, there is a locked storage room. These locked storage rooms are often encountered and will require the use of a power Node for entry. Use your remaining Power Node to open it. The room contains the POWER NODE SCHEMATIC, the Text Log, "Quarterly Report" as well as other useful items. Once downloaded this schematic will allow you to purchase Power Nodes at the store. This will be quite important later in the game. This room may also contain a random SEMICONDUCTOR. Occasionally it will be a valuable Ruby Semiconductor worth 10,000 credits. Use the locator's yellow pathway to backtrack to the STORE to download the POWER NODE SCHEMATIC and the SEMICONDUCTOR if you received one, freeing up the inventory slots. You can then re-enter the storeroom to pick up anything that you were unable to carry. Use the SAVE STATION. Return to the objective pathway. It will guide you into the "Titan Heights Apartments." Take out the Slasher attacking a civilian at the end of the hallway. Grab the POWER NODE from the alcove on the left side of the corridor. Chaos now reigns in the adjacent area as Necromorphs wreak havoc on the locals. Board the elevator after looting the corridor and the corpses. A brief cut scene plays depicting a civilian attempting to board the elevator. After you exit, Nolan Stross will wave frantically from across the central overlook and will ramble about the dreadful memories coming back. As you look at Stross on the other side of the apartment block, a Leaper will climb up over the rail and attack. Leapers have only front limbs but also have a clawed tail. Use stasis on the swift Necromorph and then dismember it. These low-slung Necromorphs will oftentimes run along walls and ceilings and leap onto you from a dark corner or an unexpected location. Move into the next area, and after the two civilians flee, a Slasher will burst through the wall and be quickly in your face. Watch out for a crippled Puker crawling out of the bathroom when you enter the left apartment. A lone Slasher will also charge into the apartment as you ransack it. Who flushed that toilet? Many of these early Slashers maintain noticeably human features, but as the story progresses they will degrade. Work your way into the laundry room. As you try to exit, the lights will fail. Six Necromorphs will now confront you. Run back toward the glassed laundry room to deal with the first Slasher. A Puker will be followed by another Slasher and a Leaper, and finally by a Spitter and a Slasher. This is a tough close quarters struggle in subdued light. The key is putting the foe down quickly before another foe is triggered, so you're not overwhelmed. Under pressure the Line Gun, if you have the ammo, and stasis shots are your best bet, especially against the Leaper, Spitter and the Puker, but don't exhaust all its ammo. Swap to the Plasma Cutter whenever you can. It may be worth your while to allow your Stasis Mod to recharge before continuing. Gather the loot and follow the path onto the "Terrace" and into the "Titan Heights East Wing" apartments. Grab the scattered items, including the Text Log, "Titan Part 1" and take the elevator. Daina will address you about the machinations of Tiedemann and his construction of a new Marker. She says he is after the power he believes he can acquire from manipulating the alien technology. The Necromorph outbreak is his fault. She tells you to get to the tram. Use the SAVE STATION and proceed, raiding the apartment and the area. A Slasher will burst through the wall near the poorly barricaded "Galilei Transit Station" entry. In the long gallery beyond a Slasher, feigning death, will spring up as you approach it and a Leaper will attack from ahead. The exit to the "Galilei Transit Station" will not be enabled until four Exploders, three from behind and the last from nearer the exit, enter the skirmish. Hitting their yellow explosive sack can easily kill exploders. The sack can also be severed and used as a weapon; but you will still have to kill the Exploder, which can be done with a single shot or a melee punch. Oh, and don't hit the sack if the Exploder is too close to you. They seem to have a way of getting close to you even though they are ungainly. Be sure to grab the GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR from near the "Titan News" sign near the automated walkway. The eerie wail of the Tram and an apparition of Nicole will greet you at the Tram Station. An Infector is animating a corpse inside the closed Tram. Position yourself close to the Tram's door and as it opens, hit both Necromorphs with stasis and kill them with an energy grenade from the Line Gun's alternate fire before they can exit, otherwise the resurrected Slasher will come at you while the Infector starts to reanimate more corpses. As you ransack the station area, a lone Slasher will need killing, regardless of whether you killed the Infector. Be sure to grab the STASIS PACK SCHEMATIC. It is located on the depressed trackway opposite the active Tram. You must use kinesis to retrieve it from the track below. Let your Stasis Mod recharge before boarding the tram. Enter the Tram and loot your way to the console. Hack the console to get the tram operational and be prepared for a charging Slasher as you begin to backtrack. When you reach the car's exit door it is locked. Turn around to face a Slasher and then a Puker. Use stasis on the Puker to avoid its ranged attack. Stomp the corpses and another Puker will appear, either near the unlocked exit or in the next car depending on the amount of time you linger. Continue into the next car. When you reach the end of the Tramcar, you will be thrown out. You will now have to boost your way onto the tramcar ahead, aiming for the open doorway. Pump the action button to get aboard. An Exploder and a Slasher will emerge ahead. Hit the yellow explosive sack to kill them both with a single Plasma round. Another Slasher, however, will come from behind you as you attempt to exit the car. In the next car, there is a crash and you will be flung forward as the Tram decelerates, past threatening but harmless Necromorphs and then thrown out. You will now be dangling upside down. A crippled Slasher is the first to emerge ahead and then an Exploder. Four Slashers will then quickly close from the flanks and, as you take them out, another Exploder will lurch toward you. Use stasis on any that get too close; and when they are all down, while still suspended, you must shoot one arm off of a Tripod that will loom up over the wrecked Tram. Three or four well-aimed Plasma rounds will do the trick. You will finally be free as the car crashes beside you. Stomp your victims and search the area thoroughly. There is a POWER NODE in the rear of the area, and the PULSE RIFLE SCEMATIC is on a rear shelf as well as many other useful items. Daina, surprised that you're alive and at your present location, will now tender a viable but perilous new route. The locator's path will lead you past some lockers and to a SAVE STATION. CHAPTER 3: TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE <o003> Follow the objective path through the doorway. A shadowy Juvenile will screech and you may catch a glimpse of it at the turn. Turn left, off the path, at the intersection to get the POWER NODE in the wall unit in the dead-end corridor. Reverse course and resume following the path; but, before the path doglegs to the left, a Slasher feigning death will jump up and assault you. Go up the ramps and into the mall area. Turn right and grab the credits from near the squirrel mascot mural. Proceed along the stalled automated walkway, and Juveniles will begin to emerge from the door of "Fashion Kid" and from the "Titan Station Elementary," from near where you picked up the credits. Sprint forward and make a stand at the far end, near the STORE where they can't surround you. Take out this first wave of a half dozen with your Plasma Cutter as they pursue with intent. You can even melee some of this first bunch to save ammo. Their numbers, however, will quickly swell as more shrieking fiends join the screeching pack; but they will be coming from only one direction. Use stasis shots, if need be, to freeze groups and to then shoot or melee them or to reload. Quickly shake off any that get to you and when their numbers shrink, just melee the last of them. While each of these Juvenile terrors do only minor damage, unless not shaken off, the cumulative effect of these swarming tactics is very unpleasant and will prove fatal if you are overwhelmed as they claw and bite to kill you. Always try to funnel their attack by getting against a wall or into a doorway where they must approach from a single direction. A paranoid Stross will again talk about the returning memories, and the "symbols." He wonders if Isaac is seeing them to. He thinks-he knows that someone is after him-after them! Gather the drops and use the nearby STORE for any overflow. Download the STASIS PACK and the PULSE RIFLE SCHEMATICS and sell the GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR. With 34,500 credits available, I purchased both the Pulse Rifle (7,000 credits) and the Javelin Gun (11,000 credits). You can't have enough firepower. Note: The Plasma Rifle is a utility weapon. It carries 50 rounds in its initial magazine and an inventory slot holds up to 100 rounds. It has a very high rate of fire, making it excel at dispatching small weaker enemies; but that high rate of fire can quickly exhaust your ammo reserve. It takes second place to the Plasma Cutter in the utility role, but is an important resource during the early part of the game. Its alternate attack deploys a deadly contact grenade that is lethal but expends 25 rounds of ammo. I would favor picking up ammo for it over the Javelin Gun if inventory space becomes an issue. Note: The Javelin Gun is a new weapon to Dead Space. It fires a spear to impale the enemy that must generally be electrified to kill its victim. In its original state even this is not always fatal, so it takes at least two rounds to kill an enemy. It is also rather slow and it is easy to miss any fast moving enemy. An ammo slot holds only 10 spears. If a player dedicates enough Nodes to its matrix to acquire the "explosive" special it becomes an excellent weapon when conditions allow its use-that luxury is likely for subsequent playthroughs. You will now have the Plasma Cutter, the Line Gun, the Javelin Gun and the Pulse Rifle in your weapon slots. From now on you will have to make hard decisions on what to keep. I always favor the Plasma Cutter and the Line Gun over the other two because they will remain key weapons until the end of the game-the others won't. Use the SAVE STATION. Enter the "Concourse Mezzanine" elevator. As you exit shoot the lone Juvenile before it gets away. Grab the Text Log, "Titan Part 2" from near the "Bold Stylings" beauty parlor. Daina will fill you in about Nolan Stross's dark history. Follow the path to the "Unitilogy Resource Center" elevator. Grab the Text Log, "Altman's Footsteps" near the elevator. Hack the elevator for access. Note; If you dismember the spinning figurine near "Levitations" you can earn the "Lightspeed de Milo" trophy. Issac wonders: why the shady Unitology Recruitment Center? Daina assures him that a service conduit there will get him to waste disposal and closer to sanctuary. Take the elevator and take the Text Log, "Recruiting" from the desk in the short hallway. Turn right into the long corridor. An Exploder accompanied by a Slasher and several Juveniles will appear ahead near the large window. Shoot the window out and the area will depressurize. As you are pulled toward the vacuum, hit the symbol above the fractured glass to bring down the barrier. This will prevent your demise and using this tactic will only cost two rounds, and any ammo conservation may pay dividends down the road. You can also allow the Exploder and its entourage to approach rather than depressurizing the room, taking them out individually. A small pack of five Juveniles will, whether the room depressurizes or not, assault you in this area. If you quickly take refuge in the lounge on the right, you can channel their approach through the door. This is a good opportunity to try out the Pulse Rifle, but you can also just save ammo by punching them as they file through the narrow doorway. Thoroughly search the area to build up your stores and then take the path, which will take you into a duct, down a corridor, with several item crates to stomp,
and up two ramps and into the refuse system's "Control Room." Along the way a critically injured security officer will offer an instructional video on impalement. Interact with the refuse system's console to shut down the garbage compactor. If you use the WORKBENCH, remember to reserve a Power Node for locked storerooms. Having three Power Nodes, I spent one on the Rig for "Hit Points," which will allow you to take more damage, and one on "Damage" for the Plasma Cutter. This left me one Power Node in reserve. Use the SAVE STATION. Raid the locker, equip the Line Gun and exit the control room. A Puker will first appear as you start down the ramps. Fire a Line Gun energy grenade at its feet and then freeze it as it inhales to vomit on you. Back off. Both the Puker and the Slasher that follow it should perish in the explosion. Another Slasher will drop down and is closely followed by an Exploder. Quickly freeze the Slasher that appears or cripple it and then hit the explosive sack of the entering Exploder to finish the scuffle. Loot the corpses and the crate. Enter the "Zero G Garbage Compactor" enclosure. Use kinesis to grab the floating items and release your magnetic grip (press the left thumbstick to release or land in Zero G areas). Glide over to the control room on the opposite side of the chamber. Zero G areas can sometimes be disorienting, just press the right button to properly adjust to the environment. Use the control console to power up the sanitation system and then exit the control compartment. Release your magnetic grip and enter the brightly lit Zero G passage, avoiding the harmless debris as you boost your way toward the circulating fan. Turn right into the opening and exit into the "Cassini Towers Infrastructure." You are now in a poorly lit corridor with several crates to stomp. A lone Slasher will drop down near the locked storeroom ahead. This is a good opportunity to check out the Javelin Gun if you haven't already. Impale the Slasher and then electrify it to hopefully finish it off. Use a Power Node to access the storeroom. This room usually contains some credit chips and a random SEMICONDUCTOR as well as other welcome items. Limited inventory space will likely require you to make some difficult choices. If it comes to a Med Pack or ammo versus a Bronze Semiconductor; well unless I was replete with the other item, a Bronze Semiconductor is only worth 1,000 credits- so I'd take the item instead. Gotta' stay alive to spend it. I took the Medium Med Pack and left both the Bronze Semiconductor and 25 Pulse Rifle rounds behind. With the power out to the "Elevator to Cassini Towers," you must use kinesis to insert the Power Cell into the open slot on the right of the access door. Grab the POWER NODE as you exit the elevator. Enter the apartment block. A slithering mass of tiny crawling Necromorphs called a Swarm will emerge from the restroom of the first apartment on the left, and another Swarm and a Slasher, playing dead, infest the next apartment. If you purchased the Pulse Rifle a grenade from its alternate fire will easily dispose of these pesky Swarms. This tactic, however, will cost you 25 Pulse Rounds. The Line Gun's alternate fire mode will easily do the job as well and will only cost one round, but it must be properly placed and timed and its precious rounds have better uses. The Javelin Gun fired and electrified will cost two spears but may leave a few critters crawling to stomp. Wanting to conserve Line Gun ammo and with only 50 Pulse Rifle rounds available, I used the Javelin Gun and had to stomp a few Swarm creatures in the second apartment. Note: Grab the Text Log, "Sally 3" from the table in the first apartment. Note: Swarm creatures are small and a few can easily be shaken off. In large numbers, however, they can do substantial, even fatal, damage and you will be susceptible to attacks by other Necromorphs while in their grasp. While these vermin always erupt from ruptured Pregnants, they can also be encountered when none are around. Search the now vacate apartments and then return to the path. Nicole's apparition will try to elicit pity as you near the exit, but Isaac knows it's not Nicole, but is he really convinced that it isn't? Continue out of the apartment block and Isaac will inform Daina that he is being tracked by a Titan Gunship. She informs him that he isn't far from her position and must hurry to her location for sanctuary. Tread lightly because a lone Slasher will burst from the daycare placard as you enter the carpeted "East Wing." The path will guide you to another elevator. Look over the rail before boarding the elevator. There is a large lobby below with an expansive view through huge glass windows. Too bad these windows can't be shot out. When the time comes, and it will, don't waste your ammo trying. Take the elevator and use the nearby SAVE STATION. As you approach the low side of the large lobby, opposite the windows, an Infector lurks, and you must battle any Necromorphs that it raises. Equip the Line Gun. The first Infector will appear as you approach the first short stairwell going to the low area. As the Infector goes toward the corpse, hit it with a Line Gun grenade, killing it and its victim. This will have to be done quickly or the Infector will move along before the grenade does its work. A shot of stasis can help but isn't necessary if you're quick and the stasis is best reserved for the Pukers. A Puker or an Exploder, usually a Puker, will next appear in the Unitology Church doorway. Freeze and kill it with the Plasma Cutter or the Pulse Rifle. Another Puker will enter the fray. Freeze and kill it with the Plasma Cutter or the Pulse Rifle. A pair of Exploders will next emerge-use a burst from the Pulse Rifle to neutralize them. Quickly locate the other Infector in the upper area. Use another Line Gun grenade to take it and, hopefully, its victim out. If you have disposed of the Infectors cleanly you won't have to face the Slashers that a slow take down yields. The JAVELIN SPEARS SCHEMATIC lay in the windowed area. If you're not using the Javelin Gun, taking the schematic for its ammo isn't necessary. Its ammo just won't be available for purchase. I didn't have any free space, and, knowing it wasn't going to be an essential weapon, I didn't take it. Take the time to stomp the corpses and loot the area. If you're the cautious type, you can return to the nearby SAVE STATION before moving on. The recently closed shutters are now open, allowing you to go back. There are some tough foes before the next save station. Enter the "Church Of Unitology" and take the long dimly lit but Necromorph-free corridor into the high-vaulted chamber where Daina informs you that you are about to be apprehended by Tiedemann's security forces. Sprint to the exit avoiding the damaging glass shards raining into the room's center by staying close to the right wall. You will briefly go on oxygen as the roof is breached by the gunship. Note: If you need to visit the STORE, lay down a yellow path and enter the "Gift Shop," "Reading Room," "Acquisitions" doorway. Go up the stairs and into the "Gift Shop." There is a STORE, a WORKBENCH and a SAVE STATION in the shop. I will strongly advise a trip to this shop shortly to download a suit schematic. Upon exiting you can go left up the stairwell and into the "Reading Room" to get a POWER NODE. A Slasher will accost you after you acquire the Node. CHAPTER 4: LUNATIC-OLOGY <o004> Continue along the path into the "Unity Library" complex to find a room strewn with corpses. Loot the chamber, including the small niche where you will find the Audio Log, "Harsh Pressure." Take the stairs, onto the libraries curving balcony. An Infector is at work just ahead. Kill it and its victim with a Line Gun grenade before it can escape to infect additional corpses. If you act quickly you won't even need to use stasis. Below the balcony two more Infectors are at work. Descend and turn right to find an Infector at work. Expend another Line Gun grenade to kill it and its victim. Waste no time retreating back to the balcony. Your incursion will draw the enemy onto the stairwell, but their approach will now be channeled in the narrow aisle. Take out individual Slashers with the Plasma Cutter, the Javelin Gun or the Pulse Rifle. How many opponents you have will depend on the actions of the Infectors. If you took out the first two clean, this will be minimal. Regardless, the last Infector will soon be coming to call. Freeze it to take it down. Don't let your guard down when the scuffle seems to be over. Two or three Slashers and a Puker will attack as you descend to pilfer the premises. Take the central elevator and make your way through the doorways to the large "Indoctrinations" observation room. Grab all the scattered items, and check out the expansive view beyond the big fragile window. The destination door is not enabled, so you must enter the room across the chamber to restore it to service. Listen to the propaganda video of the Unitologists. These lunatics advocate convergence for all mankind, courtesy of the Marker. They are striving to make it happen. Enter the control room, and appropriate the items including the Text Log, "Recruit Test Results." Use kinesis to pull the cover from the diagram near the entry door. The blinking red symbol indicates a problem with the observation center door. A good fuse must be placed in the socket above it. Pull the cover from and then grab the "grip enabled" fuse from the panel near the seated corpse. Insert it in the upper right fuse slot in the panel. The door can now be seen and heard opening and closing rapidly. As you exit the room three Slashers will attack from near the windows. Shoot the glass behind them, sucking them out into the void. Just be sure to hit the symbol above it to prevent your own demise. If you hit the symbol too quickly, however, one of the Slashers may also survive. You can also take out each Slasher individually, without hitting the glass-a waste of ammo. Use stasis on the slamming doorway. As it slowly travels up, sprint through it. Try again if the timing isn't right. There is a Stasis Refill Station well positioned right next to the door. After Nicole's tirade-shut up Nicole!-loot both rooms and don't miss the SECURITY SUIT SCHEMATIC. Take it even if you must drop something precious to you. Visit the SAVE STATION. Enter the duct and emerge to a scary-did I imagine that-needle in the eye episode with an irate manifestation of Nicole. Hit the action button to remain intact. Take the POWER NODE from the desk. As you emerge from this area, you can make your way to the nearest store by backtracking through the Church by laying down a yellow pathway. This is highly recommended if you have the needed 20,000 credits. (I had 35,200) You must melee the two fuse blocks to access the locked doors. Just follow the yellow pathway- down the stairs and go through the "Gift Shop" entry. Go right into the small niche to get the Text Log, "Tour Staff." Continue up the stairs and into the Gift Shop to the STORE. Sell the SEMICONDUCTOR, if you have it, and download the SECURITY SUIT SCHMETATIC and the JAVELIN SPEARS SCHEMATIC. Purchase the Security Suit. It has 15 inventory slots, a 10% armor bonus and a 5% Pulse Rifle damage bonus. Another perk is that the new suit will max out both your health and stasis. I spent one Power Node at the nearby WORKBENCH, placing it on "Damage" for the Line Gun. If you went to the STORE, backtrack using the blue pathway; but first make a left as you exit the store's chamber and go up the stairs and into the "Reading Room," where you will find the Text Log, "Two Tines," another item and a POWER NODE. Watch out! A lone Slasher will drop down to pay its respects. Start back using the objective pathway, harvesting any items you didn't have room for earlier. Enter the high-vaulted "Basilica" where you will hear and get a brief glimpse of a Stalker. Loot the area and then take the elevator to the lower level. Lay a pathway and sprint along it until you reach a doorway that becomes disabled as you approach. This room is the domain of four Stalkers. They operate like a pack of Raptors, hunting you with stealth, cunning and a bit of patience. They even sound like the movie-versions of the voracious Cretaceous terrors. Try to confront them only when near the disabled doorway. The gated archways on either side are now closed but will open once the battle commences. The Stalkers will snarl but remain largely hidden until you provoke them into activity by advancing toward the central circle, below the skylight. Get back to the doorway without delay. You'll know they are sufficiently provoked if the side gates have opened. Once they begin to reveal themselves they will begin to charge straight in; or will, rarely, come in from the flanks via the now opened archways. You have four Stalkers to deal with. The optimal way with your current weapons is with the Pulse Rifle's alternate grenade attack. If you have 100 Pulse rounds and a Stasis Pack the task is quite easy. Let them charge, freeze them and take them out with the grenade. Its immediate effect trumps the Line Gun's timed grenade attack in this case, since they usually come out of stasis before the Line Gun grenade times out. Occasionally you can kill two with a single shot, if one is peeking around a corner at the right time. If you run out of Stasis you will have to place the grenade in their path as they charge. When a panicky Dania contacts you, the skirmish is over. She will direct you into the Church's burial chambers. Gather the booty and use the objective path to find the elevator. Hack its controls to gain access. There is a POWER NODE near the corpse to the left of the elevator. Continue along the path into the "Funerary Wing," looting the candlelit Necromorph-free corridors and then enter "Reunion Chapel." Advance slowly toward the Altar. A Swarm and then a pair of Slashers will emerge near it. Use stasis to freeze the Slashers, and then fire a grenade from the Line Gun into the mix. Finish off the Slashers if need be, and be aware that this Swarm will likely need further attention. I used the Javelin Gun to eliminate the surviving vermin, shooting a spear into their path, electrifying it and repeating it to eliminate this endless Swarm. Stomp the corpses and shake off any pesky Swarm creatures that refuse to die. You will find credit pick-ups near the altar. The corpse near the exit will arise as you approach it, so dismember it while it's still prone to eliminate it. Take the elevator and follow the path, unopposed, to a SAVE STATION. CHAPTER 5: BLOOD AND CRYPTS <c005> Enter the Crypts. There are no Necromorphs in the first crypt so just melee the wall containers for items as you go. Only a spooky hallucination will manifest itself in the second. Nothing happening in the third crypt, but you will find a Text Log, "Thawed Bodies" in the central corridor. A lone Puker will confront you in the fourth just around the first left turn. Freeze it and dismember it with the Plasma Cutter to avoid being fouled in the cozy corridor. Things will, however, get nasty in the fifth crypt. Allow your Stasis Mod to fully recharge before entering the fifth crypt. There are potentially six Necromorphs in the fifth crypt-four Slashers and two Pukers. A Slasher will first appear ahead as you make the first left turn. Try not to use excessive force by using the Line Gun too much on the Slashers, its ammo is better spent on tougher foes. Take the initial Slasher down as you back up and quickly look left toward your entry area. A Puker will emerge on your left flank. Use stasis on it and place a Line Gun grenade at its feet to kill it. Don't go for the Puker's drop yet. Two Slashers may or may not emerge here-there is no specific trigger point, but another Puker will be triggered as you make the left turn toward the door. Once again use stasis in the cramped quarters and then dismember it. The middle corpse near the exit is playing dead, and will charge if you don't deal with it first. Now, the crypt is cleared, so you can return to stomp the first Puker and collect the loot; but, if you didn't encounter the other two Slashers, exiting is the more prudent choice. They will attack from random locations if you stay in the crypt. Exit the Crypts to find yourself on a walkway above a spinning Gravity Generator. Grab the GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR from the central mechanism near the actuators. Take the cargo lift down and pick up the RIPPER SCHEMATIC, even if you have to throw away your last bullet. Grab the POWER NODE from near the console. Daina is adamant that you need to go up, so you must now lockdown the rotating artificial gravity rings to allow it. Hack the Gravity Generator's control panel to disable it and then use stasis to slow the spinning rings. Lock down the three rings, outer to inner, by pulling down on the overhead grip symbols when each ring aligns with the grip stations. Each of the three rings requires a restraint on opposite sides of the ring. If a ring isn't secured when the beeping timer times out you will just have to try again. When all the rings are secured it will stop and go dormant. You will be in Zero G. Refill your Stasis Mod and locate the large spinning blades above. Launch into Zero G. and quickly slow the spinning blades with a stasis shot. Boost past the blades. Coffins will periodically emerge from the rotating hatch. Get close and boost through it as a coffin just clears the hatch. Use kinesis to grab the MEDIUM MED PACK SCHEMATIC floating about. Land on the catwalk and use the console to restore gravity. Daina is very concerned about the lurking Gunship that is jamming her communication signal and urges you to hurry. Tiedemann's forces are in hot pursuit. Take the exit. At last-a STORE! Purchase the Security Suit-if you didn't backtrack earlier or didn't have the funds. Download the SCHEMATICS in your inventory and sell the GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR. Purchase the Ripper for 8,000 credits. This weapon will prove to be your most useful tool for close quarter combat for the balance of the game. Don't leave home without it. Remember to exchange one of your equipped weapons for the Ripper. I moved the Javelin Gun and its ammo since I had only a few spears for it and generally found it less useful than the Pulse Rifle. Assign the Ripper a permanent slot. It will still be there at the end of the game. You are now carrying the Plasma Cutter, the Ripper, the Line Gun and the Pulse Rifle. There is a WORKBENCH in the dark area and a credit pick-up. I had four Power Nodes and applied one to the Stasis Mod's matrix for "Duration." I also placed two on the Ripper's matrix, one to "Capacity" and one onto "Damage." This left one Power Node in reserve. Use kinesis to move the three suspended "grip enabled" coffins and use the SAVE STATION hidden behind them. Note: If you returned to the Store earlier, you will have placed a Node in the Line Gun for "Damage" and found an extra Node in the Reading Room. Line Gun upgrades from here on will reflect that. Climb into the duct and you will soon fall into a dark room. Search it thoroughly. You will find a 10,000 credit chip and, if you're lucky, some Ripper blades. Just outside this room you will find the LINE RACK SCHEMATIC, behind the high stack of bundled containers, as well as a few other items. You will hear the rasping calls of a pair of wall climbing Lurkers as you make the turn. Take off the tentacles they display to kill them. Don't hesitate to freeze them after they display the tentacles. They will shoot three punishing projectiles from those tentacles, and they are difficult to dodge, especially in the cramped corridor. Force them to come to you by ducking back around the corner. A lone Slasher will greet you near the incline. Note: Lurkers can be a pain. They are small, scurry about unpredictably, hide in dark areas and often come in groups or accompany more in-your-face types when necessity make them secondary targets. Their ranged projectile attack can be very damaging. Whenever possible, freeze them and aim for the area where the tentacles sprout from the tiny body for maximum effect. If you have the ammo a timed Line Gun grenade will vaporize a frozen Lurker and only cost a single round of ammo and the tactic will oftentimes take out more than one. Stomp the crates. Allowing your Stasis Mod to re-charge is also a good idea before continuing but isn't really essential. Enter the high vaulted chamber. A Tripod sporting a single golden orb on its flailing tentacle will attack and must be driven off. Hammer the glowing orb with the Plasma Cutter or the Pulse Rifle. The wounded Tripod will retreat and it's bellowing will summon a pack of about fifteen shrieking Juveniles. Equip the Ripper and retreat into the entry portal to meet the rush. Allow the fanatical pack to rush into the suspended blade as you rapidly sweep in back and forth in the narrow doorway. It will take two or three blades to accomplish the carnage, and if any Juveniles get past the deadly blade it will interrupt the devastation. Just back away and deploy another when you can. The fast firing Pulse Rifle is also a decent choice against the Juveniles, especially if you use the entry to channel their attack. A lone Slasher will come from the far side after the onslaught. Collect the bounty. Goodies should be scattered everywhere. Follow the path onto the balcony and an Exploder will emerge at the far end. A Slasher will drop in front of you and another behind. As you raid the corpses, a Puker will come around the corner ahead to be closely followed by another Slasher. Use stasis to quickly put down the Puker. Another Exploder will show up late if you linger in the area. In the next chamber a crippled Stalker will claw toward you as you enter the broad hallway; and, if you exited before the last Exploder made its appearance in the previous room, it will show up now. After Nicole's ravings in the high-vaulted rotunda, the elevator will be enabled. Take it to the top of the church, but a Slasher will drop into the elevator after Daina's communication. Shred it into Necroburger with your Ripper. Grab the pick-ups in the observation room, including the DETONATOR SCHEMATIC- don't miss it-and the POWER NODE in the alcove where you will also find a SAVE STATION. Equip the Plasma Cutter or the Pulse rifle and make your way to Daina. If you have a full clip-at least 50 rounds-the fast-firing Pulse Rifle is your best choice. When you reach Daina, her henchmen will immediately seize you. She is a Unitology fanatic and means to use the codes stored in your brain to create Markers. She is at odds with Tiedemann, but she has an even more sinister goal- the convergence of the entire galaxy-a pretty tall order for someone about to die badly. When the gunship fractures the window, everyone is sucked toward the vacuum. Hit the action button to prevent your own demise and you will grasp a hatch and will then tumble through a system of ducts only to be seized by a raging Brute. You must now substantially damage its ragged weak spot to be released. All this happens while you are upside down, between intermittent cut scenes when you cannot fire your weapon. Whenever your weapon is enabled hit it or you're the Brute's lunch. Once the creature is sufficiently damaged, you will be tossed aside, but the Brute will again pursue you. Don't fire at it. Turn and immediately run toward the closed door, quickly use kinesis on the grip symbol and sprint through the door. You will both be sucked out into space when the Gunship destroys the window-no breach symbol this time. In the silence of space you will be pushed against a piece of debris and the raging Brute is still trying to seize you. Target any of the red explosive canisters floating about and you will be propelled back into the Sprawl. If you die, the checkpoint will allow you to retry from when the Brute releases you. CHAPTER 6: WHAT'S A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOIN'. . .? <c006> A panicky Stross will ramble, but will inform Isaac that he has been manipulated and is largely responsible for creating the Marker, but he also has the capability of destroying it. This tirade gives substance to the late Daina's recent revelations. Stross says that the Marker is housed in the Sprawl's Government Sector but time isn't on Isaac's side. He must get there before it's too late. You now find yourself in a candlelit corridor. Don't take the path until you loot the two small apartments. Be sure to grab the POWER NODE from the dresser. Ransack the next area and use the SAVE STATION in the laundry room. Go through the unlocked doorway opposite the laundry room and onto the overlook. Take the SEEKER RIFLE SCHEMATIC and the other random item. Below you can see some Divider Spawn cavorted about in the spacious lobby. Return to the path and loot your way through the two open apartments and the storage room. Take the elevator in the candlelit corridor after Stross once again rants about the "machine," the "sessions," and the "steps." You will learn that Tiedemann has begun to withdraw his forces with his "Operation Endgame" plan now in effect. He has contingencies in place for his lost assets-Isaac and Stross. Use the well-placed SAVE STATION and as you make the turn into the large lobby. A gangly Pregnant will attack from well ahead. Take off its lower limbs with the Line Gun, while trying to miss its torso, and then take off an upper limb with a Plasma round to kill it. Hit the bulging torso and it will release a Swarm, greatly complicating the skirmish as they swarm onto you, hampering your movement and slowly but steadily draining your health bar. Killing the Pregnants without releasing the pestiferous Swarm is the key to surviving this area. Turn around. Another Pregnant will come from the opposite direction-treat it the same way, but don't take too long because half a dozen Leapers loiter in this area and will start attacking one or two at a time. Before you are surrounded by Leapers rush back to the save station where you entered the area and put your back to the wall in the short corridor opposite it. Use stasis and the Ripper to tackle them in the corridor where you can't easily be surrounded. They will show why they are called Leapers as the two- legged terrors leap at you, attempting to claw and bite you to death and slashing with their tail claws. By staying in the side corridor, looking toward the save station, they won't be able to leap onto you as easily. One may not take the bait so be aware as you move back into the broad lobby. Another Pregnant will arrive late-you know the drill. You can kill a Leaper by taking off its low-slung front limbs or by taking off a leg and its slashing tail. Stomp the numerous corpses for their drops. You can stomp a dead Pregnant without releasing a Swarm. Use the STORE, to the right of the path where the corridor splits. Download the LINE RACK SCHEMATIC, the SEEKER RIFLE SCHEMATIC and the DETONATOR SCHEMATIC. Purchase the Detonator and retrieve any items from the battle you didn't have room for. Put the Pulse Rifle or the Javelin Gun, whichever you are carrying, in the safe and replace it with the Detonator. Keep the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Plasma Cutter or if Plasma Energy is short, take the Pulse Rifle instead. The Detonator is an excellent weapon, and by carrying it, the game is much more likely to provide mines as random pick-ups. The game usually provides ample mine pick-ups. Enter the "Public Areas and Transport Hub" and you will hear the deep grunting of a Cyst. These disgusting little Necromorphs plant themselves on any available surface and will blast a nasty stream of very damaging acid on anyone intruding into their space. Pop the first Cyst. Always stay to the side or well away from Cysts as you kill them, the spray will burst out for a fair distance. Continue into the long hallway. You will hear the grunting of more Cysts. Take out the first four, two on each side of the corridor and then advance a bit. You can use available environmental objects against them-rods, crates, legs from deceased security guards, etc. to save on ammo. Hit the one on the floor, dead ahead. A crippled Slasher will then appear ahead. There is another Cyst on the floor in the alcove near the SAVE STATION and another, dead ahead on the floor near the locked doorway. Use a Power Node to open the Secure Storage room. It contains one or two random SEMICONDUCTORS and sometimes one is a RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR-a 10,000 credit windfall. Several other items are also scattered about-hopefully some mines for the Detonator. Use the WORKBENCH. I placed one of my two Nodes in the Line Gun matrix, upgrading the upper "Capacity" slot. Since the Semiconductor is taking a slot, use the yellow locator path to backtrack to the STORE to unload it-or not. Use the blue path to find your way back if you do so. Whenever you backtrack through a previously cleared area it will remain safe. Use the SAVE STATION and continue on into the "Hyperion Hall Apartments." The area has suffered severe damage and you are now in a Zero G area but one with atmosphere and there is a fire raging. You cannot continue until you douse the flames, since there is no alternate route. There are three atmospheric O2 generators in this area and you must disable all three to deprive the blaze and yourself of oxygen. From the entry area, as you face the fire, look up. There is an O2 generator, identified by the horizontal blue bar, overhead, just to the right of the overhead blaze. Remember to avoid contacting any active flame. Release your magnetic hold and boost up to it. Use kinesis while hovering to pull off the cover plate and then pull out the Power Cell. Use kinesis to grab the two floating item crates and propel them against a hard surface. Retrieve the items with kinesis-you will frequently acquire Detonator mines. Pull the ground level O2 generator's cover, pull the Power Cell out and stash it in the entry so it can't float away. Pull the Cell from the other O2 generator to deprive the fire and yourself, for a few seconds, of oxygen. Replace it to restore the O2 once the fire dies. Grab the Power Cell you stashed and place it in the threshold ahead, where the fire was. A pair of Lurkers will confront you as you enter the dark passage around the corner. Freeze the little nuisances and shoot off their tentacles to kill them. The Line Gun will take out the pesky Necromorphs with a single shot if they are aligned vertically, but a grenade will also do the job if they are placed in stasis and it will likely get both Lurkers in the narrow corridor. Loot their corpses and take the Power Cell along into the next area. Grab the Med Pack and replace the dead Cell. Allow your stasis to at least partially recharge and be prepared for a Puker as you open the "Maintenance Elevator." Hit it with stasis before it can foul you and then take it out with the Ripper. Step back to avoid its "pukey" death gurgle. An apprehensive Stross will again contact Isaac with his "steps" and "crawl into the dark machine" rhetoric. Grab the POWER NODE from the wall unit and the item. Use the SAVE STATION. Melee the fuse block near the hatch and enter the "Concourse Supply Storage" area. The large storage warehouse is filled with cargo containers and the distinctive sound of Stalkers. Grab the Detonator mines near the entry. Equip the Detonator and run to your right, past the Stasis Refill Station and then go left past two cargo containers to position yourself near the line of storage lockers. Immediately place a mine so that the tripwire goes horizontally between the containers ahead and another mine to cover your right flank. The six Stalkers will waste little time attacking at this deep incursion into their realm. They will come at you, one at a time, charging into the mines. The blast normally kills them outright. Immediately re-deploy your mine as each Stalker goes down. Occasionally a Stalker will only be crippled so hit it with stasis, re-deploy and then rip it to pieces as it claws its way to you. If you run out of mines or you don't have time to re-deploy, stasis and the Line Gun or the Ripper are your best defense. Ransack the areas many lockers and crates and stomp the corpses. You must now hack the "Maintenance Access to Concourse," doorway. As you traverse the misty corridors and ramps, Stross will talk about his "crawl into the dark machine" and the "screws going tight all around," nightmares. As you enter the large Concourse, enjoy Ellie's bravado as see taunts the numerous Necromorphs attacking her, but make sure you kill the Leaper that attacks you near the center of the concourse. Her humorous outburst is reminiscent of Ripley's assault on the Alien Hive. "Come on, come on you mother----ers!! This is the last stand! You like that! Come on, come un' get it. What, what, I'm still here! You want a piece of me. I'm still standing, you pieces of sh..! Ah, but you may now be the target of the brazen lass, so talk to her to ease her fears and to avoid being killed by one of the Sprawl's few human survivors. She will unlock the gate but warns you not to follow her, even though both of you have the same destination-the Government Sector. This won't be the last you see of Ellie. Grab the PULSE ROUNDS SCHEMATIC before taking Ellie's Ellie-vator, ha, ha. Destroy the two Cysts on either side of the elevator. Use the STORE to the left of the elevator to download the PULSE ROUND SCHEMATIC and then save your progress at the nearby SAVE STATION. A Spitter and a Pregnant will attack as you advance from the save station. As they come from the far end, deploy a mine ahead of them. A well placed mine may eliminate them both, but the Pregnant or perhaps just its Swarm may survive. Finish off anything surviving the mines. Take out the grunting Cyst on the floor to the left of the railing and another farther ahead on the left wall. Grab the POWER NODE from the entrance to "Fashion Kid," and then take out the Cyst on the ceiling near the two long narrow signs before advancing. As you advance past the "Fashion Kid" entry, a Spitter and a Puker will appear ahead. When you see them, hit the aggressive Spitter with stasis and place a mine in its path and then quickly retreat out of range of the Puker. Place one in the path of the Puker or use the Plasma Cutter or the Line Gun to kill it. Another Spitter and a Puker will attack from behind as you pass "Trixies." Freeze the Spitter to prevent taking damage and place a Line Gun grenade in front of it. Duck into the small alcove. With a little luck the slower moving Puker will advance and be taken out with the Spitter. If not use the cover of the corner to eliminate it. Take out the Cyst near the "Titan Station Elementary" portal and the one high and to its right. Return to the STORE and exchange the Detonator for the Pulse Rifle and its ammo. If you're short on Pulse Rifle rounds, you will need to take extra Plasma Energy. This will allow your Stasis Mod some recharging time as well. Use the SAVE STATION again. You should now have the Line Gun, the Plasma Cutter, the Ripper and the Pulse Rifle. Enter the "Titan Station Elementary" and appropriate any items in the room to the sounds of a nursery. As you make your way, watch the Crawler go to momma and then explode-be forewarned. Enter the "Daycare Center" room 305, every room seems to be 305 in the Elementary, and use kinesis to move the cribs cluttering the floor ahead. Six or seven Crawlers will soon enter the room using the door or via the hole in the wall. Use the Pulse Rifle to take them out to economize on Plasma Energy. Another group of five or six Crawlers will come into the next room. This is close in, so retreat to nail them as they come for you through the door. Try to hit groups to save ammo. Beware of one dawdling Crawler wiping up the rear as you re-enter the next room. Move along into "Nurse John Jones office," also 305, and then use the SAVE STATION. The wall containers always contain Med packs so don't miss them. There is also a Text Log, "School Nurse Report 8022" on the desktop. After the migraine moment in the adjacent hallway, enter the next 305. This time it's the gym/theater. Address the initial rush of three Juveniles with the Pulse Rifle or melee blows. Equip the Ripper and follow the path under the bleachers. Freeze and kill the dark Super Puker as you near the right turn. Note: Enhanced variants of the Necromorphs will now begin to frequently show up among the enemies' ranks. The Super Puker is a tougher breed than the standard Puker, and their ranged attack definitely makes them a high priority target. If possible, always use a stasis shot on them, and if you kill them close up, step back to avoid their acidic death gurgle. Continue around the stage, past the falling star and then on to the control console, grabbing any items along the way. Bring the stasis canister along and then hack the console to lower the props and tables. Be prepared for the onslaught of a pack of about fifteen screeching Juveniles with several Crawlers mixed in among them. They will straggle in from above the bleachers on the opposite side of the gym. Let the first group cross the gym and use the stasis canister on those coming off the bleachers behind. Begin picking off the nearest ones with the Pulse Rifle while remaining near the hacked console. Watch for the sneaky little Crawlers that will be trundling toward you. Hit them before they get close to help thin out the pack. If you run out of Pulse Rifle ammo, switch to the Ripper. Even before the large pack of Juveniles is eliminated, an Infector may approach or will begin to infect corpses. If it does manage to raise corpses you will encounter your first dark Super Slashers. You may encounter as many as three if the Infector does its worst-or none at all. Use stasis and the Ripper to put down these tough Necromorphs if they apear. Ransack the area and the numerous cadavers. If you have no room for pick-ups you can backtrack, without opposition, to the nearest STORE by laying down a yellow path. You can then return to the gym and take any items you couldn't carry earlier. Keep your slotted weapons-the Ripper, the Line Gun, the Plasma Cutter and the Pulse Rifle. If you haven't got around 100 rounds for the Pulse Rifle, take the Detonator instead. The pick-ups between now and when you'll next need the Pulse Rifle are plentiful but random. Exit the gym/theater and follow the path. You can now enter the classroom on the right, with the large window, for a couple of items, including the FLAMETHROWER SCHEMATIC, found in the back room and the Text Log, "Kids Gone Crazy" on the desktop. In the next 305 the "Playground" room you will have another contentious encounter with the Nicole apparition. Grab the POWER NODE from the colorful rocket near the merry-go-round. Exit and take the "Transport Hub" elevator. Ellie will contact you as you use the elevator. She has found Stross. He seems "twitchy" she days and she doesn't trust him; but Isaac believes he needs him for his information, so he urges Ellie to resist killing him. Everyone is now heading for the "Transport Hub." Continue on after the rather lengthy elevator ride, and loot your way to the nearby SAVE STATION. Enter the spacious "Transport Hub." Ellie and Stross are on the upper level, you the lower. Locate the stasis canister near the C E C doorway while you learn that Ellie also worked for C E C and that the horror for her started in the adjacent C E C facility. Isaac gets labeled a nerd. Use this calm time to scavenge. It's likely you'll get extra Pulse Rifle rounds if you're carrying the weapon. Tiedemannn suddenly kills the power in the hub, taking out life support and transportation to prevent his last runners-Isaac and Stross-from getting anywhere near the Government Sector and his precious Marker. Suddenly as Ellie begins battling Necromorphs on the upper walkway, a Brute pays you a call, coming down near the large red "TRANSPORT HUB" sign. Use stasis to slow it down. The canister you identified earlier will give you an extra shot. You will now have to shoot off both of its arms and it will take a couple of additional stasis shots and about 75 to 100 Pulse Rifle rounds to accomplish the trick. Keeping mobile is also helpful, since any momentum it has when you re- freeze it may allow it to ram you with force. If you're willing to expend a Med Pack or two you can use stasis, get in close and apply the Ripper, freezing it again as it breaks free-it's a bit risky but it can work. Be forewarned; once it's crippled, it can shoot a deadly boulder-like fireball at you. Take the valuable RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR when it dies. You must now get to and activate the mothballed Solar Array to restore power to life support and transportation. Ellie will open the collector panels and try to keep Stross alive and in check. Ransack the large area, though your inventory will likely make you make prudent decisions. Upon exiting you will find several more crates. Exit the Hub, smash the crates and toss some debris into the two security lasers blocking your passage. Peek around the corner. A watchful Guardian lies just ahead. Use the Line Gun's alternate fire to place a grenade at its feet. A single well placed round should take it out. Eliminate any pods that it has slung and grab its GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR. Don't even try to sneak past. It will have your head even when placed in stasis. CHAPTER 7: ARRAY OF HOPE! <c007> Take the "Solar Array Elevator." Stross' noisy ravings have Ellie scared that he will compromise their position. Near the WORKBENCH a Leaper will charge and a crippled Puker will attack from the other side of the chamber. Use stasis on the Leaper and then the Ripper. Take advantage of the central mechanism to hit the crippled Puker with stasis from cover so you don't take any unnecessary damage. Then dismember it. Download the FLAMETHROWER SCHEMATIC and sell your RUBY and GOLD SEMICONDUCTORS at the STORE. Try to free up some inventory slots. A Ruby Semiconductor sells for 10,000 credits so your credit supply is growing. Soon it will be time to think about purchasing some Power Nodes. Note that at the WORKBENCH the ability to "respec" is now unlocked. For 5,000 credits you can remove installed Nodes and reallocate them. With four Nodes in stock I allocated one to "Capacity" on the Plasma Cutter, and two to the Stasis Mod's Matrix-a "Connecting" space and "Duration," leaving one in reserve. Use the SAVE STATION. You should still be carrying the Ripper, the Line Gun, the Plasma Cutter and the Pulse Rifle. Only take the Pulse Rifle if you have at least 100 rounds. I had 116 and took it. If its ammo is short of that, take sufficient Plasma Energy. Head for the hatch "To Solar Array Elevator," but pause and kill the corpse feigning death near the exit. A couple of Swarm creatures will emerge from its corpse-freeze and stomp them. Go down the ramps only to find that the "Solar Array Elevator" isn't operational. Its docking pod has collapsed to the bottom of the shaft. Start out, following the path, to fix it via the "Elevator Maintenance Bay." You will now be in Zero G but will still have atmosphere. Shoot the red thrust canister with the Pulse Rifle, as prompted, to move the large hunk of debris out of the way. Stay out of the thrust plume. Lift off the catwalk and go down to the platform below. Grab the RIPPER BLADES SCHEMATIC and any other items scattered about the walkway. There will also be a couple of crates and a few loose items floating about. Locate the two thrust canisters on the octagonal elevator above and hit each with a shot to get it moving upwards. Your locator will now point the way back into the facility. Before thrusting up, thrust down to get the POWER NODE at the bottom of the shaft. Thrust up and head for the repaired elevator. You will hear the snarl of a lone Leaper and it will confront you as you approach the elevator. Note: You can backtrack without opposition to the nearby STORE to offload the RIPPER BLADES SCHEMATIC if so inclined to free up inventory space and to save your progress. Board the repaired "Solar Array Elevator" and activate it. Stand in the central octagon. As you go up, Tripod's will attempt to get into the cab. It will slow and you will go on O2 briefly. Shoot the glowing parts of their tentacles with the Pulse Rifle or the Plasma Cutter. Each spot destroyed will yield an item drop, so hammer them to drive them off and for the loot. The Tripods will change sides and then come in pairs, but their ranged slashing attacks are easily survivable if you maintain your position in the center. When the attacks stop, gather the bounty. Move out of the lift and go counterclockwise on the circling catwalk. Retrieve the red explosive canister with kinesis and propel it into the recess to kill the two Cysts grunting near the item lockers. Raid the lockers to acquire the FORCE GUN SCHEMATIC and other items. Continue around, past the target doorway, and use the explosive canister to take down the two Cysts before raiding those lockers. Knock out the Cyst above the exit door, staying to the side to avoid its noxious spray. A small Swarm will perish as you enter the domain of the late watchman, Howard Phillips. Kill the Cyst in the STORE area and download the FORCE GUN SCHEMATIC and the RIPPER BLADE SCHEMATIC if you didn't do so earlier. Purchase the Force Gun (11,000 credits) and fine-tune your inventory. Grab the other items, including a POWER NODE from the left side of the store. Replace the Pulse Rifle with the Force Gun. You will now be carrying the Plasma Cutter, the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Force Gun. The holographic image informed you upon entry that access to the "Main Array Access" complex requires Howard Phillip's authorization. Go to the far end and retrieve Howard's corpse from his bedroom. Take the Text Log, "Personal Log: Howard Phillips (1)" from the bedside table and the other item in the bedroom. Use kinesis to tote him to the "Main Array Access" doorway. Howard is scanned and the holographic voice announces acceptance. Use the SAVE STATION, open the gate and tote Howard's corpse in with you-you ain't done with the poor ole fella yet. Howard can again provide further access into the facility. Use kinesis to propel Howard into the obstructing lasers and then pieces of him into the remaining laser barriers. You can also just use other debris despite the holograms insistence that you need Howard's authorization. Grab the POWER NODE and raid the area before going into the next chamber. In the next area a crippled Slasher will crawl towards you. Take off its front limbs to kill it. The cargo lift on your left, however, isn't working. Equip the Force Gun and move ahead only to be trapped by parallel laser barriers. Allow the charging Leaper to trigger the laser fields. The glass window blows out, depressurizing the chamber. Shoot the triangular symbol to bring down the blast barrier and prevent your demise. This is made easy by the wide beam of the Force Gun. Mop up the five or six Crawlers and the Leaper if it somehow managed to survive the depressurization. You must now restore power to the lift. Enter the "Power Grid Room," raid the room. There is a Text Log, "Personal Log: Howard Phillips (2)" in one of the lockers. Hack the control station. Grab the stasis canister and exit. A Leaper will attack from ahead. Use the stasis canister and then shred the Leaper. Grab the other stasis canister and move forward. A Slasher will climb up through a floor vent. Use the stasis canister and the Ripper and turn to take out another Slasher coming from near the control room. Raid the corpses and board the lift. Another Slasher will swipe at you and will attack once you get off. Exit the elevator, run toward the workbench and turn around. Grab the rod lying there and save a few rounds of ammo by impaling the Slasher. Don't worry about the Leaper flashing past outside the window. There is a WORKBENCH here if you have spare Nodes. I had four and upgraded the Stasis matrix with a "Connecting" space, one in "Energy" and one in "Charge." Move around the catwalk, slide the hatch aside with kinesis and pull the walkway down. Shoot or toss something into the laser barrier and continue, turning left toward the lockers. Another laser barrier will activate. Use kinesis to grab the crate at the opposite end and fire it through the beam. Raid the lockers, which will yield another POWER NODE and other items. Waste the Slasher leaping from the vent before the doorway as you head for the SAVE STATION. Enter the dark corridor and security will evacuate the atmosphere upon your unauthorized intrusion. Advance to lure the two Stalkers into attacking and then back off, hit it with stasis and shred it with the Ripper. A second crippled Stalker will claw toward you as you dispatch the first. Quickly hack the control station in the rear area to restore the atmosphere, and then loot the item lockers and the corpses. Enter the "Computer Mainframe Access" chamber. As an unauthorized visitor, security, prompted by Tiedemann, will lock down the Mainframe and the Solar Array. You must now release the lockdown by disabling the computer. Grab the pick-ups and enter the lighted control area. The normal access doors on either side are now locked. Use kinesis to remove the cover plate from the maintenance access duct in the center of the room and then crawl into the duct to access the right terminal room. Equip the Force Gun and pull the cover plates. A small Swarm will come from inside the right cover plate. Use the Force Gun to neutralize them. On the right side of the room, as you face the fuse panels, there is a fuse
diagram on the floor. Pull the fuses from the left side and arrange them to match the diagram's configuration. When properly positioned they will glow green and a console will rise where the diagram was. Deactivate the station. The Mainframe's electrical shield is now disabled. Crawl back through the duct and use the control station to reroute the duct to access the left terminal room. Crawl through the duct. After you remove the cover plates, a Super Slasher will join you. Hit it with stasis and shred it with the Ripper. Unless you encountered a Super Slasher in the gym of the "Elementary," this will likely be your first. This dark creature's necrotic state has progressed, making it a much tougher version of the more human-like Slasher. You will now begin to encounter these enhanced Slashers quite frequently. Use stasis on these tough foes to make your life easier whenever possible. Follow the diagram on the left side of the room to reposition the four fuses. When the console pops up, deactivate it. Before the shutters close you will see a Slasher outside. Mainframe containment is now compromised. You will see a diagram to the right of the exit hatch that doesn't match the repositioned fuses. With containment already compromised, reposition the four fuse blocks to match the new configuration. The fuses will display blue and a reroute station will now be available on the diagram's panel. Reroute the hatch and crawl into the small chamber. Inside there are two POWER NODES, a random SEMICONDUCTOR, oftentimes a Ruby, as well as other items. There is also a small statue called the Peng. Picking it up allows you to garner the Peng Trophy. Exit via the duct and you will find yourself back in the terminal room. Reroute the duct and crawl through to the exit. Take down the charging Super Slasher and the Slasher that follows it with the Ripper. Stay in the control room and let them come to you. Step forward until the five fragile computer circuit cores rise up. Step back into the control room and shoot the two circuits on the left. A lone Slasher will charge from the left. Shoot two circuits on the right to trigger a Slasher from the right side. Shoot the last circuit. When the Mainframe is locked out and off line, follow the path to the "Solar Array Control Pod" access hatch. After being startled by the harmless corpse dropping onto you, Ellie will come on line. Nolan Stross is getting progressively worse and is now in a panicked state. Four skittering Divider Spawn will come at you one at a time. The Force Gun will easily neutralize the pesky Necromorphs. Just stay near the back area until they are all down. Take out the Cyst on the floor ahead and the one near the item locker in the left corner. Another Cyst guards the exit hatch. Save some Plasma rounds by launching the scattered item crates into the Cysts. Exit and you will see three Lurkers scramble below. A Super Slasher will come over the rail ahead and charge. A Leaper will be close on its heels and the three Lurkers will follow. The Lurkers can be hard to keep track of and hard to hit as they skitter about, climbing walls and over ceilings. If you still have stasis, don't hesitate to use it on them. Since it takes a well-aimed Line Gun round to sever the three tentacles, consider using a timed Line Gun grenade against the frozen pests. The grenade will adhere to walls or ceilings and is a one shot kill and will oftentimes eliminate two. Stomp the corpses and go past the objective hatch toward the save station. As you attempt to access the nearby storeroom with a Power Node, a Leaper will attack you from behind, coming from the direction where you entered. Rip it to shreds. Inside the storeroom is the CONTACT BEAM SCHEMATIC-don't miss it. There may also be a random SEMICONDUCTOR among the other items. The last Text Log of Howard Phillips is also in the room, "Personal Log: Howard Phillips (3)." Use the SAVE STATION. Hack the "Solar Array Control Pod" hatch, and make your way through the long airlock into the lift. After Nicole's ramblings, activate the lift. Exit into the void-Zero G with no atmosphere. Closely monitor your O2 level. The locale, however, provides several well-placed O2 Re-fill Stations. Immediately use your locater to highlight the route to the mirror assembly dead ahead. Release and boost to it, using the action button to take control of the mirror panel's superstructure. You will be looking through a glass similar to a windshield. Use the right thumbstick to move the mirror array to the right and up so that the bright beam of light hits the central collector and is centered on the "windshield." You will be released from the panel. You now have another mirror array to align but a large Blob Necromorph will prevent you from easily accessing it. There are several O2 Stations on the catwalk below so determine the next array to be aligned with your locator and take notice of the huge Blob pulsing on the outside of the catwalk below and to the right. The Blob will brandish three glowing tentacles and will shoot projectiles at you if you get near it or go for the last array while it stands guard. So boost down to the catwalk on the left, staying away from it while you top off your O2. Raid the crates. Boost over to the O2 station near the Blob, staying below the level of the catwalk before rising up to land on the "rocky" area just past the catwalk's end and close to the nesting Blob. It cannot hit you there. Boost upward a short distance to draw out its tentacles and put them in stasis. Use the Line Gun to park a grenade on it to take out all three orbs. Use your locator to find the last defective array and use kinesis to grab the glowing blue item floating near its support structure. It's the RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR released by the dead Blob. Top off your O2 and boost to the control station. Guide its mirrors to align, using the right thumbstick. Go left and down to align it with the collector. Use the locator to find your way back into the facility and to re-enter the control area. Ellie contacts you urging you to hurry, but you can return to the catwalk before exiting to check out the numerous scattered crates anyway. With Ellie's new intel on the massive influx of Necromorphs, access to the Government Sector seems to be in jeopardy. Necromorphs are rampaging-oh really- and movement is rapidly becoming impossible. You must now get into the escape pod to get back into the Sprawl. You are launched into space and there is a lot of debris to dodge, so don't boost during the fall. As soon as you gain control, veer hard right, steering with the left thumbstick to dodge the first obstacle, then immediately veer left to dodge the next two. A large demolished structure must be dodged by again veering hard to the right. The next obstacle cannot be dodged. It is a long hollow pipe that you must fly through by orienting yourself to the opening. After clearing it steer a bit down into the glowing green opening of the large fragment of a concrete structure. You will pass through a doorway. When clear of it, veer hard right to clear the last of the large debris. Now just aim for the light, which is a hatch into the complex ahead. You will crash through a conduit and then you are back in the complex. Before raiding the many containers, visit the STORE to download the CONTACT BEAM SCHEMATIC. Sell your SEMICONDUCTORS and the Peng Statue for 10,000 credits and to free up some inventory space. The Contact Beam is now available for purchase. Purchase it but place it back into your safe for now. Take the Detonator along into the coming skirmish. Since there is a STORE just beyond the next chamber to re-structure your weapons, take your Force Gun, the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Detonator into the battle. Now raid the item containers. With the Detonator and the Force Gun in weapon slots, you may get lucky and get some additional ammo for them. Note: What to expect in the coming battle? Ellie and Stross are just ahead in the "Transport Hub" but they are on the upper level. The Hub is large and Ellie is trying to get the C E C door open for you. Complicating the situation is the fact that Necromorphs of many types will pour in after you enter and during that time the Hub will decompress. There is no end of the enemy, so just keep them at bay until Ellie can open the door. Then get out as the door seals them in. Grab what you can, but don't leave the doorway. Enter the "Transport Hub" and immediately make for the hatch with C E C on it. Juveniles will first enter the fray. Let them get over half way and waste them with blasts of the Force Gun. When they stop, begin deploying mines in front, spacing them out, mostly toward the center and the right side. Few Necromorphs will come from the left side. Leapers, Slashers and Pukers will pour in with an occasional Juvenile in the mix. Switch to the Ripper if they get close and re- deploy mines whenever you have the time. Timely stasis shots will also help keep ranged attackers like Pukers at bay. The Force Gun can also help push groups away to gain space. Snatch anything near you but duck through the C E C hatch as soon as Ellie gets it opened. It will seal them in. Activate the console to release the next hatch after Ellie's distressing account of her morning. Only a short time before her friends and co-workers were infected, and she had to kill them, mutilate them just to stay alive, and now she is back where it all began. She will send you new coordinates to follow to the main facilities central hub. CHAPTER 8: NO PRESSURE <c008> Follow the path into the "C E C Main Facility Entrance." Take notice of the new- look item containers. Go into the C E C facility and use the STORE to select your weapons. I swapped the Force Gun for the Plasma Cutter, keeping the Ripper, the Line Gun and the Detonator. Grab the Audio Log, "Ellie's Story (1)" from the chamber. Use the SAVE STATION. Enter the "Administration Entrance" hatch and take the POWER NODE from the right wall and the other items. Enter the "Operations Control Room" and you'll see an Infector and other Necromorphs through the window. Quickly place a couple of mines near the windows ahead. Equip the Ripper and stay near the locked storage room. As you attempt to use a Power Node on the locked storeroom, a Slasher will drop down virtually on your head. Have the Ripper ready. The first Slasher won't survive the mines, but a Super Slasher will, and will come at you and then another Super Slasher right after it. Use stasis and the Ripper to survive the onslaught. Open the Secure Storage room and grab the POWER NODE the VINTAGE SUIT SCHEMATIC and the RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR. (Sometimes this room has one Node, sometimes two, sometimes none-I got one) Harvest the items and return to the STORE, use the yellow path, to download the VINTAGE SUIT SCHEMATIC. Buy it. It has 20 inventory slots, a 15% armor increase and allows a 10% discount on store purchases. It costs 40,000 credits. Consider purchasing a few Power Nodes if you have surplus Credits. The next suit upgrade is several chapters away. I had 79,900 credits and purchased six Power Nodes at 10,000 credits each. If you have surplus ammo, unlikely on "Normal," or ammo for weapons you're not using, you can sell it as well to raise funds. Use the SAVE STATION again. Return to the "Control Room" and get any items that you had to leave in the "Secure Storage Room." Move on into the "Break Room." A Pregnant will greet you at the corner, freeze it, turn the other way and when the Slasher drops down, kill it with the Ripper. Carefully take down the Pregnant-freeze it again if necessary. If a Swarm emerges, hit it with a mine. Loot the corpses and the container and pick up the Audio Log, "Ellie's Story (2)" from the floor. Enter the "Records Room" and an Infector scurries away. Grab the POWER NODE on the left wall and after Nicole's harangue, pass through the dark corridor, across the catwalk and into "Fuel Processing Control." Ellie and Stross are in the next room but, naturally, the door lock is fused and Isaac will have to take a route through the processing plants "Pressure Control" area to reach them. Raid the lockers and then use the SAVE STATION near the exit that Ellie forces open. Grab the DETONATOR ROUNDS SCHEMATIC, near the corpse. When the machinery starts, deploy a couple of mines near the stairwell ahead and one on the solid metal flooring in the side passage to your right, where you entered. This should adequately cover your right flank. Advance toward the stairwell to draw the enemy out and then retreat. A Super Slasher will trigger the mines. Take it out with the Ripper, if it somehow survived the mines, and the Slasher following it. A Puker will next appear. Freeze it and take it down. The mine will take down the lone Slasher coming in on your right flank. There is a WORKBENCH near the actuators below the catwalk. Continue through the circular hatch into the Zero G area. Ellie's manipulation of the fuel processing equipment has caused the large pressure valves to cycle closed. You must now find a way to open them. Grab the thrust canister near the pivoting valve and place it at the top or bottom of the valve. It will adhere when in the correct place. Shoot the canister and then thrust into the large chamber beyond. Stay out of the canisters plume. It will damage you. Don't waste ammo on the floating crates. Use kinesis to propel them against the walls and kinesis to grab their contents. As you round the bend following the objective path, Tiedemann has the processing machinery activated and locked on, blocking you in. Locate the floating corpse just beyond the spinning vertical blades and thrust carefully toward it past the first set of spinning blades and then the second, moving through the second opening with spinning blades on each side. You shouldn't need stasis. A lone Lurker will appear as you start into the right turn. Freeze it and save yourself some ammo by firing a Line Gun energy grenade near it. The grenade will adhere to the walls and ceilings it contacts and is a one shot kill. Ahead there are four plasma streams with a traveling apparatus briefly blocking each stream in turn. Use stasis on it when it blocks the top stream, and boost past it. A pair of Lurkers will then appear ahead. Freeze them and take them out with a Line Gun grenade. Don't conserve your stasis; there is a Stasis Refill Station before the inevitable next obstacle. Take their drops. Stross is again going crazy and the transmission is terminated as Ellie screams. Top off your Stasis Mod. You must now pass a system of rotating gears. Use stasis to slow a gear and boost past when there is an opening. Another pair of Lurkers greet you near the next closed pressure valve. Use kinesis to grab a red thrust canister from the wall dispenser and place it on the valve. Shoot it and boost past it. There are now three flaming rings that activate in turn and on the other side a Blob will start launching projectiles at you as you move toward it. Fire a Line Gun grenade at the Blob when its tentacles are exposed to kill it-you may have to pass one or two of the rings to get it to cooperate. Boost past the rings as they alternate off and grab the RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR that the Blob released. Grab a thrust canister from the wall bracket. Use it to open the valve and boost past it. Exit the Zero G area via the hatch and be prepared to kill a crawling Stalker in the room where Ellie and Stross should now be. Grab the POWER NODE. Enter the "Fuel Pressurization Tower" to find Ellie and Stross. Take the LARGE MED PACK SCHEMATIC from the back of the room and raid the other containers. "Twitchy" is frenzied, gibbering about "step four." It's time to get the Industrial Transport operational so you can make it to the Government Sector. Use the SAVE STATION. CHAPTER 9: CAN I HAVE A RIDE? <c009> Remove the flimsy barricade and exit onto the metal grating. Leave a mine on the grating behind you as you move toward the elevator. It will take out the Slasher that will emerge near your entry point. Be prepared for a Leaper to come from the vent or down the wall as you get near the left turn going toward the elevator. Place a mine below the vent to address it and another for the one that follows. Another Leaper will follow, so use stasis and the Ripper to eliminate it. Take the cargo lift and a Slasher will burst through the vent on the first turn. Eight or nine Crawlers will come down the wall around the next turn. Smash the green crates in the little niche. Enter "Fuel Pressurization Control 2." Be prepared for a Puker and two Lurkers. Don't spare the stasis on the Puker. Freeze it and place a Line Gun grenade at its feet. It may also get one of the pesky Lurkers. Scavenge and stomp the corpses. Take the Audio Log, "Ellie's Story (3)" from the floor. Visit the STORE to download the DETONATOR MINES SCHEMATIC and the LARGE MED PACK SCHEMATIC. Sell the SEMICONDUCTORS and adjust your inventory. Enter the "High Pressure Modulation Area." A Divider will charge at you from around the corner. Its wail is distinctive. Deploy a couple of mines in its path. The two mines should kill it, but some of its Spawn may survive. Use the Ripper to eliminate them if they do. Don't underestimate the little walking skulls. They will lash you with tentacles and then tear off your head, turning you into a lurching Necromorph much like an Infector does. The Divider will drop a GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR, though it may be lost to the detonations. Follow the path to the "High Pressure Storage" elevator. Exit and turn right to get the POWER NODE but a Super Slasher will appear next to you. Hit it with stasis and you will hear the suicidal squeal of an approaching Exploder. Shoot the glass window out and quickly hit the red symbol to prevent your demise-be quick, you're very close to the fractured window. This will dispose of both of the Necromorphs. Alternately you can freeze the Exploder after you freeze the Super Slasher, cut the Super Slasher to pieces with the Ripper and sever the explosive sac from the Exploder with your Plasma Cutter and punch or shoot the Exploder. Either way, be sure to take the POWER NODE. Follow the path into the towers "Mid Level" and you will see a set of tripwires blocking a dead-end side passage. Toss the crate into the tripwires. Take the item and remove the makeshift barricade to find the FLAME FUEL SCHEMATIC and the Audio Log, "Ellie's Story (4)." Around the next corner you will see a Guardian at the end of a long catwalk. Grab the red explosive canister at the base of the ramp and launch it at the Guardian to kill it and to save a Line Gun round. Kill any Pods it might release. Take its GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR. Take the cargo lift and a Slasher will greet you at the top. Freeze it even before the stalling lift reaches the grade. Hit the rapidly closing Exploder's sack before it gets too close, taking it and the frozen Slasher out. You might get knocked on your butt if you let the Exploder get too close. Stay near the elevator, and freeze and carefully dismember the Pregnant that comes to call. Take down the Spitter that follows from catwalk ahead. You will find yourself in the "Transport Mechanism Control" maintenance room. Looks like you might be a while so deploy a couple of mines across both entryways, just in case. If your short on mines, just mine the far entry, closest to the Stasis Refill Station. I had 14 mines and only mined the one entry. Use the WORKBENCH to upgrade. I had thirteen Power Nodes and used three to fully upgrade the Stasis matrix. Eight were spent on the Detonator for "Capacity," "Reload," "Connecting," "Connecting," Damage" and "Connecting," "Connecting" and "Damage." This left two Nodes in reserve. Activate the Tram's control station. The gearbox has a malfunction, and needs maintenance-big surprise. The gearbox assembly is directly behind you. Grab the large upper gear from the right side, near the Stasis Refill Station. A Divider's Spawn will scurry out from under it. Freeze it and stomp it to save ammo. Fit the large gear into the assembly. Use kinesis to lift the housing cover to the right of the gearbox and hit it with stasis. Grab the central gear and insert it in the gearbox. Use the same tactics to grab the lower gear from the left housing. Save your game at the SAVE STATION and top off your Stasis Module. Call the Tram and as your communication with Ellie ends, start along the path. Two Super Slashers will normally charge into the station, one from each side, but they might come in together from only one side. The mines may get one or both if they enter from opposite directions. You have a full Stasis Mod, so have the Ripper ready for any survivor. Grab their drops. It will now usually take two mines to kill the "Super" variants. Get to the Tramcar and activate it. Nicole's apparition will appear-talk about bad breath! Open the doors for Ellie and an increasingly unbalanced Stross. Ellie gets the car moving and the Ishimura appears ahead, bringing back memories; but now something is blocking the track. Exit the Tram and check out the green crates. One has a 10,000 credit chip in it. You can hear Stalkers even before you enter "Pressurized Fuel Storage." Save at the nearby SAVE STATION. Kill the three Cysts on the floor near your entry point. The sound of Stalkers is clear. Move left from the entry and grab the POWER NODE and the Audio Log, "Ellie's Story (5)." Begin moving along the left wall, deploying mines horizontally to cover your right flank. If you have plenty of mines deploy two, one atop the other. These Stalkers may only be crippled by a single mine. Let the first of the eight Stalkers come to you. Equip your Ripper and try to stay hemmed in by your mines, so they can only get to you from dead ahead. If the mines do their job, retreat and re-deploy them, but keep your guard up. You will have to eliminate several Stalkers closer to the exit because they won't attack until you advance farther into their stomping ground. Couple these tactics with stasis and the Ripper and the Stalkers will soon be ready to stomp. On the cluttered deck, stasis and the Ripper are a better choice than the Line Gun. Watch out for a pair of sneaky Exploders on the far end as well. A Guardian guards the storage room's exit elevator. Use the Line Gun alternate fire or toss a mine at it to get its RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR. There is a dark passage near the Guardian's resting place where you will find the SEEKER SHELLS SCHEMATIC and other items. Since you have cleared the large area pilfer all its goodies before boarding the "Elevator to Fuel Mega Storage." Take out the five grunting Cysts in the hallway and be prepared for a Slasher emerging from the nook on the left. Sell your SEMICONDUCTORS and download the FLAME FUEL and SEEKER SHELLS SCHEMATICS at the STORE and police your inventory. If you have an extra Stasis Pack in your safe or in inventory-great-if not seriously consider buying one. Having a Stasis Pack will make life infinitely easier in the coming encounter. Place the Plasma Cutter in the safe and take the Contact Beam and its ammo. There is a SAVE STATION adjacent to the STORE. You will now be carrying the Contact Beam, the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Detonator. Enter "Fuel Mega Storage" and you will find the way blocked by a huge tentacle- not so good! The volatile storage units in the area, however, easily overheat according to Ellie, and the tentacle is coiled near the upper unit. Grab a red explosive canister from the ground and shoot it at the circular unit with its door ajar. It seems damaged, so hit it with the other canister. Take a couple more from the wall dispenser to destroy it. This will allow Ellie and "Twitchy" to get moving. The heat indicator on the storage unit will go from green to a cautionary yellow and then red. It will take four canisters to do the job. When you take the lift down, you will see that the tentacle has fallen down and now blocks your way-whoopee! Loot the area and hit the remaining storage unit with a red canister from the wall dispenser. This will get the undivided attention of a Tripod-the reason you're carrying extra stasis. Hit it with stasis and remove one of its limbs. Try the Contact Beam-it has to charge but with the Tripod in stasis a single well-aimed shot will easily cripple it. This will slow it down and killing it will just get you another healthy one. The process is now a simple one, keep it snoozing with stasis shots, while you grab five more explosive canisters from the dispensers and hit the unit to make it overheat. The storage unit will then explode, and the large tentacle blocking your way will pull back. Don't waste any time vacating the area. Take the lift and run into the shuttle as the place starts to come apart. Tiedemann has blasted the Sprawl-now dead weight-in half with the solar beam and with it the track way. Isaac cooks up a plan to use the Ishimura's Gravity Tethers, another of his bad ideas he assures Ellie, to link it back up. Now he must go back aboard her. A familiar looking shuttle will transport you there. CHAPTER 10: WELCOME BACK ISAAC CLARKE <c010> Take everything along the pathway as you penetrate ever deeper into the Ishimura. Use the first SAVE STATION. The nearby hatch, blocked by cases, contains the Text Log, "The Clogger," but the service corridor beyond contains a POWER NODE and there are several items in the restroom, including the Audio Log, "Cursed Ship." Follow the objective path through the quiet Necromorph-free areas to get to the console for a system's diagnostic. You will find that the main centrifuge is off line for maintenance. Your destination is now engineering. Continue along the objective path. The cluttered corridors remain eerie but quiet. You will encounter a WORKBENCH. I used three of my four Nodes to upgrade the Detonator-"Connecting," "Damage" and "Special." Continue along the pathway's meandering corridors and you will pass through a door where the path will lead you to the right. Go left off the path to find some credits and resume following the path. The inaudible computer static will mark the location of another SAVE STATION. Raid the place. Exit and continue on through the next door where the path goes to the right. Go left down the twisting corridors to find the Audio Log, "No Transfer" at the locked exit. There is also an item in the footlocker. Return to the path following the system of corridors until you enter a long tubular passage. Loot everything along the way. The next long dark corridor will have splashes of green light ahead. A Brute will attack after you pass through the first green glowing area. Freeze it and hit its weak spots with a couple of blasts from the Contact Beam to put it down. Coupled with stasis, so the weapon can charge, the Contact Beam is deadly from the time is comes out of the box. This Brute's drop is random, but it will oftentimes be a 3,000 or 5,000 unit credit chip. After you advance about halfway down the corridor, another Brute will come crashing at you. If your Stasis Mod is depleted, pause where the first Brute went down to recharge it or to let it auto recharge. This is a safe spot-for now. As you advance farther down the corridor a second Brute will crash toward you from the far end. Fire a couple of mines into its path, freeze it and take it down with the Contact Beam. Immediately deploy a couple of mines ahead and do an about face. Ellie will now frantically tell you that the ship is being boarded by Necromorphs. No sooner said than they are hot on your trail. Take down the two Slashers ahead with the Ripper and run back toward your entry point, putting distance between yourself and the Necromorphs. Turn and deploy a couple of mines in front of the pursuing Necromorphs and change to the Line Gun or Contact Beam if necessary. Use the Ripper on any that get in close. A Pregnant will be a latecomer. Take it out carefully but if a Swarm erupts, lay a mine in their path. A couple of Slashers will sometimes emerge from a floor hatch when you start looting the corpses, so watch out for them. Gather up all the drops and continue unopposed. Don't miss the DIAMOND SEMICONDUCTOR that the second Brute dropped. It's worth 25,000 credits. Go past the lift to the end of the passage where you will find a POWER NODE. Refill your Stasis Mod and hack the cargo lift. Climb aboard and loot your way to the STORE. Sell the DIAMOND SEMICONDUCTOR. Put the Contact Beam in the safe and take the Force Gun and its ammo. With 108,200 credits, I also purchased five Power Nodes. Use the SAVE STATION to record your progress. You will now have the Line Gun, the Ripper, the Detonator and the Force Gun. Take the elevator and grab the enlightening Audio Log, "Re-animate." Exit to a place familiar to Dead Space players-the Decontamination Chamber. Use the WORKBENCH if desired. I had seven Nodes. I spent two on the Line Gun-for "Connecting" and "Damage." Two went on the Ripper matrix-a "Connecting" space and "Reload." One went to the Force Gun to "Damage." This left two in reserve. Enter the Decontamination chamber and grab the Stasis Pack. Wow, decontamination complete and no Necromorphs! Exit the chamber and loot the lockers. The shrieking on the other side of the doorway should tell you to get ready for action. A Puker will normally appear to your left but will sometimes appear to the right. Move quickly into the hall, hit it with stasis and deploy a mine in its path or use a Line Gun grenade. Duck back into the doorway and deploy a mine to the side it didn't appear on. This should eliminate the crippled Stalker crawling toward you and hopefully the pesky Lurker that usually accompanies it. If the Puker survived, take it out as it approaches the doorway as well. Start along the path and deploy a couple of mines behind you well before the turn to the right. You will usually encounter a Pregnant near the corner. Place a mine in its path to take it out. Use the Force Gun on an emerging Swarm if necessary. A Lurker will follow it and then a Puker. The Super Slasher, coming from behind, should trigger the mines. Another Slasher will trouble you from the front. Before continuing on the objective path, reverse course and go in the opposite direction for some loot. A Super Slasher will charge followed by another Pregnant. Use the Force Gun on any Swarm erupting. Grab the POWER NODE at the end of the wrong way hall. Expect a Slasher, a Leaper or a crippled Stalker and a Super Puker as you reverse course to follow the path. Further along expect a Slasher, a Lurker and another crippled Stalker. Enter the circular hatch and use the SAVE STATION. The Centrifuge Chamber is under Zero G but has atmosphere. Four panels are missing from it and can be found scattered about the area. You will see the reddish glow of the first panel directly across and a bit to your left upon your entry. Grab it with kinesis and fit it into the centrifuge correctly so its tubes align and the red indicating light turns green-one down. The next is floating nearby-fit it to the centrifuge. You will see the third under the catwalk. The final piece is in the glowing blue area near the Stasis Refill Station. Grab any items you can fit into your inventory and take the FORCE ENERGY SCHEMATIC from under the centrifuge's control console. Activate the centrifuge. Head out and visit the SAVE STATION. Follow the path and, after hallucinating about the clutching tentacle, enter the Decontamination Chamber. This time, however, about eight Juveniles will come from both ends followed by a Super Slasher and a Puker. Another Super Slasher and a Super Puker will follow the first two. If you don't have the Force Gun, the wave of Juveniles will have to be tackled with the Ripper and melee tactics. The Ripper and stasis is your best option against the Super Slashers and Pukers that follow the wave of Juveniles in the cramped enclosure. You have four bad guys and four stasis shots-four dead Necromorphs. Grab their drops and exit the chamber. As you go around the turn near the ladder a Super Slasher, playing dead near the elevator, will jump up. Hit it hard before it can react. Use the elevator. Follow the path. Download the FORCE ENERGY SCHEMATIC and fine-tune your inventory at the STORE. Replace the Force Gun with the Plasma Cutter and some ammo. Use the SAVE STATION. You will now be carrying The Plasma Cutter, the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Detonator. When you reach the Tram Station a pair of Super Slashers, one at a time, will charge from the glassed waiting area. Place a pair of mines near its entry to address the first one and another pair to address the second. The mines should do the job but man the Ripper if necessary. As you approach the Tram, a Swarm will scuttle out. Place a mine in their path and greet the Slasher that will charge from that direction with the Ripper. You will hear its growl as it climbs out of the depressed area. Get the Tram moving. You are now clear to your destination-the Ishimura's Gravity Tethers. Ellie calls advising you that Necromorphs are pouring into Medical and that "Twitchy" has now bitten her. The Tram suddenly shudders and stops. The lady's voice, quite pleasant, welcomes you to the Medical Deck-joy! After Nicole's ominous prattle, enter a long corridor with iridescent blue drag marks. Heed Ellie's earlier warning and mine the hall well ahead. As you advance several Necromorphs can be heard: a Lurker, a Super Slasher, a Spitter and a Super Puker will encounter the mines. Fire a couple of Line Gun grenades into the area after the mines are triggered. This may well take out all of the survivors, en masse. If not feed them another, but have the Ripper ready for action. Stomp the corpses and grab the POWER NODE and the Stasis Pack in the next passage. Enter the room with the central glass cubicle. Deploy mines near the glass cubicle, one inside it and one or two on its left. Go to the right toward the exit door. A Super Slasher will come up behind you. Cut it apart and watch out for the Exploder coming your way-just hit it with the Ripper's alternate fire because another Super Slasher and an Exploder will then enter the room. It's difficult to not take damage due to the proximity of the Exploders and the need to address the Super Slashers first. The mines should help thin them out. Use the Stasis Refill Station, go to the exit and deploy several mines behind covering both sides of the cubicle and then put one inside it, just in case. Hack the console. Hopefully, the Super Puker that enters from behind will trigger a mine or two. An Exploder and another Slasher will then follow a Super Slasher. The mines will help but use stasis and the Ripper to shred any survivors. Gain space from the Exploder by hitting it with stasis if it gets too close. Refill your Stasis Module, loot the corpses and take the exit. Loot your way down the blue splattered hallway. Use the SAVE STATION before entering the next room. Grab the POWER NODE as the real Nicole's final message rolls. Loot the place and head out. Take the cargo lift and move the ladder aside. Be forewarned by the flying debris and the Super Leaper scrambling into the overhead vent. This area will be familiar to Dead Space players. Use kinesis to move the walkway over the gap and then kill the annoying Lurker that jumps the rail at the left turn. Below you will see your way blocked by a shorting electrical field. Move the walkway to bridge the gap with kinesis. Near the lift you will see a Super Leaper bypass the electrical field, and come at you along the far wall. Another will perish in the arc. Greet the Super Leaper with stasis and the Ripper as it approaches the lift. At the bottom a pair of Super Leapers will pour from the vent, one at a time. Place a couple of mines below and activate the lift. Greet the survivor with a stasis shot and a spinning saw blade. Before continuing, enter the unlocked door near the lift. Take the POWER NODE and the other items. This is an area unlocked in the parent game, Dead Space. Allow your Stasis Mod to recharge or use a Stasis Pack to top it off. You must now get through the corridor with the arcing electrical field. Pull the Power Cell near the lift to kill the power to the arc. When you approach the spot where the arc was, you will trigger a wave of Necromorphs, so quickly lay a couple of mines on the other side of that area, and then advance until a Necromorph shrieks in protest. Immediately get back to the Power Cell, freeze the Slasher that attacks, reinsert the Power Cell and get ready to saw, starting with the frozen Slasher. You have to be really quick, because a Super Leaper will confront you as well. Your mines will slow but won't stop the two Super Slashers coming from beyond the arcing area; but if you're quick replacing the Power Cell, the arc will take them both down, leaving only the Slasher and the Super Leaper for you to deal with. Pull the Power Cell again to kill the electrical arc and take the path. Stomp the dead. Use a Power Node to open the Medical storeroom near the WORKBENCH. This room usually contains several Med Packs-as many as five-but sometimes you'll get only a couple. The crate on top of the two storage cartons always contains an annoying Swarm-always! Continue along the path without opposition until you reach the STORE. Save your game at the SAVE STATION. You will now be packing the Plasma Cutter, the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Detonator. Take the path and you will emerge in a Zero G Tram tunnel. Lift off and move along the objective path into the gloom. There is worthwhile loot along the path, so grab what you can. The first of the Lurkers will appear above the second large piece of wreckage. There is a POWER NODE just past the first wreck, floating near the right wall. Note: It will take several well-placed Plasma Rounds or a Line Gun round or two to kill each Lurker. So freeze the little pests and quickly shoot a Line Gun grenade nearby. You may get lucky and kill two with one shot. The energy grenades will stick to any surface so it doesn't matter if they walk along ceilings or walls. Four more Lurkers will prowl the gloomy tunnel ahead and will target you before you reach the destination platform. Use the cover of the wrecks to avoid their attacks and to thin them out. They can be really hard to see in the gloom. You will usually only spot them when they fire at you. It isn't necessary to kill them all anyway. If you kill two you can usually boost past and get to the destination platform. You can also finish them off from the platform and loot the area in peace. Continue forward through the corridors to the large cluttered deck. The sound of Super Stalkers will come to you, but a pesky Swarm will appear first, dead ahead. Deploy a mine in their path, and then have your Ripper equipped for a charging Super Leaper. Once it's down, deploy mines between the containers while working your way along the path. A single mine, even with an upgraded Detonator, is more likely to just cripple these tough Stalkers, so deploy two or be prepared to deal with one crawling your way. There is a side corridor where you can find two items, a WORKBENCH and the Audio Log, "Framing Cho." I had six Power Nodes and spent four on the Ripper matrix. One went to a "Connecting" space and one each to "Capacity," "Damage" and "Duration." One Node went to the Detonator for "Capacity." This left one Power Node in reserve. This chamber seems to be off limits for the bad guys. If a Stalker avoids or survives the mines, hit it with stasis as it charges and then rip it to shreds. Three Super Pukers will also enter the fight nearer the exit. Use stasis and the Line Gun or mines on the Pukers. Head down the stairs and use the SAVE STATION. Take the lift and enter the Captain's nest. Activate the Gravity Tethers-you have to hold the controls while it counts down-to undo some of Tiedemann's damage. He will shout in protest. You must now board an escape pod, if Nicole will get out the way! You can't control the pod-its a cut scene-and naturally it crashes; and, oh, Stross is totally cracking up and is assaulting a screaming Ellie with a screwdriver! CHAPTER 11: STROSSED OUT <c011> Go down the stairs, loot the place and use the SAVE STATION. You can sometimes grab an item or two from the corpses to the left behind the wall. You should also be able to grab the dead Super Stalker and get an item from it as well. Enter the large inclined area and be aware that it harbors five tough Super Stalkers. Place a barrier of mines across the pillars to your right to protect your flank. Put them a bit high for better coverage on the slope. Work your way down the left wall, and be ready to freeze the Stalkers and rip them apart. A pair of Crawlers will also appear when you least expect them. Stomp the carcasses and exit. Stross' increasing madness is apparent as he rants about "step three." Loot the area and hack the door's control console. Enter the mine. If you look to the right through the tangled wreckage you can see an item container on the rock face. Shoot it with the Plasma Cutter and use kinesis to retrieve a POWER NODE. Just around the first corner the grunting of Cysts can be heard. There is a Cyst and several items in the alcove just to the left of the passage. There are three more Cysts before the next hatch and there is a POWER NODE near the last one. In the next area another Cyst lurks in the next corridor near the STORE and the SAVE STATION. Maintain the weapons you have-the Plasma Cutter, the Line Gun, the Ripper and the Detonator. Enter the next area and be prepared for numerous Necromorphs. A Super Slasher can be seen on the catwalk ahead and it will assault you if you annoy it with a Plasma round. Stay near the doorway and drop a mine or two in its path, be ready with the Ripper if it gets to you. Even with the Detonator extensively upgraded it usually takes two mines to eradicate "Super" types-they are more often just crippled. Another random Necromorph will appear as you advance. Note the ramp going down into the area below as you make the 90-degree turn to the right. Continue ahead, raid the two crates and place a couple of mines on the catwalk you just crossed. When you reach the door at the end of the locator's path you will find that its power is off. Grab the Med Pack near the lift beyond the door. Backtrack toward the ramp going down into the low area. A pair of Super Pukers, coming one at a time, will confront you. The ambush should kill the first Super Puker. You can save ammo by toting one of the red explosive canisters from near the objective door with you to address the second. Place a couple of mines behind you, near the head end of the ramp. Stop halfway down and be prepared for a Super Puker coming toward you from the far side of the low area. Freeze it and park a Line Gun grenade at its feet to kill it. The Super Slasher, creeping in behind you, should be killed by the mines. An Exploder will also need killing before you can descend. Locate any troublesome Lurker joining the fray and put it down. Descend and make a 180 degree turn, following the power cables, to locate the roofed area bathed in light. Another Super Puker will come rushing at you. Use stasis and a Line Gun energy grenade to take it out. A lone Lurker will sometimes attack as well. The Power Cell is not functioning, causing the exit door to malfunction. You will need a good Cell. Refill your Stasis Mod and move forward from the broken Power Cell, along the power cables, and make a right. There is a metal hopper where you will find a good Power Cell. Grab it with kinesis and you will hear the hiss of Lurkers. Go quickly clockwise around the central framework to the lighted area and drop the Cell. Don't replace the bad Cell yet-that will trigger additional hostiles. Three or four pesky Lurkers will now begin to target you. They can be hard to locate and target, so don't spare the stasis and use the I beam in the lighted area as cover against their attacks. The best policy is to freeze them and drop a Line Gun grenade near them. When the Lurkers are dead, refill your Stasis Mod and replace the bad Cell to restore the power. This will trigger a Super Puker. Place a couple of mines near the base of the exit ramp and move slowly forward to lure it into the mines. If the mines don't do the trick, take it down. Don't use the locator's path yet. Stay in the low area near but not on the ramp. You must now eliminate several Crawlers and a late arriving Exploder before starting up the ramp. Use the Plasma Cutter from near the base of the ramp. Don't use the path, it leads to the lift's shaft and the lift isn't there. When the Exploder goes down, start up the ramp and place a mine or two at the bottom of it. Equip the Ripper. A Super Slasher will meet you at the head of the ramp and another Super Puker will come up it. Freeze and shred the Super Slasher and quickly turn to freeze and kill the Super Puker if the mines didn't kill it. It is now clear sailing to the exit door, but a pair of Super Slashers will pursue you if you loiter. You will find yourself in a rocky passage. Follow it to a SAVE STATION, stomping the crates along the way. Before you reach the next door, a shutter opens and Stross displays Ellie's eyeball on the end of a screwdriver. In a deranged state, he says that you're next. As the shutter closes they are fighting it out. Go through the "Thermal Scanning Room Access" doorway and you are pulled and released into the airless vacuum of space by a huge glowing tentacle. Below your position you will see a huge Blob Necromorph. Above and to the left you will see an O2 Refill Station. When the Blob pulses and starts to expose its three glowing orbs, hit it with a Line Gun grenade. A single grenade, well placed, will kill it. Take the time to grab the RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR that it releases. Boost up to the O2 Station for a refill. Use your locator to lay a path back into the complex. The entry hatch designated, however, is blocked by two sets of laser beams emanating from two large generators. Your kinesis can't budge them, so you will need a couple of thrust canisters to move them aside. The laser generator to your right, as you face the blocked exit hatch, has a thrust canister attached. Shoot it to move it aside and stay out of the slewing beam. Locate either of the round hatches near your exit portal. They will be blinking sporadically as if partially shorted. Inside each there is a thrust canister dispenser and an O2 Refill Station. Boost to one of the blinking hatches and grab an O2 refill and a canister-one hatch actually has a floating canister that can be had with kinesis. Attach the thrust canister to the other laser generator to clear the exit hatch. Boost to the exit but take the time to grab the CONTACT ENERGY SCHEMATIC before entering the open exit hatch. It is floating on the outside and to the right of the long tubular entry airlock. Take out the three Cysts in the first passage. Land on the platform, fill up on O2 and take out the three living Cysts in the next passage before exiting the vacuum. Surprisingly a one-eyed Ellie hasn't killed Stross. Grab the scattered items and take the lift after visiting the SAVE STATION. As you exit the lift a Super Slasher will start toward you along the catwalk from the far end. Deploy a couple of mines near the first turn on the catwalk to your left. This should address the charging Super Slasher. Two Lurkers will scramble below. Grab a red explosive canister from the grating below and shoot it at the Lurkers. Repeat if one of the pests escapes the first attack. As you make the turn on the walkway a Super Puker will drop near the rock column ahead. Use Stasis and the Ripper to kill it. Deploy a couple of mines near that corner for insurance, and quickly be ready for a pair of Super Slashers closing from ahead, one on the heels of the first. The two mines to your rear should provide relief from the Super Slasher coming in behind you. When you get near the top of the ramp deploy another pair of mines to your rear. A Super Puker will appear at the base of the ramp, to be followed by another Super Slasher, but one will also come calling from your rear. Freeze the Super Puker below and take it out with a Line Gun grenade. Address the Super Slasher that follows it with stasis and the Ripper. Turn to address the Super Slasher coming from behind if it survived your ambush. If you look toward the rock wall from the top end of the ramp, you can retrieve a POWER NODE with kinesis from the mesh netting. Loot the corpses and the crates and continue on into the "Mining Hall B Access" doorway. Ignore the lasers for now and use a Power Node to enter the storeroom. Grab the ADVANCED SUIT SCHEMATIC, the random SEMICONDUCTOR and any of the other items that you can carry. You will usually find a POWER NODE in this storeroom as well. Exit, grab the crate and shoot it into the lasers to clear the hatch. Take out the three Cysts occupying the corridor. One is on the ceiling above the little side grotto, one on the right wall and one on the left wall. Grab all the pick- ups. As you start to hack the door's control console a demented Stross, Ellie's eyeball on the end of a screwdriver, will burst out of the "Main Mine Access" doorway and attack you. Hit the action button to fend him off and give him a good stomping to get his Audio Log, "I Could Never Hurt You," for Ellie and just because you're tired of his crap. Take the lift in the next chamber-look familiar-and follow the locator's path to the elevator. After Nicole's tiresome outburst, loot the area and continue on to the "Elevator to Exploration Mine." A Super Slasher will attack from below before you call the elevator. Before calling the elevator, grab the items on the other side of the dark
elevator shaft with kinesis, including the POWER NODE. The Audio Log, "Personal Log, Rig 438642, #1" is among the pick-ups. Call the elevator, step aboard and activate it. Select a corner to defend. Equip your Ripper and soon the first of the Slashers will drop down. As you move to address the enemy, switch corners when your sawing makes you pursue a Necromorph. They will come from opposite sides so sweep the Ripper to damage both and keep ripping because several more waves, over a dozen total Necromorphs, will attack and there will be a wave or two featuring three. Most of the enemy will be Slashers but there will also be several Super Slashers. Use stasis on them so you aren't overwhelmed. When the battle is won, items will be everywhere. Take what you can and as you enter the next area, a furious, rather inarticulate Nicole seizes you. You will have to hit the action button to survive. After Isaac speaks, the Nicole vision seems to believe he has been beaten- "step four"-acceptance. At last a STORE and a SAVE STATION. Sell the SEMICONDUCTOR, the RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR, if you found it, and download the ADVANCED SUIT SCHEMATIC and the CONTACT ENERGY SCHEMATIC. Purchase the Advanced Suit for 36,000 credits. It features 25 inventory slots, a 20% armor increase and it reduces stasis recharge time by 50%. Police your inventory and use the SAVE STATION. Place your Detonator and its Mines in the safe and take the Force Gun and some Force Energy. You'll also need the Ripper, the Line Gun and the Plasma Cutter. Your major purchases are now complete, so if you have a stockpile of credits, start purchasing Power Nodes to upgrade your gear. I had 90,600 credits and I purchased five Power Nodes. It is always a good idea to keep some credits in case you need to buy Med Packs, heaven forbid, or ammo. Note: If you had to leave drops on the elevator you can go back for them now. Use the SAVE STATION. CHAPTER 12: YOU KNOW THE DRILL <c012> Move down the ramp and access the WORKBENCH. I had ten Nodes and I used eight, placing three in the Ripper matrix-one in "Connecting," "Reload" and "Damage." Five went to the Line Gun-"Reload," "Capacity," "Connecting," "Damage," and "Alternate Damage." Enter the "Exploratory Mine," looting as you go. A one-eyed Ellie, freed of Stross, is examining an industrial rock drill with a missing Power Cell. Isaac assures Ellie that he isn't running away from his past anymore and his goal is now clear-destroy the Marker. The drill rig may be able to get the two of you to the Government Sector so you must now locate a Power Cell for the drill. Ignore the path and move behind the drill toward the sound of grunting Cysts. Knock out the seven disgusting creatures. You can save ammo by using the two nearby rods. Grab the Power Cell from the metal container. Insert it and there is now a control circuit short. You must now locate a new circuit board. Go up the ramp nearest the drill's control panel and use kinesis to acquire the DIAMOND SEMICONDUCTOR from the rock ledge. It will be just beyond the green item crate. The objective path is now viable so follow it onto the tram. Go across and take out the two Super Slashers that come over the rail, dead ahead. Look over the side and use kinesis to grab the POWER NODE and other items from the rock ledge below where they emerged. Use kinesis on the cover plate and grab the circuit board. Move back across the cavern and a Super Puker will greet you as you exit the tram. It is a bit hard to target since the tram's structure blocks your sight line. Hit it with stasis to prevent taking damage before taking it out. Equip the Force Gun and insert the replacement circuit board. You must now hack the drill's controls to get it going. After a bit of verbal jousting with a self-assured Ellie, go up the metal ramp and stand where it ends. Ellie will have to turn the huge drilling rig so that you can get onto the lift. From the ramp you can hit the Juveniles as they surge in from the incline above and from below. A Slasher will also be in this mix of a dozen or so Juveniles, but if you get onto the lift when it's available you should miss the Slasher. Set up shop on the drill, face the spinning blades and have your Ripper ready for action. As the drill moves forward Necromorphs of many types will climb onto the drill's deck-they will be Slashers, Spitters and Pukers, rather than the "Super" variants. Use the Ripper and stasis to keep the deck clear. When Ellie says the place is swarming with these things, you can use kinesis on several items lying below on a rock ledge on the right side. Try to grab one or two of the red explosive canisters as well. When the ride ends, you won't be atop the drill, so don't wait to grab the enemy's drops. Lurkers will also used ranged attacks from the surrounding rock ledges. They will attack from the right side and then twice on the left side. Use the explosive canisters, the Line Gun or the Ripper's alternate fire to address them. You can also dodge or just endure many of their attacks because other Necromorphs will be coming onto the deck during their attacks. Ellie will bulldoze her way through the Government Sector's foundation pilings to finally get you within striking distance of the Marker. CHAPTER 13: EXACTLY HOW MANY OF YOU GUYS ARE THERE? <c013> You are now in the Government Sector. Somehow you ended up on an upper level and Ellie on the lower. She speculates that the Marker is likely behind a giant doorway visible from her position. Follow the path and use the SAVE STATION. Ellie has located a Gunship and is excited at their prospects of escape. Isaac has other plans on his mind. Move along the path and when you see a white and green sign saying: "GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING," depart from the path momentarily. Go down the long hallway toward the green crate. Melee the orange vending machine for a 10,000 credit chip and continue on to grab the POWER NODE from the wall unit in the small niche. Resume following the path after looting the area. Move through the "Security Gunship Docking Bay" doorway and the one beyond. Send Ellie on her way as she expresses dismay at your fatalism. Once again the plucky lass labels you a "bosturd." Resignation? Nicole wanting to be made whole again, whatever that means. Adios Ellie, but it won't be so easy to ditch the Nicole delusions. Now the locator doesn't work. Tiedemann is annoyed by Isaac's incursion, but he has 200 security troops at his disposal to prevent any interference with his plans. At the STORE sell the DIAMOND SEMICONDUCTOR. Place your Force Gun and Plasma Cutter in the safe, and take the Detonator and its mines and the Contact Beam and its ammo. Keep the Ripper and the Line Gun. Use the SAVE STATION. Take the elevator near the STORE and look out into the large chamber. You must hack a console that is on the left upper side of this entry area to open the door, but Necromorphs abound in this room. There is no set sequence to follow here, but some of the foes will enter from just right of your entry point. Put a couple of mines there for starters. Take out any visible foes before entering. An Exploder, sometimes a Super Slasher, and a Puker are usually the first comers. Take them down. Grab the stasis canister, and enter via the far opening and make an immediate left. Go up the stairwell. The target console is there, but don't try to hack it yet. Use the stasis canister on any Necromorphs near the exit and engage them with the Ripper. Face the stairs and deploy a couple of mines to your left, because Necromorphs will pour in from that side as well, and place several on the stairwell ahead. Place another horizontally overhead spanning the broad entryway. This will likely address the first of the pesky Lurkers. There will be Super Slashers, Pukers and/or Spitters, an Exploder or two and several truly pesky Lurkers. As the mines go off to the left, try to re-deploy them to keep this a largely one front battle. Use stasis and the Ripper on any that get close and the Line Gun or Contact Beam on the Lurkers. They will approach using the walls and ceiling to target you from above. When all is calm quickly hack the doorway's console. Run into the corridor opposite your initial entry point and grab the POWER NODE from the wall unit. Grab any items you can and get out before the next wave of Necromorphs hits, led by a pair of Lurkers. Go down and around the circular structure and stop. You will need to go through a doorway and into the restroom at the foot of and to the right of the long stairwell, but as you descend Tiedemann's security force confronts you. Sprint down along the right wall and after they reveal themselves, continue to haul ass for that open doorway. If you stay along the right wall you will easily make it in. Grab the POWER NODE from the sink and exit to the "Facilities Access." Take the duct to the lower security office after raiding the lockers. Outside the security lasers make any route that way impossible, as does the locked doorway. Raid the locker and go up the stairs and enter the upper security office, grabbing all the items along the way. Use the SAVE STATION. Pull the cover plate from the Power Cell and remove it to kill the power. With the power off, Tiedemann's forces are assailed by Necromorphs and they must fall back to the Marker's chamber. Below your position a steady stream of assorted Necromorphs pour into the room. Go back to the lower security office when the door is enabled and place a couple of mines at the base of the stairwell. Numerous Necromorphs are still visible in the next room. Grab the stasis canister-its there for a reason-and be patient. Necromorphs, coming from the upper security office, will soon be coming to call. An Infector and a Super Slasher should be the first. The mines should kill at least one of them. Use the stasis canister on the survivor and then kill it and the Super Slasher that sometimes follows it. A few Swarm creatures may also accompany the last Super Slasher. This will keep them off your back as you tackle the adjacent room, which has seemingly emptied. When you open the door, you should see the remnants of the Swarm ahead or to the right. Place a mine in their path. If a Super Slasher appears, retreat back into the security office to deal with it, but two Pukers, one a cripple, are more likely the next enemies. Freeze the standing Puker and fire a Line Gun grenade at its feet. This should kill them both. A lone Exploder will then need to be put down as it lurches from the far end of the room-a single Ripper blade from its alternate fire is the most economical way to eliminate it. Move past the security detectors and through the doorway. Nicole's apparition and several corpses are in the next room, and the locator is back on line. Ransack the area, defile the corpses with your boot and move toward the "Scan Room." When the security barrier intervenes hoist Lars Nordstrom, the corpse in the hallway, for access to the adjacent area. Take the Audio Log, "Patient Four" and the item in the short corridor beyond. You may catch a glimpse of an Infector as you go for the SAVE STATION. Grab the Med Pack near the corpse. Continue along the path and a Slasher drops down just before you reach the door. Take it out with your Ripper. Equip your Detonator and open the door. Ahead an Infector is raising corpses. Don't go after it. Place a couple of mines ahead near the curved desk and another to the left side near the power cables to protect your left flank. With the Detonator equipped, take up position near the back wall. As the Necromorphs dutifully charge into the mines, re-deploy them again. Deploying two mines, if you have plenty, will, ensure nothing survives the ambush. The Necromorphs will now also start to drop near you; so crank up the Ripper, use stasis if pressed, and back away a bit to keep the blade spinning. This group will include Super Slashers, Pukers, an Exploder and another round of Slasher types and a Puker. The action is spaced out enough to be manageable if you take them out quickly. A latecomer will usually interrupt the peace as you begin searching the room for loot. Take the Audio Log, "Shield Questions" from near the exit. Follow the path until you reach the "Project Annex." A Corpse falls and something wails as you enter-something is in there. Raid the lockers. Use a Power Node to access the locked storeroom. It contains a random SEMICONDUCTOR and other items. You will hear a crash before exiting. A Divider will confront you upon exiting. Hit it with a stasis shot, and then twice with the Contact Beam. This should kill it, but some of its pesky Spawn will probably survive. Freeze them and stomp or kill them with the Ripper. The Divider will usually drop a GOLD SEMICONDUCTOR. Use the nearby WORKBENCH if you have Nodes. I had five and used four: three on the Detonator for "Capacity," "Connecting" and "Damage." One Node went to "Reload" on the Contact Beam. This left one in reserve. Follow the path through "Core Sample Storage and Analyzation" and you will enter a cluttered cargo area. Stalkers! Deploy some mines near your entry point. Since a single mine won't always kill them, deploy two, one atop the other on the cargo containers nearest the doorway. This will protect your right flank. Advance along the locator's path to get the Stalker's attention and retreat back toward the entry area. They can only come straight in without hitting the mines. Use stasis as they charge and then cut them down with the Line Gun or the Contact Beam. If the mines take one out, try to re-deploy them between charges. When the four Stalkers go down, a pair of Pukers will approach usually from the direction of the path, but one will occasionally sneak in from the flank if your mines were triggered. Use stasis and the Line Gun or the Contact Beam on them as well, while avoiding their ranged attacks by ducking behind a container. Follow the path and notice the overhead Power Cell as you go. Grab the Audio Log, "Same Signal" from the sticky area to the left of the pathway. When you reach the destination you will find that it has a dead Power Cell. Retrieve the one you saw earlier and replace it, enabling the "Reconstruction Room Access" doorway. Before exiting, loot the area, being sure to grab the POWER NODE on the back wall. Enter the next room and take out the Cyst you hear grunting in the left corner. Use some of the junk lying about to kill it since you haven't got the Plasma Cutter. Use the SAVE STATION. I hope Isaac is pretending when Nicole's voice tells him he is close to her beloved Marker. He says he doesn't know what to do-hope he means how to kill it. Enter the "Reconstruction Room." You will now come to a chamber with rotating arms sporting lethal laser beams. Look out the opening. You will see some Crawlers and a crippled Super Slasher trying to get to you. Since you haven't got the Plasma Cutter, retreat from the opening and let them enter the short hall, freeze the first to allow their buddies to catch up and then deploy a mine in their path or use the Rippers alternate fire mode to take them out. Equip your Ripper and as a rotating arm is passing, run to the right and duck into the niche there. If you're timing isn't just right you'll be starting over. As far as I can see stasis doesn't affect the rotating laser armature. Retreat to the back of the niche and shred the Super Slasher and the two crippled Slashers that enter from the laser bay. Grab the POWER NODE. Now, after a successful run, you must avoid the lasers two more times and there is no checkpoint. Once again dash to your right and into the second recess. Use the Ripper's alternate fire to take out the pair of Crawlers coming for you. Make for the last niche and be prepared to take out two Slashers that will immediately charge. A crippled Slasher will crawl in behind you as you deal with them. Take the lift and deactivate the Marker lasers. Lower the adjacent walkway with kinesis and then the one on the opposite side of the central assembly. Go left on the walkway and grab the pick-ups. A Slasher will drop down and then a Super Slasher will climb up near the central hub. Exit via the "Test Area 35561" doorway and approach the "Data Monitoring Room." An unholy racket greets you, but you will find only corpses to stomp. Grab the items and the Audio Log, "Marker Success!" Use the well-placed SAVE STATION. Continue on and you will come to a double rotor assembly surrounded by a long catwalk. Seems like a good place for an ambush. If they approach, kill the three Crawlers with a single saw blade each. Look over the rail. You will see a group of Necromorphs and they will scramble when they see you. Place a couple of mines along the right walkway, near the turn. This will cover your right flank. Place a couple ahead near the center of the left walkway and another near the far end. Start forward along the left wall. This will trigger an assault of about ten assorted Necromorphs, entering in small groups from below and from the far end. Hit the survivors of the mines with the Line Gun and if possible deploy mines dead ahead while retreating as far back as you can. Use the Line Gun or Contact Beam as much as possible since many of them are Pukers or Spitters. They will stand off and spew at you before charging. Line Gun energy grenades can be very effective against the Pukers and Spitters on the far end of the catwalk. If the mines to your right are triggered, you will have to watch that side as well, but mostly they come from the left if your initial advance was that way. Don't assume the all clear too quickly, several latecomers will straggle in-usually a pair of Spitters and a Super Slasher climbing up from below. A prudent player will now go back to the prior room and execute a save. Looming is another skirmish very similar to the one you just endured, and if you're killed there you will get to repeat what you just accomplished-no nicely placed checkpoint this time. Exit the room and watch for a Super Puker at the bottom of the ramp. Hit the Puker with stasis as it inhales to foul you and then hit it with the Contact Beam. A Slasher will be dropping in on the action, and may meet its end with the Super Puker. If not give it the business too. Continue on to find another oval catwalk. Deploy a couple of mines behind as you go clockwise around the catwalk. An Exploder and a Slasher will be the first out and may meet their end hitting the mines. Once they are down quickly deploy a couple of mines ahead and behind. Equip the Ripper or the Line Gun. Two Super Pukers, a Spitter and a pair of Super Slashers will enter the action. Use stasis on the Super Pukers and the Spitter, and don't let your guard down when it seems safe. A Slasher will climb up from below when the skirmish seems to be over to interrupt your looting. Exit and go down the ramp and into the next room. A guttural snarl will give you warning, but all seems quiet as you move through the round hatch. Take the Audio Log, "Tiny Marker" from near the entry and raid the containers nearby. Before going for the exit, deploy a couple of mines in the center of the room and then grab the stasis canister. As you approach the round hatch the guttural growl you hear is a Brute dropping into the room. It will hit the mines. Hit it with the stasis canister and then with the Contact Beam for an easy kill. Grab the RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR it drops. Hack the door controls and follow the path, unopposed, until you come to a STORE, a WORKBENCH and a SAVE STATION. Sell your SEMICONDUCTORS and police your inventory. If you have Stasis Packs in your safe, bring some along-buy one or two if need be. The same is true for Med Packs. The area ahead is challenging. Keep the Line Gun, the Ripper, The Detonator and the Contact Beam. Take the Text Log, "Dire" and the ominous Audio Log, "Its Making Us Make It!" from the consoles near the Store. Use credits to purchase Power Nodes-the end is near. I had 128,200 credits and I purchased eight Nodes, giving me eleven. I placed four nodes on the Contact Beam-"Connecting", "Capacity," "Connecting," and "Charge." Six went to the Ripper-"Connecting," "Capacity," "Damage," "Connecting," "Duration" and "Capacity." Exit the room, take the lift and you will see the colossal Marker surrounded by a seething mass of Necromorphs. Tiedemann knows things have gone awry and Nicole appears once again imploring Isaac to succumb to its power. Tiedemann admits that Isaac's brain has been probed for years, looking for the Marker's secrets; but the massive influx of Necromorphs has foiled his plans and things have gone awry-badly awry. Go into the "Project Interface Room." Grab the items. The Marker pulses just outside the windows. Activate the "dark machine" and Nicole appears again. This was one of Stross' nightmare visions-stick a needle in your eye. Interact with the controls and step into the "dark machine," The restraints will immobilize you. Move the needle down using the X button on PS3, the A button on XBOX 360. The laser designator must be blue when the needle contacts the eye, so don't worry about it until the needle is fairly close. Get the pointer centered and then just bump it down whenever you have the eye highlighted blue and then the Marker codes will roll-for better or for worse. Nicole tells you to meet her at the Marker. CHAPTER 14: SAY UNCLE-UBER! <c014> You must now hack the door controls to get out of the lab, but you have a new companion-a very bad one. A new type of Necromorph has surfaced-the Ubermorph. This Slasher-like Necromorph will rapidly regenerate after you put it down and is relentless in its purpose-your demise. That said, it is no tougher to put down than a Super Slasher. It just fails to stay down. As soon as it appears, dismember it and hit it with a stasis blast. The console will be released at that time, so hack the console, take the Ubermorph down again, refill your stasis from the nearby Refill Station and get out of the lab. Turn right upon exiting the Lab, grab the POWER NODE and take the path until you arrive at a SAVE STATION. It is to the right of the corridor in a small niche. Grab any items along the way, including the Audio Log, "Illegal Evacuation." Take the time to scavenge-the Ubermorph won't attack again in this area. Continue on past the Marker, through "Marker Access" and into the "Marker Thermal Vent Conduits." Hit the Super Puker appearing on your right with stasis and cut it down before it does its worst. From your entry point, use kinesis to retrieve the Audio Log, "Evacuation Snafu" from the floor near the corpse lying on the console. That corpse on that console will be required for a DNA scan enabling the exit door-mark its location, but don't go to the exit door yet, raid the back area and let your Stasis Mod recharge-its safe for now. Grab the POWER NODE in the wall unit. Grab the body with kinesis and when you start for the exit, the Ubermorph will block the way. Shoot the body toward the exit door. Take the Ubermorph down and put it in stasis. A Super Puker and a Super Slasher will now enter the battle, but if you're really quick you can scan the body and get out before the Ubermorph regenerates. Another Super Puker will also enter the action if you aren't able to get out quickly enough. Exit the room and use the SAVE STATION if you put down the opposition in the previous room, if not hoof it down the path. The Ubermorph, the Puker and the Super Slasher may be on your heels but they will be easier targets in the narrow corridor. Freeze them and hit them with a Line Gun grenade or mines and continue on. A Super Puker will next confront you in the long corridor, quickly hit it with stasis, and then take it down. Turn to take down the Ubermorph, which may again be on your heels. The path will take a sharp turn in the middle of a continuing corridor. If you continue on a little you will find a POWER NODE and an item locker. Enter the side corridor where the path leads. Shoot a couple of timed Line Gun grenades or mines around the dark corner. Retreat out of the blast zone and put down the Ubermorph after it emerges from a wall vent. It's possible that the regenerating carcass may block your passage-not so good. With the Ubermorph down, continue on. The Swarm and the Super Slasher should have been destroyed by the explosive attack. Have the Ripper ready for two more Super Slashers lurking near the poky elevator-hurry up! There is a short interval between the two Super Slashers, so call the elevator before the second one arrives to facilitate your exit. You will likely have to face the Ubermorph here again if your takedowns are slow or you weren't able to call the elevator earlier. Get into the elevator and run down the hall but stop at the corner. Ahead, through the glass, you can see an Infector at work. Don't go for the door. That will bring the enemy onto you in tight quarters. Deploy four mines near the wall by the exit hatch. Turn to take out the Ubermorph. Go forward to draw the Necromorphs out of the vent and into the minefield. The mines should kill the first comers, which should be a pair of Infectors. A pair of Super Slashers will follow and attack. Make liberal use of stasis, you will soon be out of their reach. By now the Ubermorph will be reviving, so get to the exit. You will now have to pull the cover with kinesis, melee punch the fuse block and then wait for the hatch to cycle open. You will not be alone for long. The Ubermorph will probably be back before the door can open or you will encounter it in the next area before exiting. Deactivate the artificial gravity from the control station on the platform. You will now be without atmosphere, so watch your O2. Lift off and follow the path. You won't need to waste stasis on the two sliding hatches, just float toward the hatch and boost through when they begin to slide open. Make sure you clear them or you will be crushed. There are now three plasma streams to get past and beyond a nesting Blob, and it will be shooting projectiles at you. Traverse the streams on the left side, taking refuge behind each of the round support cylinders to avoid the projectiles. The Blob ahead can be a bit hard to see in the glare of the plasma streams. Pinpoint its location by its projectiles and plant a Line Gun grenade on it for the kill. It isn't even really necessary to kill the Blob, if you get past the plasma streams, you can just boost past it, hitting it with stasis if needed. If you kill it, it releases a RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR. Restore gravity and exit. Enter the next room and Nicole will again address you-pep talk! Exit into "Marker Access" and use a Power Node on the Secure Storage room. There are sometimes two POWER NODES in the room, and a RUBY SEMICONDUCTOR is also likely. Continue through "Radiation Containment." Grab the POWER NODE on the wall, and then go into "Direct Marker Access." This will feature your final STORE and WORKBENCH so use your credits to purchase Med Packs and Stasis Packs, if needed, and Power Nodes for your final upgrades. Consider selling surplus ammo as well, though you can keep your inventory for a second round. You will be carrying the Line Gun, the Ripper, the Contact Beam and the Force Gun into the concluding battles. Upgrade these as much as your Node supply will allow. Reloading and capacity are as important as damage so upgrade accordingly. Carry plenty of ammo, stasis and health supplies. Note: This is the final store and you will need sufficient ammo for the finale. Get there short on ammo and you can't finish the game unless you receive fortuitous drops. If you use the advised weapons, you will need, in theory at least, less than a single clip of Line Gun ammo, about eight or ten rounds of Contact Beam ammo and around 25 rounds of Force Gun ammo but you must also run a Necromorph gauntlet just to get there. Carry 4 or 5 Med Packs, (Medium are sufficient) a Stasis Pack-two is better-and fill your slots with ammo for the other weapons, no use economizing now-the penalty for an ammo shortfall could be "Convergence" or, at least, re-doing chapter 15 from its beginning. With 75,700 credits in stock, I purchased six Nodes, giving me twelve. I assigned four to the Line Gun-two Nodes went to "Alternate Damage," and two went to "Width." Eight went to the Force Gun for "Capacity," "Damage," "Speed," "Reload," "Connecting," "Reload," "Capacity" and "Damage." This leaves no Power Nodes in reserve-you won't need any. CHAPTER 15: WOULD YOU GO AWAY ALREADY <c015> As you leave the STORE, Nicole's apparition says it will meet you at the Marker. Exit and be prepared for a pair of Super Leapers near the door, one from the left one the right. As you enter the corridor a Super Puker on a high walkway will spew at you. Hit it with stasis to highlight its position and use the Line Gun to take it out. Duck behind the corner near the doorway if you miss it to try again. Note: The Super Puker can be hard to see and hit at this distance, but you must take it down before proceeding. You can even go back to the store and get the Seeker Rifle, and then return it after the shot. Raid the lockers that are to the right of the entry door. This is a safe spot if you want to auto recharge your Stasis Mod to save your Stasis Packs for the ordeals ahead. The Ubermorph will greet you at the turn, so put it down and run down the path, ignoring the Lurker-unless it's on the walkway rather than above. Get into the next room and two Super Slashers will assault you. If you freeze them, you don't even need to kill them. If you do kill them and stop to loot, the Ubermorph will again need your attention. Continue into the next room and a Super Leaper and then a Super Puker will block the way, and as you dispatch them a pesky Lurker will fire at you from above. If you're pokey the Ubermorph will again come to call. Put it down again if need be. Continue on and a Super Slasher and a Super Puker will intervene. If you freeze them both and immediately remove the small container from the doorway you can get out and avoid a major confrontation since they don't follow you. If you do have to tangle with them, another Super Slasher and another Super Puker will join in the battle and the Ubermorph will be back for more. If you fight them, make liberal use of stasis on this tough bunch in tight quarters and shred everything in sight with your Ripper. If you battle them, heal if need be and use kinesis to clear the small crate from the exit door. Be prepared for a Super Leaper to be right in your face as you exit. Have your blade spinning as you enter. A pair of truly pesky Lurkers will harass you as you take on the Leaper. The Lurkers have a bit of trouble targeting you from above so try to again ignore them but they will sometimes come to ground level. A Super Slasher will defend the exit, and the Ubermorph may again be on your heels. Exit and grab the last Text Log, "Tiedemann's Last Hope" near the lift. Take the lift and use the final SAVE STATION. Pause here if you are out of stasis and let your Stasis Mod at least partially recharge. It is actually SAFE! Move along and the Ubermorph will again need your attention. Put it down and melee the fuse box on the right side and then run through the doorway. Follow the path and melee the control fuses for "Test Area E4" and enter. The Marker is just ahead, visible across the long walkway. Move that way and Tiedemann nails you with a Javelin Gun. Lay on the action button to prevent your demise. Catch the next spear, pump the action button, and shoot a spear from his own weapon into his throat. Finish him when your weapon is enabled after the cut scene. You have to be glad he didn't electrify that first javelin and even happier he didn't get the weapon's explosive perk. Good ole' Nicole "thing" now shows her real self-the backstabber. Big surprise there! You can easily get a bit disoriented in the haze of the final battlefield, so don't move as Nicole's initial tirade rolls-she will appear in front of you. Drop a grenade at her feet with the Line Gun's alternate fire. A single well- placed round will make her flash and disappear. The "Heart" of the Marker will now be exposed but will be lost briefly in the glare. Hit it with the Contact Beam and it will disappear. Note: You can also use the Contact Beam to drive her off, but it will take two shots and the slow reload speed of the weapon will become a factor as the battle deepens. You can also use it against her entourage of satanic Juvies, but its concussive blast will only delay their assault and make you reload when there is no time. Once again Nicole will appear and from now on she isn't alone. Equip the Force Gun and use it on the deranged pack of Juvenile demons that will swirl around you from everywhere. Stay away from Nicole as you run the perimeter shooting the shrieking demons-which will take your head off if several are able to get hold of you. Don't run into Nicole. You are simply dead if she gets too close! If you sprint the perimeter, you can get the little demons following and you can turn and take out groups with a single Force Gun blast. Melee tactics will work in a pinch, but don't depend on them to do the job. Some of the little demons will, at least, drop items as they expire. When the mob is momentarily subdued and they will be briefly, shoot another Line Gun grenade at Nicole's feet. When she disappears hit the Marker's pulsing "Heart" with the Contact Beam until it disappears and immediately switch to the Force Gun. Clear a path with energy blasts and when the pestiferous pack is subdued, place another Line Gun grenade at her feet and follow it with the Contact Beam to the Marker's "Heart." You will have to repeat this until you damage the Marker enough so that it vanishes in a blaze of light and the apparition of Nicole with it-good riddance! How many rounds before you can rest-it all depends on getting accurate hits with the Contact Beam. Three rounds will do it if your blasts to the "Heart" are accurate. Four times if you're shooting isn't so precise. If you're using the Plasma Cutter instead, double it. When the battle is over, Isaac slumps resigned to his fate as the Sprawl's containment field is compromised. The Sprawl and Isaac Clarke are doomed but the Marker is finally destroyed. The Game's Credits will begin to roll, but don't put down the controller. The gritty Ellie is back in the gunship. Whether Isaac wants to be rescued or not she is going to crash through the roof, depressurizing the chamber, forcing him into action. Isaac is flung into the void. You must now catch the shuttle, avoiding the massive debris field, boosting when needed; and, when alongside the shuttle, you take her hand to get aboard by pumping the action button. Isaac has been in this situation before and the Nicole he knew wasn't the one on that fateful shuttle. He fearfully looks over at Ellie. She has been through a lot, they both have, but does she appear more than a bit too rough around the edges? Nahh!!! Congratulations on completing Dead Space 2. You can now save your game and start another round by selecting "new game +." You will retain all of your equipment and credits. If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. feel free to contact me at the E-mail address on the title page. . . 17 GameFaqs: Dead Space 2 by SENIORBILL Page 60 of 60
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