Kotaku: from comments

I have compiled a list of the missing stories: -...

hot_heart — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:25:12 MST

I have compiled a list of the missing stories: - No nipples on the batsuit in Arkham Asylum. I understand a lot of folks were cut up about that. - The Super Guide in NSMB Wii. Games being hard is SRS BSNSS! - Da Vinci wasn't Q to Ezio's James Bond. Get out of here, Assassin's Creed II! - Brutal Legend has RTS. YOU LIED TO ME, SCHAFER! - Scribblenauts. No way would a pirate beat a ninja! - Tales of Monkey Island. Guybrush is too pale, goatee, looks like a junkie etc. - BAYONETTA'S HEAD IS TOO SMALL AND HER LEGS ARE VERY LONG!!!

My kids are game addicts... and I'm ok with...

Sihaya-blogging is exhausting! — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:22:17 MST

My kids are game addicts... and I'm ok with that. Perhaps I never should have been a parent because I'm the kind of parent most parents HATE. When my kids were 2 months old I started putting a little cereal in their bottle at night so they would sleep through the night (and they did). At 3 months old I fed them baby food. As soon as they got their first teeth I was feeding them Rice and Beans. I think my oldest had her first slice of Pizza before she turned 1. This attitude spread to other things as they got older. I actively encouraged my kids to watch TV. Barney, The Rugrats, Dora the Explorer, and everything in between on PBS and Nickelodeon as they got older then they added Cartoon Network. I always heard people saying you shouldn't let your kids watch TV when they are little, and you should read to them every night and blah blah blah. But me, I don't listen, I let them watch TV, LOTS of TV. My oldest daughter is now 10. When she was 1 she would talk your ear off telling you stories. When she was 2 she would tell EVERYONE she ran into stories (including embarassing ones about grandma needing to go potty, but thats a story for later). One day I was ina a waiting room and my daughter was walking around yapping to anyone and another mom leans over and asks me how old she is. I tell her a little over 2. She looks at me with surprise and says "my goodness, she speaks so well and in full sentences! My daughter is the same age and only says a few basic words like 'ball' 'mama' and 'cookie'. I don't know what the problem is I NEVER let her watch TV and I read to her all the time. How did you teach your daughter so much so fast" I looked at her and said "TV. She watches LOTS of TV." The mom gave me a tight smile and and then turned away and didn't speak to me again. What does this have to do with games? I'm getting there. When I was a kid my dad got me a Colecovision followed by an Atari 2600. I played a little here and there but I was more into books and barbie dolls. Eventually my dad bought me an NES and a Sega master System. I still didn't really care, I was still into barbies and books. When I was 17 I bought myself a gameboy, mostly out of curiousity. I fell in love with Link's Awakening and Stargate. But It was something I played once ina blue moon, then I forgot about it. When I was 20 I played the N64 for the first time and I finished Mario64 and bought Ocarina of Time when it came out. I tore through Ocarina of Time and bought Majora's Mask. I hataed it and as quickly as I had started playing I stopped. Life went on, Games came and went, I didn't care. Then the gamecube came out and new Zelda games. I remembered how much I loved my GB and N64 Zelda games and asked my husband for a Gamecube for Christmas. He had asked me for a PS2 for Christmas. Before meeting me my husband was into playing Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat and football games. So that Christmas He got his PS2 and I got my Gamecube, I was happy with my gamecube and he was happy with his PS2 and neither one touched the others console. Then I saw Prince of Persia Sands of Time. I bought it for the PS2 and the first time I put it in the console, that console became mine...all mine. Games became a huge part of my life, I fell in love and I started collecting and playing A LOT. Being a hoarder I still had every console I had ever owned and their games so I went back and played some old stuff as well. Now I'm 32, I own tons of consoles and hand helds. I collect games and action figures, I write game reviews for the library system's Teen Blog in my town. And I encourage game play in my family. A few years back Vtech came out with a console for kids, the V-Smile. Gaming and education, sounded good to me. I bought my kids one for christmas and they loved it, they would play for hours. The next Christmas, I got them the V-Flash, it was another learning console, a step up from the V-smile, a sort of educational starter Playstation. By the time I got it though my girls had moved on to PS2 and Gamecube, but my son Loved playing the V-Tech consoles. By the time birthdays rolled around they all wanted GBAs. And there we go. I had turned my kids into gamers. I was so proud! My husband was sort of amused by my glee. I swore up and down that gaming was good for them, he just smiled at me and shook his head slowly. From Gameboys they graduated to DSs and borrowing my PSP. Each one has a clear gaming identity as well. My oldest daughter likes Girly games. makeup, animals, dress up and she also likes JRPGs. My middle child, an 8 year old girl is a bit harder to place. She can play the dress up thing and she loves cooking mama and animal games but she's not above a little Zombie shooting in House of the Dead. My son...My son... Before I talk about him let me just throw in that I even got my mom into games. She loves Wii sports and good lord you should hear her smack talk while playing Soul Calibur. (Her favorite is SC 3 because she likes the character creation. She has a shirtless Ninja she named Jackie Chan) ok back to my son. My son is a 5 year old MAN. The boy LOVES girls and cars. So I started him with Racing games. (by the way he is quite proficient at Midnight Club 3, except he needs a stack of books to reach the pedals.) From Racing games he moved on to Mario games and His favorite "Drawn to Life Spongebob edition". Recently Scribblenauts came out and I got it for the girls and myself. I didn't bother getting it for my son because at 5 he really can't read very well...actually he's having a lot of trouble at school. I got their progress reports right before thanksgiving and besides having a fan club of girls, he also likes to throw things at people who annoy him and ignore the teacher, he also has trouble with reading and writing. I have been stressed and worried about it for days. Then it happened.... we were watching Tv and he was a scribblenauts commercial. He said "I wanna play that" I said, "but sweetie you can't read" He looked so dejected so I figured what the heck, let him try and I'll help him along. Its been 2 days since he started playing, He's already learned to spell about 10 words. The first night we sat together and he would tell me what he wanted, I would spell it for him, he'd type it and then he would squeal with glee when his items appeared on screen. Of course, as much as I enjoyed playing it with him, I can't sit all day doing it so I decided to make hima "cheat sheet" I wrote out in all caps the things he had asked to make the most and I gave it to him. I read each word to him and told him if he needed more words then he could come to me and I'd add them to the list. I started with about 10 words and now I'm on page 2 and he's spelling words on his own! He doesn't actually play the game he just stays at the beginning screen making things and seeing what happens when they interact. Brain Age, Style Savvy, Scribblenauts and so many other games are teaching my kids so many things, helping them learn without them even realizing it. Heck even the JRPGs have helped my daughter immensely. Unlike me, my daughter has never cared for reading, what she doesn't realize is that while playing JRPGs she's reading so much text her reading has improved immensely and she's enjoying it. Like me, my kids carry their DSs wherever they go, they play every chance they get. When they aren't playing DS they're playing any of the other consoles we own. We play Guitar Hero together and Singstar. We play Champions of Norrath and we teach them how to cooperate, how to share the spoils they pick up, how much money they need for an item, and which weapon is better between the weapon with a high attack and one with a lower attack but +20 Lightning Damage. I encourage their gameplay, I buy them as many games as I can afford. I tech them how to play mine or sit in and watch. Recently my 10yr old started to play Oblivion...I'm so Proud. I don't know if I'm a good parent or not. I know a lot of people wouldn't approve of how much TV they watch and Games they play. Maybe they're right, I don't know. All I know is that my daughters are both straight A/B students. They have a huge vocabulary, and know Cloud is overrated as a Hero. All three of them also know all the words to "Still Alive" Oh and in the time it took em to type this, I'm on page 3 of words for my son. I think any game can be educational to a certain extent if you talk about it to your kids and encourage them to ask questions (and you answer them honestly). Perceptions and Misconceptions about games runs rampant but slowly people are realizing the good they can do. East Side High in New York has discovered that Beaterator is a wonderful digital music tool and will be implementing it in their music program. The Japanese already use DSs in the classroom and my son is learning to read and spell thanks to Scribblenauts and learning faster than he has learned anything since school started. So my kids game A LOT and I am damn proud of that. The media and people at large attack gaming constantly. It teaches Violence, it makes kids lazy and unhealthy, it causes addiction. I say it teaches hand eye coordination, cooperation, sometimes a touch of history, math, reading, encourages artistic expression, relieves stress and is just plain fun. By the textbook definition I guess they are addicts, sometimes gaming for most of the day. However, I have yet to find how this has impacted them negatively. #speakout

HELL YEAH

Hugo Dourado — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:57:52 MST

HELL YEAH

once you get it to work right 1. delete...

hatmantc — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:19:41 MST

once you get it to work right 1. delete app 2. deactivate video/comic playback 3. download comics(there are four of them) EC2N-9HBR-HJD6 63N8-R2BF-9E4D FF3N-H7B6-M2JF 4. redownload app & reactivate video/comic playback after those steps the app actually works very nicely. but its just a hastle to get it to work correctly

Here's my plan.

Yossarian — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:51:13 MST

Here's my plan.

Cleaning out the Cache tends to help the...

KingMongoloid — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:16:28 MST

Cleaning out the Cache tends to help the locking up or stuttering. #daynote

It's nice to see Luigi NOT getting the short...

Zolbrod — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:25:54 MST

It's nice to see Luigi NOT getting the short end of the stick this time, and actually getting to show Mario how things are done :) #newsupermariobroswii

What's your console playtime percentage? Mine: 360:...

'360 Cabinboy (Corsair) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:19:04 MST

What's your console playtime percentage? Mine: 360: 70% PC: 30% Wii: 5% #talkamongstyourselves

I picked up Modern Warfare 2 for the 360...

m3rcer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:13:23 MST

I picked up Modern Warfare 2 for the 360 - The Madcatz Controller, not the game - And not for my 360 either, but for my PC. Apparently a majority of the "Games for Windows" line is exclusively compatible with the 360 gamepads, as I've found none of my other perfectly functioning non-360 gamepads work. So in a show of non-support for Microsoft's hardware, I got the 360 compatible Madcatz. At first I was feeling a bit of buyer's remorse. After-all, this black MW2 themed controller is $50! Yet as I opened up the package and felt it for the first time, the remorse had almost immediately left. The control feels marvelous with it's silicone/rubber underside and rubber side grips - very comfortable. The top bumper buttons are significantly larger than the oe 360s and the triggers nice and concaved. The analog sticks emit a nice green led glow from the base (I wish they were red). The face buttons should have been more spherical, similar to the oe controller - And it would have been nice if they emitted light as well. But the real star of the show is the well functioning d-pad. As we all know the oe 360 controller's d-pad is unusable! This Madcatz controller finally gets it right for the 360! On the underside of the controller where your fingers grip there are two more buttons on either side "combat 1&2" - Along with toggle switches above them which correlate to the face buttons, X&Y/A&B. I can see a use for this feature in intense FPS battle where you don't want to remove your thumb from the analog sticks to hit the face buttons. It's a nice feature, but I'd rather they operated rapid fire or analog stick sensitivity. There is also a very nice and sturdy braided cable. Yes this controller is wired, but it's 3 meters long! Plenty of slack for me considering I play less than a meter from my monitor, with the PC the control is hooked up via USB in close proximity. I played a series of games and demos for the "Games for Windows" line and many non-GW. Okay I admit it, I played some(many) emulators too. I tried at Batman: Arkham Asylum, Trials 2, Sin and Punishment (yes!), and an assortment of 8-bit to 16-bit console/arcade games. The controller (after some calibration for each program) worked flawlessly. Now is this controller worth $50? At first glance, I imagine most will say immediately "NO!" due to the fact that it's a Madcatz. A brand which most will agree is historically subpar and cheap. I submit that some of this control is produced on the cheap side. Like the digital camo design on the face of the controller; Whatever it's made of will peel away over time - It's already started to. The rubber side grips will likely erode away as sweaty palms have at it. The control even comes with it's own storage container. Perhaps having to keep it safe in a container is Madcatz indirect hint at its quality. I say $50 is too much. Drop it to $40 and I'm sure more people will be comfortable with the purchase. All that said, I was just in need of a GW compatible controller. Sure, I payed quite a bit, but I'm happy to find that the many good qualities of the controller outweigh the few of the bad. [side note] - holy s—- that was long write! If you read through all that, you have my deepest gratitude. #talkamongstyourselves

Shadow Complex Guide for the Xbox 360 Chair...

ImBigBob — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:16:31 MST

Shadow Complex Guide for the Xbox 360 Chair Entertainment, Epic Games Guide written by Big Bob Email: ImBigBob@gmail.com ——————————————————————————————————————— What is Shadow Complex? If you're reading this guide you probably don't need an explanation, but I'll give one anyway. Shadow Complex was created by Chair Entertainment and published by Epic Games. The game is a downloadable game exclusive for the Xbox Live Arcade. The playstyle of the game is similar to 2D platform games like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Additionally, the game's storyline ties into Orson Scott Card's Novel, "Empire". The game is priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15 in real money). Personally, I think it's an excellent game, which is why I wrote this walkthrough for it. Enjoy! ——————————————————————————————————————— Campaign Mode: Main Adventure -This is the main gameplay mode of Shadow Complex. The vast majority of the guide will walk you through the game, telling you where you need to go, what items you can get, and how to get through the game Proving Grounds -The Proving Grounds are a series of short levels testing the skills you've obtained throughout the game. They grade you based on time. I recommend that you don't play these until you've beaten the Main Adventure. For completing every challenge, you get an Achievement. Unfortunately, there's no Master Challenge for getting platinum medals on each level. ——————————————————————————————————————— WALKTHROUGH In the first section of the game, you do not play as Jason Bailey. Instead, you play as Colonel Dallas, suped up with all his gear. This section is short-lived, but it gives you an opportunity to play with the control scheme before getting into the actual game. Let's see what he can do: BASIC CONTROLS: Left Control Stick - Move -Move your character left and right with the left control stick. He will automatically aim in the direction he is facing. Right Control Stick - Aim -Point the control stick in the direction you want to shoot to aim in that direction. If there are enemies in the background, press up to aim at them. Enemies in the foreground, press down to aim. Aiming is important, but it's not something that comes easily. Fortunately, you'll have plenty of time to practice before getting into real fights A - Jump -A simple jump. Press A again to double-jump. If you jump against the wall, the character will stick to it for a moment, and you can press A again to jump off the wall, giving you even more air. Also, if you jump onto the side of a cliff or railing, your character will hang onto it. To climb up, press up. To do a quick climb, Press Up and A simultaneously. B - Action -Stand next to a soldier to punch him, killing him instantly. Punch 5 soldiers to get an achievement. Other than that, the button is used for context- sensitive actions. X - Run -Normally, your character will walk around, but if you hold the X button, he will run. There's no downside to running, unless you intend to be cautious in an area. Also, while you can't do it in this area, if you run in one direction long enough without stopping, you will activate your hyper boost and be able to break certain walls Y - Reload -Reloads your weapon so you have a full clip again. Simple enough. Ammo's infinite in this game, so don't worry about that. RT - Fire Primary Weapon (your gun) -You press the button and the peoples fall down. Depending on what gun you have, you can either hold down the button to fire continuously, or press it repeatedly to fire individual shots quickly. Destroys yellow surfaces. RB - Fire Special Weapon -You have four different special weapons: Grenades (travels in an arc and explodes after a short time, destroys green surfaces) Foam Gun (Freezes enemies for a short time, destroys vents, and creates platforms on solid surfaces, destroys purple objects) Missles (travels in a straight line and explodes, destroys red surfaces) Hook (fire at a wall to hang from it or stick to it. While hanging from a surface you may aim elsewhere and use the hook again. I don't know how it works either) LT - Crouch -While crouching you can access vents and other small areas. Also helps if you're taking cover LB - Turn Flashlight On or Off -Use the flashlight to light up dark rooms and see secret passages. The battery will run out after a while, but it recharges quickly, so don't worry about it. D-Pad - Select Special Weapon -Press left or right on the D-pad to change your special weapon. Additionally, as you play the game, you will gain experience points and be able to level up. When you level up, you'll gain a bit more stamina or accuracy. These changes are really small and minor, but every 10 levels you'll gain a much better power. At 10, you'll gain an additional 100 hit points. At 20, you'll be able to see the entire map. 30, infinite foam packs, 40, grenades, and 50, missles. Your level carries over between games, so if you ever want to do any of the difficult challenges, I suggest you level up first (and one of the achievements is getting to level 50, so you might as well go for it). ———————————————————————————————————————- Alright! Now that that's done with, let's get on with the game. Practice the control scheme a bit, and when you're ready, run to the right. You have a lot of Health, so don't worry about getting shot. Just kill all the soldiers on screen (including on the upper floors and in the background). Shortly, a helicopter will appear and begin shooting you. Just return fire, maybe shooting some missles its way as well, and it'll go down in no time. For destroying the helicopter you get 15 achievement points. You'll see a cutscene. Afterwards you'll be in the REAL game. Immediately you'll notice that you don't have any of the enhancements that you did in the last scene. You can't even wall-jump over the rock on your left, or grab onto ledges. However, you do have your flashlight. Go to the right and follow the path in the caves (it's straightforward). You'll eventually come to Claire's backpack and gear. This allows you wall jump and hang off of ledges. Go to the right and climb up the wall on the left side of the screen. Run and jump across the gap and continue on. The door is locked, so drop into the gap and watch the scene. Afterwards, go through the door and walk into the first save point. As you pass the terminal, you'll acquire the map of the first area. Continue to the left, and as Jason says, run to avoid the camera from seeing you. Though if it does, the door just locks; nothing else. Walk back and try again. Go down the stairs and ladder and drop into the available hole. Jump up and climb into the vents. Jump up again. You'll see a yellow vent; just ignore it for now and follow the path. When you get to the top, you'll see a cutscene and obtain the pistol. Immediately a turret will appear on the ceiling on the right. Kill it. Rather than going through the door, go left back into the vents. Go down for a while, skipping the first vent, and shoot the second vent you see. Inside the room is a HEALTH PACK. Now, go left, down, and right, back into the room you were in before. Now, there are two options: shoot the vent on the wall, or shoot the vent on the floor. Unless you want to get into a heavy firefight this early in the game, I recommend the top vent. Follow the path to the right, dropping into the gap to see the room if you wish, but continue through the ceiling route. When you get out, you'll see a Bomba directly beneath you. Jump to the right, kill it, then climb up the ladder and access the next save point. Drop down and access the map on the wall. Head to the right and get on the elevator. Press down to make it go down. Continue to the right and melee the soldier you see, to avoid alerting the guard in the background. Swim across the surface of the water. There's nothing in the room to the right yet except some enemies that will shoot you as soon as they see you. Instead, aim at the guy in the background and kill him, then shoot the bomba on the wall. Climb up in the caverns and follow the path. Don't shoot the barrels unless you want them to explode. By the way, Bombas explode too, so don't stand under this next one when you kill it. Climb up the ladders, and shoot the Bomba over the soldier's head. It'll drop and kill the guy, and get you the "Look Out!" achievement. Access the next save room. Walk to the right and get a free HEALTH PACK. Yay. Shoot the enemies in this next room, then drop down the long gap. Walk to your left and you'll see a locked door. Jump and go into the passageway above it, killing the Bomba. Drop into the room and you'll find a GRENADE PACK. To place a grenade rather than throwing it, crouch and hit the special weapon button. However, instead of blowing up the door, throw the grenade into the darkness on the left side of the room. Head over into that area you just blew up and you'll find a hole in the floor (if you don't, try throwing another grenade). Go to your left and wall jump up the caverns to get a PASS KEY. Go back the way you came, and... oh crap. Boss Fight! ******************************************************************************* BOSS: WSA2 TARANTULA IFV There's a place to take cover in the middle of this area. Wait for it to stop firing, then jump and toss a few grenades its way. If you hit the underbelly, you'll do a ton of damage. Your pistol will do damage as well, just not as much. After it takes some damage, the machine will walk forward and lunge at you; retreat into the grenade room to avoid it (and stock up while you're there). It won't fire on you in this position, but you should still be careful. Keep throwing grenades at it and dodge its fire and you'll beat it in no time. ******************************************************************************* As Jason says, "Go back and grab some of the stuff you missed". Now that you have grenades, more areas are available to you. I won't make you go way, way out of your way to grab a rather unimportant item, but I will point out simple or easily missable ones for you. For now though, go back through the last save room and place a grenade in the area on the ceiling. You'll find a GRENADE PACK. Keep going right until you find a locked door on the ledge. Crouch and lay a grenade to blow open the door. Keep going right and access the map. Continue right two screens and kill the guards in this room. Purple rooms are locked to you at this point. Climb up and go to the right, into the caverns. Crawl through the hole on the right, then climb up the left ledges. Jump to the gap on the other side of the wall to find a GRENADE PACK. Go back to the right and climb up the right ledge. Lay a grenade to blow up the rocks, then fall through the hole. Now, dive through the water, keeping X held down to swim faster. Take a breather when you can, and continue right. Climb up the cavern, go a screen to the left, killing the guard along the way, and left again to get to a save point. If you want, you can keep traveling left, using some tricky jumps and carefully killing guards to get back to your jeep. Press B in front of the jeep to get a joke ending. You do get a Master Challenge for the joke ending, but no achievements. Head to the right, taking out the guard and jumping across the gap. Continue right for a few screens until you see a cutscene. Boss fight! ******************************************************************************* BOSS: WSA3 DEVASTATOR Take out the two soldiers in front of you as quickly as you can, then crouch behind the crate to avoid taking damage from the boss's turret. It might be some distance away from you at this point, so when it stops firing, get in front of the crate and toss some grenades its way. In my experience, once you get it hurt with grenades, it's powerless to stop you, so just keep them coming. ******************************************************************************* Blow open the vent next to the crate and jump down. On the left ledge is an easy GRENADE PACK. Travel to the right and climb up a bunch of ladders, ignoring the bunch of boulders blocking the path. Getting on the ledge for the ladders is a little odd, but keep trying. Kill the guard when you get to the top. Destroy the next group of soldiers using the ancient Chinese secret called "exploding barrels". Drop down the path and head left. Swim through the cavern to get a HEALTH PACK. Head back to the right, killing a guard and a Bomba along the way. When you get to the lake, dive right in. Very quickly, a helicoptor will start shooting you, and there's nothing you can do about it. Try swimming underwater part of the time to avoid its bullets. When you're on land again, climb over the cottage and enter it from the right to get health and grenade reloads. Then, do some more swimming and enter the forest on the right side of the lake. Drop into the cavern. Enter the save room on the right if you want, then go back into the previous room and kill the Bomba on the floor. Crawl into the space it came from. Destroy the vent opening and crawl through, then wait for the guard to turn his back. Kill him and the other guards. Access the map on the right side of the room, then take the ladder up. You'll see a cutscene, then get a new gun: the WSMP50 Compact. Head right to the save room and kill the guard, climb up the ladder, and continue on. This room's a huge friggin' firefight; be careful, take cover when necessary, and use your grenades wisely. Blow up the Devastator with your grenades. Carefully maneuver up the room in order to pick off the last two soldiers. The platform in the top right of the room contains a GRENADE PACK. Go into the next room on the right and kill the guards. The ladder up leads to a dead end for now, so let's go down instead. Kill the guard, ignore the power up in the ceiling, and head left. Kill the next guard, get in the elevator, and go down. Kill the guards on either side of you, and head left. There's a vent on the right you can break, but ignore it for now. In the next room, you can either carefully dodge the security camera's vision, or just shoot all the turrets. Your choice. Head to the next room for my favorite cutscene in the game. Head left and shoot the vent in the floor. Go down the ladder and enter the door in the bottom right corner. Shoot open the vent, and swim through the water and climb up the ladder. Take out the guy at the turret, then press B to take the turret yourself. Use the right control stick to aim and the right trigger to fire. Just keep firing; there's no need to worry about overheating. Look all over the room, making sure to get every last soldier as they pour out of each section of the room. Get rid of the big guy with the minigun first. Once they're all gone, press B again to get out of the minigun and continue right. Save if you want, though I caution you: if you die before the next save point, all the enemies in the room will respawn, and you won't be able to minigun them to death. If that happens, take out a few quick soldiers, jump down and blow up the green vent as quickly as you can. Might take a few tries. Anyway, drop down the hole, jump out of the water onto the floor on the right, then drop down several stories into more water. Swim down to get a GOLD BAR. Head left and drop down into the hole in between the flooring and the cavern. Go to the left, underneath the big guy with the minigun, and climb up the ladder. Jump to the right, fall onto the elevator, then press up to go up. Kill the new type of Bombas as you go to your left; try to shoot the energy blasts they fire at you. You'll also encounter a foam gun Bomba; their shots won't hurt you, but you will be frozen for a brief period. When you get to the end, drop down and head into the save room on the right. Go a screen to the right, kill the soldier, then wall jump off the right wall in order to get the GRENADE PACK in the ceiling. Head to the left and grab the elevator from the bottom, and go up. On the way up, you'll see a ledge on the right. Grab and crawl through the space, then break the crates on the platform in order to grab a GRENADE PACK. Wall jump up the passage, or drop onto the top of the elevator and go up; doesn't matter. Go to the right and kill the soldier. Make that soldiers. Head into the darkness on the top right, killing the Bomba in the passage you want to crawl through. Follow the path and use grenades to kill the minigun soldier, as well as dispatching the Bomba and normal soldier. Continue through the vents on the left and drop into the save point. Health doesn't respawn in this room when you die, so if you're low on health, this may be troublesome for you. Melee the soldier in the first screen, quickly shoot the two soldiers in the second, and jump on the ladder and go down. Shoot the soldiers and continue on. In the next room it might be best to just run right past them all. Shoot the soldiers at the stairs and lay a grenade to get through the door. As you continue on, you'll get a new gun, the WSM400AI Carbine. Grenade the door and move on. Carefully kill the several soldiers in the next room and take the ladder up. Climb the stairs, blow up the turrets in the background, and enter the elevator and go down. Head left to the save point. Run through the rooms to your left, killing the guards along the way. When you get to the next room, stop, and take a good look around before you continue; this'll be a doozy. Look for enemies on the upper level in the background and shoot them first to get them out of the way. Now, as this point you should have two main enemies; a turret sticking to the bottom of a platform, and a grunt with a missle launcher. The turret will shoot energy blasts at you; you can shoot these and they'll disappear. If you stand directly behind the box, you'll be fine, but if you jump, you'll be vulnerable. And jumping is the only way to fight these things. If a missle gets shot at the ceiling above you, the splash damage will hurt you, so be careful. Jump repeatedly and aim at the turret first; your gun's auto-aim should take care of it (though it might focus on the soldier, so try to work the kinks out). Next aim at the soldier, and try using a few grenades along with your bullets; they'll help. Once everything is dead, move on. Some more soldiers will appear on the right side of the room; shoot them if you want, but you can just ignore them. Enter the room to the left on the top floor; this will give you a good angle to shoot all the enemies. When you're done, move on. Run left and jump across the gap, and enter the room. Access the map terminal. Go left again for a save. Shoot the vent on the floor in the room and crawl through it to find a GRENADE PACK. Run back to the right and drop in the gap in the floor. Go to the right and turn the valve; water will start pouring in. If you want that GRENADE PACK at this point, you're going to have to take some damage. When the water pours in, wait by the valve as the water rises; when it gets to the grenade pack, a piece of the ceiling will open and you can access it. You're guaranteed to damage some damage by doing this, and if you're not a proficient enough swimmer, you'll die. If you don't think you can do it, just ignore it for now. Anyway, swim up to a safe spot. If you're on the left (and you probably are), dive back down and swim to the right and up; you'll see another area to breathe in. Kill the guy, and climb up the right wall. Follow the path to get a GRENADE PACK. Go back down. The next part's kind of tough, so if you want to save, climb through the vent on the left, follow the path up, and turn the valve to move the water back down. Yeah, it takes a while. When you're ready, use the water to swim up the left side of the room. Lay a grenade and walk through the door. Instead of shooting the guy, drop onto the floor and aim left into the green vent. If you shoot a grenade into here, the guy will light on fire. Move left. You can shoot another grenade in this room, but you're better off taking cover behind the boxes and just shooting all the soldiers that appear. When you're done, head left, and jump behind the boxes to find a GRENADE PACK. Shoot the vent in the ceiling and follow the path into the caverns. Head left until you get to a save point. When you're ready, pull the lever next to the elevator to head down. Go right and pull another lever to make a mine cart appear. Drop onto the tracks and head right to find a GRENADE PACK. Now, jump in the mine cart and press B to go. You're gonna go fast and the mine cart's gonna fly across the gap, though you're gonna have to jump at the right time in order to make it all the way across. Head left, melee the guy next to the sandbags, and stand beside them as you kill all the soldiers in the room. Keep going left, and grenade the vent on the floor by the door. Drop in it and continue left. Keep your flashlight on here; what you want to do is stay right below the soldier as he heads back and forth. When you make it to the middle, open the hatch, but don't head up until you know both of the guards are looking away. If they see you, you're going to have to hide until they think it's safe again. Jump into the vent on the ceiling to the left, and continue on, staying in line with the guard so you don't get zapped. Once you're through, go to the left, jump over the gap and get to the save room. Now drop through the gap to get the CLD THRUST PACK (aka, Double Jump)! Woo! Double Jump to get out of the room, and save again. Use the double jump on the right side of the room. Crawl through the gap on the right and follow the path. When you get to a group of soldiers, be careful before moving on; some of them aren't easy to see. Climb up the walkway to find a GRENADE PACK. Head right and drop into the room that you were in a moment ago. Head right. When you get to the ledge, double jump up and kill the soldier. Jump across the room and climb the ladder. Fun fact: if you hold X while climbing a ladder, your pack will boost you up quickly. Turn your flashlight on, and point it at the hole in the wall on the right. Kill the Bomba when it comes out, and crawl through, heading right. You'll get to a dead end, but point up and you'll see the path to take. Keep climbing up, and when you get to the purple vent, head right and shoot the soldiers below you. Head into the save room. Leave, and drop down and head right. Crawl under the first platform and melee the guy. Immediately a nearby soldier will attach to the ceiling and start shooting at you and dropping grenades next to you. Take him out with good old bullets, but this is a tough fight, so you may have to retry a few times. Kill the last guy in the room. Continue right, killing the bombas if you please, into another save room. In the next room, kill the soldier on the first floor, and fire a few blind bullets upward to hopefully kill another guy. Activate the console, and shoot the yellow pipe to make the room flood. As the water rises, keep shooting the yellow pipes to release more water. Climb onto the right platform to shoot the guy in the upper left. Keep heading up and travel right. Kill the soldier and access the map. Next room has full health and ammo. There's a huge firefight in this next room, and if health gets too low, just head back for more. Head right and up, killing all the soldiers along the way. The door to the left is locked, so instead head up the stairs into the upper room and drop into the vent. Crouch, and follow the path to the left. Drop out of the vent, head up the stairs (by jumping on them, of course), and access a hole in the upper left side of the room to get a GRENADE PACK. Get out of the room, and this time jump on the vents on the ceiling, shoot the vent on the wall, and head through it. Drop down, kill the guy, and kill all the enemies you see. More will appear in the background. Jump on the light and onto the platform to the left. Kill the enemies in the background, shoot the vent in the wall, and head through. Go into the save room, head left, and drop to the bottom of the elevator shaft. Head left. Boss fight! (and head to the very left and crouch for a GOLD BAR) ******************************************************************************* BOSS: Thing that shoots missles and doesn't like water ...I don't know it's name. Anyway, this sequence is pretty simple. The enemy only has one attack; it aims a laser at you, and a couple of seconds later it shoots missles in that direction. Stay out of the laser's line of sight and you should be fine. To continue, shoot the yellow pipe on the floor, and water will burst out. Once again, shoot each yellow pipe as the water rises. Though, this time the pipes are spread further apart, and you'll probably have to make a few jumps in order to hit them. All. Just keep shooting pipes and dodging missles, and you should be fine. The vulnerability of the pipes is a little odd, too; try to hit various parts of it to ensure it gets hit in the right place. When the water rises to the top of the room, the boss will sink, and the ceiling will open for you to climb through. ******************************************************************************* Head left. Shoot guys. Shoot guys in background. Climb into the vent on the top left corner of room and drop down. Enter the save room and continue through. Kill the guys however you please. At the end, drop down and swim under the structure, to the right. Careful of the camera's focus as you get out of the water; if you're spotted, you're going to have to kill some turrets. Grenade the door to get the SCHCA MASK (Scuba mask). Instead of walking out, jump behind the shelves into the water, and to the right you'll find a PASSKEY. Exit the room to the left, swim under the structure, and climb up. Some enemies are now shooting you. Shoot them, and head right into the save room. Go right, grenade the floor, and drop through, swimming down and under. Careful of the guy with the minigun when you get up. Head right, and swim all the way down. Go into the elevator shaft, and swim all the way up to the save point. Head right, and have a standoff with the guy with the missle launcher. Kill him, and jump across to the right side of the room. Drop into the vent to find an ARMOR UPGRADE. Climb out and dive into the water. Head right and shoot the vent on the left side of the next room to find a GRENADE PACK. Head down through all the rooms you came through to get here, witnessing the destruction you created. There's nothing to shoot, so just follow the path. After the save room, the speed of the water will increase, and you'll be very suddenly dropped into a fightfight, but you should be able to handle it. Drop down back into the caverns, and save if you want. Once again, pull the lever to make the crane drop. Head left and dive into the lake. Cavern to the left contains a PASSKEY. Swim down, down, down, and when you get to the bottom, swim left. Climb up and shoot the vent in the upper left. Head through, and crawl through the passageway. Take out the two soldiers and the Bomba in the next room. Grab onto that thing on the ceiling. When it heads to the right and stops, just hold right and Jason will jump onto the ladder. Feels clunky, I know. Climb up the ladder, and grenade the wall on the right. Head through to get a GRENADE PACK. Now head left, access the map, and head left some more to get to a save point. Oh gee, Claire wants you to save the world. Yay! This next room is big. Kill the couple of enemies, and jump on the platforms above the furnace. When you see the group of soldiers, send a grenade their way to kill them all at once. Drop down to your left, careful not to fall into the furnace. Keep going and kill the two soldiers. Grenade the vent in the floor and drop in. Once on the conveyor belt, crouch, and go a couple screens to the left. Jump on the ladder to not die from the furnace. Careful when you're climbing up; you'll be spotting. Kill the enemies quickly. Climb up to the top of the shaft and go into the save room. Now head to the right, grenade the vent, and follow it back to the manufacturing room. Climb onto one of the boxes being moved across the room, and shoot the enemies as you pass them. Jump onto the platform before the box goes into the furnace. Leap across the large gap to the right. Head into the save room a couple rooms to the right. Go left, climb up the ladder, shoot the vent, and go through. Be ready for a firefight as soon as you leave the vent. When the room's cleared, crawl under the platform, head left, grenade the vent, and get the GRENADE PACK. Head back and go on top of the platform now. Go left and kill the guys in the next room. Shoot a grenade through the hole at the door. Climb up onto the right side, and take out all the soldiers. Now, jump across to the left, kill the soldiers in the area, and jump down the ladder. Head right for a PASSKEY. Head back up, and go left to the save point. Shoot the vent in the ceiling and crawl through. Shoot the next vent, and be careful when you jump up; there's fire. Time your movements so you don't get burned, shoot the vent, and head up and left. A big furnace with soldiers in it. Kill them all and jump over the fire, heading left. Drop down and enter the save point below you. Head left and drop down, and immediately take out the turrets on the ceiling behind you, as well as the couple of guards on the other side of the gap. Jump across and run into the center of the next room. A hatch on the floor will lock, and your only option is to grab the turret on the platform above and start shooting at everything in sight. This encounter's a little different from your last one. You shoot missles instead of machine gun fire, so you're going to have to be more accurate and steady with your shots. Start by aiming at the three strong soldiers in the back of the room that are shooting missles back at you. Once they're dead, look on the right side of the room for some more turrets and shoot them. Same for the left side of the room. Try to pick off some of the grunts while you're at it. Soon after, a couple of doors in the back of the room will open, and giant robots will come out from the two doors on the end. Shoot them. Finally, some turrets on the ground in the center, and a couple more giant robots on the floor above them. When the encounter is over, leave the turret and head into the hatch that opens on the floor. Climb down the ladder, taking the time to shoot the vent on the left, which has a GOLD BAR in it. When you drop into the next room, head onto the conveyor belt on the lower level. As soon as you see a box come out from the belt, jump over it and run to the next room. Shoot the vent and follow the path. Kill the soldier in the next room and head on, dropping down a long path into a save point. The right door is locked, so head left. In this room, be careful not to get squashed by the pistons. When you drop down, kill the soldiers around you, and head left to get the FOAM PACK! Use the D-Pad to switch to the foam gun, and use it to blow open the vent on the floor, revealing an easy FOAM PACK. Head back to the pistons. For the six pistons (three on top, three on bottom), shoot a foam blast into the pipe, which will cause the piston to clog. Getting all six will halt production in the factory, as well as unseal the save door. Now that you have the foam gun, you can open purple doors on the map. To do so, just shoot a piece of foam at the light fixture above the door. Head right through the foam door, and shoot the two turrets on the ceiling. Drop down and kill the strong soldier on your left. Left is a dead end for now, so go right a bit and jump up through the two stacks of boxes (Bomba!). Head up, kill the two guys around you, and get onto the platform. Kill the strong soldier to your left. Now, when this platform gets to the top, aim straight down and hit it with a foam gun blast, then crouch and lay a grenade (and get off so you don't get hurt). This will blow open the green vent in the ceiling. It may take a few tries, so keep trying. In the above room, open the purple door to your left to find a FOAM PACK. Head right and drop into the vent, and climb down the ladder. Below is a quick moving platform; nail it with a foam shot. When it's stopped, jump onto it, then go to the right and in an alcove you'll find a GOLD BAR. Careful not to fall into the furnace. Climb up the ladder and head into the room on the right. Melee the first guy you see. You've been in this room before; head right and up into another save point. Now that you have the foam gun, open the purple door and head into the next room. This room's big, but don't worry; there's no firefight. Kill the soldier on the ground, and shoot the bomba on the left wall with your foam gun. Use him to get to the platform in the middle. Double jump into the ceiling above to find a FOAM PACK. Then jump to the door in the upper left. Don't worry if you get spotted; the doorwill still open if you shoot the light with your foam gun; it'll just take afew seconds longer. Next room's a doozy; be careful here. If you land in the water, you'll take damage very quickly, so try to get a running start and use the most of your double jumps. Thankfully that save point wasn't very long ago. After those two annoying jumps, head upwards to the top of this next room. Technically, you can freeze those moving platforms, but they move at a generous speed, so it isn't necessary. The next room is dark, and there's a bomba right at your feet. Kill it. Drop into the vents, blow open the purple vent on the right and grab the FOAM PACK. Head downwards, and while there's plenty of enemies in this room, if you stay on the floor, you won't have to engage them. Go right. Head upwards in this room. There's a live wire next to the soldier, so be careful when crossing it to get to the save room. Head up the ladder and left into the next, huge room. Melee the first soldier you see. Head along the lower path, jumping across the gaps. It's going to take some finesse to kill the enemies in the room, but you can do it. Just follow the path upwards to the left. In this next room, kill the soldiers on the path. Boss fight! ******************************************************************************* Boss: WSA2 Tarantula IFV This boss isn't too bad. Keep moving to avoid his missles, and he'll blow up the platforms on the left and right. Keep shooting him, maybe tossing some grenades his way as well. Eventually he'll jump onto your platform; back away and drop down whichever ledge is closest, and run to the other; he should be positioned over that ledge and you can get a ton of easy shots on his bottom side. He'll drop a couple of grenades on you; keep a close eye and run when the grenades fall. He'll wise up and jump to the center; get back onto the top platform to goad him back up there. Keep shooting him, and repeat this strategy until he's dead. ******************************************************************************* Head left into the next room, killing the bombas on the wall and accessing the map. There's a save room on the left side of the next room. Head upwards and to the right, and climb up the caverns. There's an easily spottable GRENADE PACK on the way up. Head left, killing the enemies along the way. When you get to the glowing blue boxes, just ignore them, and instead, crawl under. The path's simple for a while; just follow it until you're outside. Swim into the lake, and double jump onto the ledge. Climb up and kill the soldier. Head left into a firefight. There's a devastator, but just stand on the platform shooting bullets and grenades at it and you'll be fine. Continue left and swim across the large lake. Jump onto the middle section of the tower and crawl through. Drop down and kill the guard, and dive into the water. Grenade the panel on the left and swim through; you'll get a scene with some revolving blades. Swim out of the water and climb down the ladder. Point your foam gun at the rotating cylinder and fire away; after a few shots, the blades will stop rotating. Swim into the water and around the blades onto the other side of the room, with the save point. Keep heading up and outside. On the roof you'll find a foam gun turret. Use it to shoot down the helicoptor, which will kindly crash into the building for you. Head into the now-destroyed building and press down to head deeper into the base. Right's blocked off, so go left and down all the stairs and ladders. On the bottom you'll find a terminal which will turn off the red barriers. Head back up through the barriers to receive the OMEGA ARMOR XOS-7! Yes! Head left and you'll find that everybody's trying to kill you. Carefully navigate down, and as you exchange blows notice that you're now taking less damage. Head right, killing everyone in your way. In the large room, drop down and head left to a map and a save point. When you run to the right side of the room, four soldiers with miniguns will appear in the background. Use the appearing and disappearing cover on the floor to safely take them out. When they're all dead, head right for another boss fight. ******************************************************************************* Boss: OXS-1 This guy's so easy. Just keep shooting him while heading left to avoid his attacks. Grenades help too. Just wail on him with whatever you've got and you'll be fine. ******************************************************************************* Down the now open hatch, left to the save point, down into the next room. Grab onto the ledge on the left and plant a grenade to blow it open. Head through and kill all the soldiers in the next area. Keep heading left and you'll find the FRICTION DAMPENER. Stand on the left side of the room, and hold X to run right without stopping. You'll become an indestructible force that can destroy blue areas. Sandbags aren't blue. When you crash into one, try to kill all the soldiers without getting yourself frozen by a Bomba's foam. Jump onto the upper platform and head right. When you get to the blockage, jump up, and shoot the turrets, then the soldiers on the floor. Dive into the water and swim to the bottom to find a rock you can grenade for a FOAM PACK. Now, swim back up and climb to the top to find a green vent to blow open. Head through and pull the lever to lower the bridge. Run left to build some momentum, then use your friction dampener to run right through the strong fan, as well as another room full of now-dead soldiers. When you finally stop, climb up the platforms, shooting everyone in your way. Head into the vent on the right wall and fall into it. The room has some soldiers, so clear them all out before continuing. To continue, jump onto the upper right platform, then hold and run left to destroy a box. Now that that box is destroyed, stay on the left side of the room and run right in order to build enough momentum to leave. Now's a good spot to save. Head upwards through the familiar path. Remember the room with the crates hanging from the ceiling? Get on top of them and use a couple of grenades to blow them up. Head as far right as you can, and then run left into the next room. Once you enter, quickly jump in order to break the blue walls and grab a GOLD BAR. As a blur, you can run up the side of walls and jump off them to keep your speed. Plenty of soldiers and a turret in this room; kill them all as you climb up the ladder, head right, and drop down. Break open the vent and enter it to drop into a save point. Head right for another fight with an OXS-1. Kill it the same way you did with the first one. Yeah, this guy can fire energy blasts at you, but he's still no problem. Head right and shoot the vent to drop in and find a WSAR60 COIL RIFLE. In the next room to the right, fire a grenade to kill the clustered enemies. Break the crates on the floor to reveal a GOLD BAR. Jump up and continue right through two purple doors. Climb up the ladder and in the dome you'll find a FOAM PACK. Head back down and this time drop into the gap. Head, this was from the beginning of the game! Remember it? With your new double jump, go into the alcove in the ceiling and climb up to find a GOLD BAR. Shoot the vent on the right to continue on into the first save point of the game. Go right a screen, and use your double jump to climb up. You'll see an ARMOR UPGRADE protected by some green rocks. Introduce them to your grenades. Now that you're agile and strong, go ahead and just keep running right, jumping over all obstacles and generally being a badass. Pass another save point on the way , and make it back to the lake near the start of the game. You've been this way before; you shouldn't need much direction. When you finally make it to the lake, make sure you're in hyperspeed, and you'll run across the surface of the water. Jump over the cabin on the way across, and if you manage to run the whole thing in one go, you'll get the "Walkin' on Water" Achievement. As you head right, take the high ground this time. Kill soldiers, and drop into another gap to find a FOAM PACK. Keep climbing up and heading right, eventually stopping once you're on the far right of the map. Head down to find a familiar ladder. As you climb down it, shoot a purple vent to find an ARMOR UPGRADE. Keep heading down, and when you read the bottom, look at the ceiling for another purple vent to shoot, giving you a FOAM PACK. Head left and get in the elevator to go down. Head right and shoot the vent on the climb. Fall into it and crawl left. Grab the elevator's bottom and push up to make the elevator go up. You'll find an ARMOR UPGRADE in the purple vent on the left, and a GRENADE PACK in the right vent. Grab onto the bottom of the elevator and press down, then quickly climb into either vent to let it pass. Climb to the top of the shaft, and on the left you'll find a passageway with a PASSKEY in it. There's nothing on the right. Again, make the elevator go back up, and hide in the middle vents to pass it up. Crawl to the right, activate the elevator, and just walk through it to the other side when it's down. You might get spotted by the camera in this room, but at this point I doubt you care; just shoot the turrets and move on. You'll find that Claire is missing and being moved somewhere else. Head left and go down the vents in the next room, and this time go left and use your Foam Gun to open the once-blocked door. Head into the save point and climb up into the vents, heading left. When you reach the elevator, take it to the top, and enter the top-right most vent (all the others are dead ends). Drop into the room and shoot the guards, then head through two yellow panels to enter another office with two more guards. Head left into the elevator, and take it down to floor 2. Shoot the vent in the ceiling and follow it. Ignore the giant fan and keep going. Shoot the low vent in this next room and follow it, dropping down into a cavern. Kill the guard you see, and climb into the space on the left ledge. Jump up and head left to find an ARMOR UPGRADE. Go right and drop down, but this time, crouch and go left; you'll fall into a room with MISSLES! Finally, after all this time you can shoot Red Doors! Use this opportunity to blow open the first red door you see. Head back into the open area and blow up the red door there. And then blow up a red panel. Aren't missles fun? Get in the elevator and take it to the first floor and blow up another red door for a MISSLE PACK. Now, take the elevator all the way up to floor 4 and kill all the enemies in the room. Activate the panel to open the hatch, and blow apart the tube to stop the fan in the other hall. Head back down to floor 2 and get into the vent in the ceiling. Now that the fan's off, you can easily jump up the shaft. Head right for a GRENADE PACK. Head left and blow up the red panel, then take the top path to the right for a MISSLE PACK. Finally, go left to get to a save room. Shoot the red vent in the room and go left. Kill the two soldiers in this room, then head to the other side to get a HEALTH UPGRADE. Get back into the room right of the save room and head up. Run left to find Claire and two XOS-1 soldiers on either side of you. Alternative between firing at both of them in order to keep their energy blasts at bay, and if either gets too close to you, fire a missle at him. This fight may get a little tricky, since you have to focus on fire coming from both sides, but really, just focus on one soldier and then the other, and you'll be just fine. After the fight, Jason takes Claire back to the surface. At this point, the entire map is pretty much yours for the taking. All that's left to get is a hookshot, a third jump, the final gun, and the Fusion Helmet. If you just want to end the game, head straight for the gun. I'm not going to give a full listing of every item location in the game (there are visual guides that explain it better than I could in words), but for your convenience, I'll run you through for the hookshot, triple jump, and the last gun. At the end of the guide I'll point out some particularly annoying items for you. The Helmet can only be acquired if you collect every Passkey, but honestly? It's not very interesting. What IS interesting is collecting every Gold Bar. Doing so unlocks a special room near the start of the game that has golden versions of every weapon. This room carries over into future playthroughs, so if you're ever going for those master challenges, it'd be a huge help. Now: Hookshot time! Jump up from your current location and head right until you fall down a large gap. Head right more and kill everyone in this room, then open the purple door and head through. Shoot the soldier in the background, then navigate the pipe maze (darn this game's 2D nature). Drop down, but climb up the right wall for a GRENADE PACK. Head back and drop down about halfway. If you did it right, there should be a red panel on the floor to the right that you can shoot a missle at, which will drop you into the save room. If you miss it, just climb back up; it's not too hard. Right of the save room is that crane that you can now blow apart with your missles. Doing so will reveal another path. When you land, jump on the ledge to your left for an easy ARMOR UPGRADE. Now, head right, climb into the vent, and drop down into a save room. Go right for a boss fight. ******************************************************************************* Boss: AP4 Saw It's not so much fighting the boss as it is activating the hyperspeed and catching up to it. The boss will move clockwise around the room; run in the same direction as it until your hyperspeed sets in. At this point, what you want to do is follow it; Jason will run just a bit faster than the boss, and if you can keep up his momentum, he'll hit the boss in the back, killing it instantly. The boss will switch from the other wall to the middle platform; make sure you do the same, otherwise you'll overtake it and have to start over. Also, whenever you jump, make sure the control stick on the controller is facing the direction you want to run when you hit a solid surface; otherwise your momentum will halt in midair. After a few laps and some practice, you should have the boss beaten. ******************************************************************************* Head right after the battle. Blow open the red door for the HOOK. Woo. Head back out, and the door is locked, so you're going to have to head up. It's too high to double jump, so get some practice with your hook; just aim it wherever you want to stick, and shoot. Funny thing is, when you're sticking to a surface, you can aim and shoot it somewhere else. Kinda weird. Enter the vent on the right side of the room at the top for a MISSLE PACK. Now head left and discover another feature of the hook: pulling off the shields of those big guys. Jump up the ceiling of this room and pull the lever to unblock a section of the base; now go back down where you came from. Keep heading left, killing a couple more guys, and at the end, drop down a hole by the wall to land in a save point. Left, down, right, down, and hook the wall in order to get a good shot at the vent on the right side, which has a MISSLE PACK in it. Keep falling and you'll see a mine cart. If you want to skip some items to save time, take the cart. I'll point out the items. Run left for a while until you see some soldiers and a hole in the ground, which you've probably fallen into. Head left in this hole and up to find a FOAM PACK. Go back and kill the soldiers, then turn on your flashlight and look around the ceiling. See that blue boulder? Let's go left. You'll notice that the path gets narrower up ahead. Run along until you're a good distance from them, then run back to gain momentum. When you're in hyperspeed, jump and you'll run along the ceiling, letting you shatter the boulder and access the PASSKEY. Now just keep running left until you reach the end of the tunnel. Jump up and kill the guy, then activate the lever to open the door. Take the path up in between the containers. Back in this room. Kill the guy in the middle, and by the ammo shoot the red panel on the floor to get a MISSLE PACK. Freeze the platform and grenade the ceiling, yadda yadda, head right and up in order to get to the save room. Continue left, get to the upper left, and move on. Once again, be careful of the electrical water here. Jump up and go left into the big construction room you had a firefight in once. If you look on the ceiling on the right side of the room, you'll see a narrow champer that you can navigate via your hookshot to get a MISSLE PACK. Keep going left, and in the small room, grenade the wall for a GRENADE PACK. Missle the ceiling and climb up the path. Shoot the vent on the left and follow it, and missle the red panel in the next vent. Climb up the wall on the right, and climb up the next room as well, entering the vent on the top right. Follow it, and in the following room kill everybody. If you've forgotten how to break the boxes here, jump into the top right corner and start running left; you'll break a box, giving you enough room to run right. Save if you want, then hookshot the ceiling of this room in order to access the top left corner with the red door. Missle the door. In this next room, there's going to be a lot of enemies coming in from the background. Once they're dead, lay a grenade in the center of the room (you can't see what you're standing on). A piece of the floor will break away, revealing a FOAM PACK. Head left and climb up; in this next room there are several soldiers and turrets, so be ready. On the right side of the room, jump and use your hookshot to continue on. Boss fight! ******************************************************************************* Boss: WSA1 Walker This boss is a bit tedious, but manageable. The in-game hint suggests ripping out the wiring on its head or something, but attempting to kill it in such a way has never helped. Let's go with the good old method of brute force. The game also says that explosives won't work; they may not be instant kills, but they've always been fine with me. For one, at the start of the fight, run forward as quick as you can to avoid the missles aimed at your face. Stay behind him and shoot at his underside, and he'll shoot some foam grenades at you. Watch for them, and double jump to avoid the explosion. He'll turn around; you run back under his legs and do it again. Don't stay under his legs, though; he'll stomp you, and you'll take damage even if he's just turning around. Still, with machine gun fire and some missles, he'll go down easily. ******************************************************************************* Head left for a save point. Left again, and you'll see giant energy blasts across the floor; don't jump into these. Instead, head upwards and left. You'll see a control panel on the ceiling on the right; jump up and press B to activate it. Shoot a missle at the control panel that opens on the left, and the beams downstairs will fizzle out. Head down to get the Thrust Boots, AKA your triple jump. Go back and save, then head to the top of your current room. In the next room, jump in the water and watch out for the robot fish in it. There's a bit of a pipe maze here; navigate it and swim to the surface, then head right until you've fallen back into the base into a save point. Follow the path, then head through the destroyed walls (there's a box still in the way) up to the top of the room. Lots of enemies in the next room; engage them if you please. Shoot some missles at the red door and continue on. You'll be in a wide open area, with two soldiers with missle launchers aimed at you; kill them carefully. Climb up the ladder on the right side of this room, and blow open the red door at the top; head on in. Fall down close to the left side of the wall; climb into the vent to get a MISSLE PACK. Head back down, be stealthy or open fire; doesn't really matter. Head left and activate the computer panel. A couple of strong machines will show up; just run away. Really. It's not worth it to fight them. When you get back outside (sorta), jump across the huge gap and follow the path. Hopefully you know to shoot yellow vents by now. Turrets in the top room, so watch out. When you get to the top, run to the right into the elevator (there's an item to get involving your speed boost, but I'll point it out at the end of the guide). Take the elevator down. Head right into some offices with people for you to kill (including a bastard with a missle launcher off-screen). On the left wall there's a vent for you to enter; it's easy to miss. It's too narrow for you to wall jump, so just hook or triple jump the way up. Finally, you have it, the final gun: the INERTIAL ELEMENT. THIS GUN IS THE ONLY ITEM IN THE GAME THAT CAN BE MISSED, SO MAKE SURE YOU OBTAIN IT RIGHT NOW. CAPS FOR EMPHASIS. WOO. Head right and shoot a poor guy in the face with your shotgun. Keep heading right, and at the bottom of the long room, enter the save point on the right. Now, head left and blow open the door with missles. Climb onto the top of the structure for a scene. Now, get the hell out of there! Run right, boost up the ladder, run left, and wall jump your way up the elevator shaft, and run left some more! Finally, you're out safe. Ready to end this game? I sure am! Climb up the tower, and now that you have a triple jump and a shotgun, run and jump to the right as much as you can. This is all territory you're familiar with, so go for it! (I happened to find an ARMOR UPGRADE and a FOAM PACK on the way there that I hadn't pointed out; maybe you'll see them too). Just keep moving until you get to the lake for the final encounter... ******************************************************************************* Final Boss: Airship So...yeah. Pretty much every enemy you've encountered in the game is here, boss or grunt. You're going to be shot at a lot, so get used to it. Enemies both on your plane and in the background are going to be bombarding you with attacks. Fortunately, you're a running, gunning, flying tank. So how to get rid of the airship? It takes a couple of steps. There are three rockets on the field; each of them has two controls panels near it. One control panel will activate the rocket and prepare it for launch. The other control panel will let Jason manually aim the rocket at the airship in the background. So naturally, activate the rockets and fire them at the airship! However, it takes some time for each rocket so be fully prepped, so in the meantime, kill enemies, dodge fire, and generally do everything you can to not die. Go nuts in this fight; there's a full health & ammo restore in a room on the left side of this giant pad, so use it whenever you need to. After each hit, the airship will send several rockets of its own at you; get off the platform and move on to the next one. Don't stay around and get hit by the counterattack. There is also a health refill inside the cabin that's now suspending on a tall building; access it by climbing up the ladder in the middle of the field. Once the third rocket is launched, you've beaten Shadow Complex! Congradulations! Now you've got the "Hero" achievement, your medal of honor. ******************************************************************************* ———————————————————————————————————————- ITEMS 8 Health Upgrades 10 Armor Upgrades 30 Grenade Packs 20 Foam Packs 20 Missle Packs 12 Gold Bars 12 Passkeys I could put a big list here of the location of every single item in the game and where it's found, but honestly, pictures do it a lot better than words. While playing the game myself, I found IGN's item listing for the game to be incredibly useful for those rare items that eluded me. I highly encourage you to check it out: [guides.ign.com] (used with permission) Before item hunting, I recommend you at least get to level 20, so you will be able to see the entire map. Most of the items in the game are very easy to find, and others are easy to obtain once you have the correct item, but there will always be those that annoy the player. So, I'll list a couple of the most annoying items in the game to get: Armor Upgrade #8: Located in the huge room on the top left of the green portion of the map. The camera's annoying as hell, but the upgrade is in a crevice that requires triple jumps and a hookshot to get to. Be patient; you'll be able to get it. Armor Upgrade #10: Located in a save room, so you won't be able to locate it on your map. Once you have missles, head to the down-left most save room on the purple section of the map. The item will be under a panel in the floor. Foam Pack #15: Located left of where you acquire the first foam pack. Instead of using IGN's method of tediously jumping and hookshotting your way across the lake, get a running start so you'll sprint across the electrified water. It still might take a few tries, though; the hyperspeed is a bit finicky. Foam Pack #17: A pain in the ass. The item's near the bottom middle of the light blue section of the map, but in order to get it, you have to go way above it. Walk out onto the ledge and look around on the left wall underneath the ledge; you'll see a green panel. You can't stick a grenade to the panel, so you're gonna have to fire a lot of foam and set the grenade on the platform. THEN you'll be able to access the pack. Foam Pack #20: Near the bottom right of the map. Remember the first portion where you're on a minigun shooting up baddies? Directly under that room is a body of water, with a submerged red gate to the left. Shoot the gate, then quickly toggle to grenades and shoot them at the fan on the other side of the gate. Do it too slow, and you'll die. Gold Bar #3: Near the bottom left of the light blue portion of the map. There's a room with a ladder, a furnace, and a gold bar tucked in the right corner of the room. Not hard to find, but annoying to actually get to. Gold Bar #8: Near the bottom right of the light blue map. You're gonna need the triple jump for this. In the huge room to the left, get to the top left corner. Hell, back up a room. If that isn't enough, stand on the upper platform in that next room. Now, run right long enough to build up momentum, and double/triple jump over gaps, heading right, which will destroy a blue box. You'll probably crash into a save room. Grenade Pack #12: Towards the bottom of the yellow map, in a room to the right of a save point. On the lower level, turn a valve and water will pour into the room. A panel above you will open once the lower section is filled, and you can swim in and grab it. You can technically get this without the Scuba Mask, but having it makes things much easier. Missle Pack #9: Top left of the light blue section of the map. There's a blue box you have to break, but there's not enough room to build up momentum. So, you'll have to go to the left a few rooms and start running right, falling down as you run back into the room with the item. Carefully run around the central platform and jump at the right moment to break the blue box. Then, shoot a missle at the panel to get this pack. Missle Pack #15: Top middle of light blue map. When you head to that section, you'll see a huge electrified floor that will kill you instantly, and several red panels to destroy. Use your hook to stick to a wall so you can shoot missles at the appropriate places. This is extremely difficult if you don't have a hookshot and a triple jump. Once all...12 panels, I believe, are destroyed, the floor will deactivate and the pack will become available. Missle Pack #19: In the bottom left save room on the purple part of the map. It's easy to acquire; just hard to find because the dot won't show up in a save room. Keycard #2: Upper right section of the orange map. To the left of where you first got grenades. You can't see it, but hurl a grenade into the crevice to the left of where you first found the grenades. It'll open a path that leads to the card. Keycard #7: On that long horizontal streak at the bottom of the map. You'll see the Keycard in an alcove on the ceiling, blocked by a blue box. Run left for a while, then run back to the right, building up momentum. Where the ceiling is low, jump and you'll run on the ceiling, all the way to the blue box and the Keycard. Keycard #8: This one's incredibly convoluted to get. It's above the orange section of your map. The drawbridge will need to be lowered in order to access this item. When you're on the drawbridge, head left into the building and you'll see a lever. Hit this level, then immediately run right and double/triple jump onto the wall. If you were quick enough and you did it right, you'll run through the hole and through some debris, letting you access the Keycard. Keycard #12: Upper yellow portion of the map. It's not difficult to acquire; you just won't know that you have it because it's located in the room with the Scuba Mask, so on the map a dot tells you that an item was already gotten there. Just head back there and swim in the passage behind the rack to find it. ———————————————————————————————————————- PROVING GROUNDS You can access the Proving Grounds at any point in Shadow Complex from the Campaign Mode menu. Unlike the main adventure, there's no exploration here; just use your skills to the best of your ability to finish each level as fast as you can. There's really no strategy I can give you here; just practice and practice until you're good enough. The last level might require a guide, but it's better that you figure it out for yourself. You get an achievement for finishing all the levels, so go for it! ———————————————————————————————————————- ACHIEVEMENTS: Let's Get Punchy (Melee 5 soldiers) - 15 pts -Just play the game and you'll get this one easily Bomba Punter (Punt 20 Bombas) - 20 pts -When you see a Bomba on the floor, press B to kick it. Do it 20 times to get the achievement. My Head A-splode (Get 50 headshots) - 20 pts -Just keep playing the game and you'll get this one. Make 'Em Scream (Get 100 soldiers to scream) - 20 pts -This one might take a while, but the tally is counted through different playthroughs, so keep at it. How do you make them scream? I dunno, but it's not too hard. To Kill a Blackbird (Destroy the helicopter attacking the vice president) - 15 pts -Beat the prologue to get this one Look Out! (Kill a soldier with a bomba) - 5 pts -You can get this one shortly in the game. Walkin' on Water (Make it from one end of the lake to the other in hyperspeed) - 5 pts -Not too hard to do; just have to get the hyperspeed upgrade to do it. Hero (Complete the game on any difficulty setting) - 50 pts -Just beat the game Completionist (Complete the game with 100% of the items) - 20 pts -Exactly what it says. There are a few items that don't show up on the map; I'll point them out later in the guide. Minimalist (Complete the game with less than 13% of the items) - 10 pts -Don't get any items aside from those ne

We are trying to organise a Kotaku Uncharted...

deanbmmv — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:59:51 MDT

We are trying to organise a Kotaku Uncharted deathmatch on Sunday Anyone interested 'speakup'. I'll knock together a thread on the forum #speakup

What’s the impression you get from the...

Ladi — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:23:15 MDT

What’s the impression you get from the Kotaku staff? If I were to compare them to anything it’d be a typical family, with us as the pets :P The majority of the staff are the kids who kept pestering their parents til they finally caved and let them get some pets (us). Generally everyone shares the task of looking after them equally and we all have our own favourites. Luke’s occasional flame-bait posts being akin to teasing the pets because he’s a little bored, Bashcraft sneaks down at night to sneak us some extra food, and Owen takes us for walks on weekends. AJ is the enthusiastic little sister and the Mikes are the older brothers who pretend they aren’t as interested in the pets but still take good care of them. Crecente and Totilo are the long suffering parents, who have to look after the pets when the kids’ interest wanes temporarily, as it is wont to do. Their care is perhaps a bit more methodical and deliberate than that of the children, but all the more appreciated because of it. Leigh is the big sister who’s gone away to university, but whenever she comes back home for the holidays all we all crowd around her like she’s Snow White in the forest and get attention lavished on us for a little while. Tim is the friendly uncle who is kind of a little crazy but we all like him anyway because he has nice snacks and surprises in his pockets that he likes to share. What do you think, strangely fitting or am I just a little crazy? I’ve even got a mental image of some of the more prolific commenters, like Arch as the grumpy old dog set in his ways and Lily as something small, hyperactive and lovable, like a ferret.

@Brian Crecente: Well, this letter's not...

ThisDudeRufus — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:22:05 MDT

@Brian Crecente: Well, this letter's not supposed to be for people who necessarily agree. It's like the persuasive writing jive we learned in school, ''as with a girl's skirt, keep it long enough to cover the subject, and short enough to keep it interesting''.

I really don't see how Mario Kart comparisons...

flclkris — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:24:09 MDT

I really don't see how Mario Kart comparisons are helpful. They will never gain a substantial following of those type of racing fans. That's like expecting Pikmin fans to like Command and Conquer.

I feel like lately, the gaming community...

Brian Beckmann — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:57:52 MDT

I feel like lately, the gaming community as a whole has become spoiled rotten. Any time a new game or sequel or DLC is released, the only thing fans talk about are about how angry they are that they're not getting their way.

Kotaku and other game blogs should consider implementing a tag system for negative comments so people can filter them out. Or a separate section for negative comments. Because honestly, I miss the good old days where I could just talk about how excited I was for a game without a million different fanboys jumping down my throat and telling me how my opinion is wrong.

What's you favourite intro. to a game? Not...

Rhys — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:48:16 MDT

What's you favourite intro. to a game? Not just the opening cut scene but the very first bit of gameplay where you know "this is where it starts."

I've been playing Oblivion and Fallout 3 lately and the first part of those games is just great. I love the whole, "emerging into a huge, unknown world" thing they've got going.

Is there anybody who vists Kotaku who is...

Ursus-Veritas — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:07:18 MDT

Is there anybody who vists Kotaku who is either aspiring to be, or is a Game Journalist?

I'm entering University this september (hopefully, just finished A-Levels) to do English and Media Studies, with looking to eventually become a Journalist in the Games Industry.

Just wanted to know if there are any likeminded people on here.

I can't wait for Ghostbusters to come outThat...

Mister Jack got an iPod Touch! — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:38:14 MDT

I can't wait for Ghostbusters to come out
That game is all I can think about
Bustin' makes me feel so good
When I think about it, I get wood

Whew..so..uh...you wanna get some breakfast or something, Kotaku?

How did you die the last time? Me? I underestimated...

Fernando Jorge — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:19:01 MDT

How did you die the last time?

Me? I underestimated an Octamammoth with low health.

Do you feel like reviews ruin games for you?...

Fontane — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:43:15 MDT

Do you feel like reviews ruin games for you? I used to buy games based on word of mouth or advertising alone when I was younger, now I check reviews for everything before buying it (Usually check IGN.com). How many great games am I missing out on because they didn't appeal to the guys that got stuck reviewing them?