Choose a new campaign and normal difficulty.
Play the tutorial
shows you how to move the camera with the left analogue stick. Have to move to three flares to proceed.
Told to move to a warthog and selct it with A. Then told to move it to a location by moving the crosshair and pressing X. Tells us about the fog of war being removed as we move units into unexplored areas.
We are told to move through a series of waypoints until we get to some soldiers.
Pressing the left bumper selects all units available.
Taught to move groups of units through another series of waypoints.
Taught that pressing X on an enemy units gives the order to attack by blowing up a covenant shield generator.
We fight a group of covenant soldiers then come across some large structures. We are shown that our soldiers can use special attacks, in their case grenades.
That is the end of the basic tutorial.
Story begins
Cut scenes of war with the covenant, humanity is winning at the start, then things go wrong and the covenant starts to win more and more engagements.
fighting has been going on around and on a planet called Harvest, and it's fairly wrecked after the five long years of war.
We see USNC fleet ships coming into orbit.
The Captain talks to his A.I. Serena. He thinks that although the covenant have been defeated there are still lots of them around down on the planet. reports come in that they have found something in the ice. A scientist tells him that we must find out what it is, of course first taking it back from the covenant. The scientist wants to go down with the soldiers but is told to wait until the area is cleared of Covenant.
Mission 1 Alpha Base
Our hero is Sargeant Forge. He is down on the planet. Alpha base which is near the covenant find is under attack and has all but been taken by the covenant.
Forge is to go there and try and muster the scattered forces.
Forge is alone in a warthog and we must drive him to the base. Along the way we meet covenant and human forces fighting, when we kill the covenant the humans join us.
When we get to the base it's wrecked and the covenant are occupying it.
We can't drive the warthogs in as the covenant have put up a shield, men can walk through the shield though and you can get them to destroy the shield generator letting the warthogs through. Air support takes out the covenant tanks and you mop up the soliders inside the base to complete the first mission.
Cut Scenes
Forge goes out to the covenant find in the ice. They have uncovered a forerunner structure.
The covenant open it, however they are worried about the flood.
On the spirit of fire the Captain talks to the scientist, he approves her going down to the structure once Forge captures it.
The covenant have got what they want from the structure and the Prophet tells the elites to blow it up.
Mission 2 Relic Approach
We first have to build our base.
First structure is a fortress.
Then we need supply pads to receive supplies from the Spirit of Fire.
Once the supply pad is built we need a barracks to create troops.
Supply pads provide the currency needed to build units and vehicles. The more supply pads you have the more and faster you build units.
a reactor allows you to power the base. Most of the buildings can be upgraded.
Turrets can be built at the four corners of your bases and upgraded.
A covenant base is found just to the north, destroying it allows you to build a second base.
A covenant meathane refinery must be destroyed, this will prevent them air dropping troops into our base as they have been doing.
We find a landing pad, liberating it from the covenant allows the Spirit of fire to drop in vehicles to help.
some warthogs and their crew have been captured while out on patrol, we find them in little covenant strongholds and liberate them for side objectives.
The main objective of the map is to get to the forerunner structure and blow up a detonator that the covenant have placed there.
Mission is complete when that is done.
Cut scenes
The professor comes into the forerunner structure. She activates the computers there.
The device shows a star map, however, before anyone can work out what is going on cloaked elites appear and attack. Forge requests reinforcements.
Mission 3 Relic Interior
We are controlling two grisly tanks and have to drive through the inside of the forerunner structure to get to Forge to assist him and the professor who it seems is called Anders
We drive through the structure killing covenant as we go until we reach Forge's position.
We then can gain control of the other units. Anders can repair units.
as we try and leave the forerunner structure the covenant blow up the force field bridge control unit and leave us stuck. There is another bridge however and Anders thinks she can get it working.
When she gets to the bridge we have to protect her for a minute until she gets the bridge working.
We then have to get out of the forerunner structure to a landing zone to end the mission.
Cut scenes
On the spirit of Fire anders tells the Captain that the forerunner lightshow was pointing out the Arcadia system for some unknown reason. The Captain has seen enough movies to know that he has to go to Arcadia. As the Spirit of fire comes out of FTL in the Arcadian system details come in that the covenant are already there in force, space battles have seen one of their ships destroyed, however one has limped damaged into the atmosphere and landed troops in Arcadia City.
Mission 4 Arcadia city
Forge is sent to help the civilian evacuation of the city.
There are three civilain transport ships, which must be protected for fifteen minutes until the civilians are on board.
which is easier said than done. The transports are fragile and the covenant come from anywhere with air support.
To start with you have planes and forge, you can build two bases to provide you with more units and defensive turrets, these also provide something else for the covenant to shoot at.
The mission last 15 minutes and is fairly frantic.
Mission 5 Arcadia Outskirts
The city is evacutated however overrun and the UNSC are retreating to regroup and recover.
Serena suggests an impact crater further down the highway will provide a good place to set up a base.
We have to move to the impact crater and then build a new base.
The covenant harrass the whole time.
We get a few spartans to help this time.
A covenant cannon must be destroyed before it blows us to bits.
Another base can be built further up the map.
The covenant base is the main objective here and once it's destroyed the mission is over.
Cut Scenes
Back to the Pillar of Fire, the covenant have errected a huge bubble shield dome over whatever it is that they are doing in the ruins of Arcadia city.
Anders wants to use a prototype plasma weapon to ruin the covenants day and take down the shield.
Mission 6 Dome of light
Anders and Forge are in a base near the shield, she uses a tank with the plasma weapon and it only succeeds in stirring up a hornets nest of trouble. covenant ships come in to attack and destroy the tank and land forces in the base.
We start the mission with a basic base unit and some spartans. Forge is with them.
The covenant send some ships over from the dome in waves, but not too many, some soldiers also come and harrass.
When you can afford it you can call down rhino tanks from the Spirit of Fire. These must be positioned on forward points closest to the dome. The first one is not powerful enough, so another must be placed. The covenant are occupying the position with a small base. Once it's destroyed and the tank in position we find that it's still not enough to penetrate the shield. Another rhino must be positioned. This time You have to use spirt of fire abilities. Called up by pressing up on the D-Pad. You can use pelicans to select units in a small radius and then move them to another place. This is useful to get the rhino past the blown up road. The third tank makes a dent in the shield but not enough.
Another is needed. Covenant locust tanks show up and the covenant start really pushing back and trying to attack the rhino's in their exposed postions.
Eventually i get all five rhino's in position and they fire on the dome making a huge hole in it. We then get the Spirit of Fire's cannons to lance the covenant base inside from space. Once this is done the mission ends.
I spend some time getting to grips with the base and the upgrades
Tech level is increased by building reactors and upgrading them. Once you have sufficient tech points you can get better upgrades and equipment for the units.
I build a field armoury, which can make the unit build time quicker, make the soldiers created faster, upgrade the base turrets and increase the amount of units i am allowed to build.
The barracks upgrades add more troops to a unit, a medic and upgrades like rpg and flamethrowers.
cut Scenes
We see the Arbiter and the Prophet talking on an ice world, they are walking in a forerunner structure. The Prophet has found a forerunner gadget but has no clue how to work it, I would hazard a guess that he doesn't even know what it is. Still he wants to fire it up and wants to kidnap Anders in the hope that she will have as much luck with this one as she did with the one on Harvest which repsonded simply to her touch.
Mission 7
Forge is rooting around in the area where the force field dome was, a scarab constuction site blocks the way, unfortunately even though the scarab can't move it's cannons are fully operationaly and it can take out almost anything with one shot. We must destroy it and find out what the covenant wanted here.
This time i can build vehicles, I explore all the upgrade options for the vehicles.
volley ability ablative armour power turrets, pirecing shot, dual launchers.
The scarab is taking pot shots at our base, but die to forerunner ruins can't get a good shot. However it does not look like we have all day, as the ruins are vanishing with the pounding they get.
A quick scout with a warthog to the north shows that there are a lot of covenant in the way of us getting to the scarab as well as it to deal with.
I notice that the fortress, the main base unit has some upgrades as well, the warthhogs can be equipped with grenadiers and gauss cannons.
as I approach the scarab with a lone warthog suicidal scouting mission I am told by Forge that it can't fire in two directions at once, which suggest that a two pronged attack may be the way to go.
I end up in a wrecked savegame because there is a time limit and the scarab breaks down the cover and wrecks my base ending the mission. The second time i do it much faster, don't muck about with any superfluous stuff, just build tanks and after much pounding on the scarab blow it ti bits. The mission ends straight after it's destroyed.
Cut scenes
Anders and Forge are exploring the area the covenant were so interested in when the Arbiter appears from his cloak right beside them, he grabs Anders, Forge tries to stop him but is fairly inneffectual and about to get run through by the Arbiters energy Sword when Anders steps in front and says she will come quietly if he lets Forge live. The Arbiter does so, I wonder why, because Anders has no real options anyway.Oh yes, plot expediency. We need Forge to still be alive because he is the hero. The arbiter decides to leave Forge alive and wanders off back to his dropship holding Anders by the head. A bunch of Spartans turn up and pick up the wounded Forge. Now wouldn't it have been better writing to have the Arbiter retreat from a three to one fight with the spartans rather than show inexplicable mercy for one of the humans he is tasked with the genocide of.
Back on the spirit of Fire The Captain has a difficult decision, he can blow up the fleeing covenant ship with Anders on it or give chase. He decides to give chase.
We see the end of the chase is a planet and it looks from the little flash we see of it that the flood are loose on it.
Mission 8 Anders' signal.
we start with no base, but we have an elephant, which is a mobile base. We can lock it down and train troop units with it.
We have to find an area which is suitable for a base, unfortunately the only good place due to the terrain has loads of covenant occupying it.
We find that with only basic troopers the covenant are hard going, hwoever after a time spartans turn up, who are outwith our control and finish the fight for us. The path to the beacon is now clear.
As we approach the beacon two other elephants with troops which are on the map but outwith our control are attacked suddenly, by flood it seems, they are massacred quickly and their signals stop, we can not see what is happening in the area once they are gone, but it's obvious that sudden heavy flood attack has happened.
We are to go investigate what happened to the other elephants, which seems damn silly to me, they got destroyed in seconds, so lets go send more men in to get destroyed in seconds.
While exploring in the far corners of the map I find a flood den, whcih is like a large pus sac, the spartan I was scouting with kills it with no resistance, however it seems that it isn't dead and will regenerate.
Again another one, but it seems useless to shoot them as they just regenerate.
Moving down to the area where the elephant was attacked we see the flood have killed all the soldiers and taken their bodies. The flood must be eliminated from the area and the elephant taken back.
Once that is done, we can set up a base.
The two elephants must be kept alive at all costs, for some unknown reason. why? losing them stops the mission, a bit silly.
It's time to build a base and all options seem available.
scorpion tanks seem ineffectual against the flood, while troops seem best.
Fucking hell, I carpet bomb the flood/elephant cluster base and succeed in only ending the mission as i destroy the elephant, doh.
The last objective is to get the other elephant out of flood clutches, apparently they are too expensive to write off.
Once the other warthog is taken back from the flood and taken back to your base the mission is over.
flood units are taken over covenant and USNC soldiers. There are also huge tentacles that can pick up wathogs and troops and kill them very quickly.
Mission 9 The Flood
Spartan red team are near Anders' signal, however the flood in between them and her are too much for them to take. Forge is given the task of reinforcing them.
We are given a base with two elephants and supply pads attatched to them which is new.
I build up my base and have only a little harrassment from flood pods and flying flood.
The spartans call and say it's getting hairy, I wonder if I have a time limit, which will be a pain in the ass if so.
As I take some tanks out to scout we find some large flood blobs, which when destroyed weaken the hive mind's powers. We have to destroy five of them to progress it seems.
I find the spartans attacking the main flood creature. Taking it out is fairly easily done with a group of about seven scorpion tanks. When the main creature is taken out all the other regenerating bases die too. Mission over when the main creature is killed.
Cut scenes
We see the anders being brought to the prophet at the forerunner structure. She demands to bee released and they laugh. The arbiter is peeved when one ofhis soldiers reports that a human ship has arrived. He orders the prophet sent back to high charity and for the human ship to be destroyed.
We see the Spirit of Fire arriving on a mostly ocean world, which confuses things, as the forerunner structure looked to be on an icy world. The ocean opens up and forerunner defence ships come out to attack. It appears that the planet is hollow and the arbiter and his chums are inside.
Mission 10 Shield world
There are troops on the ground investigating thee ruins on an island. They must be brought back up before the Spirit of Fire retreats from whatever is coming out of the planet. There are flood in the way and we must destroy their air capabilities before our pelicans can land and pick up the troops.
We have a base, some tanks, pelicans and three sets of troops that are out of our control, hemmed in by flood that are in the way.
Disrupting a forerunner tower with an emp from a vehicle called a gremlin gives us more time as a force field is trying to pull the Spirit of fire down. Once used the gremlin is destroyed by it's own emp, well not destroyed but useless.
Basically you have to clear the flood from three areas, as each area is cleared pelicans automatically come and evacuate the troops. You gain control of any hardware left behind, like a grisly tank and an elephant. When all three areas are clear the last units still can't get evacuated due to heavy flying flood units. They have to be brought back to the base and come under your control. Once they get to the base the mission ends.
Cut scenes
The spirit of Autumn is pulled into the forerunner structure, however, the flood are attached to the hull
Mission 11 Cleansing
We are on the outside of the Spirit of Fire. Flood are occupying the hull, we have to clean them off, unit building structures are available on the hull and we bascially have to kill em all. There is a wave of energy that passes over the ship every so often like a decontamination wave. It kills humans as well, which is a pain. You have to use flying ships to get at some of the flood as soldiers can't walk that far.
A short fun inventive mission.
Cut scenes
The Spirit of fire comes roaring through the airlock of the hollow planet and straight into a covenant battleship which was probably coming to shoot at them, they narrowly avoid hitting each other head on and then start fighting.
Mission 12 Repairs
We are still on the hull, a power core has been damaged, we have to use cyclops units to repair it while fending off covenant ships which come in steady streams, shooting things up and dropping off troops and tanks. We have the same outside stuctures as earlier and can build from them. The more cyclops you have working on the core the quicker the mission as it ends as soon as it's repaired.
Cut scenes
The Arbiter looks grumpy as he comes for Anders, he grabs her and sticks her hand on the forerunner globe, it activates and lots of giant sword like forerunner machines start to move. The Arbiter and chums are too busy watching what is going on that they forget to watch Anders, she stands on a glowing pad that was dormant and says surface, and she gets teleported to the surface. Her smug look is soon wiped from her face as flood pods attack. Forge turns up and saves the day. How did he get there, I thought he was on the spirit of fire which was inside the planet? Oh hang on I think we are inside the planet on the surface of the interior.
Mission 13
Forge and Anders are alone on the surface with flood approaching. We are told to go to a landing zone. When we get there the pelican is brought down by flying flood. Drop troopers come in to help. With no pelican Anders tells us to go to a teleporter nearby.
The teleporter takes us further down the map. Where there is another beacon. We have to hold the landing zone until the pelican gets to us.
After about three minutes the pelican arrives and picks up Anders. She tells us to hold this area.
We find a covenant base and attack it with all our forces. Once it's destroyed we can use the base site to build our own base.
I build up the base and investigate, to the east are some more covenant bases. I take one, but there must be more.
Once the base is taken we can build a second base.
I use this one to make manny more supply pads to increase my resources.
On exploring the map We find a scarab which has been abandoned by the covenant due to the flood, once we kill the flood, we can use a spartan to get it turned over to our control.
Another base and a scarab to finally finish this mission.
Cut scenes
Anders has a plan, seems that the huge sword like forerunner machines are ships, and now that they are activated the covenant can use them. Which means they will have suddenly just got a huge war machine boost. Enough to easily wipe out humanity. Anders plans to make the core of the spirit of fire overload inside the dyson sphere. Which will hopefully be enough to make the enclosed star go supernova and take out all the ships while they are still in the one place. It will also mean that the Spirit of fire will be unable to go ftl and will probably take 3 billion years to go home or something like that.
The mission is underway and the covenant start wrecking it almost at once.
Mission 14 Reactor
We have to get the reactor to a certain point. We get a base to build and we have to use an elephant to move the reactor which is on it's own trailer.
There is a covenant base to the north, which falls easily to a group of five scorpion tanks.
We now have a second base to build.
Things seem to be going swimmingly until the forerunner flying attack bots blow up the reactor sneakily.
Up the hill which forms most of the map another covenant base awaits.
And another base further up the hill.
That seems to be all the covenant bases
Now would seem to be a good time to build an elephant and tow the core up the hill.
When we get to the top the mission ends.
Cut scenes
The core is about to be sent to the sun through the teleporter. The Arbiter turns up with a load of elites and we get some fairly fun action scenes with spartans fighting elites. Forge faces down the Arbiter alone and is doing well to survive but it's obvious he isn't going to win. The Arbiter has him in a death grip and is about to plunge it's energy sword into him and at the last second he surprises it with a knife and stabs it in the throat, it drops Forge and it's energy sword and Forge uses it to run the arbiter through.
The spartans tell forge that the core is damaged and the detonation can only be done manually, someone will have to go up with it. Forge tells the spartans that they are needed in this fight more than he is and that he will activate the core explosion.
Mission 15 Escape
They like the final mission to be a desperate run for it type mission in Halo don't they.
The portal out of the dyson sphere is closed by the forerunner computers due to flood infestations, to get it to open we will have to clear the flood away, and also the covenant seem to have a presence also.
We are given a base, a few spartans and left to get on with it.
Forerunner autodefenses, flood and covenant are all fighting amongst themselves.
There are at least three scarabs in the area and several flood and covenant bases.
You have to activate six pylons in order to open the gate, they only open when there are no flood or covenant near the base of the pylon. The order is given to you by waypoints and they must be activate in pairs opposite each other.
This is the hardest mission so far by a mile. The objectives would be met no problem given enough time but the race against the clock makes it necessary to adopt special tactics.
I basically forgot about vehicles, made as many supply points as I could in the bases I took over and upgrades the troops to maximum, which turns them in ODST troops. With enough of them and using mac cannons etc I was able to finish the mission.
Cut scenes.
We see the sun starting to go nova and grow in size. The Spirit of fire does not have enough thrust to escape, The Captian suggests flying straight at the sun, slingshoting around it and having enough escape velocity that way, of course the hole in the dyson sphere is only slightly bigger than the ship itself, so it needs precision flying by the ship a.i. to do it. The spirit of fire escapes in the nick of time and the planet is destroyed. The Spirt now has an awful long journey ahead of it, so the crew go into cryogenic sleep. The last to go in are the Captain and Anders, they pine for Forge and the credits roll.
Played roughly 10-15 hours. On the normal difficulty, got 285 achievement points.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Killzone 2 Notes
Well here it is, the game I have been hearing so much about for four odd years, the game that will make all other games look bad. Let's see.
Choose Language
Adjust brightness
We see our heroes watching a propaganda video showing the Helghan leader Visari ranting on.
The two heroes meet a commander and walk out onto the surface of Vekta and we see huge battle ships launching like rockets from gantries into space.
We follow the battleships into space and through a space battle onto the short hop to Helghan. Helghan ships are blown apart in space and Vektan ships blown apart by planetary defences.
The fight then goes to the surface and we see vektan troops being torn apart by Helghan forces as the beachhead is established.
Now we can choose our controls and select a new campaign, I chose Veteran, there is an unlockable elite difficulty.
Mission 1 : Corinth river
We see our character Sev in the mirror and Garza comes to tell him to come on.
We meet Rico and Evelyn and are told that we are on a special mission to capture Visari the Helghan leader.
mention is made of someone called Radec.
We go through a door and meet Natko.
Then a small cut scene shows the Commander Templar sending us off. We watch as the gang get into their little air transports.
Now we are into the demo.
our transport crashes onto the beach.
I have chosen the Call of duty controls as they do feel more intuitive.
Usual analogue sticks
R1 to shoot
L1 to zoom
Square is reload.
Triangle to change weapons
X to jump
R2 for grenade
If you press up on the dpad you get a waypoint indicator which handily tells you where to go.
Lots of exploding barrels and peripheral activity, things flying past overhead, explosions in the distance.
Lot of light flare from the sun.
we go along the beach a little way fighting as we go and then have to deal with two apc's that come out and give us trouble. Once they are dealt with we split up from the main sqaud and I get a punt up to a ledge from another soldier.
We are trying to get the closed floodgates open.
We go into a warehouse and have to clear it out, then defend Garza while he unlocks a door.
Out in the next area we have to open the floodgates using the fucking sixaxis shit, this is fucking unacceptable to die four or five times trying to turn a fucking wheel in a game.
Once I kill the guys shooting at me I can't even get the stupid thing to work well when I have all the time in the world. Can you turn this off.
We go back through the same area again and then out onto the floodgate top where we see the convoy coming through.
Little freezes as new areas load.
Next area is again somewhere I have seen in gameplay video I downloaded from the net.
we flank the attackers that are pinning down the convoy and taking control of an emplaced gun shoot up all the Helghast allowing them to proceed.
Them some close quarters combat in narrow tunnels of a sewer like area.
We meet up with a squad on one of the flying sleds.
There is an ambush from the adjacent building and loads of Helghast appear at the windows, we get on an emplaced gun and shoot the building and helghast so hard that most of the front of it collapses.
We now go through a small corridor and fight some helghast and pick up a rocket launcher, seems you can only carry one weapon and a pistol at a time. We are told to shoot a weak point on a wall and make an hole to go through.
We come out into a large open area where Helghast are attacking our convoy with rockets from a bridge. We flank the Helghast and kill them all getting down onto the ground near our convoy.
We then have to defend against a tank using rockets. Next we get to drive the tank and attack another tank.
We are told that an airstrike is coming in and Helghast flood the area, a shootout ensues.
After a time the mission is over.
Mission 2 : Blood Meridian
We are told that we Captain Narville needs assistance in Visari square and a transport comes in to take us.
This is similar or probably the same video that was first shown last year at E3.
We are nearly hit by arc lightning fire from Helghast ground emplacements.
First objective is to find Captain Narville.
He is right in front of us and tells us to take the right flank while he keeps them occupied from the front.
We have to use a detonation charge on a door, using sixaxis again, thankfully it's much easier this time than the wheel earlier.
We fight our way through buildings that feel like some sort of city shanty town.
We come to the bigger boss Helghast, it is heavily armoured and fires a gattling gun type weapon.
We have to shoot it in the gas tanks on it's back.
Shooting it in the head makes it stumble and show it's back to us and then shooting the gas tanks enough blows it up.
I go up through a corridor and we come to an area, a bridge above an empty canal. There are loads of Helghast pouring through a door in what seems to be a never ending stream.
No, there isn't a never ending stream it just feels like it, eventually I manage to kill them all.
We now have to go upstairs in the building.
where we have a fight or two with emplaced guns pinning us down, until we can get up stairs to them and take them out.
We take an elevator up the building.
We see the arc tower now and are making our approach when we are joined by more soldiers.
We fight our way through many Helghast soldiers to the tower.
The tower opens up after we press a button and we can shoot two coils as it charges, Helghast interfere as we do so.
When we shoot it it explodes and a flying robot comes after us. We are chased by it and narrowly avoid getting killed by it by hiding.
Mission 3 Visari Square
Garza tells us that a piece of equipment he found is useful for the science teams, part of the arc weapon. He is told to take it back, we are told to go back to Rico our squad leader.
We have a wander through some corridors fighting as we go, noticable is alternate routes to the same place, nothing fancy just ways to go to the side to flank enemies that would be troublesome if you met them head on. There is some office and bunk type rooms with sliding doors that prove a pain in the ass as you think you are safe from the rear or flank and suddenly the doors slide open and the Helghast are flanking you.
I like how the barbed wire blows in the wind, pity bullets don't move it though.
eventually I meet up with Alpha sqaud, who are pinned down and we have to survive waves of Helghast.
I think I see why this game looks better than most, it's the grain filter, the wind and particle effects, the light flare, the smoke and the flare from lights, gunfire and explosions.
It's all smoke and mirrors really.
When you look at the actual geometry and textures up close there is nothing special, but take all the nice lights and grime and it makes it look great.
After surviving the waves we move through a door that opens up and through some buildings out onto the square where Narville is pinned down. We flank the enemies and now have to defend their position as more Helghast come at us.
There are around three waves from the front, then one from the rear, then another wave of Helghast and two of the heavies.
and that is the square taken.
Narville tells us he has sent the piece of arc tower up to high command for analysis.
Mission 4 Salamun district
We watch goings on accross the river and see Radec, one of the Helghan top brass. The flying robots are taking out lots of ISA troops. As we watch we are obviously being watched and mortar fire comes in fast. Sev is almost killed and escapes by jumping off the bridge as napalm and mortar fire wreck it.
Separated from the convoy Sev must rejoin the Convoy.
Shooting out the electric field protecting a pipe entrance we enter the sewers.
Climbing through the pipe we overhear two Helghast talking about Radec executing troops for uniform violations.
We are told that Garza is coming to help us back to the convoy.
I get the flamethrower which is actually quite fun, it sprays around like liquid and burns Helghast up a treat.
I find Garza at the top of a cube with three layers of gantry balcony around it and rooms off it. Basically we have to ascend the balconies and kill Helghast getting to Garza.
Next objective is to destroy the artillery that is pounding at the convoy.
These are column like items of machinery tended to and guarded by Helghast soldiers and some emplaced guns. You attack the soldiers and then place a charge on the guns themselves to blow them up.
Then we have to head back to the convoy.
Evelyn the scientist tells us by radio that the piece of arc tower we sent her shows that it is powered by an unknown compound. We overhear Radec talking about a defense system that is coming online, we tell Evelyn about that too.
We move into a shanty town area and are ambushed when we find a lone wounded ISA trooper.
This is another long firefight with extra helghast coming in by dropship, there is also rocket launcher wielding helghast here.
Laser trip mines are introduced, they can be shot from a distance to get them out of the way.
We meet up with the convoy guys again, and they are being attacked from a rooftop we can get to so off we go. We have to breach into the building using c4 and then attack the helghast infected two story building.
We get inside annd find there is no way up to the roof so we use our c4 on four pillars inside the building. Once all the charges are set we have to exit the building and then trigger the bombs bringing down the building spectacularly.
Mission 5 Salamun Bridge
The convoy has to get accross the bridge, though the Helghast are of course opposed to that idea.
This is a Call of duty style mission where standing still seems to produce a never ending stream of Helghast to defend the bridge, pushing forward stops the Helghast and allows your squad to take the area. Pity they decided to do this as I am not a fan, it makes for a reckless play style which is at odds with the cover system they have provided so far. Anyway maybe it's only for this one section. We shall see.
As we get halfway across the bridge the Helghast raise one half of it stopping the convoy from getting across.
Garza and Sev are sent to lower it.
On the way we have to take out an aa gun which is making life hard.
Then we us said aa gun to attack the Helghast after we have taken it.
We then climb inside the bridge and fight our way up to a control, and yes you guessed it one of those wheel things. However I kill the enemies that are running interference first and manage it without throwing the controller around this time.
The bridge lowers and the convoy can make it accross.
We have to take every inch from the Helghast with blood however. When we reach the end of the bridge it's the end of the mission.
Radec is holed up at a place called the academy and we are off to get him.
thought it was funny that I got ran down by one of my own men in a buggy while idly standing around looking at the scenery while the mission objective was explained over the radio.
We get in the buggy and drive to the academy in cut scene. On the way we see a power conduit ripped open by an explosion, there is that strange arc electricity power flying about loose. We decide to tell Evelyn when we get the chance.
Arriving at the academy we are going after Radec.
Inside the academy we are ambushed.
I am getting sick of running into a.i. characters, I have lost count of the amount of times now under fire in small areas and corridors that I have been bumping up against them unable to get past and getting killed as a result. I have taken to just meleeing them.
Inside the academy we have a huge rectangular room with balconies around the top, There are loads of helghast and rocket helghast to deal with.
We go through some inner sanctum type offices and find Radec's office. When we get in though it's empty. The Atac turns up, the flying remote a.i. robot that seems to be well armed and deadly. We go out to the roof running from it and Sev is separated from the rest.
It seems that there are electricity pylons on the edge of the roof, shooting them looses electrical activity. When the atac flies into it it gets stuck and we can shoot at it easily with rockets.
Problem is staying alive long enough to do so.
As the convoy approaches Visari's palace huge tower like mechanical objects rise out of the ground and shoot out electricity destroying men and vehicles like a man crushing ants.
Whoops looks like the assault on the palace is going nowhere.
Mission 6 Suljeva village
Evelyn thinks that the stuff that powers the arc towers is coming from a refinery out of the city. We are sent with Evelyn to investigate.
The mineral is called Petrucite.
We enter a helghast refinery and Evelyn busies herself with a computer we go down in an elevator to investigate.
We run around looking for an advance team which seems to have gotten itself lost.
The lift down further won't work so we go looking for controls. Inside a building we find the advance team dead. Although their commander is missing. I find a bolt gun as well.
A switch opens the lift door. When we go out into the previously deserted area there are now loads of Helghast to kill. We go into the newly opened lift area.
There have been little bugs running around in the sewers in earlier areas, but now they are getting bigger and seem to be filled with this petrucite stuff which makes them explode when shot.
Canisters of petrucite blow up with arcs of electricity everywhere.
The spiders also attack with taser like jaws.
The Helghast snipers are introduced, like most games you can see a laser sight playing around the area which lets you know where they are and also that you are about to get your head blown off.
Fighting past them we reach the antenna and try to get it working?
The controls are shot so we have to go up the gantry to the antenna itself.
Little versions of the ATAC start flying around making a nuisance of themselves.
Another crappy sixxaxis wheel turns on the antenna.
The antenna is on but suddenly hundreds of small petrucite signatures appear on the scanner.
Evelyn radio to us and tells us that she is under attack, we must come to her assistance.
However there are loads of Helghast between us and them. By the time we get there the three of them have been captured, we see a cut scene of them being led away and beaten by Helghast.
We decide to follow. Fighting Helghast and sentry drones through the building we see a train pulling off. There is another train and our objective now is to secure the train.
Rocket launcher soldiers and loads of normal soldiers do their best to stop us.
We manage to jump on top of the train as it leaves in cut scene.
Mission 7 : Tharsis Refinery
Now on top of the moving train we have to get to the engine.
Huge glitch here are Rico fights as normal although he is up to his chest in the metal of the train.
We run along the train fighting on open cargo trasporter carrigage and living carriages. We take the opportunity to use mounted guns on tanks that are sitting on the decks.
he helghast get the same idea and a tank must be taken out to progress. Eventually we reach the drivers cab and threaten the civilian driver. He stops the train and we let him go.
Now we are at the refinery.
We decide to split up to make searching quicker, with us helping boost rico over a fence to go a different route.
We shoot up some more Helghast, fall down through a dogdgy floorplate and have to puzzle some electrical traps, shooting the control box is always the solution, however sometimes finding the box can be hard. With you having to follow the cables to the box.
We take a large cargo elevator down, as we are on It Rico tells us that he has taken over a security station and can see us by cctv.
We come to a boss battle with a huge robotic Helghast, it fires an electrical gun at us.
There are overhead cargo pods with petrusite in them, if we shoot them down close to the boss he stumbles and stays still as he is electrified. This gives you a chance to shoot the gas tanks on his back.
Around two clips into his tanks blows him up.
we can pick up and use his electricity gun.
We then take a ride in a bucket as it passes through the refinery, shooting at Helghast on the gantries as we go.
Rico tells us to take an elevator up to his postion, why, I thought we were looking for Evelynn and the guys?
Has he found them? some info would be nice.
Rico has found out that all the petrusite refinerys feed power into a main node which then powers the city. taking out the node should stop power getting to the palace defences.
The electricity gun is great fun, makes things far too eeasy however.
We meet up with the other's Radec has them and is executing people trying to persuade Evelynn to give him some bomb launch codes, which may be a reference to the first game, though I wouldn't know having not played it.
Rico wants to go in all guns blazing, Sev says he will flank them. Rico does not wait and a fight ensues. The outcome is mostly satisfactory as Radec makes his escape and the gang are all reunited, the only fly in the ointment is that Garza is badly wounded.
We fight our way up to the surface and secure the landing zone as Radec makes his getaway.
We fight a few waves of soldiers in the open landing zone and then are told to get up to the comms tower and escort Evelynn to make a call for evacuation. We do that and handily a sniper rifle assists us in sniping at the Helghast below until the ship comes for us.
Garza does not make it however and Dies in Sev's arms. I think we are meant to care, but the character hasn't been seen enough for us to register even a passing emotion. Still Sev seems pretty cut up about it.
Mission 8 :The cruiser
Back on the ISA ship we see Garza's coffin. Sev is angry with Rico for going in early against his plan. It is fifty fifty wether or not Garza would be a corpse either way. Still Sev needs to be angry and someone.
The cruiser is rocked with what sounds like incoming fire and Rico orders us to take an elevator to the bridge and find out what is going on.
The elevator ride is illuminating as it shows that the Helghast have used small ships to invade our crusier.
We have to fight our way past some Helghast to get to the bridge where Templar tells us that the warhead firing system is shot due to trouble with the doors. We have to go to the gun deck and keep the Helghast at bay to buy Templar and Evelynn time to short things out.
We go down to the gun deck and have a shoot out with loads of Helghast soldiers, some flame troops and a heavy machine gunner.
Then we go to an aa gun and shoot up incoming ships. The battle does not look like it's going the ISA's way though with many of the huge crusiers being blown up or dropping out of the sky.
We are told that our ammo is dry after a while shooting and then we meet up with Natko and are told that the ship is being evacuated.
We have to fight our way through the exploding ship until we get to the dropship launch bays. Sev opens a comms channel to the bridge and is in time to See Radec arrive on the bridge and demand the launch codes from Templar. Templar does not comply and Evelynn is trying to delete things from the computer when she is shot. Templar fights with Radec and is shot.
Rico, Sev and Natko get away in a dropship. Templar shuts off the crusiers thrusters and it drops like a knife onto the target of the petrusite grid main node.
Mission 9 : Maelstra barrens
We are told to secure the crash site.
At the crash site we meet another trooper and he has an EXO which is a mech tank type walker. The guy is going to take it back to his base, but Rico is obnoxious to him and tells us to take control of it.
We meet up with Rico and Natko again, Rico beats the shit out of the guy for speaking his mind about the whole invasion being derailed. He was being personal about his friend but Rico is not winning loveable character of the year here.
Natko and Rico get in a buggy and tell Narville they are on the way to him.
We meet up with some Helgahst and I find that the EXO is fairly fragile.
we shoot up APC's, tanks and buggies and loads of Helghast troops.
We meet up with Narvilles convoy again and take out a bunch of tanks to end the mission.
As we are about to head into the city a nuke goes off.
Rather than have his palace attacked Visari has nuked his own city and a good percentage of the ISA army in the process.
Mission 10 : Visari Palace
Moral is shot, the cruisers are wrecked, a large swathe of the invasion force just got vapourised and some very pissed of Helghast are on their way to kill every ISA soldier left on Helghan. Sev and the Gang decide to take the fight to the palace, it may be suicide but there is little alternative.
We have to make it across an open courtyard and into the palace, take out a tank with a rocket launcher and then place some demolition charges on some aa towers.
There are four towers to be destroyed.
There are heavy soldiers guarding some of the towers.
Once the four towers have been blown we have to fight our way to an elevator which takes us up to the palace.
We watch as the aa towerless arc battery is blown to bits by an airstrike.
We now make our way along a long approachway to the palace itself. An awful lot of Helghast don't want you to get to the place.
The final appraoch to the palace doors is fought every step of the way.
As we get to the palace Rico and Sev go inside and the rest stay outside holding off the Helghast.
Inside the Palce we meet up with Radec
You are in a huge rectangular room. Waves of troops and flamethrower troops come at you and then doors open to the balcony above, where yet more waves come.
You get two waves of soldiers, then the lightly aarmoured troops that rush you, then a wave of soldiers and rocket troops.
Finally a cut scene plays where a transport crashes through the window and opens the way up t where Radec is standing. Once all the troops are killed then a cut scene shows Radec coming for you personally.
He cloaks himself, and tries to knife you from behind. You basically have to shoot him enough times until he goes up on an emplaced gun, shooting him off it ends the battle. You see a cut scene of him blowing his own brains out rather than be captured.
Rico and Sev go up the stairs to Visari's office.
Visari is alone in his office, he lectures Sev and Rico that on the moment of their triumph what have they really accomplished, if they kill Visari he will become a Martyr and the Helghast will rise up in anger like never before.
Rico can't take it a shoots Visari dead. As Sev walks from the palace huge Helghast ships appear in the air, spaceships that dwarf the huge ISA crusiers. Looks like the war machine of Helghan is rising from some kind of self imposed strategic hiding.
Looks like Kilzone 3 will be back to Vekta.
I don't get it, if Visari ruled absolutely and the Helghast loved him, did they really need him to die a martyrs death to spur them on to take the war further. I don't know the politics of the game. Maybe Visari had a government that would have questioned him taking the war back to Vekta. I don't know, what I do know is that the story seemed to have little flow or sense to it. Sure I grasp that the ISA was out to capture Visari alive so he could stand trial. They were the good guys and weren't out just to conquer Helghast. I just don't get the reason for the Helghan hiding their military might?
Choose Language
Adjust brightness
We see our heroes watching a propaganda video showing the Helghan leader Visari ranting on.
The two heroes meet a commander and walk out onto the surface of Vekta and we see huge battle ships launching like rockets from gantries into space.
We follow the battleships into space and through a space battle onto the short hop to Helghan. Helghan ships are blown apart in space and Vektan ships blown apart by planetary defences.
The fight then goes to the surface and we see vektan troops being torn apart by Helghan forces as the beachhead is established.
Now we can choose our controls and select a new campaign, I chose Veteran, there is an unlockable elite difficulty.
Mission 1 : Corinth river
We see our character Sev in the mirror and Garza comes to tell him to come on.
We meet Rico and Evelyn and are told that we are on a special mission to capture Visari the Helghan leader.
mention is made of someone called Radec.
We go through a door and meet Natko.
Then a small cut scene shows the Commander Templar sending us off. We watch as the gang get into their little air transports.
Now we are into the demo.
our transport crashes onto the beach.
I have chosen the Call of duty controls as they do feel more intuitive.
Usual analogue sticks
R1 to shoot
L1 to zoom
Square is reload.
Triangle to change weapons
X to jump
R2 for grenade
If you press up on the dpad you get a waypoint indicator which handily tells you where to go.
Lots of exploding barrels and peripheral activity, things flying past overhead, explosions in the distance.
Lot of light flare from the sun.
we go along the beach a little way fighting as we go and then have to deal with two apc's that come out and give us trouble. Once they are dealt with we split up from the main sqaud and I get a punt up to a ledge from another soldier.
We are trying to get the closed floodgates open.
We go into a warehouse and have to clear it out, then defend Garza while he unlocks a door.
Out in the next area we have to open the floodgates using the fucking sixaxis shit, this is fucking unacceptable to die four or five times trying to turn a fucking wheel in a game.
Once I kill the guys shooting at me I can't even get the stupid thing to work well when I have all the time in the world. Can you turn this off.
We go back through the same area again and then out onto the floodgate top where we see the convoy coming through.
Little freezes as new areas load.
Next area is again somewhere I have seen in gameplay video I downloaded from the net.
we flank the attackers that are pinning down the convoy and taking control of an emplaced gun shoot up all the Helghast allowing them to proceed.
Them some close quarters combat in narrow tunnels of a sewer like area.
We meet up with a squad on one of the flying sleds.
There is an ambush from the adjacent building and loads of Helghast appear at the windows, we get on an emplaced gun and shoot the building and helghast so hard that most of the front of it collapses.
We now go through a small corridor and fight some helghast and pick up a rocket launcher, seems you can only carry one weapon and a pistol at a time. We are told to shoot a weak point on a wall and make an hole to go through.
We come out into a large open area where Helghast are attacking our convoy with rockets from a bridge. We flank the Helghast and kill them all getting down onto the ground near our convoy.
We then have to defend against a tank using rockets. Next we get to drive the tank and attack another tank.
We are told that an airstrike is coming in and Helghast flood the area, a shootout ensues.
After a time the mission is over.
Mission 2 : Blood Meridian
We are told that we Captain Narville needs assistance in Visari square and a transport comes in to take us.
This is similar or probably the same video that was first shown last year at E3.
We are nearly hit by arc lightning fire from Helghast ground emplacements.
First objective is to find Captain Narville.
He is right in front of us and tells us to take the right flank while he keeps them occupied from the front.
We have to use a detonation charge on a door, using sixaxis again, thankfully it's much easier this time than the wheel earlier.
We fight our way through buildings that feel like some sort of city shanty town.
We come to the bigger boss Helghast, it is heavily armoured and fires a gattling gun type weapon.
We have to shoot it in the gas tanks on it's back.
Shooting it in the head makes it stumble and show it's back to us and then shooting the gas tanks enough blows it up.
I go up through a corridor and we come to an area, a bridge above an empty canal. There are loads of Helghast pouring through a door in what seems to be a never ending stream.
No, there isn't a never ending stream it just feels like it, eventually I manage to kill them all.
We now have to go upstairs in the building.
where we have a fight or two with emplaced guns pinning us down, until we can get up stairs to them and take them out.
We take an elevator up the building.
We see the arc tower now and are making our approach when we are joined by more soldiers.
We fight our way through many Helghast soldiers to the tower.
The tower opens up after we press a button and we can shoot two coils as it charges, Helghast interfere as we do so.
When we shoot it it explodes and a flying robot comes after us. We are chased by it and narrowly avoid getting killed by it by hiding.
Mission 3 Visari Square
Garza tells us that a piece of equipment he found is useful for the science teams, part of the arc weapon. He is told to take it back, we are told to go back to Rico our squad leader.
We have a wander through some corridors fighting as we go, noticable is alternate routes to the same place, nothing fancy just ways to go to the side to flank enemies that would be troublesome if you met them head on. There is some office and bunk type rooms with sliding doors that prove a pain in the ass as you think you are safe from the rear or flank and suddenly the doors slide open and the Helghast are flanking you.
I like how the barbed wire blows in the wind, pity bullets don't move it though.
eventually I meet up with Alpha sqaud, who are pinned down and we have to survive waves of Helghast.
I think I see why this game looks better than most, it's the grain filter, the wind and particle effects, the light flare, the smoke and the flare from lights, gunfire and explosions.
It's all smoke and mirrors really.
When you look at the actual geometry and textures up close there is nothing special, but take all the nice lights and grime and it makes it look great.
After surviving the waves we move through a door that opens up and through some buildings out onto the square where Narville is pinned down. We flank the enemies and now have to defend their position as more Helghast come at us.
There are around three waves from the front, then one from the rear, then another wave of Helghast and two of the heavies.
and that is the square taken.
Narville tells us he has sent the piece of arc tower up to high command for analysis.
Mission 4 Salamun district
We watch goings on accross the river and see Radec, one of the Helghan top brass. The flying robots are taking out lots of ISA troops. As we watch we are obviously being watched and mortar fire comes in fast. Sev is almost killed and escapes by jumping off the bridge as napalm and mortar fire wreck it.
Separated from the convoy Sev must rejoin the Convoy.
Shooting out the electric field protecting a pipe entrance we enter the sewers.
Climbing through the pipe we overhear two Helghast talking about Radec executing troops for uniform violations.
We are told that Garza is coming to help us back to the convoy.
I get the flamethrower which is actually quite fun, it sprays around like liquid and burns Helghast up a treat.
I find Garza at the top of a cube with three layers of gantry balcony around it and rooms off it. Basically we have to ascend the balconies and kill Helghast getting to Garza.
Next objective is to destroy the artillery that is pounding at the convoy.
These are column like items of machinery tended to and guarded by Helghast soldiers and some emplaced guns. You attack the soldiers and then place a charge on the guns themselves to blow them up.
Then we have to head back to the convoy.
Evelyn the scientist tells us by radio that the piece of arc tower we sent her shows that it is powered by an unknown compound. We overhear Radec talking about a defense system that is coming online, we tell Evelyn about that too.
We move into a shanty town area and are ambushed when we find a lone wounded ISA trooper.
This is another long firefight with extra helghast coming in by dropship, there is also rocket launcher wielding helghast here.
Laser trip mines are introduced, they can be shot from a distance to get them out of the way.
We meet up with the convoy guys again, and they are being attacked from a rooftop we can get to so off we go. We have to breach into the building using c4 and then attack the helghast infected two story building.
We get inside annd find there is no way up to the roof so we use our c4 on four pillars inside the building. Once all the charges are set we have to exit the building and then trigger the bombs bringing down the building spectacularly.
Mission 5 Salamun Bridge
The convoy has to get accross the bridge, though the Helghast are of course opposed to that idea.
This is a Call of duty style mission where standing still seems to produce a never ending stream of Helghast to defend the bridge, pushing forward stops the Helghast and allows your squad to take the area. Pity they decided to do this as I am not a fan, it makes for a reckless play style which is at odds with the cover system they have provided so far. Anyway maybe it's only for this one section. We shall see.
As we get halfway across the bridge the Helghast raise one half of it stopping the convoy from getting across.
Garza and Sev are sent to lower it.
On the way we have to take out an aa gun which is making life hard.
Then we us said aa gun to attack the Helghast after we have taken it.
We then climb inside the bridge and fight our way up to a control, and yes you guessed it one of those wheel things. However I kill the enemies that are running interference first and manage it without throwing the controller around this time.
The bridge lowers and the convoy can make it accross.
We have to take every inch from the Helghast with blood however. When we reach the end of the bridge it's the end of the mission.
Radec is holed up at a place called the academy and we are off to get him.
thought it was funny that I got ran down by one of my own men in a buggy while idly standing around looking at the scenery while the mission objective was explained over the radio.
We get in the buggy and drive to the academy in cut scene. On the way we see a power conduit ripped open by an explosion, there is that strange arc electricity power flying about loose. We decide to tell Evelyn when we get the chance.
Arriving at the academy we are going after Radec.
Inside the academy we are ambushed.
I am getting sick of running into a.i. characters, I have lost count of the amount of times now under fire in small areas and corridors that I have been bumping up against them unable to get past and getting killed as a result. I have taken to just meleeing them.
Inside the academy we have a huge rectangular room with balconies around the top, There are loads of helghast and rocket helghast to deal with.
We go through some inner sanctum type offices and find Radec's office. When we get in though it's empty. The Atac turns up, the flying remote a.i. robot that seems to be well armed and deadly. We go out to the roof running from it and Sev is separated from the rest.
It seems that there are electricity pylons on the edge of the roof, shooting them looses electrical activity. When the atac flies into it it gets stuck and we can shoot at it easily with rockets.
Problem is staying alive long enough to do so.
As the convoy approaches Visari's palace huge tower like mechanical objects rise out of the ground and shoot out electricity destroying men and vehicles like a man crushing ants.
Whoops looks like the assault on the palace is going nowhere.
Mission 6 Suljeva village
Evelyn thinks that the stuff that powers the arc towers is coming from a refinery out of the city. We are sent with Evelyn to investigate.
The mineral is called Petrucite.
We enter a helghast refinery and Evelyn busies herself with a computer we go down in an elevator to investigate.
We run around looking for an advance team which seems to have gotten itself lost.
The lift down further won't work so we go looking for controls. Inside a building we find the advance team dead. Although their commander is missing. I find a bolt gun as well.
A switch opens the lift door. When we go out into the previously deserted area there are now loads of Helghast to kill. We go into the newly opened lift area.
There have been little bugs running around in the sewers in earlier areas, but now they are getting bigger and seem to be filled with this petrucite stuff which makes them explode when shot.
Canisters of petrucite blow up with arcs of electricity everywhere.
The spiders also attack with taser like jaws.
The Helghast snipers are introduced, like most games you can see a laser sight playing around the area which lets you know where they are and also that you are about to get your head blown off.
Fighting past them we reach the antenna and try to get it working?
The controls are shot so we have to go up the gantry to the antenna itself.
Little versions of the ATAC start flying around making a nuisance of themselves.
Another crappy sixxaxis wheel turns on the antenna.
The antenna is on but suddenly hundreds of small petrucite signatures appear on the scanner.
Evelyn radio to us and tells us that she is under attack, we must come to her assistance.
However there are loads of Helghast between us and them. By the time we get there the three of them have been captured, we see a cut scene of them being led away and beaten by Helghast.
We decide to follow. Fighting Helghast and sentry drones through the building we see a train pulling off. There is another train and our objective now is to secure the train.
Rocket launcher soldiers and loads of normal soldiers do their best to stop us.
We manage to jump on top of the train as it leaves in cut scene.
Mission 7 : Tharsis Refinery
Now on top of the moving train we have to get to the engine.
Huge glitch here are Rico fights as normal although he is up to his chest in the metal of the train.
We run along the train fighting on open cargo trasporter carrigage and living carriages. We take the opportunity to use mounted guns on tanks that are sitting on the decks.
he helghast get the same idea and a tank must be taken out to progress. Eventually we reach the drivers cab and threaten the civilian driver. He stops the train and we let him go.
Now we are at the refinery.
We decide to split up to make searching quicker, with us helping boost rico over a fence to go a different route.
We shoot up some more Helghast, fall down through a dogdgy floorplate and have to puzzle some electrical traps, shooting the control box is always the solution, however sometimes finding the box can be hard. With you having to follow the cables to the box.
We take a large cargo elevator down, as we are on It Rico tells us that he has taken over a security station and can see us by cctv.
We come to a boss battle with a huge robotic Helghast, it fires an electrical gun at us.
There are overhead cargo pods with petrusite in them, if we shoot them down close to the boss he stumbles and stays still as he is electrified. This gives you a chance to shoot the gas tanks on his back.
Around two clips into his tanks blows him up.
we can pick up and use his electricity gun.
We then take a ride in a bucket as it passes through the refinery, shooting at Helghast on the gantries as we go.
Rico tells us to take an elevator up to his postion, why, I thought we were looking for Evelynn and the guys?
Has he found them? some info would be nice.
Rico has found out that all the petrusite refinerys feed power into a main node which then powers the city. taking out the node should stop power getting to the palace defences.
The electricity gun is great fun, makes things far too eeasy however.
We meet up with the other's Radec has them and is executing people trying to persuade Evelynn to give him some bomb launch codes, which may be a reference to the first game, though I wouldn't know having not played it.
Rico wants to go in all guns blazing, Sev says he will flank them. Rico does not wait and a fight ensues. The outcome is mostly satisfactory as Radec makes his escape and the gang are all reunited, the only fly in the ointment is that Garza is badly wounded.
We fight our way up to the surface and secure the landing zone as Radec makes his getaway.
We fight a few waves of soldiers in the open landing zone and then are told to get up to the comms tower and escort Evelynn to make a call for evacuation. We do that and handily a sniper rifle assists us in sniping at the Helghast below until the ship comes for us.
Garza does not make it however and Dies in Sev's arms. I think we are meant to care, but the character hasn't been seen enough for us to register even a passing emotion. Still Sev seems pretty cut up about it.
Mission 8 :The cruiser
Back on the ISA ship we see Garza's coffin. Sev is angry with Rico for going in early against his plan. It is fifty fifty wether or not Garza would be a corpse either way. Still Sev needs to be angry and someone.
The cruiser is rocked with what sounds like incoming fire and Rico orders us to take an elevator to the bridge and find out what is going on.
The elevator ride is illuminating as it shows that the Helghast have used small ships to invade our crusier.
We have to fight our way past some Helghast to get to the bridge where Templar tells us that the warhead firing system is shot due to trouble with the doors. We have to go to the gun deck and keep the Helghast at bay to buy Templar and Evelynn time to short things out.
We go down to the gun deck and have a shoot out with loads of Helghast soldiers, some flame troops and a heavy machine gunner.
Then we go to an aa gun and shoot up incoming ships. The battle does not look like it's going the ISA's way though with many of the huge crusiers being blown up or dropping out of the sky.
We are told that our ammo is dry after a while shooting and then we meet up with Natko and are told that the ship is being evacuated.
We have to fight our way through the exploding ship until we get to the dropship launch bays. Sev opens a comms channel to the bridge and is in time to See Radec arrive on the bridge and demand the launch codes from Templar. Templar does not comply and Evelynn is trying to delete things from the computer when she is shot. Templar fights with Radec and is shot.
Rico, Sev and Natko get away in a dropship. Templar shuts off the crusiers thrusters and it drops like a knife onto the target of the petrusite grid main node.
Mission 9 : Maelstra barrens
We are told to secure the crash site.
At the crash site we meet another trooper and he has an EXO which is a mech tank type walker. The guy is going to take it back to his base, but Rico is obnoxious to him and tells us to take control of it.
We meet up with Rico and Natko again, Rico beats the shit out of the guy for speaking his mind about the whole invasion being derailed. He was being personal about his friend but Rico is not winning loveable character of the year here.
Natko and Rico get in a buggy and tell Narville they are on the way to him.
We meet up with some Helgahst and I find that the EXO is fairly fragile.
we shoot up APC's, tanks and buggies and loads of Helghast troops.
We meet up with Narvilles convoy again and take out a bunch of tanks to end the mission.
As we are about to head into the city a nuke goes off.
Rather than have his palace attacked Visari has nuked his own city and a good percentage of the ISA army in the process.
Mission 10 : Visari Palace
Moral is shot, the cruisers are wrecked, a large swathe of the invasion force just got vapourised and some very pissed of Helghast are on their way to kill every ISA soldier left on Helghan. Sev and the Gang decide to take the fight to the palace, it may be suicide but there is little alternative.
We have to make it across an open courtyard and into the palace, take out a tank with a rocket launcher and then place some demolition charges on some aa towers.
There are four towers to be destroyed.
There are heavy soldiers guarding some of the towers.
Once the four towers have been blown we have to fight our way to an elevator which takes us up to the palace.
We watch as the aa towerless arc battery is blown to bits by an airstrike.
We now make our way along a long approachway to the palace itself. An awful lot of Helghast don't want you to get to the place.
The final appraoch to the palace doors is fought every step of the way.
As we get to the palace Rico and Sev go inside and the rest stay outside holding off the Helghast.
Inside the Palce we meet up with Radec
You are in a huge rectangular room. Waves of troops and flamethrower troops come at you and then doors open to the balcony above, where yet more waves come.
You get two waves of soldiers, then the lightly aarmoured troops that rush you, then a wave of soldiers and rocket troops.
Finally a cut scene plays where a transport crashes through the window and opens the way up t where Radec is standing. Once all the troops are killed then a cut scene shows Radec coming for you personally.
He cloaks himself, and tries to knife you from behind. You basically have to shoot him enough times until he goes up on an emplaced gun, shooting him off it ends the battle. You see a cut scene of him blowing his own brains out rather than be captured.
Rico and Sev go up the stairs to Visari's office.
Visari is alone in his office, he lectures Sev and Rico that on the moment of their triumph what have they really accomplished, if they kill Visari he will become a Martyr and the Helghast will rise up in anger like never before.
Rico can't take it a shoots Visari dead. As Sev walks from the palace huge Helghast ships appear in the air, spaceships that dwarf the huge ISA crusiers. Looks like the war machine of Helghan is rising from some kind of self imposed strategic hiding.
Looks like Kilzone 3 will be back to Vekta.
I don't get it, if Visari ruled absolutely and the Helghast loved him, did they really need him to die a martyrs death to spur them on to take the war further. I don't know the politics of the game. Maybe Visari had a government that would have questioned him taking the war back to Vekta. I don't know, what I do know is that the story seemed to have little flow or sense to it. Sure I grasp that the ISA was out to capture Visari alive so he could stand trial. They were the good guys and weren't out just to conquer Helghast. I just don't get the reason for the Helghan hiding their military might?
GTA IV Lost and the Damned Notes
New characters on the loading screen.
We watch the bike gang ride through the city. Intoduction credits.
A little cameo from Niko Bellic passing by on the street.
A cut scene shows an ex biker being released on parole. Billy Grey and he seems to be the leader of the Lost and the damned.
Mission 1
First we have to ride to the clubhouse
Where Billy gets his first drink on release from prison.
Arguments start fairly soon.
The leaders bike is missing.
Johnny argues back and it looks like there is going to be tension between them.
Next stage is driving to the chop shop where the owner has not go the bike. He is tortured for info.
Now we have to drive to the angels of death hideout and take back the bike by force.
then drive back to the hideout.
Mission 2
Angels in America
The angels come to see what is wrong with Billy and why he is breaking the truce they have. Billy shoots the Angels leader.
Now we have to chase the rest down.
Using the shotgun from the bike is fun.
After gunning down all the bikers you have to drive back to Billy.
Mission 3
It's war
Billy is fucking with a lawyer called Dave who wants to play biker gang member.
He gets a call and suddenly we are off to help some gang members who are being attacked.
We go to a location and kill some angels of death.
Then we drive to another location and kill some angels.
Billy tells us that Jason has been killed by a heavy hired by a russian father of a girl he was screwing around with.
I think that was Niko who killed him from the first game.
Mission 4
We meet a guy called Jim.
He wants us to steal some bikes from the angels and sell them to the Japanese.
We go and get a truck and have to take it to a diner.
At the diner we shoot some gang members, fill the back of the truck with bikes.
We then have to drive the truck back to where we got it.
We meet some bent cops who are taking money from the Lost to look the other way.
They are assholes to Johnny and Jim. However there is little else for them to do but take their insults, the alternative is jail.
Mission 5
Action / Reaction
We meet Billy at the gang hut, Ray is there. Selling weapons to Billy.
Billy takes us out on a mission without telling us what we are up to.
We have to race the gang to the mission location.
When we get there Billy gives us a grenade launcher and tells us that the people who killed Jason are in the building, he tells us to put a grenade through the window.
When we do loads of angels come out and we have a firefight. We then go inside the clubhouse and kill all the angels.
Inside is lot of heroin. Billy wants to steal it, Johnny is against the idea as he thinks it will stir up a hornets nest of trouble.
Billy is his usual asshole self and tells Brian to take it and suggests Johnny remember who the leader is.
As we leave the clubhouse the police arrive and we have to lose them to end the mission.
Mission 6
Bad Cop drop
We meet Jimmy again, the cops are annoying him, we must follow him to the lost clubhouse.
where he punches one of them and they give chase, we are to lure them to an ambush.
At the factory we get not only the bad cops car but three others as backup. The shootout here is fairly hard and took me many attempts. Mostly because every time you retry your ammo remains the same as the last try, so eventually you run out of ammo and have to go and do another mission or buy some.
When you kill all the enemies you have to escape and lose your wanted rating.
Mission 7
Buyers Market
We go to Elizabeta's and she will arrange a buyer for the heroin that Billy stole from the Angels.
Elizabeta speaks to Niko who will help up meet the buyer.
we have to go to Brian and get the heroin.
Johhny meets with Brian who wonders why he isn't getting to do the deal, Johnny tells him it's because he is a pussy.
When we get to the next waypoint we are to wait for Niko and Playboy X.
When we do we get a scene from the original game where the drug deal goes sour as the buyers are LCPD. We now have to escape the swat infested building.
Getting out is hard enough, you then have to escape a 3 star wanted rating.
Mission 8
Politics
Johnny goes to a posh club and annoys the doorman. He meets Mr Stubbs who is having a massage. He is a politician, who seems fairly annoying.
He wants his uncle dead so that he can get his inheritance.
This is the much touted male nudity scene, controversy for controversy's sake.
We have to go to the airport runway.
Where we have to kill the uncle who lands in a helicopter then gets into a convoy of cars.
After killing him with the provided rocket launcher we have to escape the airport by the only gate that isn't locked down by the police and then loose our wanted rating.
Mission 9
Coming down
We get a call from Ashley who is in deep trouble, she needs us to come to her. She fears for her life from some unspecified reason.
Ashley is in a flat with a bunch of junkies who are hostile to us, so I shoot them.
We meet Ashley and she is a strung out wreck. She wants us to take her home.
The drive home is uneventful. When we get back Ashley tries to get more drugs.
Mission 10
Off Route
Back to the stubbs club, talking to the butler again.
Meeting with Stubb's in the steam room.
He wants us to free some prisoners from a police bus while in transit.
We drive to the police station where we can use a police car to drive in quietly or just run in all guns blazing.
You then get into the bus and have to lose a 3 star wanted rating which is fairly hard in a huge slow bus.
Mission 11
this shit's cursed
Seems the heroin belonged to some chinese triad types. They want in back.
Billy wants to fight them too, Johnny and Fitz/Jim are more careful, and suggest a deal with the Chinese as they don't want a war with the angels and the triads whilst the FIB are breathing down their neck.
A deal is arranged with the triads and the deal goes sour. Jim and Johnny are alone fighting their way out of the triad infested building.
As they get out we see a cut scene of Jimmy being arrested.
Johnny and Jim meet up with Brian and drive back to the clubhouse.
Brian accuses Johnny of setting Jimmy up and tells Jim that Johnny has been getting calls from the fib. Which is true and Johnny has no answer for that. Johnny is now the temporary leader of the Lost. How does Brian know Johnny has been getting calls. He says he has also been getting calls. I think Brian is the rat. Jim is unsettled but Johnny is leader for now.
Mission 12
Hit the pipe
Jim and Johnny buy some pipe bombs from some arms dealers.
We have to blow up angels with the pipe bombs.
There are three vans that need to be destroyed before the mission is over.
Again a fairly hard mission, finding and stopping the vans is hard work.
Mission 13
End of Chapter
Brian wants to call a truce, Johnny wants to kill him. The gang ride out to the docks to meet him. I think it may be a trap.
The meeting descends from insults to firefight.
You have to kill bikers who circle on their bikes for a bit shooting at you then get off and get into cover, reinforcements turn up in bikes and vans, also on foot. Eventually after killing what seems like an army of bikers you are told to go after Brian who has ridden off on his motorbike. Three sets of bikes must be taken down.
This mission is made hard by having sidekicks that when they die end the mission. I lost count of the times i used a pipebomb and stupid Jim would get caught up in the fire and die.
Sidekicks suck.
And why is there no fucking health at all available to pick up?????
Back at the club house Jim and Johnny lament that a huge amount of the lost just got killed.
Still what's left is loyal to them, however, Brian got away.
Mission 14 Heavy toll
Elizabeta is having trouble with a rival. She wants us to go with Malc and deshaun to take out a convoy.
The convoy comes to the toll booth and we ambush it.
We have to take the vehicle with the heroin in to a lock up near the docks and leave it there to complete the mission.
Mission 15
Bad Standing
Ray comes to Johnny and tells them he has heard about their internal dispute from Brian.
He feels that this is bad for business and gives Johnny the location of Brian's safehouse in the hope that ending the dispute will bring the Lost back into equilibrium.
We go to the house where there are two options presented. If you call Terry and Clay for backup they come and take position at the back of the house and you are urged to throw a grenade in the upper window which starts a fire. This leads Brian and his bodyguards to flee the house where an open melee ensues.
The second option is to just enter the back door of the house and fight your way room to room to Brian and kill him that way.
Completing this mission gives you Brian's house as your own.
Mission 16
Marta full of Grace
Elizabeta is losing it, she seems stressed. Drinking a lot and muttering about the old days and being the big boss. We have to go to the airport and pick up a drug mule as they come into the country.
At the airport the mule has been picked up by the fib and we have to kill all the cops with her. A helicopter makes life hard as well by shooting at you from the sky.
Then we have to escape the 4 star wanted rating.
I notice that getting Terry and Clay to help increases their effectiveness, levelling them up in a way to become more useful to you.
Mission 17
Shifting Weight
At elizabeta's she is worried about the fib closing in on her and wants the heroin sold in case of a bust.
Her partner/slave whatever he is Andreas who she treats like a housekeeper, is grumbling away in the background as usual. I think we will find out he is the snitch soon.
Johnny asks if Elizabeta wants the Lost to look after Marta for a while, but Elizabeta declines. Malc and or Deshaun come with us to the drug deal.
First part of the mission is to drive to the drug deal.
At the drug deal the two dealers pull guns when they get the drugs and have no intention of giving them back or paying.
One of them shoots the bikes and is shot for her trouble. The other gets away. We have to make a run for it and we are told to defend Deshaun.
This is an on rails section. Basically our bike is destroyed and we have to ride on the back of Deshaun's and shoot at the pursuing police.
Helicopters and police cars make life hard.
Then you are blocked in and have to drive through a car showroom.
You get some pipe bombs and have to take out police cars with them then the mission ends.
A fun mission and a little different from the rest, but not to many of them please.
Ashley calls and tells us to meet Ray.
Mission 18
Roman Holiday
Ashley has got herself into debt with Dimitri. His goons are going to kill her unless Johnny does a favour for them. They want Johnny to kidnap Roman Bellic.
A neat crossover from the first game.
We enlist the help of Malc and the first objective is to go to Malc's location.
Malc brings us a car.
We drive to a gambling club and pick up Roman at gunpoint. We have to take him to the warhouse where Niko rescues him in the first game.
Mission 19
Diamonds in the rough
Ashley wants us to help Ray.
Ray wants us to steal some diamonds for him.
We call Jim and ask for some help, our first objective is to meet up with Lost gang members.
We meet up with a formation of bikers and have to drive to the docks.
A guy called Tony is buying them at the docks from a sailor.
We bust in on the deal and the buyers run with the diamonds.
We have to give chase and take out Tony's henchman who has the diamonds.
I hate chase missions, especially when you find you don't have enough of the ammo that can be shot from your bike to do them properly.
Once you manage to take down the henchman you obtain the diamonds and have to lose your wanted rating.
After doing so Ray tells you to place the diamonds in trash bags around the city.
After doing the first one, which basically sees you drive to a spot on the map and it's job done, Tony's goons show up and give you trouble. Placing the second set of diamonds sees the mission end.
Mission 20
Collectors Item
We are told by Ray to go to Libertonian and assist Niko in the deal to sell the diamonds.
We meet up with Niko as Niko did with us in the first game and go to meet Issac for the deal. As before a man appears and shoots up the deal and everyone scatters.
Our objective is to escape.
We get out of the Libertonian and onto the street where Rays men are waiting for us, we have to kill them all.
We have to go to Jim, where we give him Rays money.
Ray calls Johnny and asks for the money and Johnny pleads ignorance as to what happened to it during the firefight.
which is all fair in love and war as it seems that Ray had people shooting up his own deal to keep the diamonds and the money he was going to get paid for them.
Mission 21
Was it worth it?
Ray asks us to the resturant where he pulls a gun and asks us to go into the basement with him. His henchman has Jim tied to a chair and is using a burner to torture him.
Jim has a blade behind his back and has been working on freeing himself.
Ray pistol whips Johnny to get his money back. Ray is distracted by Jim freeing himself and taking his henchman hostage with the blade at his throat. Johnny kicks the gun out of his hand and Jim gets it, he cuts the throat of the henchman and Johnny and Jim run. Ray swears all out mob war vengence.
Johnny fears for Ashley and our first objective is to get to her.
On the way to Ashley Johnny is targeted by four or five cars of Mafia hit squads. We have to kill them all to progress.
Once we do we have to drive back to the clubhouse.
Ashley tells us that Jim is dead, shot up by Rays hit squads. What is worse Billy has turned states evidence and has been in contact with Ray as well. Ashley tells Johnny that she loves him, he tells her she only loves crystal meth. Ashley suggests that maybe Tom Stubbs is the only one that can help them.
After Ashley leaves Tom Stubbs calls Johnny and tells him to meet him at the clubhouse.
Mission 22
Get Lost
Stubbs tells Johnny that Ray won't be a trouble to him if he just lies low and waits a little while. We all know that Rays story arc with Niko doesn't end well. Stubbs tells Johnny that his main problem is Billy, who is pinning a drug smuggling operation on him and will likely get into the witness protection program and a condo in Arizona while Johnny gets a lot of hard time.
Stubbs suggests that Johnny kill Billy in prison, and tells him that he will provide some kind of unspecified aid should Johnny decide on this course of action.
Johnny asks why Stubbs is doing this and Stubbs tells him that he owes Johnny a favour.
Missions first objective is to go to the prison.
At the prison we get the opportunity to get weapons from Terry for free. Yay, we needed this a while back, not on the last mission.
We blow open the prison doors with a rocket launcher and have to fight through many cops until we reach a checkpoint.
Then Noose team members come in on helicopter gunships.
A huge shootout in the excercise yard ends in us executing an unarmed Billy.
We get on our bikes and escape the prison and go to the clubhouse.
When we get there it's wrecked and there is little left of the lost. Johnnny decides to put the place out of it's misery and torches it.
Credits are actually quite entertaining in a nerdy way as they show scenes from both games playing out where the paths of the two main characters crossed. E.g. while the Lost clubhouse burns, so is Roman's cab firm. While Johnny shoots it up with Rays Goons at the Libertonian Niko goes out the other door and gets into a car. This carries on for the long credits.
It took 15 hours play time to complete the 22 story missions. I have not done any side missions. I have 130 achievement points so far.
Gang war
Doing the first gang war mission sees me riding to a mission start icon and meeting up with Lost gang members. We then have to drive after a group of angels who are on bikes and kill them all.
That is the mission over and the first of 25 gang war missions done.
I do another nine gang war missions, they are all the same, drive to a location and then find a group of moving cars or bikes. Take them out and the mission is done. Once there was some variation in that a vehicle ran rather than stopped to fight once you engaged the group.
I get a sawn off shotgun delivered to my safe house for doing 10 gang war missions.
There are the usual GTA IV little stick men icons that appear on the map and driving to their locations sees you meet a character and start a simple gang war type mission.
All in all for thirteen pounds the lost and and the damnned wasn't as entertaining as a full price release, but simply put it wasn't it was an expansion pack and it came close to being as entertaining as a lot of full price releases.
We watch the bike gang ride through the city. Intoduction credits.
A little cameo from Niko Bellic passing by on the street.
A cut scene shows an ex biker being released on parole. Billy Grey and he seems to be the leader of the Lost and the damned.
Mission 1
First we have to ride to the clubhouse
Where Billy gets his first drink on release from prison.
Arguments start fairly soon.
The leaders bike is missing.
Johnny argues back and it looks like there is going to be tension between them.
Next stage is driving to the chop shop where the owner has not go the bike. He is tortured for info.
Now we have to drive to the angels of death hideout and take back the bike by force.
then drive back to the hideout.
Mission 2
Angels in America
The angels come to see what is wrong with Billy and why he is breaking the truce they have. Billy shoots the Angels leader.
Now we have to chase the rest down.
Using the shotgun from the bike is fun.
After gunning down all the bikers you have to drive back to Billy.
Mission 3
It's war
Billy is fucking with a lawyer called Dave who wants to play biker gang member.
He gets a call and suddenly we are off to help some gang members who are being attacked.
We go to a location and kill some angels of death.
Then we drive to another location and kill some angels.
Billy tells us that Jason has been killed by a heavy hired by a russian father of a girl he was screwing around with.
I think that was Niko who killed him from the first game.
Mission 4
We meet a guy called Jim.
He wants us to steal some bikes from the angels and sell them to the Japanese.
We go and get a truck and have to take it to a diner.
At the diner we shoot some gang members, fill the back of the truck with bikes.
We then have to drive the truck back to where we got it.
We meet some bent cops who are taking money from the Lost to look the other way.
They are assholes to Johnny and Jim. However there is little else for them to do but take their insults, the alternative is jail.
Mission 5
Action / Reaction
We meet Billy at the gang hut, Ray is there. Selling weapons to Billy.
Billy takes us out on a mission without telling us what we are up to.
We have to race the gang to the mission location.
When we get there Billy gives us a grenade launcher and tells us that the people who killed Jason are in the building, he tells us to put a grenade through the window.
When we do loads of angels come out and we have a firefight. We then go inside the clubhouse and kill all the angels.
Inside is lot of heroin. Billy wants to steal it, Johnny is against the idea as he thinks it will stir up a hornets nest of trouble.
Billy is his usual asshole self and tells Brian to take it and suggests Johnny remember who the leader is.
As we leave the clubhouse the police arrive and we have to lose them to end the mission.
Mission 6
Bad Cop drop
We meet Jimmy again, the cops are annoying him, we must follow him to the lost clubhouse.
where he punches one of them and they give chase, we are to lure them to an ambush.
At the factory we get not only the bad cops car but three others as backup. The shootout here is fairly hard and took me many attempts. Mostly because every time you retry your ammo remains the same as the last try, so eventually you run out of ammo and have to go and do another mission or buy some.
When you kill all the enemies you have to escape and lose your wanted rating.
Mission 7
Buyers Market
We go to Elizabeta's and she will arrange a buyer for the heroin that Billy stole from the Angels.
Elizabeta speaks to Niko who will help up meet the buyer.
we have to go to Brian and get the heroin.
Johhny meets with Brian who wonders why he isn't getting to do the deal, Johnny tells him it's because he is a pussy.
When we get to the next waypoint we are to wait for Niko and Playboy X.
When we do we get a scene from the original game where the drug deal goes sour as the buyers are LCPD. We now have to escape the swat infested building.
Getting out is hard enough, you then have to escape a 3 star wanted rating.
Mission 8
Politics
Johnny goes to a posh club and annoys the doorman. He meets Mr Stubbs who is having a massage. He is a politician, who seems fairly annoying.
He wants his uncle dead so that he can get his inheritance.
This is the much touted male nudity scene, controversy for controversy's sake.
We have to go to the airport runway.
Where we have to kill the uncle who lands in a helicopter then gets into a convoy of cars.
After killing him with the provided rocket launcher we have to escape the airport by the only gate that isn't locked down by the police and then loose our wanted rating.
Mission 9
Coming down
We get a call from Ashley who is in deep trouble, she needs us to come to her. She fears for her life from some unspecified reason.
Ashley is in a flat with a bunch of junkies who are hostile to us, so I shoot them.
We meet Ashley and she is a strung out wreck. She wants us to take her home.
The drive home is uneventful. When we get back Ashley tries to get more drugs.
Mission 10
Off Route
Back to the stubbs club, talking to the butler again.
Meeting with Stubb's in the steam room.
He wants us to free some prisoners from a police bus while in transit.
We drive to the police station where we can use a police car to drive in quietly or just run in all guns blazing.
You then get into the bus and have to lose a 3 star wanted rating which is fairly hard in a huge slow bus.
Mission 11
this shit's cursed
Seems the heroin belonged to some chinese triad types. They want in back.
Billy wants to fight them too, Johnny and Fitz/Jim are more careful, and suggest a deal with the Chinese as they don't want a war with the angels and the triads whilst the FIB are breathing down their neck.
A deal is arranged with the triads and the deal goes sour. Jim and Johnny are alone fighting their way out of the triad infested building.
As they get out we see a cut scene of Jimmy being arrested.
Johnny and Jim meet up with Brian and drive back to the clubhouse.
Brian accuses Johnny of setting Jimmy up and tells Jim that Johnny has been getting calls from the fib. Which is true and Johnny has no answer for that. Johnny is now the temporary leader of the Lost. How does Brian know Johnny has been getting calls. He says he has also been getting calls. I think Brian is the rat. Jim is unsettled but Johnny is leader for now.
Mission 12
Hit the pipe
Jim and Johnny buy some pipe bombs from some arms dealers.
We have to blow up angels with the pipe bombs.
There are three vans that need to be destroyed before the mission is over.
Again a fairly hard mission, finding and stopping the vans is hard work.
Mission 13
End of Chapter
Brian wants to call a truce, Johnny wants to kill him. The gang ride out to the docks to meet him. I think it may be a trap.
The meeting descends from insults to firefight.
You have to kill bikers who circle on their bikes for a bit shooting at you then get off and get into cover, reinforcements turn up in bikes and vans, also on foot. Eventually after killing what seems like an army of bikers you are told to go after Brian who has ridden off on his motorbike. Three sets of bikes must be taken down.
This mission is made hard by having sidekicks that when they die end the mission. I lost count of the times i used a pipebomb and stupid Jim would get caught up in the fire and die.
Sidekicks suck.
And why is there no fucking health at all available to pick up?????
Back at the club house Jim and Johnny lament that a huge amount of the lost just got killed.
Still what's left is loyal to them, however, Brian got away.
Mission 14 Heavy toll
Elizabeta is having trouble with a rival. She wants us to go with Malc and deshaun to take out a convoy.
The convoy comes to the toll booth and we ambush it.
We have to take the vehicle with the heroin in to a lock up near the docks and leave it there to complete the mission.
Mission 15
Bad Standing
Ray comes to Johnny and tells them he has heard about their internal dispute from Brian.
He feels that this is bad for business and gives Johnny the location of Brian's safehouse in the hope that ending the dispute will bring the Lost back into equilibrium.
We go to the house where there are two options presented. If you call Terry and Clay for backup they come and take position at the back of the house and you are urged to throw a grenade in the upper window which starts a fire. This leads Brian and his bodyguards to flee the house where an open melee ensues.
The second option is to just enter the back door of the house and fight your way room to room to Brian and kill him that way.
Completing this mission gives you Brian's house as your own.
Mission 16
Marta full of Grace
Elizabeta is losing it, she seems stressed. Drinking a lot and muttering about the old days and being the big boss. We have to go to the airport and pick up a drug mule as they come into the country.
At the airport the mule has been picked up by the fib and we have to kill all the cops with her. A helicopter makes life hard as well by shooting at you from the sky.
Then we have to escape the 4 star wanted rating.
I notice that getting Terry and Clay to help increases their effectiveness, levelling them up in a way to become more useful to you.
Mission 17
Shifting Weight
At elizabeta's she is worried about the fib closing in on her and wants the heroin sold in case of a bust.
Her partner/slave whatever he is Andreas who she treats like a housekeeper, is grumbling away in the background as usual. I think we will find out he is the snitch soon.
Johnny asks if Elizabeta wants the Lost to look after Marta for a while, but Elizabeta declines. Malc and or Deshaun come with us to the drug deal.
First part of the mission is to drive to the drug deal.
At the drug deal the two dealers pull guns when they get the drugs and have no intention of giving them back or paying.
One of them shoots the bikes and is shot for her trouble. The other gets away. We have to make a run for it and we are told to defend Deshaun.
This is an on rails section. Basically our bike is destroyed and we have to ride on the back of Deshaun's and shoot at the pursuing police.
Helicopters and police cars make life hard.
Then you are blocked in and have to drive through a car showroom.
You get some pipe bombs and have to take out police cars with them then the mission ends.
A fun mission and a little different from the rest, but not to many of them please.
Ashley calls and tells us to meet Ray.
Mission 18
Roman Holiday
Ashley has got herself into debt with Dimitri. His goons are going to kill her unless Johnny does a favour for them. They want Johnny to kidnap Roman Bellic.
A neat crossover from the first game.
We enlist the help of Malc and the first objective is to go to Malc's location.
Malc brings us a car.
We drive to a gambling club and pick up Roman at gunpoint. We have to take him to the warhouse where Niko rescues him in the first game.
Mission 19
Diamonds in the rough
Ashley wants us to help Ray.
Ray wants us to steal some diamonds for him.
We call Jim and ask for some help, our first objective is to meet up with Lost gang members.
We meet up with a formation of bikers and have to drive to the docks.
A guy called Tony is buying them at the docks from a sailor.
We bust in on the deal and the buyers run with the diamonds.
We have to give chase and take out Tony's henchman who has the diamonds.
I hate chase missions, especially when you find you don't have enough of the ammo that can be shot from your bike to do them properly.
Once you manage to take down the henchman you obtain the diamonds and have to lose your wanted rating.
After doing so Ray tells you to place the diamonds in trash bags around the city.
After doing the first one, which basically sees you drive to a spot on the map and it's job done, Tony's goons show up and give you trouble. Placing the second set of diamonds sees the mission end.
Mission 20
Collectors Item
We are told by Ray to go to Libertonian and assist Niko in the deal to sell the diamonds.
We meet up with Niko as Niko did with us in the first game and go to meet Issac for the deal. As before a man appears and shoots up the deal and everyone scatters.
Our objective is to escape.
We get out of the Libertonian and onto the street where Rays men are waiting for us, we have to kill them all.
We have to go to Jim, where we give him Rays money.
Ray calls Johnny and asks for the money and Johnny pleads ignorance as to what happened to it during the firefight.
which is all fair in love and war as it seems that Ray had people shooting up his own deal to keep the diamonds and the money he was going to get paid for them.
Mission 21
Was it worth it?
Ray asks us to the resturant where he pulls a gun and asks us to go into the basement with him. His henchman has Jim tied to a chair and is using a burner to torture him.
Jim has a blade behind his back and has been working on freeing himself.
Ray pistol whips Johnny to get his money back. Ray is distracted by Jim freeing himself and taking his henchman hostage with the blade at his throat. Johnny kicks the gun out of his hand and Jim gets it, he cuts the throat of the henchman and Johnny and Jim run. Ray swears all out mob war vengence.
Johnny fears for Ashley and our first objective is to get to her.
On the way to Ashley Johnny is targeted by four or five cars of Mafia hit squads. We have to kill them all to progress.
Once we do we have to drive back to the clubhouse.
Ashley tells us that Jim is dead, shot up by Rays hit squads. What is worse Billy has turned states evidence and has been in contact with Ray as well. Ashley tells Johnny that she loves him, he tells her she only loves crystal meth. Ashley suggests that maybe Tom Stubbs is the only one that can help them.
After Ashley leaves Tom Stubbs calls Johnny and tells him to meet him at the clubhouse.
Mission 22
Get Lost
Stubbs tells Johnny that Ray won't be a trouble to him if he just lies low and waits a little while. We all know that Rays story arc with Niko doesn't end well. Stubbs tells Johnny that his main problem is Billy, who is pinning a drug smuggling operation on him and will likely get into the witness protection program and a condo in Arizona while Johnny gets a lot of hard time.
Stubbs suggests that Johnny kill Billy in prison, and tells him that he will provide some kind of unspecified aid should Johnny decide on this course of action.
Johnny asks why Stubbs is doing this and Stubbs tells him that he owes Johnny a favour.
Missions first objective is to go to the prison.
At the prison we get the opportunity to get weapons from Terry for free. Yay, we needed this a while back, not on the last mission.
We blow open the prison doors with a rocket launcher and have to fight through many cops until we reach a checkpoint.
Then Noose team members come in on helicopter gunships.
A huge shootout in the excercise yard ends in us executing an unarmed Billy.
We get on our bikes and escape the prison and go to the clubhouse.
When we get there it's wrecked and there is little left of the lost. Johnnny decides to put the place out of it's misery and torches it.
Credits are actually quite entertaining in a nerdy way as they show scenes from both games playing out where the paths of the two main characters crossed. E.g. while the Lost clubhouse burns, so is Roman's cab firm. While Johnny shoots it up with Rays Goons at the Libertonian Niko goes out the other door and gets into a car. This carries on for the long credits.
It took 15 hours play time to complete the 22 story missions. I have not done any side missions. I have 130 achievement points so far.
Gang war
Doing the first gang war mission sees me riding to a mission start icon and meeting up with Lost gang members. We then have to drive after a group of angels who are on bikes and kill them all.
That is the mission over and the first of 25 gang war missions done.
I do another nine gang war missions, they are all the same, drive to a location and then find a group of moving cars or bikes. Take them out and the mission is done. Once there was some variation in that a vehicle ran rather than stopped to fight once you engaged the group.
I get a sawn off shotgun delivered to my safe house for doing 10 gang war missions.
There are the usual GTA IV little stick men icons that appear on the map and driving to their locations sees you meet a character and start a simple gang war type mission.
All in all for thirteen pounds the lost and and the damnned wasn't as entertaining as a full price release, but simply put it wasn't it was an expansion pack and it came close to being as entertaining as a lot of full price releases.
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