Assault on the Control Room (Level)

Assault on the Control Room is a campaign level in Halo: Combat Evolved. Initially equipped with a M6D Pistol, an M5AB Assault Rifle and four Fragmentation Grenades, the Master Chief must battle his ways through rooms and vast, snowy outdoor spaces filled with Covenant to reach Halo's Control Room. When he reaches the Control Room, Cortana sends him off to the swamp in 343 Guilty Spark to discover the only thing that the Covenant fear. This is the first and only level where you will be able to drive a Scorpion. It is also one of the two very long snow levels; the other being Two Betrayals, which is essentially Assault on the Control Room backwards.

Usable Weapons Pistol Assault Rifle Sniper Rifle Rocket Launcher Frag Grenade Plasma Pistol Plasma Rifle Needler Plasma Grenade Shade

Drivable Vehicles Warthog Scorpion Ghost Banshee - Only if you're quick in grabbing one at the end of the level, or use the Early Banshee trick.

Enemies Faced Elites (Minor, Major, Stealth, Zealot) Grunts (Minor, Major) Jackals (Minor, Major) Hunters

Transcript

Cinematic

Part 01: I Would Have Been Your Daddy...

{fade in to the inside of a large Forerunner dome, pan down to a long shaft, a Grunt paces on an open platform}

{close up of the walking Grunt, other Grunts around him are asleep, he stops as he hears jets, he sniffs the air, yelps as a Pelican rises up, screams and runs towards the door}

Gameplay

Foehammer (radio): "This is as far as I can go."

Cortana (radio): "Roger that, we can find our way to the control center from here."

Foehammer (radio): "Good luck, Foehammer out."

{the Pelican lands, the Chief gets out}

(Once you clear the first of the circular rooms)

Cortana:The Covenant presence here is stronger than I anticipated. They seem to have the entire region secured.

(Once you reach the first bridge)

Cortana:"Interesting... the weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather. "

{a Pelican Dropship flies over the bridge. The covenant forces on the bridge open fire}

Sergeant (Radio):"This is Fire Team Zulu requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces. Does anyone copy?"

Cortana:"I didn't think there were any human forces left on this part of the ring.... (Radio) Cortana to Fire Team Zulu, I read you. Fire Team Zulu, this is Cortana. Hold position. We're on our way."

Sergeant (Radio):"Roger that. Make it quick."

{The Pelican descends to an area below the bridge}

(When you reach the bottom of the chasm and meet up with Fire Team Zulu)

{A large number of Covenant have three marines with an overturned warthog cornered. A wraith tank fires plasma mortars as Shade turrets and Ghost vehicles strafe the marines.}

Marine 1:"Glad you could join the party, Sir!"

(When you reach the second group of Marines fighting near the Scorpion and clear the area)

Marine 1:"Enemy forces eliminated. The area's secure."

Marine 2:"Aw, crap. Let's get the hell outta here, man! Somebody call the dropship!"

Sergeant:"You stow that garbage right NOW, mister. You're a Marine, so act like it, dammit! We've got a job to do."

Cortana (Radio):"Negative, team. No evac available at this time. But the Chief and I could use some assistance."

Sergeant:"Okay, Marines. Time to pay back the Chief for pulling your sorry tails out of the fire. Prepare to move out!" (As you reach the second large open area, where one Wraith hovers on the ice and another lurks on top of the cliff at the far end of the canyon)

(There are at least three choices here-how the game chooses which one to play is unknown. It seems to be random, as a checkpoint right before this area will result in different dialogues after restarting. It is unknown how many there are total; the Halo Story Page has recorded three of them (thanks to funkmon for the third).)

Walkthroughs

{{Done by Asmodeus}}

Assault on the Control Room is the longest level in the game. You've made it through some pretty rough battles in the past, but AotCR has a whole ton of really nasty encounters in store for you. I hope you've built up some calluses on those thumbs. On the bright side, this level includes every single vehicle and nearly every weapon in the game for you to play with, and is arguably the best level in Halo: Combat Evolved. Trust me, there are loads of Covenant just dying (litteraly) for your 7.6mm rounds, HE-DP Frags and 102mm SPKNrs.

Part 01: I Would Have Been Your Daddy...

The first Covenant you come across will be running like hell away from you. These grunts are going to fetch their big brothers, so get ready. Immediately start throwing frag grenades at the door and running towards it. As it opens throw another into the hall. With a little luck, the two elites storming out after you will get caught in the blast. Hose them down with the assault rifle as soon as you can. Both elites should go down leaving you in decent shape. If you survive this but with your health in the red, you may want to revert to the last checkpoint. Your first health pack is pretty far away and on the other side of a tough battle. There are six grunts to finish off in the hall, but you can blow all your assault rifle ammo on them. Just mow 'em down then ditch the assault rifle. Scavenge through the carnage looking for plasma grenades and a good plasma pistol to take.

You'll be blasting your way through innumerable rooms like the one ahead so get used to the scenery. One very handy tip for nearly all of these rooms: Shoot out the windows. Don't do this if you're trying to be stealthy of course, but once you're discovered blast them. They give you four more ways in and out of the central areas of these rooms. They can be very handy when getting out of the way of gunfire and they're invaluable for sneaking up behind elites.

Peek in and you'll see an elite patrolling the entrance to the next room. Sometimes he's farther away than others, but you can always sneak up and whack him from behind if you're fast enough. If you're having trouble, wait until he's heading towards the right (he seems to take longer going that direction) then instead of hitting him just stick a plasma grenade to him. You should have enough time for that. He'll wake up the whole neighborhood screaming at you, but that's fine. No need for stealth here, just head in and find cover near the entrance to the interior of this room. The Covenant here vary from game to game. There should be at least four grunts and an elite on the ground and two grunts up on the catwalks. There also might be two or three jackals wandering around, but sometimes they're replaced by a few more grunts. Go for the grunts first. Zoom in and aim for the head if using the human pistol or just hose them down with the plasma pistol. Wander around and try to pick them off from far away. Once they're taken care of, switch to your plasma pistol and go for the jackals. Use charged shots to take down their shields then switch to the pistol and zoom in for the kill. If you're relatively close, there's no need to switch to the human pistol. You can just finish them off with the plasma pistol. If you're really close range, just whack 'em. If the elite is being annoying, take down his shields with a charged shot. That will usually send him running for cover leaving you alone to deal with his cronies. Once he's the only enemy left standing, take out his shields as usual then follow up with the pistol. If he ducks behind cover, drop a grenade next to him. Be careful when fighting through this room. If you get near the exit, three more grunts will come through to harass you. If you manage to finish off the original complement of Covenant without activating them, good for you. Move towards the door now and vent some plasma on them. Remember to scavenge again and pick up a good, full plasma pistol.

Moving on, you get to see snow for the very first time. It's like Xmas only with more killing. Don't run out into the open quite yet. Take a moment to bonk any sleeping grunts on the noggin but try not to attract the attention of the Banshee. There should four or five snoozing nearby. Be sure to get the ones by the Shades first. Right about now a human dropship should be getting the attention of the Covenant in the area. Run out and head down the ramp on the left to the lower level of the bridge. If all goes well, the elite down there will be immersed in watching his pal in the Banshee take pot shots at your friends. Smack him down. If you have trouble hitting him before he notices you, sticking a grenade to him will also kill him nicely. Most of the time he will notice you though, so blast him with a charged plasma shot to remove his shield then let loose with the pistol. If you're close enough, stick a grenade to him immediately after you take out his shields. He'll be stunned from the hit and won't dodge.

Once the elite is eliminated locate a couple of nearby jackals. They will probably be on the upper level, so go back up. Send them some charged plasma to get rid of that annoying energy shield then follow up with some sniping pistol action. As before, if you're close just wait for your plasma pistol to cool off after the charged shot and use it. Or if you're within reach of them, just beat them down.

Now that you have some breathing room it's time to eradicate the Banshee. Banshee pilots on Legendary are seriously bad news. If you have plenty of pistol ammo left, use that. Find some cover, wait until he lines up for an attack run, zoom in if you need to, empty most of a clip into his nose, then dive behind cover before he fries you. Repeat as necessary. It'll take about 20 shots. There's another relatively easy way to take him out. You'll need the limitless firepower of the Shade, but don't want to get caught out in the open. Simple solution: move the Shade. Use the one on your left as you first came out into the snow. I recommend this one because when you exit a Shade, you always exit to the right. You don't want to exit out into the open when a Banshee is bearing down on you. You can use a grenade or just whack it repeatedly to move it mostly behind the big wall in front of the door. The Banshee will have trouble hitting you behind this wall, but you can shoot over it when the Banshee is flying high. The Shade's shots move slowly, so lead your target a lot. This is all a bit complicated and time-consuming, but saves you ammunition. You can also do it the old-fashioned way, emptying all the spare weapons lying around on him.

With the air support out of the way, you're free to move about on the bridge. Head back to the lower level and step cautiously ahead. If you're lucky there will still be some sleeping grunts down here just past the midpoint of the bridge. Carefully sneak under the jackals overhead and put and end to them all. If the grunts are awake, you'll have to take them out from a distance. Snipe them with the pistol or shoot charged plasma shots towards them. Handle any jackals like you normally would. Charged plasma shot for their shields then gun them down with the pistol. There are several jackals and grunts here, but if you take your time, move between levels, always stay near cover, and hit them from as far away as you can, they shouldn't be too much of a problem. Try not to move too far across the bridge. You want to eliminate all of these Covenant before triggering the next batch.

After these guys are toast, you should get a checkpoint. Sometimes it just doesn't happen though before the next group of Covenant shows up. This is bad because an elite commander just came out to slice you in half and he brought along some of his underlings. If at all possible, take out the new jackals and grunts first. Use the same tactics as before, just do it quickly. The elite commander is very good at dodging things so you'll have to wait until he's relatively close or jumping in the air. Hit him with a charged plasma shot. If you're at close range, immediately follow up with a plasma grenade then run like hell. Just like the last elite he'll hopefully be too stunned from the plasma to dodge. If he's farther away, switch to your pistol and gun him down. If you're having a lot of trouble, try grabbing a needler and unloading one of those on him. Once the bridge is clear you can stop and do a little jig. That was the first tough battle. Try to find the plasma rifle the first elite dropped if you can. It may have disappeared, in which case you can just grab a plasma pistol. Head on through the door to the next area.

The next room seems pretty easy at first. There are four grunts on the floor, and another four on the catwalks (how do these guys get up there?). Lurking among them though is a stealth elite. That's why it's preferable to have the plasma rifle here. Start sniping at the grunts with either weapon and he'll show up. He'll be coming from the left, so toss a frag grenade that way if you have one. Maybe you'll get lucky. Back up into the hall you just came out of. The stealth elite is much faster and more aggressive than the grunts, so he'll follow you as you retreat. As he appears in the doorway, let him have it. Look for the blue shots from his plasma rifle to locate him. Use your own plasma weapon and spray the area until you can see him. Then spray more until he dies. The remaining grunts should be easy to clean up. Try not to go too far around the room before finishing them all off. Once you're done you'll see why. Two hunters move in to attack. This room is pretty close quarters, so the old tactics for these need some fine-tuning. Try to use the obstacles and windows to get around behind them. If this doesn't work, get close and they'll usually charge. Sidestepping works better than backing up due to the lack of space. Sometimes they just follow you around only charging when they're so close it's nearly impossible to dodge. If they're riding your bumper like this, try jumping through a window. You did shoot them all out, didn't you? Or as a last resort, lead them back out of the room all the way down the hall and onto the bridge where you just 86ed the elite commander. Running around the big wall in front of the door always seems to confuse them. After they're taken care of, make sure to grab the goodies. You probably have no health left and no pistol ammo, so it's nice to get to fill up on both. Ride the elevator down to the next area.

More sleeping grunts. Only this time there's nothing around to wake them. So take your time and beat each of their little head's in. This short hall leads to another room with an inner and outer section. Turn left and make sure you've cleansed the whole area of grunts before going around to the right. These guys always seem to have needlers, so I hope you have a decent plasma pistol from before. Moving along, you'll come across a single elite milling about. He should be easy to sneak up behind. Stay hidden and use your motion tracker or just barely peek around a corner to watch. When he turns to walk away, wham!

On around the outer portion of the room is the entrance to the inner portion. Bop the sleeping grunts then wait by the entrance. Keep an eye on the motion tracker. One or two of the grunts should be patrolling nearby. When the time is right, dash out and hit each in turn from behind then quickly run back behind cover. Hopefully the other grunt and jackals won't see you. Once the coast is clear dash across the entrance to the other side. Stop just on the other side to figure out whether they detected you. If you're fast and lucky, they won't see you. There are two more jackals awake on this side to take out, but they're usually farther around. Cuff a few sleeping grunts then move stealthily along. These guys are hard to hit from behind, so get as close as you can. Try to catch them apart then run out and beat the first one down. The remaining enemies can be disposed of as usual. And for that matter if you wake everybody up early, dispose of them all as usual. Use the charged plasma shots for the jackal's shields, grenade any groups, and snipe grunts and unshielded jackals with your pistols. Once they're all deceased, get ready to have some fun. Those marines you saw from the bridge need some help.

Get your pistol ready. Run out into the open and look for an upturned warthog and a squad of marines towards the left. That's where you need to be. A single Shade is the only enemy nearby, so zoom in and put a bullet through the gunner's brain while you run. As soon as you get to the warthog flip it over and get in. You need a gunner and preferably a passenger now, so if the marines aren't nearby, inch over towards them. If all the marines die, or you get mortared waiting for them to get in, restart. Once you have a gunner check to see if a marine is coming to be your passenger. If not, screw 'em. Drive back towards the door you came out of and a Ghost should follow you. You can't really damage the Ghost by ramming it with your hog, but try anyway. You'll often flip the elite out of his ride and he can be run over. Once the Ghost is toast, drive back into the fray where the marines used to be (they're probably all dead now). Swing your warthog around into any nearby enemies. Once they're all dead, your gunner will probably switch to shooting at the Shade on the nearby hill. Drive around in little circles within range until the Shade is taken care of. Now you need to worry about that Wraith. As long as you keep moving, he shouldn't score with a mortar. Avoid the ice. Warthogs sliding out of control make very easy targets. Run over any stray Covenant around while you cruise back and forth in front of their tank. If the Wraith moves onto land, you can just circle it. Eventually your gunner will pour on enough damage to blow it up. You're not safe yet though. Looking down the canyon where you have yet to go, you'll see a hill with a frozen pond on its left (where the Wraith was) and a path on its right. Take the path right towards another group of Covenant. Run over a few, let your gunner take out a few, then retreat to recharge. Repeat for the next few jackals farther around on the other side of the hill. You'll see a short cliff ahead. Don't go down there yet. Head back to the spot where you found the warthog. There's a veritable armory here, but sadly these weapons are rather useless. You'll be getting a tank in a moment and won't leave it until you're right next to some more weapons. Still it would be best to grab a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle, and of course the health pack.

Ok, now you can head back and drive your warthog off the cliff. Aim yourself towards the right edge so you land as far around the corner as possible. Drive up to the Scorpion tank and get out as your warthog slides by on the ice. Try not to get hit by your own warthog and get in the tank. Take just a second to figure out where to send you're first shell then blast them. Shoot for the group of Covenant that poses the biggest threat to your marines. They should be nearby on the right. Use the machine gun on the tank while you recharge for another shot. It's not very accurate or powerful, but it's better than nothing. Turn back left and find something juicy to shoot next. One thing to note before you start going crazy with the tank. You often can't hit things that look like they're right in your sights. The turret is pretty low and there are a lot of small hills in the way. The unmanned Ghost in front of you is a good example of this. If you try to shoot it from your current position, you'll usually hit the hill in front of it.

The gunner from your warthog should stop blasting and hop out soon. He'll join you on the tank along with any surviving marines. Try hard to save the sarge. He's got a sniper rifle and seems to survive this encounter better than the other marines. Sniper marines are a great asset, whether you're in a warthog or a tank. They are quite accurate and alert you to the presence of Covenant forces.

Well now you've finally gotten your hands on a Scorpion main battle tank. What are you going to do with it? The immediate Covenant threat has probably been eliminated by now, but two more Ghosts will soon come from different paths ahead, so be ready. Hit them each with a tank shell and follow up with the machine gun if they don't immediately explode. If you're not already an expert tanker, pause before heading into battle and get used to the controls. You can't shell anything too close without engulfing yourself and any marines with you in the blast. But you can run stuff over. The tank is obviously much slower than the warthog, but that can be an advantage when trying to make roadkill out of some poor grunt. When they jump out of the way, you can rotate quickly towards their new position and be on top of them again as they're getting up. You shouldn't have to do this though. The Scorpion has an infinite supply of the most powerful munition in the game. It's also very easy to hit things at extremely long range. Many would think that using such a shell to off a single grunt would be silly, but on Legendary that's exactly what you want to do. Take on as few Covenant as possible, preferably one at a time, and blow them to smithereens. A single grunt will quickly ruin your rolling fortress with a single plasma grenade if you rely too heavily on your marines to take him out. Another big tip is to aim for the feet of your enemies. If you miss, you'll still catch them in the blast. One final thing. The marines are great for figuring out whether you're hitting anything with those long-range shots. Not only will they usually say something cocky when you paste a Covie, but they'll point their guns at enemies you may not be able to see. So if all your passengers are pointed towards a dark recess, shell it. If all the marines then relax and point their guns in different directions, you know you hit something.

Once you're set, move into the tunnel on your right. There will probably be some stragglers in here. They make great target practice. Don't go too far into the tunnel yet. Back out and take the path on the left. There are more Covenant here to destroy. Hitting them with the main gun can be a real pain. You'll probably have to drive right into their midst. When fighting with the tank up close, shell the ground behind the enemy so that you catch them, but not yourself, in the blast.

Moving around the corner, the gorge opens up into a vast area populated with two Wraith tanks, a couple of Ghosts, many Shades, and a load of ground troops. If you creep forward, you can usually trigger one of the Ghosts to attack by himself. He'll usually come over the hill to the left. One shot should send him up in flames. Now you can move forward and target the Wraith on the ice in front of you. You may have to move forward a bit to get a clear shot. It takes two shots from the big gun to demolish a Wraith, so hit it twice if you can. Once you've taken a shot or two at the Wraith, retreat and go through the tunnel you cleared out previously. There is a hill immediately in front of the exit blocking your view of the Wraith. Drive up on top of it and you'll get a great view of the area. You can even drive right up to the edge and shell the Wraith below you. Be careful of driving off the edge however. That tank has a lot of momentum. Aim for anything that looks suspicious and blow it up. As you look ahead, you'll see the path takes you underground through a huge gate in the side of the mountain. Usually there will be a Shade parked directly on top of this gate, so aim a shot or two his way. Behind him on a shelf is the other Wraith. This tank is very difficult to get an angle on. It isn't really necessary to kill, so if you get really frustrated, just ignore it.

As you finish up and move on towards the gate, stop for a second and turn to look directly behind you. Way high up on the cliff you should see a little artificially constructed ledge. There's a Banshee waiting there to swoop down on you when you try to enter the gate. There are also two hunters at the end of the tunnel ahead who will come out to greet you at the same time. Turn so you're facing the Banshee with your back to the tunnel with the hunters. Inch backwards until you get a checkpoint. You should also see the Banshee lift off. Quickly pull forward and you won't activate the hunters. Now you can concentrate solely on the Banshee. Keep moving and it shouldn't score with its fuel rod gun. Try to hit it with a tank shell, but if you miss at least keep on it with the machine gun. Keep moving and keep shelling until it goes down.

By now those hunters may have probably crept up into the open so move out of their range and shell them. If they haven't attacked yet, you can hit them at your leisure. These guys are tough. It takes at least one direct hit to knock 'em out for good. So if in doubt, hit them again. Once they're gone, you're free to move into the tunnel. There's an active camouflage out here as well. It's to the right of the gate if you're facing it behind some Covenant boxes. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell it's completely useless. Once you're in the tunnel you'll have to hop out of the tank to open the door ahead, but hop back in after you do and cruise to the next area.

As you move deeper underground, you'll come to a great chasm. Before you enter is one last oversized speed bump that hides you from the two elites patrolling near the door. You can't shoot over it and hit them, but you can hit the top of the block of machinery behind them. Do that a couple of times to weaken them before going over the bump to finish them off. After they've been tanked, turn your attention to the right. There's a Shade parked on a broken ledge sticking out over the chasm, but don't move ahead to blast him yet. Wait for a moment and locate a single grunt who should be running up from past the Shade to throw a grenade at you. Don't let him. After he's gone, then you can move towards the Shade to get a clear shot. Shoot the floor just in front of it and you can really send it flying. Farther along this ledge is a health pack for when you need it.

Now turn around and head towards the intact bridge. Take a few potshots at any Covenant you think you can hit. Don't aim at the Covenant themselves. Aim for the wall or structure behind them. Same idea as shooting their feet. You just need to catch them in the blast, not hit them directly. There are a ton on the bridge and the far side, so just keep shelling. Past the bridge (but still on your side of the chasm) another Shade and a couple of grunts are milling about. Try to keep an obstacle between you and the Shade while you work on the grunts. Then move around and blast it into the pit. From this side of the bridge you should be able to hit a few more far off Covenant. There's another Shade directly across the chasm from the one you just took out, so blast it a time or two until it's turned over. You don't want more grunts hopping in it later. Now you can move onto the bridge. Everyone around here should be dead if you spent time shelling the area before, but move with caution. Check those corners. Back up and shoot the floor behind an enemy if it pops up right next to you. Just past the end of the bridge is another block of machinery that's a perfect backboard for tank rounds. There are several grunts off to the left and some elites and hunters to the right. Just keep your distance and blast away. Once you're satisfied that everything in this area has been obliterated, hop out and open the next big doorway.

Part 02: Rolling Thunder

The first enemies you'll encounter in this section will again be unable to see you due to the oversized speed bump in the way. Blast the grunt on top of the bump as you come around the corner. Stay on your side and shell the wall behind them. Then you can creep up and shell the tops of the boxes. Finally drive all the way over and finish off any leftovers.

Looking up the long tunnel back outside, you'll see the shields of many jackals dotting the way. Fire at will. Just keep blasting until they are no more. One or two will usually find cover, so proceed up the tunnel with caution and when in doubt, shell any corners they may be hiding in. You should get a checkpoint after they are all gone. A Covenant dropship will unload some nasty things for you as you approach the mouth of the tunnel. Two Ghosts come down in quick succession, so backup as you're fighting them to give yourself a little more time to recharge. Nail them both with the main gun. Now you have a few troops on either side to deal with, but the slope makes it very difficult to fire on them with the tank. Shell the tree on the left and you'll hopefully catch most of those troops in the blast. There is also a rock on the right that sticks up a bit to bounce some shells off of before moving in close to finish them off.

Now you can move out into the open. There are many things to do in this area. First move to the right of the giant pillar. You'll see a hill with a Shade at the top, so blow that up. Inching forward, you'll see there is a door in the side of the pillar. Move towards it and a group of Covenant will come out. Send a shell into the hallway they're coming out of to get the bulk of them then blast the rest before they get too far away.

Now that they're taken care of, you can locate a bunch of dead marines with goodies to the right against the canyon wall. You can't really use much of the ammo, but a health pack is always welcome. Now take a look between the hill (where the last Shade you blew up was sitting) and the central pillar. You should be able to see a Wraith in the distance that hasn't noticed you yet. Take the opportunity to blow it to smithereens.

Move around the pillar to the left and you'll soon come across another Ghost and the occasional elite or grunt. Show them no mercy. Stay relatively close to the pillar so you don't trigger more enemies while you're clearing this area out.

Moving along, you'll see another Shade on top of another hill. This one can be difficult to hit. Feel free to hop out of the tank, whip out your rocket launcher and obliterate him. Be careful though. Another Ghost will come swooping in soon to attack. There is also a ledge on this side of the pillar accessed through a hall leading into the interior. Shell any elites that pop out and send a shell or two into the hall if they retreat.

Ok, just a few more enemies to go here. Moving on around the pillar, you'll come across another door leading in. Another group of Covies will come out to play. Again you should send one shell into the hall as soon as the door opens then follow up with more as soon as you can.

The last Covenant in this area are two stealth elites guarding an active camouflage inside the pillar. If you get out of the tank to kill them, the marines riding with you will occasionally wander off and probably get themselves killed. I don't know why they do this here, but it's not a good thing. So you can exterminate them if you're being very thorough, but I don't usually bother. If you do venture in after them, stay in the hall. They're easier to take out if they have to run down a narrow, confined space to get to you.

Now you can move away from the pillar and on to the next area. As you follow the canyon around a curve, two hunters will move out to attack. At around the same time, a Banshee will launch from the top of the pillar as well. Back up and blast the hunters staying well out of their range. Soon they should either die or retreat leaving you and the Banshee. Deal with this one the same way you dealt with the last one. Try to blow it out of the air, but keep pouring on the hurt with the machine gun just in case. And of course keep moving.

Now you can get back to shelling the Covenant ahead of you. One of the hunters probably retreated and there are a few elites here too. Cruise on ahead and after gunning this group down, take a look ahead. The canyon is narrow and dark here, but ahead it opens up into another large area. Just as it opens up on the right is a batch of grunts and jackals. They come around to investigate in small groups, so wait for them to come into view then blast them. Once they stop coming, look ahead of you against the left canyon wall. There is another group of Covenant that is relatively far away. Aim for the tree they're gathered around and blow them away. Now you can move out into the open. Keep an eye out for any survivors from the first group on the right. Look across the expanse to the other canyon wall. There are two Shades far apart over there that need to be blown away.

Now as you drive ahead, two hunters down below will assault a group of marines. Keep going and follow the path around to the lower level. If you're slick, you can drive right up to the edge and send a few shells down at the hunters, but they'll fire back and it's easy to accidentally drive off the edge, so be careful. After you're down to the bottom, hit the hunters as they come around the corner towards you. Try to move slowly here. The marines are easy to run over.

A Covenant dropship will move in and drop off some bad guys behind you on the upper level. Keep going until you're near where the hunters first appeared. You want these Covenant to have to walk a long way to get to you. That way, they'll come into firing range a few at a time. Blast each group and the marines will take out any survivors.

Sadly, now you must park your trusty Scorpion and head off on foot. The way ahead is blocked by big pipe thingies. To the left of the pipes you'll find a massive pile of weapons, a health pack, and an active camouflage. The active camouflage is kind of a freebie. You don't really need it for this walkthrough, so use it when you need it. If you really want to, you can pick it up and just run through this whole mess. But where's the fun in that? So anyway, switch out your weapons for an assault rifle and a pistol. Now move slowly into the tunnel ahead and keep your assault rifle up. Two stealth elites will come into view. Send a few clips of ammo their way and they'll go down. Now switch to your pistol and zoom in on the open area ahead. There are a mob of grunts and several jackals here to blow away. Burn through the ammo. There's a ton lying around. Try to take them all out from the safety of the tunnel. Jump and shoot if you have to. Now go back and switch out your assault rifle for a rocket launcher. Head through the tunnel into the next area. Chances are good that a few elites and grunts will come down the path ahead to make trouble. Before you worry about them though, you should turn your attention 180 degrees around to the hole you just came through. Look way up and keep backing up and you'll see a Shade perched high on the wall just waiting to shred your marines. Zoom in and send a rocket to end that particular threat then quickly spin back to face the battle ahead. Shoot your other rocket at the approaching elites then switch to your pistol to mop up.

Now you can go back and fill up your pistol, switch out your rocket launcher for a sniper rifle, and grab a health pack if you're badly hurt. Before you go though, notice there's another store of ammo and health packs on this side of the tunnel. It's to the left of the entrance in a shady spot under a tree. So just to recap: you should have a pistol and a sniper rifle, both full of ammo, and should have now located (and possibly used) three health packs. Most importantly you have access to almost 30 rockets in the vicinity. That's a lot of firepower.

The marines are supposedly going to stay put now while you work on the stationary gun. Pop your head up and you'll see a whole bunch of grunts and possibly a few elites milling about in the area above you. Use your sniper rifle on any elites. They tend to attack from your left. Needlers work well on these guys too. Once they're taken care of, zoom in with your pistol and blow all the grunts away. There are an awful lot of them, so this might take a while. Once you've littered the clearing with their bodies, it's time to take out the Shade. Stand at the top of the switchback that leads to the area ahead and look out across the field. There should be a tree nearby on your right, another one relatively close by on your left, and another farther away right in the middle. At the base of the middle tree are a couple of rocks. The Shade is behind the rock on the right. Once you've located it, arc a plasma grenade over and you can take it out without him ever seeing you. It's a really long-range throw, but you can do it. Center your view on the rock in front of it and look up until your crosshairs are pointed at the lowest corner of the bridge. I mean lowest in terms of the closest to the bottom of your TV screen, not in actual elevation. Then throw a plasma grenade. It should arc right over the rock and send the Shade flying.

Now for the next battle. Run back and switch out your sniper rifle for a rocket launcher. Head back to where your were, at the top of the switchback. Move ahead a few dozen meters and you'll trigger two Ghosts and a Banshee. It's difficult to determine exactly when you've activated them, but an elite will come running up soon to let you know. Quickly retreat and drop down. The Banshee will fly overhead and start making swiss cheese out of your marines. This guy flies pretty erratically, but try to blast him out of the air as soon as you can. If you're having real trouble hitting him with a rocket, gun him down with the pistol.

Once he's gone, you can turn your attention to the Ghosts. They'll be hovering around up ahead, so go back up the switchback one more time. Peek out and blow these guys away with a few rockets. Head back briefly to fill up on rockets and switch out your pistol for a sniper rifle. Now you're free to move out into the open and take a good look around. You'll be leaving this area through a door far ahead on the right. Straight ahead of you is a ditch that dips down and has two side passages. Each one holds an elite, but they won't even appear unless you go down to fight them. Take them out later if you're feeling particularly hostile. The door ahead is guarded by a Shade on either side. Zoom in and snipe both gunners. Move ahead then and as you near the door, more elites will come out to play. Have a grenade waiting for them then follow up with a rocket or two, or three. However many it takes. Now you can head back one last time to fill up everything. Bring a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher along for the next section of the level. Aren't you glad to finally be done with this place?

Say good-bye to the great outdoors. You won't have a whole lot of room to move around for a while. Follow the hallway ahead to the next room. This place contains about 30 grunts, all asleep. So start bonking away. The two blips on your motion tracker are elites wandering around the interior of this room. Once you're at the entrance to the inner area take a moment and see if the elites have their backs turned. If it's safe, run up and whack one. Usually you can take one out from here. If it looks too dangerous, leave them for now. When the coast is clear, run across the entrance and proceed around the circle pounding any grunts you find slumbering along the way. Make sure you get all of them. They'll sleep in any nook and cranny they can find. Once they're all dead, you just have to worry about the inner area. Switch out your rocket launcher for a plasma pistol near the exit, just in case you need to blast a few guys. You could just leave now, but everyone needs more practice sneaking up on elites. There are more ways into the interior than the main entrance. There are several little ramps that lead in and often have grunts sleeping on them. Use these to peek in and find a way to drop in behind the elites. Crouch down, be patient and you can take both elites out without them seeing you. Use all the different little entrances you need to. Once everyone has been thoroughly bonked, get your rocket launcher and sniper rifle back and head to the next area.

As the elevator takes you up, get ready. There's a jackal at the top waiting for you. Quickly run up and beat him repeatedly until he goes down. There's another jackal around the corner. Try to switch out one of your weapons for that plasma pistol the jackal just dropped. It has the fastest melee attack. If you can't reach it without alerting the other jackal, that's ok. Just run around and beat him down too. Now you can definitely get a plasma pistol. The next room has another two jackals waiting for you. Creep up and open the door. Be stealthy if you can, but you'll probably just have to run up and pound them into the floor. Since you just got a checkpoint, you can play around with these guys a bit and figure out the best way to quickly kill them both or at least make them run away. Now that you have control of this room, you can organize things a bit. That sniper rifle and rocket launcher you've been lugging around are just too nice to throw away, but aren't useful for every little encounter, so keep them handy, but not as your primary two weapons. For those, you'll want a human pistol and plasma pistol. There's a health pack here, though of course you should save it until you absolutely need it or are leaving the area. There are also three frag grenades lying around. Move up the ramp and look into the next room. There are a whole pile of grunts and often jackals up there waiting for you. Back up and use a couple of those frags. Things should be clear enough now for you to move in and start picking off bad guys. Charge up the plasma pistol, run up, fire it off, retreat, then do it all over again. Pause a moment to injure any jackals you hit, but don't worry about finishing them off. Just slowly whittle them down until everyone's dead. Remember you can grab the sniper rifle or rocket launcher if you're having trouble. You don't want to waste them, but you can empty them both over the course of this room and the upcoming bridge crossing. You'll get more ammo after that.

Now you can move up the ramp and grab a fresh plasma pistol. The way is blocked to your left, but there are small slits you can fire through. If any Covenant body parts are visible through the cracks, send them some charged plasma shots. Shoot out the window while you're here, but be careful. There is an elite commander in this room and he'll tear you up if you're visible through the window. If you can, peek in and look at the central structure in this room. High up there are two holes and two breakable windows. Hiding up there is an elite, so toss a plasma grenade in if you can. Once you're finished, move around the outside of this area. The elite commander will often come out to personally give you a whuppin, so be ready. Send a charged plasma shot to disrupt his shields, then switch to the pistol and fill him full of lead. If he gives you any problems, run back and grab the rocket launcher to deal with him. If he stays in the interior of the room, he'll be a lot tougher to kill. You can take out his shields, but he'll find cover before you can finish him off. Drop a grenade next to his hiding place, or pick up a needler. Needlers are always great against medium to long-range elites. You're probably looking into the interior of the room by now, so if you haven't done so already, toss a grenade into the hole high up on the central structure to take out the elite hiding there. Once the commander is toast, he'll activate. Another elite and some grunts and jackals will also fill the room back up, so fall back if you need to then do it all over again. Charged plasma shots for the jackals, pistol rounds or plasma for the grunts, and sniper rounds or rockets if anybody gets too cocky. You'll know you're finished when the music stops. Move back into the room when everything is clear and mop up any leftovers. Grab the sniper rifle and rocket launcher and move on to the next area.

Ahh, back out in the fresh air. There will be many sleeping grunts nearby for you to pound on, so smack them all around and switch out your rocket launcher for one of their pistols. Put it in a safe place though, since you'll need it later. Three jackals are patrolling a little further along the bridge. You may be able to sneak up behind one or two if you're careful and patient, but don't stick your neck out too far. Once they start shooting several grunts will wake up on the other bridge and start firing. So first you need to find some cover. Then you can use your sniper rifle and blow the brains out of the jackals. If the grunts haven't woken up yet, snipe at the three elites ahead. Blow them all away, then wake up the grunts on the bridge by shooting at them. If they're awake already, leave the elites for now and start sending charged plasma shots over to soften the grunts up. There should be many plasma pistols lying about, so use them up. Switch plasma pistols often. If you pick up a weapon, even for a short while, it's much less likely to disappear later. Once their numbers have thinned a bit, you can peek out for longer and you won't have to charge up the pistol. Once the first group of grunts on the other bridge is dead, you can move on. If you haven't taken care of them already, now you have the three elites to worry about. Watch them while they run around a bit, wait until they're all right next to each other, then toss a grenade into their midst. Hopefully it will stick to one and take them out. Pick off the others with more grenades or the sniper rifle. If you hit them with a sniper round and they duck behind cover, don't give up. Often you can move to get a better angle where you can see a hand or head sticking out and you can finish them off. You can even use your rocket launcher here if you need to. Just save two rockets for the end of the bridge. Move ahead and another group of grunts will be come into range on the other bridge. Go back to sending charged shots over to take them out. The needlers dropped by the elites are good at taking these guys out as well. Now you've cleared out half the bridge. The other half is populated with a great many jackals and grunts. Zoom in with the sniper rifle and look for jackals. Start putting them down. You can use the last of your sniper rifle rounds on these guys. You can hit grunts if you have rounds to spare, but the jackals are your real targets. Make sure they all go down. The remaining grunts can be killed with the plasma pistols. Hopefully you still have a few of them lying around. Just aim down the length of the bridge so your shots can travel as far as possible and start firing. They tend to wander into the line of fire and most will go down easily. There will also probably be a last group of grunts on the other bridge to worry about. Find good cover from any remaining troops on your bridge and send charged plasma shots over to take them out. Don't move too far ahead. You want to finish off all of these enemies before the next wave appears. Once you think you're done, go back and switch out your sniper rifle for the rocket launcher.

Move towards the door ahead and hopefully you'll get a checkpoint as the last group of Covenant appears. There are two stealth elites mixed in with the grunts, so be careful. Keep an eye on the door and as soon as you see it opening toss a couple of plasma grenades so that they arc over the wall and into the hallway. It's a tough throw, but you can do it. Hopefully the grenades will take out most of these troops, but get your rocket launcher out just in case. Run to the area just outside the upcoming door so you can see inside. Launching rockets at close range isn't usually advisable, but you want to take out these stealth elites quickly and you can't really see them at long range. So blast away and remember to aim for the feet. Once you've verified there are two stealth elite bodies lying around, switch back to the plasma pistol and mop up the grunts. If you use up all your rockets and there are still stealth elites around, run like hell. It will be easier to finish them off if you aren't surrounded by grunts.

Whew. Finally the bridge is all clear. Now you can go back and grab your sniper rifle and rocket launcher and head to the next room. You shouldn't have many shots left for either, but that's ok.

You can walk into this room with no ammo and your health in the red. There are four elites here, but you can take them all out without firing a shot. They walk regular patrol routes and each will turn his back to you long enough for you to run up and break their spine. Occasionally one of them will be running around instead of walking. In that case, take out the walking ones first then use whatever you have left to take out the runner. Assuming no one's running around, start with the guy on the right. Keep a careful eye on him without being spotted. As soon as he turns his back, run out and put him down. Continue around the circle. Be patient and each one will present themselves in turn to be assassinated. Once they're cleared away, stock up on goodies. There's a health pack, a full rocket launcher, an extra clip of rockets, two sniper clips, and plenty of pistol and assault rifle ammo. Fill up your rocket launcher then switch it out for a pistol. Only grab a clip of sniper ammo if you have 8 or less extra rounds. You'll be dealing with the hall ahead then coming back here, so you don't really have to fill up right now.

Moving along you'll see an apparently clear hall ahead of you. Switch to your pistol and zoom in. A whole mess of grunts and jackals will come pouring out from behind cover. Just lay into them. Shoot for the hands of any jackals with their shields up. No need to conserve pistol ammo. There's more where you just came from. Run away often to recharge. After a while of this, very few Covenant should be left in the hall. If you need to, switch to the sniper rifle to finish off any particularly cunning opponents. When you're clear, head back and fill up. Grab a rocket launcher and keep your sniper rifle.

The next room is a bit complicated, but you definitely want to clear the outside of the room before going for the Covenant in the middle. First things first. There are two elites patrolling the outer corridor and you need to sneak up behind both and quietly dispatch them. They walk pretty long patrol routes, so find good cover, wait for one to pass, then just walk up behind him and bash the back of his skull in. Rinse and repeat. If they wander into the middle area, don't follow. Be patient and they'll eventually come back to the outer area where it's much safer to sneak up on them. Several jackals are waiting for you at the far end of the room, so make sure they don't see you while you're eliminating the elites. Now you're free to beat up the sleeping grunts. One or two might be within view of the jackals, so you might want to let them live for now. Bonk as many as you can then switch out your rocket launcher for one of their plasma pistols.

Now while everyone's still unaware of your presence, take a look inside the middle structure. There's a ramp leading up into it from the side your on. Be stealthy and creep up to one side of the base of the ramp. From here, you should be able to see in a bit without them spotting you. Wait for one of the major elites to come into view. Be patient and wait for a really good opportunity then tag him with a plasma grenade. Well, the whole room knows you're here now, so you'd better run back to the outer ring. Any grunts you let live will wake up now, so remember where you left them and go take them out.

Next come the jackals. Find a nice comfy spot in the outer circle where you can peek around and see them then start sending charged plasma shots their way. After you've beat up on the jackals a bit they'll be more cautious about sticking their necks out, so run all the way around the circle to the other side of them. Now you should have a better shot. Repeat a few times and they'll soon be toast.

Now you have the folks in the middle to worry about. Shoot out all the windows as usual. You might need them. There are two ramps up into the central area and they are directly across from each other. First you want to eliminate the grunts of course. Find a spot in the outer ring that gives you a decent view of one these ramps. You don't want to be looking directly up the ramp. Then everyone up there will be able to see you. Fire a couple of shots in to get their attention then nail them when they come down the ramp to investigate. Stick plasma grenades to any really easy targets. Maybe they'll run back up and blow up their friends. Move to the other ramp and do the same. Keep moving back and forth eliminating any grunts that run down the ramps. At this point you can use the whole middle area as well to move around in. Once the grunts are pretty much out of the picture, the elites will be easier to manage. Each time you make your presence known at the bottom of one ramp, the elites will all turn their attention that way. Then when you come around to the other side, they all have their backs turned looking at the first ramp. And we all know what to do with elites when they have their backs turned. Unfortunately, this doesn't work that well in practice. Only rarely can you really sneak up and melee them to death. But you can definitely stick grenades to them. So move back and forth looking for easy targets to tag with plasma grenades. Snag a needler if one is handy and use that as well. And as usual you don't need to lug around that sniper rifle and rocket launcher for nothing. Use your favorite if they're being really annoying.

By now you've probably figure out my routine for these encounters. Come in with a rocket launcher and sniper rifle. Stealthily kill as many things as possible. Steal the fallen Covenant's weapons and use them to kill their friends. Fall back to your rocket launcher and sniper rifle in sticky situations. Well in the upcoming battle, you don't have a chance to covertly take out any Covenant and steal their weapons. So leave your rocket launcher in this room and pick up a plasma rifle from one of the elites in the middle. You will be coming back for the rocket launcher later though, so remember where you dropped it.

Move along to the next battle and you'll find yourself heading back across the bridge. Run out and you'll get the attention of a pack of grunts and elites. Retreat into the doorway and wait. The grunts will follow you all the way back here, so be ready. Peek out and mow them down with the plasma rifle. As usual, fall back after each barrage of gunfire to let your shields recharge. Even if you think there's only one left.

By now you've probably noticed the two hunters on the other bridge. You should probably take these guys out before the elites. You should still have plenty of rockets, so use those. Just save yourself two. Just like the last bridge crossing, there are two stealth elites waiting at the end of this battle. You can also use your sniper rifle. If you're patient and very lucky, they'll eventually turn their backside to you. Once they're gone, you can focus your attention solely on your own bridge.

The elites ahead are easy prey for your sniper rifle. If they get behind cover before you can finish them off, move around and try to get a better shot on their hiding place. Like the elites on the last bridge, you can often see a hand or head sticking out and put an end to them. Once you've cleared out all of these enemies, you should get a checkpoint. While you've got a moment, switch out your plasma rifle for a plasma pistol.

Moving along, you'll trigger another group of Covenant to storm the bridge. There will be more elites, grunts, and jackals in this group. These grunts are very aggressive and will track you all the way across the bridge, so back up and take them out from a distance with your pistol. Use charged shots until they get too close. The elites can be taken care of with a few clips from a needler or with the sniper rifle. The jackals can be taken out as usual, with loads of charged plasma shots. Now go all the way back and pick up your rocket launcher. You'll be glad you did. Leave behind whatever Covenant weapon you were using. Once you get back to the bridge, grab a plasma pistol or rifle and drop your sniper rifle for now.

Two stealth elites are waiting for by the time you get out into the open on the bridge. Just like before, run forward and blast the feet of any blurry spots that are shooting at you. Switch to your plasma weapon if you run out of rockets and hose them down. Once both stealth elites are accounted for grab your sniper rifle and rocket launcher.

Now we can fall back into our old habit of sneakily bashing sleeping grunts and stealing their weapons. The next room is filled with jackals and grunts, but the grunts are asleep. Wait patiently until the jackals have all moved into the center of the room. Then quickly run to the right and start beating these grunts to death. Switch out your least favorite between the rocket launcher and sniper rifle for a plasma pistol. The rest of this room should be simple. Once you've exhausted your supply of sleeping grunts fall back to the door and start sending charged plasma shots and grenades into the midst of the jackals. Once your pistol runs low, run out and grab another. Slowly clear the way ahead, moving around the outside of the room. These Covenant don't tend to use the middle much. Keep blasting anything that moves with charged shots and switching for better pistols when you can. Eventually you'll down the last little grunt. You'll know he's the last one when the music starts playing. That's your cue to go back, grab your rocket launcher and sniper rifle, and move on.

Now you face the hall of the stealth elites. There are four here. Some have swords, others have rifles, but they're all invisible and can be a real pain in the ass. Peek around the corner and you should be able to distinguish at least one nearby. Blast him twice with the sniper rifle (or whatever's handy if you're running low) then retreat and get your rocket launcher ready. The sword elites will come after you. As soon as they round the corner, nail them. Now you can move back towards the hall and look for survivors. Keep your rocket launcher ready and shoot the ground around any blurry spots. There's an active camouflage here, but don't pick it up now. You'll need it later.

All the next room has in store for you are two hunters. If you have a couple of sniper rounds left use those. Run up and make 'em charge, then back up and shoot them in the guts. If you're out of sniper ammo, you're in luck. There's a large ammo cache in this room including a pistol, so you can run in and switch out your sniper rifle for the pistol. It can get a little dicey, dodging their fuel rod blasts and charges the whole time, but once you get the hang of hunters, it's easy to dance around them. Try not to pick up any unneeded supplies yet. Just the pistol. There's another little scuffle coming up ahead and you can fill up after that. After the hunters are laid to rest, you can grab some frag grenades and an assault rifle. The next group of enemies is clustered in a hallway, so both these weapons work well.

Open the door to the next area and fire a few shots. Toss in a frag grenade as they start to bunch up then run out of view. Feel free to use up all your frags. There's more in the ammo pile. Repeat a few times until Cortana starts talking. That means everyone's dead.

Now you can take some time to really scavenge. Grab a full sniper rifle and rocket launcher as usual. You can also grab the health pack, even if you don't really need it. Now you can go back for the active camouflage. The idea here is to grab the active camouflage then run as fast as you can to the next section. Map out your route so you don't waste any time after you get it. You can even jump through one of the windows to save a second or two if you really need the extra time. You should get a much-needed checkpoint as you enter the next phase of the mission.

Part 03: If I Had a Super Weapon...

Keep running out into the open. Ignore the Covenant around you. It may be tempting to whack a few, but it tends to lessen your chances of getting to the Banshee ahead. That's where you're headed. The rest of the level is much easier if you get this Banshee. In fact I'm not even going to outline an alternate strategy. You're invisible. You should be able to beat the pilot to it most of the time. If not, try again. As soon as you get in, fly off the edge and drop like a rock. You want to minimize the damage from the troops on the bridge. Once you're closer to the ground, you can put some distance between you and the bridge before flying back up to the higher altitudes. There is another Banshee flying around so get on his tail before he gets on yours. Dogfighting with the Covenant is simple. Look around until you see them, then stay on their tail and hose them down with your plasma cannons. They aren't that skilled at air to air combat. Don't let him lead you near the bridge though. The ground troops will heavily damage you. Keep the fight high in the air. Once he falls in a fiery heap, head down with him to ground level.

There is a Wraith here that you need to take out. To deal with him you need to clear out the floor of the canyon. There are two elites down here. Fly right towards one, nailing him with the fuel rod gun as you approach then opening up with the plasma cannons. Smash straight into him if he's still alive. The nose of the Banshee does a great job of grinding elites to paste. If one has already taken to his Ghost, take a few passes and blast it to pieces with both guns. After the elites are out of the picture, head directly across from the Wraith near the door on the ground level. Get out of your Banshee and get in the nearby Ghost. Cruise towards the Wraith and you should be able to see it on the other side of the huge metal beam going up the pyramid. Stay on your side directly across from him. You should be looking at him through the opening under the big beam. His mortar shots will hit the beam leaving you unharmed. I think you know what to do. Open up with those plasma cannons. You're pretty far away and the Wraith can take a ton of damage, but eventually it will go down. You may have to work it a little, but as long as you stay on your side of the canyon and shoot through the opening, he'll keep wasting his shots.

Now that the Wraith is gone, you can fly around much more safely. Hop back in the Banshee and fly back up over the bridge. Give it a wide berth as your gaining altitude of course, but eventually you want to be right over it. Point your nose down and fly the Banshee backwards so you stay basically in the same place. As you're hovering you can carpet-bomb the bridge with your fuel rod gun. If you see a speck moving down below, nail it. Drop lower and lower as the number of targets dwindles. Elites will take several shots. And don't forget to use your plasma cannons once you're low enough. Fly back and forth and lay waste to the whole bridge. Once every Covenant out there has been blasted to pieces, fly towards the door ahead. It's the one on the lit end of the canyon, not the one in the shadows. Drop down so you're resting on the bridge and fly towards the door. As soon as it opens, send a fuel rod into the hallway and run like hell. Fly way up out of the way. There are two hunters in the group that comes out of that door and they can shoot pretty far. Hover over them and go back to long-range bombing of the bridge. Be sure to blast any grunts before they get too far away. Then turn to the hunters. After many hits, they'll go down. Do one last flyover to make sure all of the Covenant here have been destroyed. Now you can land on the bridge near the door ahead. Of course you could just fly up to the top of the pyramid and skip a whole chunk of the level. But if you wanted to take the easy way, you wouldn't be playing on Legendary now would you? So land on the bridge near the edge. Get out and push your Banshee over the edge so it will be waiting for you when you get to the bottom. You can push it by repeatedly whacking it, or blow it off the side with a grenade. Take note of where it lands. You'll want it later. Now you can move through the door to the next room.

This place is just packed full of jackals and grunts. You should have plenty of rockets and a full sniper rifle to play with, so go to it. Use a couple of rockets to clear out a section of this room for yourself then switch to sniping the survivors. Use up most of your sniper ammo if you want to. You'll be getting more rockets and sniper rounds in the next room. These guys should go down easily against such a brutal display of force. Once you're done annihilating these guys, proceed down the elevator.

Open the door into the next area and look ahead. There are two stealth elites close by, but their position varies from game to game. Often you can run up to the outer corridor and look left and there will be one right there with his back turned. The other one will be on your right patrolling. You can grab his buddies' plasma rifle and waste him or blow him up with a rocket. Either way works fine. If you can't seem to sneak up on either one, use rockets on them both. You should have a few left. The rest of this room is filled with a smaller than usual complement of grunts and jackals, so this should be easy. Empty your rocket launcher on them, switch it out for a plasma weapon, and hose them down. Retreat and use your sniper rifle if they start getting the better of you. Sweep the room clean, pick up your rocket launcher, and head into the central structure for some goodies. You'll find a health pack, two clips of rockets, two clips of sniper ammo, and some other odds and ends. This is the last health pack you get on this level, so be careful from now on. After you've picked up all that you can, head back outside.

Ok, back out into the open for the last bit of the mission. You're really close to the end. Usually you'd run into a whole lot of trouble when you stepped out of this door, but you've taken care of most of it already in your Banshee. Speaking of your Banshee, it should be waiting for you wherever you left it, but you shouldn't need yet. Take a moment to look around. There's a path to the top of the pyramid that zig-zags back and forth across its face. There should be a few sleeping grunts and hunters for you to kill now though before you take to the path. Maybe four or five grunts will be scattered around, some on the ground, some near the hunters. Sleeping grunts we've seen before, but the hunters are on oddity. They certainly seem to be asleep, but it's kind of hard to tell. Anyway, after the grunts have been put down, walk around behind them and put a bullet into each of their backs. Any grunts you missed should awaken at this and make themselves known. Beat them down ruthlessly.

Now before you head up the pyramid, there is some cleaning to do. First of all, there's an ammo stash at the base of the large central beam that runs from the top of the pyramid all the way into a crack in the ground. Drop down into that crack and you'll find a ton of ammo. If you're not full on rockets, grab some now. Get back out of there and go find your Banshee. Take to the skies and survey the layout of the pyramid. The first level is cleared out already. That's where the hunters were. On the left, there's a ramp leading up to the second level. Where the ramp meets the second level, there's a Shade. Hit it with a blast or two from your fuel rod gun. There will also be a few grunts and an elite on the second level near this Shade. Blast them too. You may have to drop down a bit low to see them. Now on the far right side of the second level there's another ramp with another Shade at the top. You get the picture. Blast it. Several jackals and grunts are milling around the third level so blast them too.

Now we need to go activate some more enemies to kill. Park your Banshee on the third level on the right side of the tunnel in the middle. Get out and run through the tunnel. Now turn around and run back to your Banshee. That should set them off. Fly back into the air and scout out the fourth level, the biggest one just before the top. On the right side there should be some grunts and hunters coming down. Hover and bomb. This should be easy by now. You've had a lot of practice. Once they're gone, you're really, really close to finishing this level. Just one more fight to go.

Fly up to the last level and get out. There should be a big door in front of you. This isn't really the highest point you can get to of course. There's a ramp that leads up around the tower a couple of times to a dead end. You'll be landing up there a little later, so take note of where it is. The switch to open the door is on the right. Hit it then run as fast as you can back into your Banshee and fly away. Several grunts and an elite commander will run out onto the platform in front of the door. Fly up high and come down directly over the middle of this platform. This will require some maneuvering, but you can do it. Press right up against the mountainside far over the door you just opened. From here you can hover and blast away the grunts that came out. Drop lower and lower and make sure to get them all. Once you're really low, you can finish off the elite commander. He'll take several shots, but fortunately you have infinite ammunition. Sometimes a grunt will get into one of the nearby Shades, so be careful of them. You may have to take a special trip to fly out and destroy them. After they've all been blown to bits, look across from the door you opened. There's that ramp that leads up around the tower. The ramp leads to a path that goes around a few times and dead ends at a ledge overlooking the doorway. Fly over and land on that ledge. Hop out and say goodbye to your Banshee. Now you can run back down the path and get out your sniper rifle. The top of the last ramp leading down to the door ahead is a good place to stop and snipe. Take out anything you can. Move forward onto the platform and through the door. Finish off any grunts hiding nearby then look down the hall. Unless you got lucky and took them out already, two elites will be waiting for you. Snipe them both. When they run to the right seeking cover, run with them. Whip out your rocket launcher and blow them both sky high. That's it. Those guys were the last enemies on this level. Now you can finally open all the doors and enjoy your very well-deserved cutscene.