/============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ ________________________________ / \ | PAINKILLER GUIDE / WALKTHROUGH | \ ________________________________ / /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ Guide author: Useless E-mail: utuselessut@hotmail.com Guide version: 1.10 Game version: 1.0 System: PC Copyright: Useless 2006 This entire document is (c) 2006 Useless. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my permission. This includes, but is not limited to, posting on your website, making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making reference to any material contained within. Please do not email me to ask for permission to host this guide, as I will be unable to give it to you. I don't have enough time to manage and upload FAQ versions at any sites other than the two listed below. These sites are therefore the only ones permitted to host this guide: GameFAQS.com NeoSeeker.com -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /-----------------\ TABLE OF CONTENTS \-----------------/ 1. INTRODUCTION |<--------------->| 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 USING THIS GUIDE 1.3 CONTACT ME 2. GAME |<------->| 2.1 MENUS 2.2 MOVEMENT AND COMBAT 2.2.1 MOVEMENT 2.2.2 COMBAT 2.3 GAME FEATURES 2.3.1 WEAPONS 2.3.2 PICKUPS 2.3.3 HAZARDS 2.3.4 SECRET AREAS 2.3.5 MISCELLANEOUS 2.4 TAROT CARDS 2.4.1 GOLD CARDS 2.4.2 SILVER CARDS 2.5 MONSTERS 3. WALKTHROUGH |<-------------->| 3.1 - LEVEL 1/1 CEMETERY 3.2 - LEVEL 1/2 ATRIUM COMPLEX 3.3 - LEVEL 1/3 CATACOMBS 3.4 - LEVEL 1/4 CATHEDRAL 3.5 - LEVEL 1/5 ENCLAVE 3.6 - LEVEL 2/1 PRISON 3.7 - LEVEL 2/2 OPERA HOUSE 3.8 - LEVEL 2/3 ASYLUM 3.9 - LEVEL 2/4 SNOWY BRIDGE 3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN 3.11 - LEVEL 2/6 SWAMP 3.12 - LEVEL 3/1 TRAIN STATION 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY 3.14 - LEVEL 3/3 MILITARY BASE 3.15 - LEVEL 3/4 RUINS 3.16 - LEVEL 4/1 CASTLE 3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 THE PALACE 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL 3.19 - LEVEL 4/4 FOREST 3.20 - LEVEL 4/5 TOWER 3.21 - LEVEL 5/1 CITY ON WATER 3.22 - LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS 3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY 3.24 - LEVEL 5/4 HELL 3.25 - FROM NIGHTMARE TO TRAUMA 4. CONTRIBUTORS / CONTRIBUTIONS |<------------------------------->| 5. VERSION HISTORY / UPDATES |<---------------------------->| -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- @-----------------------@ | 1. INTRODUCTION | @-----------------------@ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.1 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Welcome to my Painkiller guide. This is my sixth guide, and since I was getting tired of the format I used in my first five I decided to change it to some sort of barbed wire thing. Not quite convinced it works, but it's meant to suit the feel of the game. Or something. Who cares. Before I go on: if you're reading this guide for no other reason than to get help with secret areas, please skip to section 2.3.4 now. My guide to Painkiller's expansion, Battle Out Of Hell, is available at the usual two sites. --- In Painkiller you play the role of generically named Daniel Garner, who gets killed in a car crash along with his wife, Catherine, in spite of having the requisite stubble, dark hair, leather jacket and pissed off facial expressions you'd expect of any car crash survivor. Daniel spends thirty years battling countless demons in limbo, until Sammael, an angel from Heaven and a hot basketball prospect, offers him a chance to redeem his sins and escape from his torment. Daniel could also be reunited with his wife, who after thirty years of waiting could reasonably be expected to have shacked up with someone else by now. But anyway. Daniel only has to do one piddling little thing to get his afterlife sorted out once and for all. Fight his way through over twenty of Hell's realms - which, by the way, are all based on things which can be found in human civilizations - in order to rid the place of four of Lucifer's horriblest generals, not to mention Lucifer himself. Because, frankly, demons of their sort are just not welcome in Hell. There are certain things Sammael isn't telling Daniel; such as whom to trust and whom not to trust, where Daniel's supposed to go, and where Sammael gets his hair done. Daniel will have to figure these things out with the help of the people he will meet along the way, be they friend, foe or barber. So get on with it. --- Painkiller is not a complicated game. You run, you shoot, they die. The game it reminds me of most is not Doom or Hexen, but a game called Smash TV which used to be on the SEGA Mega Drive years and years ago. The premise of Smash TV was that you got locked in a room on your own (topdown view) and you ran around backwards with your finger pressed on the firing button while tons of enemies swarmed mindlessly at you. You erased everything from one room and you moved onto the next. And that was it. You might not run around backwards quite so much in Painkiller, but there is a lot of moving from area to area, eradicating everything you see until the game lets you move on. The only requirement for being able to complete this game is an ability to point your crosshairs at monsters and fire at them until they die, while simultaneously avoiding death yourself. If this sounds like something you might find entertaining then please read on - I was pleasantly surprised by how cool this game is, and hopefully this guide will help other people appreciate it too. --- I've loved FPS games ever since I first played Doom, and I've spent far, far too much time playing past greats such as Heretic, Duke 3D and Thief. Merely for the sake of it, I've decided to list here the games that Painkiller reminds me of, and has probably borrowed from - if you like or love Painkiller then you will definitely want to check out some or all of the following games: Doom Duke Nukem 3D Halflife Heretic Hexen Quake Return To Castle Wolfenstein S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Undying Unreal Tournament --- I've tried to bung in as much as I can about the game, but I'm no expert. I've never gone to any Painkiller sites or forums, or even discussed the game with anyone else, so if I make any huge errors it's because practically everything I know about the game has come from playtesting it and reading the manual. I know it's an old game by now, and I also know (though I haven't checked) that there may now be a hundred guides and walkthroughs for it. Always the optimist, I've decided this means that another one won't hurt. I played the game on Nightmare difficulty when writing this guide. For this guide to make total sense, and also for a proper challenge, I suggest you start your game on Nightmare too. Your game experiences will more closely mirror mine, you'll get to play the Prison level, you'll meet the same enemies in the same places, etc. I'm also assuming that you're approaching each level with a view to obtaining the tarot cards, so that's how I've arranged them. If you already have the tarot cards you can totally ignore my salient advice, as many have before you. I have to play the unpatched game, as many other people using this guide may not be able to obtain patches but will still be looking for help. Patches are available however, and you should get the most recent patch if possible; just bear in mind that your game experiences may differ from mine if you're using a patch when I'm not. Finally, here is a link from which you can download the latest patches (the game has reached version 1.64 as I write this), but bear in mind you will need to install each patch in release order - each patch patches the previous patch, if you follow me: http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/dci/support/pc/patches/pk.php I hope you enjoy this guide and that it helps you out. Thanks for reading :) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.2 USING THIS GUIDE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please view this guide in a text viewer / editor with a set fixed-width font, or else it might look a mess. I use Courier New, Size 10. Use the Find command (CTRL + F) with the numbered contents menu at the start of the guide, in order to quickly jump to the section you want. I have put the main walkthrough section of the guide towards the end, after all the other game information. This is not a design flaw - it's deliberate. -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.3 CONTACT ME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This guide has reached Version 1.10 and is now nearly two years old, therefore it is considered finished. Many thanks to all those who contributed; however, this guide is now closed and will not be revised again, unless only to make corrections. -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- @---------------@ | 2. GAME | @---------------@ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.1 MENUS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before you begin playing Painkiller you'll probably want to customise it so you can get the most out of it. Here are some notes on things you might want to look at in the Options menu. CONTROLS > General ------------------ Arrange your keys so that they are pretty close together - this will make it a lot easier to manoeuvre through the game. You can pretty much ignore the next / prev weapon keys, as they are far too sensitive. Make sure you put distance between your quicksave and quickload keys - the defaults are fine. This is in case you accidentally hit one when you're trying to hit the other. Quickloading when you don't want to is not fun. Mouse sens. was a bit high for me - I put mine down to 33, though this is subjective and depends on your style, make of mouse, etc. For once in a FPS game, mouse smoothing is a good thing. CONTROLS > Advanced ------------------- Assign a number key to each of your weapons and select them this way during the game. I recommend making the electrodriver number four instead of five, as it's the fourth weapon you'll find in the game. Make sure you have a key for the flashlight, and remember what it is. The game often turns the light on automatically in certain dark levels and areas (eg. Cemetery, Asylum), but your game tends to suffer from frame loss while the flashlight is on, so you'll want to be able to turn it off. If your game is slow, it might be because of the flashlight. CONTROLS > Weapons ------------------ Configure your primary and secondary weapons for yourself in here; though I suggest you swap the chaingun and rockets around, so that the chaingun is the primary. Turn off Pickup Priority if you don't want the game to automatically switch to every weapon you pick up. HUD --- Take headbob all the way down to 0, as anything else will affect your aim while moving. Plus it just looks bloody stupid. I tend to go with a bright green cross for a reticle, as this colour is probably the easiest to see against Painkiller's background colours. SOUND ----- Turning off battle music will allow you to hear the sound effects and great ambient music better; but leaving it on will give you advance warning every time you're under attack. Now that I know from long experience where every enemy is I tend to turn if off, but suit yourself. VIDEO ----- This is where to sort out any speed issues you're having. The lower the video settings the faster the game will play. Just don't disable stuff if you don't have to, because Painkiller is a good-looking game and you'll want to appreciate it. Some levels and areas are much more likely to slow up than others. The rule is: the more polygons on screen at once the slower the game will move. So big, wide open areas with falling rubble, monsters everywhere, weather effects, lots of buildings standing around the periphery - these areas will move pretty sluggishly if, like mine, your computer is not quite up to the task. Three of the bosses' arenas are also pretty dodgy at times, since there's a lot going on and the boss sprites are so enormous. Try to find a nice balance between looks and speed, though this depends on your own system. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________ jetscope "in the beginning, when you're explaining about the video settings, you say that the boss sprites are really big. Actually, the bosses use models, not sprites - sprites are two-dimensional (they have only one side and rotate with your view), as opposed to models, which are fully three-dimensional. Doom used eight main sprites for each enemy, to create the illusion of them being three- dimensional - when you walked around them, different sprites switched on and off." -=#=- Yep, I remember that from Doom. I also remember thinking "how clever!". I was young and foolish then; now I'm less young and more foolish. Doesn't seem fair. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.2 MOVEMENT AND COMBAT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section is here to help any new players deal with the basics of Painkiller - how best to move through the levels and kill the monsters populating them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /================\ | 2.2.1 MOVEMENT | \================/ Movement is important in combat - covered below - but it's also vital for progression through each level. You will encounter plenty of obstacles in this game: some can be ignored; some will need to be overcome to proceed; some will let you reach secret areas or bonuses. It's easy enough to jump over small gaps, or to aim to land on sloped areas while dropping through the air to avoid taking damage, etc. But other barriers are more complicated, and you'll need to practice certain things before you can get by them with ease. For example, some ladders are buggy and they will only let you climb on at a certain angle. Some conveyances move while you are standing on them, and you'll have to compensate in order to avoid falling off. Some routes are very narrow and can cause you to slip off either side, meaning you'll have to go all the way back to the start and try again. It's important to know how to jump properly. It's not quite as simple as jumping forward or sideways and then landing. There are a couple of other factors: one is that you slide a little when you land after a moving jump, so if you land on an edge you could well fall off; another is that if you jump forwards off an edge and press backwards at any point of the jump, you will suddenly stop moving forwards and simply drop straight down. This is good if you need to land on a certain spot underneath you, but bad if you mistime it. Quick-jump: The most important thing to know about is the quick-jump (my name for it - dunno if other people have a different term). To quick-jump you just keep running and jumping, but press jump every time you land, so that you do a series of long skips in quick succession (remember this from Thief: The Dark Project?). You get a great speed and distance increase, you can get past any nearby enemy before its melee attack has a chance to hit you, and quick- jumping can also let you jump up slopes and ledges to reach places which normal jumps can't. Try to jump onto a low, sloped ledge with just a normal jump. If the ledge is too high you won't make it, but if you quick-jump onto it you can get all the way to the top. There is a great example of the difference between jumping and quick-jumping in the Docks level: there is a part of a crane which is almost vertically sloped - one normal jump would barely let you get off the ground, but if you quick-jump onto it and keep pressing jump while you move up, you can reach the very top. Quick-jumping off an edge can let you soar a great distance to reach a ledge opposite; whereas one normal forward jump would never be able to scale many of the gaps in the game. Throughout this guide I refer to quick-jumps; and also standing quick-jumps, which is my term for the quick-jumps you have to do when you have no space for a run-up. To do a standing quick-jump you just jump straight upwards and then press forwards and jump as you land - this lets you do a forward quick-jump which will reach farther than a normal forward jump. If ever you find yourself unable to reach a certain area, try experimenting with the quick-jump. Every single level has places where quick-jumping will greatly benefit you, and most secret areas are only accessible through quick- jumping. Directional arrow: The arrow at the top of your HUD points to the nearest enemy. When there are no enemies left in the current section, it turns red and points to the next checkpoint. When there are still some enemies remaining in the current area but none of them are near enough, the bloody thing breaks and points due north. This means that you're going to have to hunt in every corner until you find those hidden monsters and kill them off, at which point the arrow should work again. The tiny red arrows above or below the main arrow tell you whether your target monster or checkpoint is laterally above or below you. So if you're on a cliff and the arrow has a red arrow under it, you'll have to get all the way down the cliff until the small red arrow disappears and you know you're level with your objective. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /==============\ | 2.2.2 COMBAT | \==============/ The most important thing to learn if you want to stay alive right to the end of Painkiller is that you have to keep moving while in combat. Unlike in certain other FPS games, Painkiller's monsters are almost totally inept at hitting moving targets, even at Trauma difficulty. If you want to just stand still and fire you will find it easier to hit the monsters teeming around the place, but you yourself will be much easier to kill. You can often find vantage points where the monsters can't reach you (at least the melee ones), and you can get sniping or chucking grenades down on their heads. However, the majority of the combat will come in areas where you'll have to run around constantly, keeping out of the way of any monsters while doing your best to create big problems for any chasing you. Running is good, but quick-jumping is unparalleled when it comes to avoiding enemies. No monster who moves along the ground is as fast as you while you're quick-jumping. Avoiding missiles is a little more difficult than avoiding melee attacks, but all missiles in the game fly in horizontally straight lines (some arc through the air but none can change direction), so predicting their flight paths is easy. Some are faster than others (zombies' missiles are much slower than vamps'), and some have limited range (they'll evaporate before reaching you if you put enough distance between you and the monster firing at you). Use your weapons intelligently. Using stakes against big groups of skeleton soldiers is just dumb - break out the rocket-launcher and remove them all with just three or four rockets. Use instant-hit weapons like the shotgun and chaingun against fast-moving monsters. Quick-jump around in circles, drawing lots of monsters into one tightly-packed group so that they're easier to take out at once with a few grenades. Use as much cover as possible too. Let monsters come to you if you can, letting them walk around a corner and into a shotgun blast or a burst of the electro. You don't have to run around in big open areas where you're vulnerable: peek around corners instead and eliminate one monster at a time. Hide behind non-explosive objects and shoot out the explosive ones when the monsters get near them. Basically, just think about the monsters you're meeting and the area in which you're meeting them. Gain any advantage you can by using the terrain, and remember each weapon's capabilities and each monster's vulnerabilities. Strolling around mindlessly while you empty your shotgun is not a technique conducive to easy completion of this game. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.8 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Thomas Tarpey "if you are about to be trapped by melee creatures (the skeleton troopers from the Train Station and Abandoned Factory, for example) you can bunny-hop (quick-jump) onto the monsters - it'll give you a much larger jump than a regular quick-jump, one large enough to even get you onto a building if one is close enough, and certainly big enough to get you out of the group." -=#=- Nice trick, I don't know why I didn't think of this :) ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.8 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3 GAME FEATURES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section describes most of the things you're going to find in the game, as well as how to use, destroy, or avoid them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /===============\ | 2.3.1 WEAPONS | \===============/ Painkiller has five weapons for you to eradicate beasties with, and each weapon has two modes of fire (the painkiller and electrodriver have three). Once you pick up a weapon it will stay in your arsenal from then on, which includes being carried over into future levels. Even if you don't pick up a weapon when it first occurs, you will be given it in the next level. For example; the rocket-launcher appears for the first time in the Train Station, but you can avoid it and yet still be carrying it from the beginning of the Abandoned Factory. The weapons each have primary fire and secondary fire, but each will activate only if you carry the appropriate ammo. It's important to know not only which weapons to use in each level, but which to use in each section of each level. You may find yourself swapping weapons constantly in each map, once you learn where the monsters are and what the level's layout is. --- PAINKILLER ---------- The painkiller is your default weapon - you have it from the very start of the first level and onwards. Primary: The primary mode of fire creates a whirl of blades spinning in front of your face, which can cause severe damage to any monster who tries to hit you in melee combat. As cool as it looks, this is only something to fall back on when all else fails, such as when you're trapped in a corner. The best way to use the blades is to hold down the fire button and strafe your enemy in circles, hitting him on his sides and back before he has time to react. The blades can also be used to quickly reposition certain indestructible objects found in the game, which is easier than simply pushing the objects. Secondary: This launches the killer, a warhead which flies straight ahead until it impacts on a wall, object or monster. If it hits an object the object will explode. If it hits a wall (within a certain range) the killer will stick to the wall, and then, when your crosshairs are pointing roughly at it, a yellow beam will be drawn between your hands and the warhead. This beam will cause damage to any monster passing through it, even killing the weaker ones altogether. If the warhead hits a monster before it hits anything else, the monster will take damage and the warhead will return to your hands. Sometimes the monster will be thrown in the air, taking damage or dying; sometimes the monster can be thrown far across an area, though this only happens if you hit it over a great distance with the warhead. This feature is useful to spring otherwise unreachable enemies in close, so you can finish them off and collect their souls. Don't ignore the killer - it is a fantastic weapon, and also the most satisfying to become good with. Later in the game you will get tarot cards which allow you to deal double or quadruple damage, and the warhead is fantastic when used in conjunction with such cards. Plus you'll save a lot of ammo. The killer has another use in relation to gold - see section 2.3.2. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Earnest Shadie "The painkiller weapon has three modes. (1) Hold primary fire, spins primary blades. (2) Secondary fire, fires killer warhead. (3) Secondary fire while holding primary fire, launches spinning blades for a short distance then returns ah-la boomerang in Zelda." -=#=- Nice one, I never knew about this at all. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Saraphan "World-objects that are moveable using the secondary fire of the painkiller weapon, can act as a sort of catapult or personal elevator. Examples of such objects are the cart in the beginning of the Town level, the light fittings at the Train Station level, but rubble from destroyable objects also work (but they disappear so you have to act quickly). Stand on the object in question, and hit the middle of the object with painkillers secondary fire (the killer part). If the object you're standing on is very small and light, you might get catapulted upwards immidiately. If it's a heavier object, just reapeatedly use the secondary fire and notice how the object carries you upward (or sideways if you didn't hit the middle of the object). Using this method, you can get to some secrets areas in an unconventional way, or reach areas that are otherwise unreachable. This trick is rather hard to to control and the practical use of it is minimal, but it can be fun to play around with regardless. Depending on the object, you hardly bob up or you can reach the ceiling of the level (in outdoor levels) but the height of the jump is very unpredictable and I can't seem to get all the influencing factors thought out. Like I said, tiny objects may launch you up high with a single shot. Using one of the tiniest pieces of the rubble coming from the strange cube-shaped thingies (when you destroy them) in the cathedral level, I managed to catapult myself on the ledge with the holy item. So yes, it may be practical in that situation. Since there are several of them objects, you have several tries. I tried the same thing with the chunks of pottery on the bottom of the same area in order to get on the ledge where the superhealth lies. I wasn't able to pull that one off. Perhaps it's the shape of the pottery, or perhaps I just had to try harder (read: longer) but I'm pretty sure you just can't catapult yourself that high. It is, however, possible to get that high with other objects. For example, the cart in the beginning of the Town level can get you to great heights (if you're good and lucky). Because it's larger and you can actually step inside of it, it won't slip from under your feet so easily. Shooting it continuously, I managed to get on the balcony in the very first area where the cart lies. I also managed to get over the right wall (immidately to your right when you start the level and face the enemies in the second area). There's nothing special there, but many gamers experience a small thrill visiting areas that weren't meant to be visited. I also managed to get to the first secret area using the cart (using my way, not yours :P). I didn't try any more, but the cart might actually take you to some nice places. In the train station level, you can reach the superhealth on the ledge where the maso commando is using 'my' trick on the light fittings. With some practice, this is actually one of the easier ones since the fitting doesn't dissappear and you have relatively few choices of shooting it (aim down as far as you can, and make sure the killer hits the middle of the fitting and shoot repeatedly. You may have to move around a bit to get the balance as well as your direction right.). You can also use this trick fairly easy to get the holy item atop of the room that appears to be some kind of cantina (lot of tables lying around)." -=#=- I tried this in the Town, bouncing up and down on the first cart, and I managed to send it right over the wall and into oblivion, which wasn't much good. I can see how this would be very useful for reaching quite a few secret areas in the game, though I'd stress that none of the secrets are unreachable without it. If you practice with it it could do you big favours, and anything that helps people reach tough areas is surely a good thing. Good luck in the Forest though, har har... ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ SHOTGUN / FREEZER ----------------- This is a useful weapon, available from the first level of the game. It never stops coming in handy, and you will probably use it a lot until you get the chaingun. Primary (100 ammo): This is the shotgun and it's pretty basic. Point and fire it at close to medium range and it will drop most of the lesser minions and severely discommode many of the bigger guys. If the monster is close enough when you hit it, the shotgun blast can thump it backwards into the air, gibbing its remains all over the place. It's probably the most efficient weapon in terms of how much ammo it can carry, and its only downside is that it's virtually useless at anything greater than medium range. Its spread becomes much narrower when you are carrying a quad damage, however, which in turn increases the shotgun's accuracy. Secondary (100 ammo): This is the freezer, blatantly nicked from Duke Nukem (though improved upon as well), and it's the weapon to go to when nothing else seems to be working. All the non-boss monsters in the game can be frozen with just one shot, leaving them very vulnerable to a simple blast of the shotgun or a few rounds of the chaingun. The freezer has a horribly slow reload rate, but it's not often you'll be using it anyway. Most of the monsters just don't need to be frozen for you to take them down. If you run out of freezer ammo then you're over-using it. The freezer is useless against bosses and mini-bosses. STAKEGUN / GRENADE-LAUNCHER --------------------------- This is the closest thing you'll get to a sniper rifle. It becomes available in the Atrium Complex level. Primary (100 ammo): The stakegun is the second best long-range weapon in the game, but it's the most satisfying one to score hits with. Its reload rate is slow, so don't rely on it in close-range melee battles; but one stake can impale and kill all but the most powerful enemies, which does you a favour when you're trying to conserve ammo for your other weapons. The stakes can often stick enemies to the walls or spear two monsters at a time. The stakes will burst into flames during flight if your target is far enough away, doing more damage and therefore making them more effective at destroying far-off monsters than closer ones. The stakes fire in parabolic arcs, so you do have to adjust your sights and aim just above your target. The quad damage removes the stakes' flight arc and lets you fire them in straight lines, which comes in handy once or twice. Secondary (100 ammo): The grenade-launcher is probably going to be the most overlooked weapon in your arsenal, with the possible exception of the painkiller. It becomes a little redundant when you finally get a hold of the rocket-launcher; but the grenade-launcher's reload rate is surprisingly quick, and it often pays to dump several grenades into groups of enemies, rather than just one at a time. I recommend it be your first choice weapon against bunches of templars. The grenades bounce off walls and objects before exploding (though they explode on impact with a monster), so make sure they don't bounce back and smack you in the face. Unfortunately, their range is pretty limited, though the splash damage is of course considerable. The grenade-launcher uses the same ammo as the rocket-launcher, so try not to go overboard with the ammo. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ rofl pwn "When you have the stakegun equipped, if you shoot a grenade and time it right, you can hit the grenade with a stake from the gun and it makes your steak explode wherever it hits. It's not too useful because of the timing involved, but I thought I should let you know about it to help improve your guide." ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ CHAINGUN / ROCKET-LAUNCHER -------------------------- This is pretty certainly the most effective and efficient of your weapons. There are very few situations that this weapon can't handle on its own. It's just a pity that you get it so far into the game, but I guess that's the point - it's too powerful for the early levels. It first appears in the Train Station. Primary (100 ammo): This is the rocket-launcher, though I suggest you swap it to secondary. Anyway, it fires rockets fast and in straight lines, and the rockets explode on impact with anything. The reload rate is really good, and you can get great results against groups of minions by firing the rockets at the ground in the middle. Be careful with the rocket-launcher, as it's the weapon most likely to do you return damage if your target is too close. It's not a close-range weapon, so whatever you do don't use it as one. On the other hand, it has a limited range, and the rockets will just burst harmlessly once they've gone a certain distance without hitting anything. There's a bind available in the Controls menu for rocket-jumps, but they only ever seem to shoot me in the feet. If the bind works for you then it might be worth adding it to your repertoire, though as far as I know there are no secret areas which can only be reached by rocket-jumping, so you'll never need it in single-player. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Saraphan "Using the rocketjump hardly bobs you upward, but it does hurt you a lot - don't use it... in singleplayer! In multiplayer, the rocketjump certainly can be useful. Using the rocketjump key, you make a big jump but it does hurt you a little. Not as much as with SP, though. Strangely, using the primary fire of the rocketlauncher does not get you as much height as the rocketjump key. I suspect the rocketjump key means both a jump and shooting a rocket. For that reason, jumping and using the rocketjump key at the same time does not get you any higher. So for best results, just walk or run, aim downwards and press the rocketjump key." -=#=- Meh. Knew it wouldn't work in single-player. Sod it. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Secondary (500 ammo): The chaingun, the best weapon in the game. There's nothing this thing can't do, other than take out more than one enemy at a time. It has unlimited range, tons of ammo, extreme accuracy, fantastic reload rate, no return damage and even cool sound effects. Combining this thing with certain tarot cards can transform you into a one-man death machine, especially versus bosses. You'll find that the freezer is better for certain high-level enemies, but I would otherwise recommend the chaingun for just about every combat situation in the game. ELECTRODRIVER ------------- This is one of those weapons that polarise opinion - you'll either use it as much as possible or forget all about it until your other weapons run out of ammo. You can find it in the Snowy Bridge. Primary (250 ammo): The driver's shurikens are like chaingun rounds, but without a lot of the best features. Reload rate is slower; range is far from unlimited; ammo is at half the capacity; perfect accuracy, but why use the driver when you can use the chaingun? Great against bones and maso commandos though, especially if you can get a quad damage, at which point your shurikens will explode on impact, dealing even more damage. Secondary (250 ammo): The electro is the better half of this weapon, and should not be ignored if you find yourself surrounded by melee enemies. In fact this is the best weapon versus large groups of monsters running at you - even better than the chaingun, as you can take out multiple minions at once without having to be accurate at all, though you do have to be very close for the electricity to reach them. The ammo capacity is pretty decent, since you won't need to use the electro very often, so you should always have the ammo available when you do need it. The electro is also the one to use against those tough guys at the back end of the game, especially if you've run out of freezer rounds. This is particularly true at the beginning of The Palace. Electroburst (10 ammo): Like the painkiller, the electrodriver is set apart from the other weapons by virtue of its special attack feature: you can dump an electrically charged shuriken into a group of tightly packed enemies (make sure it hits one of them - if it hits a wall or the floor it will stick there for a while, acting like a landmine), and watch the pathetic minions spark and die on the deck. This is immensely useful against every single type of non-boss minion (well, except witches). To launch a special shuriken, hold down the secondary fire - electro - and press the primary to fire the shot. It takes a while to recharge, uses 25 shuriken ammo rounds at once (hence the 10 shot limit), and is useless if it misses the monsters. Use with caution, but keep it in mind as an option. And don't go too near any dying enemies quivering and sparking on the ground, or you'll take damage. DEMON MORPH ----------- I've lumped the Demon Morph in with the standard weapons because it is basically a weapon, with the souls of your enemies as its ammo. Collect 66 souls (or 50 if you have the Dark Soul card equipped) and you will involuntarily transform into an indestructible juggernaut. All enemies (including minibosses) become killable with just one shot of your weird, ranged energy blast attack, and you cannot take any damage from anything except Lucifer and his attacks (unless you're daft enough to jump into oblivion or water). You will see everything in black and white while Morphed, which makes it difficult to see the souls of the enemies you are killing; though living monsters are easy to spot, glowing bright orange. The Demon Morph will wear off after about thirty seconds, at which point you will have to collect another 66 (or 50 with Dark Soul) to reach another Morph. You can collect souls while Morphed, which helps a bit. Unless a tarot card condition demands otherwise - as some do - you should try to plan your Morphs to coincide with your entrance into areas where you're going to meet a lot of enemies. Using a Morph in an empty hallway is a total waste, so try to avoid any stray souls which will push you over the limit, and control your Morphs to maximise their effect in each level. I've encountered a bug (only once) in the Abandoned Factory, where I Morphed and then quickloaded. When the game was reloaded my FOV (Field Of View) was extended the way it is when you're Morphed, even though I wasn't Morphed on reload. To fix this I just reloaded while not Morphed, and the FOV sorted itself out again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /===============\ | 2.3.2 PICKUPS | \===============/ Painkiller is littered with things you can pick up to help you progress through each level. --- GOLD ---- The only purpose of gold is to allow you to mess about with your tarot cards between levels. Gold is less important if, like me, you never use gold cards, though you'll definitely want to use the silver cards. The more gold you pick up from each level the easier it will be to manipulate your cards. Gold will vanish from the ground after a while, so pick it up when you see it. Gold is most important in level 1/4 Cathedral, as collecting 500 gold from that level will unlock the tarot card. Gold can be collected by smashing breakable objects and then running over the coins scattered on the floor. The game uses each coin to represent any amount between 1, 2 and 3 (I think); so you may pick up 6 coins but find yourself up by 15 gold. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Tiit Teder "Hi! I just read your walkthru. In the gold section,You say, that special gold are spawned randomly, but it isn't. These random times are,when You hit them hard with a granade or a rocket. And you can get up to 4 pieces of special gold per body. When they die,hit them rapidly with the PAINKILLER weapons secondary fire and gold keeps appearing." --- Thanks for this, as I believed they were purely random. I was amazed to discover that this actually does work - I hardly use the painkiller, so maybe that's why I never found this out earlier. The most I've ever gotten out of one body was two trinkets, but if someone wanted to take the time to bounce a lot of corpses around then they could really rake in the gold. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Once in a while you will find special gold items lying around, dropped by a vanquished enemy (who of course normally wouldn't drop gold). They'll look like gold circlets or bangles, and they're worth 20 gold each. You'll know when you've picked one of these up, because there will be '+20' or '+40' or whatever, written in grey after the gold count in your stats window - 20 gold per trinket. HOLY ITEMS ---------- These are always hidden in secret areas, and are shaped as either crucifixes or cups. They glow a golden colour, and you can see them easily even at a distance. Each holy relic will give you 100 gold upon pickup, though they're usually hard to find or reach. AMMO ---- The game contains boxes of ammo for all weapons except the painkiller, and each type of box is pretty distinctive from the others. See section 2.3.1 for more information about weapons and ammo capacities. Ammo also comes in megapacks - big boxes which give you small amounts of ammo for each weapon (though not beyond capacity). SOULS ----- Green souls are dropped by all killable minions, and each one will boost your health by 1 point. As far as I know, souls ignore your base health limit, so if you start off with 250 health (health pickup max) and then collect 50 souls your health will be a huge 300. I'm unaware of whether there is an upper limit on the amount of health souls can give you, but I've managed 415 health and 190 armour in City On Water. Like gold coins, souls will disappear after a few seconds, so pick them up while they're available. Some monsters - lepper monks, executioners, skulls, minibosses - drop red souls instead of green ones, and these rare pickups will give you an extra 6 health points. Bosses don't drop souls, and neither do ghosts (which can't be killed anyway). Some minibosses do drop souls, and these are always red. Picking up 66 souls will allow you to Morph into a Demon: see section 2.3.1 for information on the Demon Morph. HEALTH ------ There are two types of health pickup (other than the souls). One is a swirling ball of pale gold, and it will give you a half-decent boost to your health points, up to base level. The other is the super-health, a swirl of green and red resembling a soul. This will give you 100 health up to a maximum of 250. ARMOUR ------ Armour comes in three types: the light armour will set your armour rating to 100; the medium will set it to 150; and the heavy sets it to 200. Try not to pick up armour or health if you don't currently need it. If you have 150 armour and you've just found a heavy armour, wait until your 150 is mostly gone, then come back for the heavy armour later. This is much more efficient than wasting the heavy for the sake of 50 extra armour points. QUAD DAMAGE ----------- You won't find this very often - it only appears a few times around the last few levels in the game. It's a big skeleton helmet thing with glowing eyes, and it will quadruple the damage you do for about thirty seconds, while surrounding your HUD with a red border. The quad damage makes stakes fire in perfectly straight lines; shotgun blasts much narrower for greater accuracy; and gives shurikens an explosive component. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Taylor "I've got additional info about how certain weapons are different when you have the quad-damage powerup. Painkiller: With the killer stuck in the wall, the energy beam allows you to be pointing at it very loosely; I think about 70 degrees off, instead of about 10. Chaingun/Rocket Launcher: Rockets travel at about 1.5x speed." ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Kelsey K "[When using the Quad Damage] The Electroburst special attack of the Electro Driver uses 75 electricity and no shurikens. I find it's best to shoot it at the ground underneath a group of enemies or on a wall next to them because if you do hit a monster the "mine" disappears with the corpse. With the quad damage pickup or card activated (weapon modifier), the grenade launcher shoots incendiary grenades." ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /===============\ | 2.3.3 HAZARDS | \===============/ These are all the things in the game that aren't monsters but can still do you damage. --- FIRE ---- Fire occurs in various places, but it's more dangerous in some places than in others. Some fire won't harm you at all (eg. torches); some fire will do you gradual damage for as long as you are standing in or next to it (eg. molotov cocktails); and certain other fires will kill you immediately, no matter how much health you have (eg. flames from the tops of the exploding tanks in the Abandoned Factory). Just avoid it in general and you should be OK, though baiting chasing monsters into a burning molotov cocktail puddle is never a bad idea. EXPLOSIONS ---------- Explosions can be caused by a few things, but they're almost always a result of having shot out some barrels or ammunition boxes or gas tanks or whatever. Don't be near any of these things when they're going off, though drawing monsters in close can do you a favour and save you some ammo. There are lots of objects you can explode in the game, such as barrels, fireworks, ammunition boxes, and so on. Most will drop gold once they've been burst, and certain other unique objects must explode in order to let you progress through the level. RUBBLE ------ You won't encounter much rubble in the game, but avoid it when you do. Falling rocks hurt and falling pillars and masonry hurt more. Bosses are fond of piling rubble onto your head, so keep an eye out for it. MECHANISMS ---------- You'll only meet these occasionally, mostly in the Military Base, and they consist of gun turrets, mortar platforms and moving tanks. The turrets sit in corners of the ceiling and you'll have to figure out where the chaingun fire is coming from to take them out. One shotgun blast is enough. The mortar platforms are ranged around large outdoor areas and they fire arcing shells at your present position. They have limited range but can do a lot of damage - keep moving and keep your distance and the shells are easy to dodge. The platforms themselves take five or six rockets before exploding, and look out for the souls of the dead monsters who were controlling them. The tanks move back and forward in straight lines, like mobile mortar platforms. Five or six rockets again, and if there's more than one tank try to put one behind the other so that only one of them can see you. DROPS ----- Don't drop off any high ledges or platforms if you can avoid it - you'll lose armour and health. WATER ----- Water appears in some levels, and since you can't swim you will drown immediately instead. Avoid, unless you're in the Old Monastery. OBLIVION -------- Dunno if this is its real name, but oblivion is when you jump into an area the game was designed to block you from entering. You'll recognise these areas when you find them, as you will die straight away. They include pools of lava or the outer reaches of open-air levels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /====================\ | 2.3.4 SECRET AREAS | \====================/ I drove myself nuts trying to find all the secret areas and holy items in the entire game, and as of v1.1 I've finally managed to find every single secret and relic in every single level of the game, and now I need to lie down. I've made screenshots of myself standing in each of the secret areas, so if you can't understand my written descriptions you could always email me to ask for the screens you want. To enable you to quickly find (Ctrl + F) the mentions of each level's secret areas, I've marked them all with a ~ symbol. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /=====================\ | 2.3.5 MISCELLANEOUS | \=====================/ These things don't fit into any other category, so I've lumped them together here. --- CHECKPOINTS ----------- These look like swirling blotches of red mist on the floor, and passing through or touching them usually closes the area you've just finished and opens the next one along. Some checkpoints in the Old Monastery appear as big red metal pentagrams, and they don't act as savepoints (listen for the absence of the usual whoomph sound when you hit them). There are some buggy checkpoints that you should be aware of, where you can get stuck in the level if you attempt to move on without first touching them. The checkpoints almost always have to be hit in the correct order, so if you skip one you could end up locking yourself in. Touch them when you see them, and don't go too far ahead of them if you can avoid it. EXITS ----- This is a big blob of creamy white energy, and moving into it will finish the level and present you with stats and a tarot card (if you completed the level while abiding by the tarot card condition). You can tell when the exit has appeared in place of a normal checkpoint, as you will hear a very cool murmuring voice in your ear. When the exit appears all (well, most) of the previously locked doors and passages will open and allow you to explore the places you couldn't get to earlier. Sometimes you can get all the way back to the beginning of a level, though some levels just aren't designed for this. Use the opportunity to grab those inaccessible holy items and secret areas. The exit deletes from the level any monsters you missed on your way through, such as in the Military Base. CONVEYANCES ----------- My pretentious word for things like lifts, conveyor belts, ladders... anything that moves you through a portion of a level without you having to do so yourself. Lifts only go up or down once, and then they'll never move again. Some have ladders going up the lift shaft, in order to provide you with a route up again if you should fall to the bottom of the shaft. Some of the ladders are a bit buggy, and you have to walk or jump onto them at just the right spot in order to go up them. Be careful walking off the top of a ladder - sometimes you jump and then fall off the other side of the top platform. Sometimes ropes are used instead of ladders, but both ropes and ladders are often difficult to spot, so look out for them. Once in a while you'll be required to step onto a cable car roof, or a trolley on a track, or a conveyor belt. These are often designed to carry you into a group of enemies, so you might want to jump off before they reach the ends of their preset routes. PUSHABLE OBJECTS ---------------- These are all things you can shove around to provide you with a stepping stone to a hard-to-reach area. You often have to move things about to reach secret areas, and the bigger the object you use the better. You can use boxes, barrels, light fittings, carts - anything you can move or shoot off the ceiling or whatever. Move the thing into a good position and then quick-jump up into it. You'll have to experiment for yourself, but you can often get very cool results with long or tall objects. Many objects can also be used as magic carpets if you whip out the painkiller (see section 2.3.1). CORPSES ------- You'll find corpses in various maps; they're usually brown, featureless bodies just lying on the ground. What makes them special is that you can repeatedly zap them with the painkiller's warhead in order to get up to 5 trinkets out of them for free. -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.4 TAROT CARDS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Each level in the game has a tarot card waiting for you at the end of it, and all you have to do to obtain the level's card is to observe a certain restriction while battling your way through the level. Tarot cards come in silver and in gold. When equipped before starting a new level, silver cards' effects will remain active throughout the level. Gold cards can be activated once per level with your gold card button, and will usually last thirty seconds, meaning that you should think carefully about when you want to use them. The game calls the cards 'Black Tarot Cards': don't let this confuse you. All twenty four cards are 'black', but you only need to know which ones are silver-black and which are gold-black. Don't Do What Donny Don't Does... Tarot cards can make a huge difference to whether you fail or succeed in completing Painkiller's levels. You need to pick the right silver cards to take you through each mission, and also pick the right gold cards to trigger at special points during the levels. Make sure that you have enough gold coins to let you mess about with the cards, since all cards need gold before they can be placed on the tarot board. Collect as much gold as you can during each level to make this easier. Bear in mind that you can skip cards that you're finding difficult to reach, then use what cards you do get to go back into the levels containing the cards you missed before. In other words, you can play a Nightmare game, skip the Train Station card if it's too difficult, pick up the Vitality and Forgiveness cards from later levels, then equip them both and revisit the Train Station, where those two silver cards will make getting the Soul Catcher card much easier. I didn't do it this way - the guide is written to allow you to acquire the cards in order. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /==================\ | 2.4.1 GOLD CARDS | \==================/ These can be used once per level (unless you have the silver Forgiveness or Mercy cards) and will last thirty seconds (unless you have the gold Time Bonus or Double Time Bonus cards). As far as I'm concerned the gold cards suffer from magic potion syndrome: you tend to put off using them until you "really" need them, which turns out to be never when you find yourself strolling through the exit. Remember your three gold cards when you find yourself unable to get past certain enemies, though to be honest I never use them. The perfect person to advise you, in other words... Here are the gold cards and their details, arranged in the order in which you will find them in the game. I've included my own ratings of each card, but ignore these by all means if you think I'm talking bollocks. --- Endurance: Take only half the damage Cost to place: 50 Rating: 2/5 Meh. The idea is to take no damage, and allowing yourself to be hit just so you can revel in only taking half the damage is monumentally stupid. Stay away from the monsters and don't be daft enough to let them surround you, and you'll never need this. It's good while you're learning the game or just generally sucking at it, but you can ditch it once you get good. Haste: The world moves 2x slower Cost to place: 100 Rating: 3/5 This comes in very handy at times, and in fact it may be the only one of the three time-based cards you're likely to use. It gives you plenty of leeway to react and avoid fire while it's in effect - useful if you're finding certain battles a bit too hectic, and very useful for those tricky bosses. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Hiu Zhan Yuan "the haste cards slow the world but NOT u.u still make in the same speed but they got slow. Tat means u are 2x,4x or 8x faster than the demons or boss. these card are extremely useful during boss fight. For example,while u are in triple haste mode, 8 seconds have pass while it only count as 1 second. ( i have test this myself). This 8x increase your firing rate,while u can easily hit the boss because it moves like a snail. i have managed to beat the guardian in 1 minute and 10 seconds using the double haste card and alastor in 3minutes and 20 seconds using double haste card.." -=#=- Yeah, it did occur to me that there must be something more to these cards. Maybe it's just how I perceived their effects at the time, but if they help they help. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Time Bonus: Golden Cards last 10 seconds longer Cost to place: 100 Rating: 2/5 Well, it does what it says, but you only have three slots for gold cards, and passive cards like this could be considered a bit of a waste. Have it equipped if you can come up with a pair of proper cards which will be greatly enhanced by this: otherwise ignore it. Speed: Move faster Cost to place: 100 Rating: 1/5 You move faster, but not by much. The quick-jump-in-circles approach makes this one pretty worthless, and you don't need 100 gold to quick-jump. Fury: Deliver 2x more damage Cost to place: 200 Rating: 3/5 Painkiller's weapons are powerful enough to be able to cope on their own. I can't think of many situations where you really need to do double damage - single damage suffices pretty much all the time; except when you're up against bosses, which is where it earns its crust. The good news is that your painkiller's warhead becomes pretty formidable, allowing you to save lots of ammo and wipe out enemies either one by one or in groups. Double Haste: The world moves 4x slower Cost to place: 300 Rating: 3/5 Same as Haste, but doubly effective. Dexterity: Weapons reload 2x faster Cost to place: 300 Rating: 4/5 [Thanks to vic rabb for pointing out that this card was missing from previous versions of this guide, and also for providing me with its details.] An absolutely excellent card, which only loses one mark out of five because it eats your ammo, as you would expect. Quite apart from allowing you to off enemies twice as quickly, it also makes you feel like a titan of death. Or something. Equip it. Iron Will: Enemies can't hurt you Cost to place: 666 Rating: 5/5 It's what you probably wanted Endurance to be, and although you should never be pish enough to need this in non-boss levels, it really comes to the fore when you are fighting a boss, especially since you can't Morph in the bosses' arenas. Invulnerability is the ideal in a frantic game like this, and all the other cards are just props compared to this one. Just make sure you take full advantage of it - equip it alongside cards that will let you rack up the kills toot sweet. It's not just enemies that can't hurt you - your own weapons won't do you damage either, or explosions, long falls, etc. Rage: Deliver 4x more damage Cost to place: 500 Rating: 3/5 Well, as with the Fury card, you'll save a fair bit on chaingun ammo. But there are still too few places where I can really see you needing to do this much damage. True, you can mow down enemies faster, but that's not too hard to begin with, as long you're smart about how you approach battles. It earns its stripes when you carry it into a Trauma game - you're not going to be able to Morph in Trauma, so this card is the next best thing. Use your painkiller with this one and watch the enemies fall while your ammo count stays the same. Double Time Bonus: Golden Cards last 20 seconds longer Cost to place: 300 Rating: 5/5 OK, you're using up a 'precious' gold card slot, but twenty seconds is a very significant boost if you're someone who uses the gold cards - much more noticeable than the effects of Time Bonus. Only useful against one Nightmare boss - Alastor - but equip it intelligently and the benefits will be obvious. Definitely take this one into a Trauma game and stick with it. Someone has mentioned that this card doesn't work even after patch 1.61, but I can't say I noticed. Might be worth watching out for though, and dump it if it's not working for you. Triple Haste: The world moves 8x slower Cost to place: 500 Rating: 3/5 Same as Haste, but trebly effective. Confusion: Confuse enemies Cost to place: 200 Rating: 1/5 This is fun the first time you use it - a big bunch of enemies milling around and turning on each other is a laugh - but to be honest I don't want enemies confused, I want them dead. Ignore this fun-for-two-seconds gimmick and go with the decent cards. No-one's ever going to be this short of ammo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /====================\ | 2.4.2 SILVER CARDS | \====================/ Not for no reason are these generally more expensive to place on the board than gold cards. They stay in effect for the duration of the level (if you've equipped them beforehand), and the advantages are enormous. You may forget all about gold cards, but the silver ones can greatly facilitate your passage through this game. The silver cards tend to be locked behind the harder of the levels, eg. boss arenas or the hidden Prison. They are more difficult to get, but far more valuable and worth working for than the gold cards. Though you can only have two equipped at once. Again, the cards are in order and I've rated each one. --- Soul Keeper: Souls stay longer Cost to place: 500 Rating: 2/5 Souls stay around just about long enough for you to grab them anyway, and this card can be bumped as soon as you get a better one. Obviously. Use it if you're a slow git, or if you keep finding yourself in difficulties when getting rid of big bunches of monsters. Blessing: Increase the initial health to 150 Cost to place: 200 Rating: 1/5 150 health is pretty nice, but the novelty wears off once you get below 100 and the card becomes utterly useless for the entire rest of the level. Replace as soon as you get the chance. Replenish: Double the ammo in ammo boxes Cost to place: 500 Rating: 2/5 Hmm, it's good if you're a crap shot; but Painkiller's weapons are pretty user-friendly and well-rounded, and the game's levels aren't exactly short on ammo as it is. 500 gold is a lot for this effect - avoid. Dark Soul: Morph into demon form at every 50 souls Cost to place: 400 Rating: 4/5 This one is subjective. If you enjoy Morphing then this is heaven; but if, like me, you actually wish you could turn Morphing off, this one won't be your cup of hot mud. Definitely use it in Abandoned Factory, whatever your tastes. Soul Catcher: Leech souls from a distance Cost to place: 500 Rating: 5/5 I rely on this one for a long time. Your work to retrieve those souls is cut in half by this card, and you can rake in the health even if you're just standing in a corner, pumping chaingun rounds into the bodies of your enemies. One of the most useful cards in the game, in my opinion. One strange thing about this card is that it technically works even after you're dead. If you die while you have it equipped you can still suck in the souls of recently vanquished dead enemies while your body is lying on the ground, unable to move. It would have been nice if this brought you back to life, like a kind of safety net, but it won't. Forgiveness: You can use Golden Cards two times per level Cost to place: 1000 Rating: 3/5 I don't use the gold cards much at all, but if I did I would want this one equipped. Tired of only getting one shot at gold cards, then realising you've left them to the very end of the level yet again, where you no longer need them? Problem solved. Get your money up first, though. And bear in mind that this is worthless if you're not going to hit that gold card button. Greed: Double the amount of hidden wealth Cost to place: 2000 Rating: 1/5 A card which appears very near the end of the game; doubles the amount of gold just after you've settled on a general card configuration and no longer need the gold; and that costs 2000 to friggin' place? I don't think so. Vitality: Increase base health capacity to 150 Cost to place: 100 Rating: 4/5 Half the battle of Painkiller is staying alive, and this one gives you 50 health towards that object. It resets the normal limit of 100 (this is where Blessing falls down), and so any health pickups you collect will be able to go up to 150. Not quite so great when you consider that souls and super-health could always take you way above 150 anyway, but it's better to have it than not have it. I recommend that this be one of the silver cards you rely on in a Trauma game. Last Breath: Health regeneration when you're dying Cost to place: 500 Rating: 2/5 This acts as an extra life - if you take enough damage to kill you the card will automatically hand you 33 health at the very second you're expecting the GAME OVER message. It sounds pretty decent but there are better silver cards than this to help you stay alive, and it's maybe not worth using up one of your two slots on a card that will only be used once, if at all. Soul Redeemer: Souls provide more health Cost to place: 1000 Rating: 3/5 It would have been nice to have been given this one a little earlier in the game than just before the final level, since there are no souls in Hell and no souls in Trauma difficulty. The only way this card is useful is if you get it through Insomnia and keep your cards when starting your Nightmare game. It gives you two points per soul instead of one (including freaks' souls). ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.8 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Thomas Tarpey "the Soul Redeemer doesn't just give 1 extra health; it counts each soul you've gotten as two for the purpose of health - when you use it and kill an executioner (or any Red-Soul monster), you get 12 health, not 7." -=#=- Thanks, I didn't use it enough to spot this. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.8 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Mercy: You can use Golden Cards three times per level Cost to place: 2000 Rating 4/5 You get this one by killing off Lucifer himself; and for those people who use gold cards a lot, this one's for you. If you won't use it don't equip it, but it comes in EXTREMELY useful in a Trauma game to which you carried your cards over. Divine Intervention: All cards can be placed for free Cost to place: 0 Rating: 1/5 Hmm, so this is my crappy reward for completing the horribly tough Forest level. At this point you don't need your cards placed for free: you've got every card in the game and you'll pretty certainly have picked your best five and will continue to use them until you complete the game on Trauma. You'll also have lots of gold (I had over 6000) since you won't have been messing with your cards, so this card is doubly useless. The only good thing about this card is that it completes the whole set. -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.5 MONSTERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section describes every monster that comes in numbers throughout the game. They're all visually different, but many of them have special abilities which you should be aware of. Some also have immunities or resistances to certain weapons, and most of the monsters are designed to suit the levels in which you meet them. I've given each minion a danger rating from one to five, where a level of one represents little or no danger, and a level of five represents big trouble. These ratings are based on my experiences of each monster - you might totally disagree with them. I've given certain monsters a recommended weapon - these are just my choices based on the fact that some monsters are particularly vulnerable to certain weapons. Some of the monsters come in miniboss form - I've noted these here and in the guide sections. --- AMPUTEE ------- Danger: 2/5 They only have two features worth mentioning: they can cling to the ceiling, and they can do a standing jump to hit you with melee damage. Otherwise they're slow, weak and little problem. ARABIAN WARRIOR --------------- Danger: 3/5 They're almost the fastest enemies in the game (rolling beasts and special witches are faster), and they have various ranged weapons. Plus they can teleport around at will. In spite of all this they're still grunts, and are easy to take down, especially from a distance. They'll also often do ostentatious jumps into the air, with the aim of slashing down at you with their swords. They may not feel quite so smug when you stake them beautifully out of mid-air, or merely step forwards and turn around, ready to unload your shotgun into their backs. BANSHEE ------- Danger: 1/5 These things are virtually harmless when not in the company of other monsters. They have only one attack - a melee scream which dims your vision and slows your movement for a second or two. This makes you vulnerable to attacks from other enemies, but if the banshee is on her own she should be no trouble to take out. Later banshees have more powerful screams but are still easy to kill. You can do pretty cool high jumps off the bodies of banshees if you're standing on them just as their corpses erupt into a cloud of ravens. BEAST ----- Danger: 4/5 Recommended weapon: Freezer These things will scamper about until they get a decent line of attack, at which point they will ignite and start rolling towards you really fast, kind of like Blanka from SF2, on whom they're probably based. These rolls are hard to dodge, and perhaps the best weapon versus these things is the chaingun - the only one capable of hitting them continuously while they move (assuming you're out of freezer ammo). MINIBOSS: GIANT BEAST The Giant Beast is basically the same as the normal beast, except about ten times tougher and three times as big. BONES ----- Danger: 3/5 These things can steal souls from your total if you let them too close, so try to bring them down from a distance. Bones take time to assemble themselves, so you can destroy them before they get a chance to stand up by shooting at the green, glowing part lying on the ground. They have a weak kamikaze attack they will use when you get them down to very little health without killing them. The best weapon to use against bones is the electro, the only one which will always let you hit them and will also bring them down almost immediately. They also don't much like shurikens - two shots into their green hearts (always aim at the glowing hearts) will kill the smaller bones. You might meet big bones in later levels - twice as big and twice as tough. DARK NINJA ---------- Danger: 3/5 Exactly the same as Arabian Warriors, except they appear in different levels. DEVIL MONK ---------- Danger: 3/5 Another monster dangerous only when it's too close (at least the earlier versions). Their attacks both damage and slow you for a significant time, and their scythe-staffs remain active for a couple of seconds after the monks die. The green staff versions are slightly less dangerous than the ones with red staffs. Later appearances will have an instant-hit lightning bolt attack that you really need to watch out for in that particular level. The glowing staffs have a cumulative effect - the more you touch at one time, the slower you'll become. The devil monks inhabiting Hell, the final level, are almost invisible. EVIL MONK --------- Danger: 2/5 A basic grunt of a monster, available in three flavours. The melee version will just lumber at you and swing his big axe when he's close enough. The ranged version will throw his axe from a distance; but the axes are slow and easy to avoid, and the monk will sometimes die immediately afterwards, since he has now lost his only weapon. Idiot. The third version, whom you will only encounter very late in the game, is just as slow and weak, but can now throw fizzing bombs around, which are easy to avoid but do big damage if unavoided. These guys also come equipped with flamethrowers. The evil monks inhabiting Hell, the final level, are almost invisible. EVIL SAMURAI ------------ Danger: 5/5 These guys are very fast and they do horrible damage when they get too close. They often charge at you, swinging their swords as they come. They also have a ranged fireball attack, a ranged ice attack, and can pull you off your feet towards them (watch for them stopping and waiting for no apparent reason). They are rarely found alone, and should be frozen and shotgunned with all speed. Another thing to watch out for in Snowy Bridge is the samurai's kamikaze (or seppuku) attack, where they bend to the ground and suddenly explode in a burst of ice. This one gives your health level SERIOUS issues, and it might be the most destructive attack in the game, bosses included. Hit the samurai with one stake and then watch him break his sword / staff into two bits - this is when you should get the hell out of the vicinity. Some monsters will turn on each other if one hits another accidentally, and the samurai are great examples of this. Wait until one samurai is about to send a fireball at you, then move aside so that another samurai gets between you and the fireball. If the fireball hits the nearer samurai he might turn around and pick a fight with his friend. EXECUTIONER ----------- Danger: 5/5 Recommended weapon: Freezer At first glance they're just lumbering grunts, but these things do big melee damage if you let them near enough. They don't attack in large groups, but they're pretty tough to take down if you're low on freezer ammo. Some are fond of chucking their axes at you or using their own double painkillers to hook you in close - think Scorpion from Mortal Kombat - where they can hack your face off. Try to take them out before any other creatures in the vicinity, as the executioners can also hack at the bodies of their fallen comrades, releasing spiders which will start chasing you. These spiders can feed on corpses and grow in size, the biggest being about the same size as a beast. Executioners are probably the second most dangerous non-boss monster you'll meet in the game, and as satisfying as it is when you score a direct hit with the stakegun into their orange bellies - their only voonerable - stick with the freezer if at all possible. If you freeze them just as they throw their painkillers, the warheads will stick to the wall and the beam will remain, doing you damage if you pass through it. Executioners' souls are worth 6 health points instead of one, and are coloured red, not green. FREAK ----- Danger: 3/5 If their heads are not spitting electrical current they're slow, weak pussycats. If their heads are sparking everywhere they can do serious damage if they get close enough to detonate themselves. They're always fantastically slow, however, which renders them very vulnerable to whichever weapon you choose. They're also among the best enemies in the game for getting pinballed around by your painkiller's warhead; and listen out for the very cool sounds they make through their masks. The manual says that the souls of these guys will make you drop a health point instead of gain one, but I've noticed no difference between freaks' souls and normal ones. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ ken whitaker "I read the description about the 'Freak' monster from the game. And saying that you didn't notice a different between regular souls and freaks soul's. I discovered that occasionally when you pick up a freak's soul that it won't make the distinct noise that usually sounds when you pick up a soul, and noticed that my health has dropped 1 point. But this happens rarely... In fact it only happend to me twice. Just wanted to fill you in." -=#=- Hmm, fair enough, thanks. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ GHOST ----- Danger: 1/5 These rare monsters can't be harmed, but they can harm you (a little). Just avoid them and you should be OK. They sometimes die when you move to the next checkpoint, adding to your kill count. HELL ANGEL ---------- Danger: 3/5 These are a bit more than basic foot soldiers. They can chuck molotov cocktails around and some come equipped with rocket-launchers. They also appear in medium-sized groups, and it takes a while to mow them all down. They're not too fast, but you're in trouble if you let them get close with their tazers, especially in such a confined level as the Prison. HELL BIKER ---------- Danger: 4/5 Their first incarnations will most likely try to chaingun you until they run out of ammo. They also have a headbutt attack, but you'll probably have dropped them to the floor before they have to resort to it. It's always pleasant to see these bullies get pwned by the skulls. Later versions appear as fat, drunken dock workers: some can belch poison gas, some attack you with pipes, and others are armed with their own shurikens which they fire in bursts of four. LEPPER MONK ----------- Danger: 3/5 Recommended weapon: Freezer These are pretty rare, and are at first invulnerable. They will hurl corpses of recently vanquished enemies at you, and only when they run out of this ammunition will they try to fling their staffs at you and then become vulnerable to damage. They can also use their staffs to bounce you away from a distance. Try to get rid of any surrounding enemies quickly so that they run out of bodies to throw. Or you could just freeze them, though you may not have the ammo you need when you do run into them. Lepper monks' souls are worth 6 health points instead of one, and are coloured red, not green. LOKHI ----- Danger: 1/5 They can heal themselves after they take damage - watch for them stopping and praying halfway through a battle. They also have quite a jump on them, but other than this they're just basic melee monsters, and very rare at that. MASO COMMANDO ------------- Danger: 3/5 Recommended weapon: Chaingun They're immune to almost all weapons (unless you shoot at their guns); they have half-decent speed; very dangerous weapons; and can set fire to skeleton soldiers to increase the soldiers' speed and attack damage. Despite all this they're not actually too hard while you have your chaingun or electrodriver ready. You can gib them to hell with just one round, as long as you aim accurately at the flamethrowers in their hands. The flamethrower will explode and kill the maso, along with any minions standing next to him - just don't get too near the explosion yourself. They can also be frozen, of course, but it seems like a waste of freezer ammo when you can just blow them up with one chaingun round. PSYCHONUN --------- Danger: 2/5 The lesser nuns will just swoop at you and try to thwock you with their scythes; but the higher versions can throw some sort of fireball at you which disables your weapons for a few seconds. These things are pretty fast, so keep your distance. The psychonuns inhabiting Hell, the final level, are almost invisible. RAVEN ----- Danger: 1/5 Ravens only appear in certain levels and with certain enemies. Banshees and witches are fond of bringing them along, but the only danger they pose comes from their tendency to descend on the corpses of your fallen enemies. They peck at the remains and prolong the length of time you have to wait before a soul appears. SADO COMMANDO ------------- Danger: 3/5 These come in two variations: the weaker grey one is easier, with just one gun and an ability to throw proximity grenades; the second brownish one is tougher, with two guns and better armour. It's fun to start chaingunning them just as they begin a high jump, since your shots can keep them suspended high in the air even as they die. MINIBOSS: HEAVY COMMANDO You'll meet two of these if you ever get to the Forest, and they're pretty much exactly like the Giant Templars you'll have met earlier. SKELETON SOLDIER ---------------- Danger: 2/5 These will always attack in huge groups, but they have such weak armour and health that one rocket into the centre of a bunch of them can knock out fifteen or more at a time. They're weeds, and their only advantages are their big collective attacks. They also come in taller versions, and these guys can shoot at you and fling smoke grenades. When they appear alongside maso commandos, watch out for when the commandos set the skeletons on fire - it makes them faster and they do more damage. SKULL ----- Danger: 5/5 Recommended weapon: Freezer Argh! So big and tough they could almost be minibosses, except that these brutes will appear in numbers. They're surprisingly fast for their size, and their shotgun blasts seriously ache. They can even pick up handy hell angels or bikers and use them as shields, which is a pretty nifty trick, except when you're trying to shoot them. Watch out for them trying to blow their own heads apart with their shotguns - this makes them invulnerable, even if you've frozen them or are trying to hit them with your Demon Morph. Skulls' souls are worth 6 health points instead of one, and are coloured red, not green. SPIDER ------ Danger: 1/5 These things almost always appear with the help of executioners, but they do occur on their own at one point, during the Opera House level. They start off small, but the longer you leave them the bigger they will grow. The best way to kill them is just to avoid them, since they will die themselves if left alone for long enough. They also have the added bonus of not discriminating between you and the monsters, so they're just as likely to try to eat a ninja as they are you. TEMPLAR KNIGHT -------------- Danger: 4/5 Recommended weapon: Electro What makes these big guys hard is the shields they carry - if your shot hits a templar's shield he will take no damage at all, even if you're Demon Morphed. You can catch them with a freezer shot, but even then their shields will protect them from harm, unless you run around the back of them and shotgun them into bits. Unfortunately for them, electricity doesn't care about invulnerable shields, and a quick burst of the electro can reduce these goons to quivering heaps. Just don't let them too close if you don't want to be swiped up into the air by their big swords. Groups of templars are also susceptible to grenades - toss one into a bunch and watch the limbs fly. Keep an eye out for templar snipers - those flaming crossbow quarrels hurt a lot; and later versions fire spreads of three at a time. Templars have a couple of easily exploitable weaknesses: you can spear their feet with a well-aimed stake; and you can also simply jink around behind them and drop them with one shotgun blast. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ jake mcwhae "I play the xbox version of painkiller but i think they are exactly the same. Those templar knights can be hit through the sheild with the painkiller weapon's combo shooting while it spinning and it kills them one shot." -=#=- Yep, this comes in pretty handy, especially in Babel. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ MINIBOSS: GIANT TEMPLAR These are more like evil samurai than templars, and their flamethrower attack can do you big damage. Their only other attack is just a thump in the face with their fists. Giant templars' souls are worth 6 health points instead of one, and are coloured red, not green. VAMP ---- Danger: 2/5 These have both ranged and melee attacks, but they're pretty weak and easy to gib. What makes vamps dangerous is that if you kill them without gibbing them they will transform into big vamps - huge cavetroll-like things which are much tougher to take down. A freeze and a shotgun blast is enough, but you won't always have freezer ammo... MINIBOSS: VAMP MAX You'll meet this monstrosity in the Cathedral, but your cards or a Demon Morph can make short work of him. WITCH ----- Danger: 2/5 They do what you expect witches to do, which is fly around on flaming broomsticks, cackling and attacking you with fire. They may have cause to think twice once you've sent a couple of stakes up their arse, but that's only if you can hit them at all. Keep an eye out for the ravens they can produce from thin air. Certain versions of the witch are extremely fast (and rare) and it's a real chore trying to bring them down. Stakes or shotguns shells remain your best bet against them, but you'll have to be a pretty hot sniper. Witches can be hit with a freezer, but they will keep flying through the air despite being made of ice. Nice trick. ZOMBIE ------ Danger: 1/5 Immensely slow to move and to attack, the only difficulty is in spotting them crawling around on the ground or standing on some high platform, camouflaged against the backdrop. Their ranged attacks are easy to dodge. If you manage to fire a stake through one of the zombie's missiles just before he throws it, you get your own stake chucked back at you, attached to a bloody limb. Nice. They also seem invulnerable to grenades (at least a bit) - grenades don't explode on impacting with a zombie. ZOMBIE WARLORD -------------- Danger: 2/5 One notch up from zombie warriors, they move fast and have two melee attacks. They will batter you with their shields, which will do little or no damage; but this hit will disorient you, making it easier for them to hit you with their swords. Don't let them close to you and you should have no difficulty killing them. If they do get close a quick strafe with the painkiller's blades should shut them up fast. Warlords work well in conjunction with lesser zombies. They can turn warriors into short-lived berserkers by chopping their heads off; and they can also resurrect fallen zombies if you don't grab their souls fast enough. ZOMBIE WARRIOR -------------- Danger: 1/5 Bog-standard melee opponents: slow and weak. They can hold swords or morningstars, and they also appear sometimes holding explosive barrels. Only really dangerous in numbers and when accompanied by zombie warlords. The zombie warriors inhabiting Hell, the final level, are almost invisible. -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- @----------------------@ | 3. WALKTHROUGH | @----------------------@ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- This is the main walkthrough section, taking you through each level until the final confrontation with Lucifer himself. In order to write this guide I played Painkiller on Nightmare difficulty, so that I could reach the Prison level. If you are playing at a different difficulty setting your game experiences might differ from mine. Each level has my own rubbish introduction, followed by information on each level, such as numbers of monsters, ammo, holy items, etc. I've also noted the tarot card condition for each of the levels, as well as the card you'll acquire when you successfully complete them. Within each walkthrough section are my notes on checkpoint locations and the progress I made towards picking up each level's tarot card. You might tackle certain things in a different order, or achieve different tarot card scores or whatever. My notes are just meant to give you some orientation rather than be considered rules carved in stone. Good luck :) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.1 - LEVEL 1/1 CEMETERY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is an introductory level: it's very dark and quite tight, and it's designed to get you used to dealing with waves of enemies at close to medium quarters, as well as planning your battles and drawing enemies around the place so that you can pick up the souls of the monsters you've killed. The secret areas also introduce you to manipulating objects in the game, and it even has its own miniboss thrown in at the end. Despite all this, it's still a bit of a crap level... --- MONSTERS (150): BANSHEE, ZOMBIE WARLORD, ZOMBIE WARRIOR MINIBOSS: GIANT ZOMBIE GOLD: 388 ARMOUR: 2 HOLY ITEMS: 1 AMMO: 45 OBJECTS: 75 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FINISH THE LEVEL -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Straight away, run around to the left and pick up the shotgun lying in the middle of the path. You can pretty much rely on the shotgun for the remainder of this level - don't worry about conserving ammo, as there's plenty to be had around here. Pick up the nearby ammo boxes while you wait for the first lot of zombie warriors to appear at the graves. Grab all the souls to get your health up, then destroy the vases lying around for a little gold. [CHECKPOINT 1] Same as before, but in a slightly bigger area. There are quite a few more ammo boxes and vases here, as well as a bunch of coffins behind the tiny building. Wipe out the first bunch of zombies and then head into the building for 100 armour. Another zombie will appear in the little room, and killing him will open the doors again to reveal yet more zombies heading your way. Pick them all off with the shotgun or the painkiller's warhead, then smash the big urns beside the stairs for more gold. You might have noticed the holy item sitting on the building's roof. To reach it, stand next to the lamppost at the top of the stairs, so that you are facing the closest corner of the roof. Shoot the post with the shotgun and it should topple over and get caught in the corner of the roof surround. You can now quick-jump up it and grab the holy relic. This is the first of this level's secret areas. Just before you drop off the roof, look down to the shining lamppost on the ground, near the unlit post you just climbed up. Just beyond this is a small, enclosed area, which you can't reach yet, but which you will be able to get into later. [CHECKPOINT 2] Through the gates (which won't close behind you) there are lots more zombie warriors, but it's easy enough to bait them into heading for the gates, behind which you can stand unleashing shotgun blast after shotgun blast. Don't let yourself get trapped in a corner and you should be fine; plus lots of enemies means lots of souls. Grab the ammo boxes for the shotgun; destroy all the coffins for more gold; and check the back of the large church for more coffins and a health pickup. [CHECKPOINT 3] Run into the small area and quickly push the big barrel out from underneath the roofed tomb, just before the roof caves in. You'll want this barrel in a minute, so keep it safe while you get rid of the zombies with your shotgun. [CHECKPOINT 4] Shove the barrel all the way around and into the neighbouring enclosure. Send the banshee into the wall with your shotgun, then go back round and touch the walls which closed behind you when you came in. They should come down to reveal some zombie warlords, which are easy enough to blast in the face before they can hit you. Now for that barrel: push it to the back of the stone structure, so that it's resting against the wall with the damaged partition. Stand back and shoot the barrel, which will explode, breaking the partition. This is the second secret area. ~ Grab the super-health pickup for 100 health, destroy the urns for gold and head out. [CHECKPOINT 5] Again, nothing tough in here if you keep moving. If you've been collecting all the souls you'll probably be very near your first Demon Morph, so you might want to time it to activate in here. Wipe out the zombie warlords and warriors, and watch out for the five or six banshees who are coming for you from the small area round to the left. Head in here and take out the banshee who will appear in the small building in order to open the walls again. Grab the mega ammo pack (though why you need mega ammo packs in a level which only holds a shotgun escapes me). Before you leave here, go to the back corner of this small area and push the barrel from that corner all the way to the diagonally opposite corner, where the shotgun ammo is. Stand in the middle of this area and look over the side wall, so that you can see that lit lamppost I mentioned earlier over the top. Push the barrel so that it's against the section of the side wall directly in front of that lamppost, and shoot it to open another secret area with three more mega ammo packs. ~ [CHECKPOINT 6] Shotgun the warriors and warlords and grab their souls, then take the mega ammo pack from the larger building. Duck into the smaller building in the corner for a medium armour - this room will open once this area has been cleared of enemies, and it counts as a secret area. ~ [CHECKPOINT 7] This is the hardest part of the level yet, though it's thankfully also near the end. You'll face off against lots of warlords and warriors in here, and they'll be coming from everywhere. Watch out for the two flaming barrels which will be thrown from the church roof towards your entry point. I prefer the killer half of the painkiller in this area, since it has much longer range and you can easily draw lines with it against a far wall. Try running down the side of the church and then firing your killer all the way back along again, so that all the monsters coming down here will have to pass through the line. It's important to collect pretty much every soul in this area if you want another shot at Demon Morph before you leave (and you do). Get that health pickup behind the church if you didn't grab it earlier, and head into the church itself. [CHECKPOINT 8] In here are more warlords and banshees, as well as the game's first miniboss. I don't know his name - or if he has one - but he looks like some giant, fat zombie thing, which is as good a name as any. He will smack you with his fists if you get too close; and he will send a fast but weak flamethrower attack your way if you put enough distance between you and him. Just keep running, jumping and shotgunning to get through this part. If killing the warriors and banshees in here gives you enough souls for a second Demon Morph, the miniboss will fall with one shot; if you don't have enough souls it's just a case of avoiding all the melee minions until you can drop them with shotgun blasts. The banshees are probably the more dangerous, for a change, since their slow attack will make you extremely vulnerable. Another quick and easy way to finish the miniboss is to just run screaming at him with your painkiller's blades - I tried this on Nightmare and he fell within about three seconds without doing me any damage. The miniboss's soul will be red, and it will give you six health points instead of the usual one. Once all these guys are down the level exit appears and all the doors open again. Tie up any secret areas you may have missed and jump through the exit. --- TAROT CARD: Endurance (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.2 - LEVEL 1/2 ATRIUM COMPLEX ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For some reason this level is actually quite fun, and it's the first one to remind me of Smash TV every time. You'll get a go of the stakegun if you look hard enough, and you'll get to meet enemies a little more interesting than the melee mob which populated the Cemetery. --- MONSTERS (188): DEVIL MONK, EVIL MONK, PSYCHONUN GOLD: 672 ARMOUR: 2 HOLY ITEMS: 1 AMMO: 24 OBJECTS: 114 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: DESTROY ALL OBJECTS -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Smash the chest in front of you and run around the hallways, past the barrels and into another corridor. The doors will close, so kill off the three evil monks and push open the metal door. Kill off the monks at the bottom of the stairway, and watch out for the ones spawning behind you. Down in the lower level of this room more monks will appear, so kill them off to reveal the next checkpoint. Before hitting the checkpoint, head up the other set of stairs to find the three mega ammo packs and the two chests. The large chest is tougher - just use the painkiller's blades to knock it apart. Pick up the stakegun from this secret area and hit the checkpoint. ~ [TAROT CONDITION: 3 OBJECTS DESTROYED] [CHECKPOINT 1] More monks will spawn from all four corners of this room, so just keep running, jumping and shotgunning. Grab the medium armour from the corner room once the doors open, and hit the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 2] This is a small outdoor area full of barrels which make it easy to kill off large bunches of the monks at once. It's even easier if you jump back up the stairs you just came down, and round past the closed door to the other side. You can sit up here and stake the monks below, who can't get to you through the door. As well as the many barrels, there are nine more chests to be destroyed in the small rooms surrounding this area. Once the chests and barrels are all gone, head for the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 38 OBJECTS DESTROYED] [CHECKPOINT 3] This area can be tough, but you should be near a Demon Morph. More and more and more evil monks and also psychonuns will be appearing from above and below. Keep an eye out for flaming barrels, as well as the souls of the monsters killed by the barrels. Stick with the shotgun in here, though I'm sure you're dying to use the stakegun. There is a chest under the stairs, as well as a holy item and a secret area. ~ There's another chest at the top of the stairs, and two more chests in the low room next to the stairs. Wipe out all the barrels as well, including the ones in the upper corridor. At the back of this corridor you will come to a side door, through which a flaming barrel will be thrown, exploding moments afterwards. Watch out for this barrel if you're going up there, though be aware that it counts as a destructible object. The end of the upper corridor is a good place to camp with your shotgun if you're getting overwhelmed, and there is armour on a ledge right next to it. [TAROT CONDITION: 73 OBJECTS DESTROYED] [CHECKPOINT 4] This is another jump-around-and-shotgun sort of room, with barrels all around both the upper and lower levels. Your priority here should be getting rid of the devil monks, as you do not want to be slowed down with so many enemies around. The easiest way to handle this area is to just around the walls of the lower level, avoiding the evil monks as they spawn and occasionally shotgunning the melee monsters chasing you. This is made even easier by the fact that the ranged evil monks will die and drop their souls once they throw their axes at you (and miss) - enough souls can get you another Demon Morph in here. Be sure to pick up the health in front of the altar, and hit the chest and collect the ammo behind it. Eventually (honest) the monsters will stop spawning, at which point you can clear out the last of the barrels, collect the ammo and head for the checkpoint upstairs. [TAROT CONDITION: 99 OBJECTS DESTROYED] [CHECKPOINT 5] This is the final area, and the only difficult bit is avoiding the many devil monks. Run around backwards with your shotgun, and make sure you don't walk over the dropped staffs of the devil monks you've just killed. You no longer need to pick up the souls, so just keep yourself out of the way of the monsters and you should be fine. Killing the last of them will cause the statue to explode, revealing the level exit. The statue's destruction counts as two objects. You still have thirteen objects to find, however, so head back through the small archway, through the room with the altar and out into the courtyard with the stairs up to the right. Go up the stairs and all the way round to that door through which that flaming barrel came earlier. Shoot out the two chests in this secret area and go back out into the corridor. ~ Now head back along the corridor and through the other upper door. Follow this next corridor around to the left and through the first door. In this fourth and last secret area are eight more chests. ~ The corridor then leads around to a final room with a big hole in the floor: in here are two chests in one half of the room and the final chest in the other. [TAROT CONDITION: 114 OBJECTS DESTROYED] Now just head for the exit. You can reach it by jumping up the broken area at the back of the platform. --- TAROT CARD: Haste (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.3 - LEVEL 1/3 CATACOMBS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is the requisite undead-ish sort of level which all adventure games must have, by international law. I'm sure this level contains nods to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as well as the Down In The Bonehoard mission from Thief: The Dark Project. I could be wrong. As a map it's a little too long and repetitive for me, and I thought it could do with some traps, like in all good tombs. Never mind, that ropebridge is almost cool enough to make up for the absence of anything else interesting. --- MONSTERS (112): VAMP, ZOMBIE WARLORD, ZOMBIE WARRIOR MINIBOSS: YETI GOLD: 870 ARMOUR: 2 HOLY ITEMS: 3 AMMO: 34 OBJECTS: 123 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL ALL MONSTERS -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Pick up the ammo behind you and run down to the left of that standing box. This is tricky, but you can keep jumping up the plank, off the top of the box and all the way up the stone hill until you reach the holy item and the secret area at the top. ~ Destroy both the boxes to clear a way into the tunnel, and head down it, wiping out the morningstar-carrying zombie warriors who will spawn in front of and behind you. [TAROT CONDITION: 5 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 1] This room is a good place in which to practice with the stakegun. Take out the zombie warlords first, as they can berserk and resurrect the warriors whose souls you have not yet collected, making your life a bit more difficult. There is armour up the stairs to the right. There's also a holy item on top of one of the pillars - the one to the left of the one which fell down when you came in (this pillar falls if anything touches it - you or your shots or a monster). To get to that holy item in its secret area you have to climb the rope on the side of the pillar diagonally opposite it, and keep walking as you reach the top of the rope (don't jump or stop moving forwards). If you walk straight off the top of the rope while facing in the direction of the relic, you should rise into the air off the first pillar and hit one of the vines. The vine has a branch which you can jump off just as you touch it - this should bounce you over to the relic. ~ Anyway, head down to the far end of this room and the walls will explode, allowing two more zombie warriors through. They're carrying barrels which will detonate if they get too close to you. Take them out from a distance, then go through the gap and pick off the four vamps on the stone pillars with your stakegun. I can't find a way to turn these four vamps into big vamps - I just thought it would be cool, but no. What you can do is use the painkiller's warhead to ping them all the way from their perches over to you, which will let you pick up their souls. Pick up the ammo nearby (including the freezer ammo), and the stakegun, and then cross the very cool bridge (beware - it can chuck you off if it starts bouncing around too much). There's another vamp at the far end of the bridge, which can be picked off without even crossing the bridge, if you're good enough with the stakegun. Before you hit the checkpoint, go into the tomb to the right for more shotgun ammo. The doors will close behind you and a zombie warrior will appear after a few seconds. Kill him and the other three who appear behind the door, then hit the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 29 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 2] Switch to the stakegun as you go down this tunnel. Take out the zombie warriors and destroy the big boxes blocking the tunnel down to the left. Behind this are two more vamps, so kill them with the stakegun if you don't want a couple of big vamps on your hands. If they do change into big vamps just freeze 'em and shotgun 'em. [TAROT CONDITION: 35 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 3] Through here are more barrel zombies and a few zombie warlords. Destroy the coffins in the alcoves if you want more gold, and check the third upper left alcove in the right corridor for a holy item you can't yet reach (you can actually quick-jump off the coffin opposite and underneath it, then jump across, but this is hellishly tough). Head forwards, pick up the shotgun ammo and go through the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 45 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 4] Heading down this tunnel you will see the way blocked by barrels and boxes. Try to jump over the blockade and the monsters will spawn into the area, including a zombie warrior behind you. Before you do anything else, that holy item can be reached by shoving one of these big boxes in front of you all the way back to that coffin corridor, then quick-jump off the box to get up to the secret area. ~ Go back to the blockade, remove it and the monsters, and go forwards to the small bridge. More monsters will be appearing, so wait until the coast is clear then drop off the bridge onto the secret area ledge underneath to pick up the super- health. ~ You can get back up by quick-jumping all the way around to the right on the walls of this well, and you will reach a slope just beside the other end of the bridge which you can use to jump back up to the ground. You can also lure minions over the edge of that bridged pit and just let them fall - this saves you some ammo. Make sure you go down into that dead-end ditch thing to make the extra monsters spawn - you will miss the tarot card if you don't. Clear out the rest of this long tunnel, pick up the ammo packs and get to the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 68 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 5] The road splits through here - go down the right tunnel for armour, ammo and two more zombie warriors, then go all the way back to the left tunnel and another checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 70 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 6] Nothing in here but more ammo and some gold. [TAROT CONDITION: 70 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 7] If you haven't yet hit Demon Morph mode, this is the place in which to use it. There will be monsters coming from everywhere, and you'll be very busy with your shotgun for quite a while. Bear in mind that there are only 112 monsters in this entire level, which means you will only get one Demon Morph. This therefore means that wiping out all the enemies you can in here is more important than collecting their souls (unless you're seriously low on health, which you shouldn't be). This is also a good place to trigger your gold cards, if you haven't already. Anyway, whether you've Morphed or not, stay on the upper levels and stick with the shotgun until the first waves of monsters are gone. Switch to the stakegun to get rid of the last vamps and warlords, and pick up the ammo and mega ammo packs in the various hallways. [TAROT CONDITION: 111 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 8] The fact that you have only one monster left to kill should tell you something - miniboss! I've called him the Yeti, though I don't know what the hell he really is. Don't worry, this guy is a complete fairy-puff (my word again). Don't bother wasting ammo on his impregnable skin; just run onto that overhang above the fiery pit. Look up and shoot out the planks in the ceiling with stakes or a shotgun blast. Now stand on the very end of the outcrop and wait for the big goon to get within touching distance. Then jump off the ledge and onto the ladder down to the side. If you were standing in the correct place the light streaming through the hole in the ceiling should gib the big guy to hell, opening the level exit. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Publisher "I was in the catacombs (where there is a single monster who has to be lured to the edge of the fiery pit) and found another way of killing the monster. I prematurely jumped to the rock outcropping (with the ladder) and was stuck there while the monster hovered above me. I turned on the painkiller just to see what would happen. He constantly went back and forth through it spewing blood each time. At about that time the wife came home with groceries so I helped her unload the car. I got back in about 5-6 minutes and the monster was in a world of hurt. A minute or so later he plunged to his death in the fiery pit. I re-did it to double check. This time I was slightly to the left of the ladder. He died on the walkways after about 7 minutes." -=#=- This will probably help all those people like me who are sick of waiting around for this big guy to hit just the right place on that precipice. I'm not married, so hopefully the bit about unloading the shopping isn't essential. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ [TAROT CONDITION: 112 MONSTERS KILLED] --- TAROT CARD: Soul Keeper (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.4 - LEVEL 1/4 CATHEDRAL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a bit of a tedious level, thanks to the tarot card condition. You probably have better things to do than hunt down every last container, but at least they're all pretty easy to find. You also get a giant 'miniboss' at one stage. Note that you have to collect 500 gold to acquire this level's tarot card. I've included the amount of gold I had at each checkpoint, but these numbers varied when I reloaded and tried again. Don't worry if you have less (or more) than I had - you should still be able to reach the 500 mark easily. --- MONSTERS (137): DEVIL MONK, EVIL MONK, PSYCHONUN MINIBOSS: VAMP MAX GOLD: 714 ARMOUR: 2 HOLY ITEMS: 1 AMMO: 40 OBJECTS: 135 SECRET AREAS: 3 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FIND AT LEAST 500 GOLD -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Concentrate on wiping out the evil monks in here before you go for the containers. The painkiller can take care of this whole area without using any ammo, so stick with it down the long corridors. Then just collect all the gold from the barrels and coffins and go to the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 36 GOLD FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 1] Just another room full of monks and containers. You'll find it harder to avoid destroying the containers this time, but grab any gold you see lying around. Pick up the armour and go through the next checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 116 GOLD FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 2] This bit's slightly harder. Flaming barrels will roll down the stairs, past the shotgun, followed by more evil monks. Try to pick up the gold while you bring the monks down, then quickly run up the stairs and hide behind the pillars. More evil and devil monks will soon appear up above you, and they will push two or three barrels off the edges of the upper hallways before jumping down after them. Again, try to pick up any gold that comes out of the barrels, but leave the intact ones alone until the last of the monks is gone. Before you go to the checkpoint, look up at the vases in front of the statue. Shoot these down for more gold, though it will probably not all fall. You can leave these vases and get them later if you want, but I tend to hit them early. Run around the corner to get the other vases against the dark wall, and pick up the ammo. Now go to the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 184 GOLD FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 3] Entering the main room of the cathedral, you will be confronted by a miniboss (mini if you compare his size to that of, say, a planet), several psychonuns and a lot of falling rubble. There are mega ammo packs on either side of you, and the surrounding arched corridors contain plenty more ammo and barrels. There are also a couple of vases at the far end of this area, near where the next checkpoint will appear. Note the bats clinging to the pillars beside you as you enter - nice touch. First priority here isn't the miniboss: it's those nuns, who now have the ability to fire flames at you from a distance. Avoid these bursts unless you enjoy being incapable of firing a weapon for a few seconds at a time. Keep jumping, running and shotgunning, and use your tarot cards if you feel a bit desperate. It is only JUST possible to get a Demon Morph in here, which can fell the Vamp Max with one shot. To get the Morph you'll have to kill off and collect souls from all the nuns, and the four evil monks which will spawn once they're gone; as well as having collected the souls of every monster you have previously met in the level. If you don't get the Morph, clear away the last of the minions and then just pick the Vamp Max off with stakes, staying under the cover of the arched corridors to avoid the rubble. Be careful at the next checkpoint - don't go beyond it before you hit it. [TAROT CONDITION: 226 GOLD FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 4] This area is tight but it's also easy. Run around to underneath the stairs and pick up the health and ammo. Shotgun blast after shotgun blast should clear this staircase room of the monks, after which you can destroy the vases against the side wall and the ones on the stairs. Up the stairs to the upper levels, there are lots more monks spawning from all around this upper level. Run around with the shotgun or stakegun, and avoid the staffs of the devil monks. Along to the right is a bunch of barrels, beyond which is an open area with four evil monks standing on a ledge. You can grab one of their souls with the painkiller, but the rest will throw their axes and die. Before you go through into that area, run around collecting the gold from all the vases and barrels, as well as the health pickup if you need it. Note the large white door at the back of the upper levels, where the health pickup is - this door will be open later. Back to the open area, hit the three vases to the left of the opening, then run round to the right. Destroy all those little boxes along the wall, and climb the coffin leaning against the wall. Turn around and face just to the right of the holy item, then jump towards it, quick-jumping against the side of the ledge on your right. You should make it to the secret area after a few tries. ~ Drop from here down to the lower level and smash all the vases in the corners. Jump onto the leaning pillar and run up it, quick-jumping all the time. If you keep jumping and pushing forward you can only just squeeze under the gap to reach the upper half by running up the right side of the pillar. Once you are near the top, turn around and jump forwards to land on the broken part of the wall you just came under. From there you can just jump up the sloped part to reach the super-health and the secret area. ~ Head over to the checkpoint, having hopefully reached the 500 gold mark. [TAROT CONDITION: 612 GOLD FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 5] Kill off the nuns and monks, shoot out the barrels, grab the armour and drop to the lower level. Do the same again, avoiding the monks' spawn-points until the last of them is gone and the door at the bottom of the stairs opens. [TAROT CONDITION: 660 GOLD FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 6] Go far enough down the stairs and you'll meet yet more devil monks. Watch out for the psychonuns trying to jump you from behind. Once the last monster is gone all the doors in the level are opened, as usual. You can only get out of this lower area, however, by going up the ladder which is now revealed to the right of the middle window. Head all the way round to where you found the health pickup earlier and go into this previously locked secret area to get the gold from the vases and any barrels which didn't drop before. ~ You only need to do this if you're short of gold, obviously. [TAROT CONDITION: 694 GOLD FOUND] Head back to the exit and leave. If you didn't get the holy item you should have around 100 less gold than I got. --- TAROT CARD: Time Bonus (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.5 - LEVEL 1/5 ENCLAVE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is the arena where you will face the first real boss - Necrogiant. I managed 1:39 on Nightmare using the method below, so it should work for you. The zombie warriors here don't drop souls. --- MONSTERS: NECROGIANT ARMOUR: 1 AMMO: 49 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL NECROGIANT IN LESS THAN 2:00 -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- There's tons of ammo and health around here, but if you try to collect it all you won't have enough time to get the card. Concentrate on doing Necrogiant damage, rather than collecting ammo you won't need. Run forwards from your starting point and grab the armour under the little hut thing. Keep running towards Necrogiant, pinging stakes at him until you're close enough to use the shotgun. He should be around the central area, where there are four health pickups and lots more ammo. You want to get as close to him as possible, because his arm swing attack is dangerous if you're touching the ground when it hits. Start battering him with the shotgun while you run and jump around under him, avoiding the spikes he'll start producing from the ground. There will be some minions hassling you - don't be baited into attacking them - just stay out of their way by keeping moving. If Necrogiant manages to hit you with his fists grab more health while you keep shooting. Make a quicksave as soon as you see him lose the chains wrapped around his body, then activate your cards. At this point he will start summoning whirlwinds, and you want him dead before he can manage to pull one out of his borborygmic arse. The cards help greatly here, and you should have him dead from constant shotgun blasts just as your cards expire. You can check your time by pressing Tab while your cards are still active - if you know you won't make it before the timer hits 2:00, reload from a quicksave and try again. --- TAROT CARD: Blessing (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.6 - LEVEL 2/1 PRISON ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This secret level can only be opened by collecting all 22 tarot cards available at Insomnia difficulty. It's very claustrophobic and stultifying, and you'll want to get through this horror show as quickly as possible. Some very nice aesthetic touches in here though. You start off with grenades to accompany your stakegun - avoid using them and you'll get the card. --- MONSTERS (118): HELL ANGEL, HELL BIKER GOLD: 578 ARMOUR: 3 HOLY ITEMS: 3 AMMO: 32 OBJECTS: 104 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FINISH THE LEVEL USING ONLY NON-EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- As soon as you move a bunch of hell bikers will drop into the area and start pounding you with chainguns. Stake the buggers and then destroy all the barrels for the gold. There is armour on a box on the other side of the big metal stanchion - jump over the stanchion from the boxes or by quick-jumping along the side. For a holy item and a secret area, shoot out the barrel behind the unmoving fan on the far right of the back wall, then push the medium-sized blue box around to underneath the hole. Quick-jump up off the box and into the vent, and head round to the right for the relic hidden in the secret area. ~ You can continue along the vents and drop through the hole in the ceiling, or take the door in the corner of the room you just came from. Take out the two or three monsters in here, collect the ammo and shoot the very cool gas canister next to the table. As soon as you poke your head through the doors the dining room will fill up with angels and bikers. You can either hide in the kitchen and let them come to you; or you can run to the far corner of the dining room, up the stairs, along the upper walkway (kill the bikers in the way), and round to the armour and ammo. Up here is a good place from which to shotgun all the goons heading your way along that walkway, and it's easier to get their souls. Once the first lot are gone more will spawn from the lower door. Take them out, pick up the ammo packs under the small staircases, shoot out the barrels for gold and hit the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 1] Don't grab the shotgun yet; instead run up the stairs to the right and take out the monsters up here. Get the health and ammo, then let the rest of the bikers and angels come up after you. You can shoot out the turret from the window with one stake. There's another biker trapped behind the bars - kill him. [CHECKPOINT 2] I recommend taking out the guys in either upper corridor here before attempting the main room. Be careful as there are gas canisters at the end of each one. Shoot the barrels on the lower floor from the comparative safety of the upper windows - the chain explosions from the canisters and barrels down there can get very cool results. Drop down through the manhole and get the freezer ammo - look out for the two angels hiding in this secret area. ~ Back up the ladder and out to where you just came from, kill the angels and bikers here and hit the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 3] This is by far the hardest bit yet, though it's easier if you stick to the lower cells until most of the monsters are killed off. Use the shotgun to mow them down and collect the souls, and pick up the health at the far end. There is shotgun ammo up the stairs and an imprisoned holy item in one of the top cells (it will be open later). Note the tunnel in progress in the top right cell, behind the boxes - what idiot tunnels out of an upstairs cell? ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.6 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Someone mailed me about the fact that you can move one of the barrels in the adjacent cell to beside the locked door in front of the relic, then shoot out the barrel to open the door - this way you can get to it without having to wait until the end of the level. I've lost the contributor's name and email address, so if whoever it was gets in touch with me again I'll include his details. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.6 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ You'll probably hit Demon Morph mode at some point around here, and if you do, try to hit not only the monsters inside the prison but also the ones through the windows. These guys can give you problems, so pick any remaining ones off with your stakegun, and shoot out the two gun turrets to the left before you drop through the windows just beside them. There is armour at the back corner of this area, but you'll have to shotgun your way past more bikers and barrels. Once the last one is gone you can go through the door which will open in the corner of the prison wall. Turn right and go up the stairs and through the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 4] Turn left here and take care of the bikers (watch your back), then go through to the torture chamber. Wipe out everyone in here and go back through, until all the monsters are dead and the next checkpoint appears. Go into the two open rooms for health and ammo, and take note of the room which is currently locked. [CHECKPOINT 5] Shotgun the guys at the bottom of the stairs, and work your way through the two viewing galleries - watch out for the turret on the wall of the second gallery. Through the door and shotgun the remaining angels, after which you can hit the lever on the wall at the checkpoint - tempting though it might be to leave the guy making the brilliant noises in the chair, pulling the lever opens the exit. You can head back up the stairs and pick up one holy item from the room which was locked before, and another holy item from that upper cell which should now be open. These are both secret areas. ~ Head back to that electric chair to exit. --- TAROT CARD: Replenish (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.7 - LEVEL 2/2 OPERA HOUSE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Opera House reminds me of some sort of half-arsed, custom-made Duke Nukem 3D level, where the designer did a great job on the main interior but ran out of ideas after that. I've read reviews of Painkiller in which this level was particularly lauded for its design - well, it may look pretty when you're inside the auditorium, but the level itself plays like a turd. If you've just completed the Prison, this is the first level where you will have to decide which cards to use and which to leave behind. --- MONSTERS (151): DARK NINJA, EVIL SAMURAI, LOKHI, SPIDER GOLD: 390 ARMOUR: 2 HOLY ITEMS: 2 AMMO: 47 OBJECTS: 77 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: COLLECT AT LEAST 100 SOULS RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Soul Keeper -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Move one of the bins against the green skip in the middle, jump up onto it, do a standing quick-jump across to the tiny ledge running along the wall just to the left of the fence, then hop over to collect the relic from the secret area. ~ Use the single bin here to jump onto the skip and back over the fence, then shoot out the red doors and drop through. There are four ninjas down here, as well as some armour, gold and ammo. Grab their souls and go to the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 4 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 1] It's better to use your painkiller until you arrive inside the opera house auditorium, so that it's easier to collect their souls. You don't want to go all the way up the stairs and then shotgun a ninja off the edge, as you'll then have to go all the way back down again. Get the stakes from the bottom and go upstairs to the roof. There are more ninjas in here - again, let them come to you and kill them against a wall, as their bodies and souls can fall through the gangways and become irretrievable. Get the shotgun ammo and go around to the next set of stairs. Let the ninjas come up and shotgun them in the face at the corner. At the bottom of these stairs is a... thing. It's got a mega ammo pack on it, and it counts as a secret area. ~ You can just quick-jump up through the railings, rather than having to do some complicated jump off the stairs. Get the health and ammo behind it and move on. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Sazaban "In your FAQ on Painkiller in the opera house level at checkpoint 1l you describe one of the secret areas as "a...thing", just FYI that's a WWII Submarine Conning Tower. It's apparently there as a stage prop. But as a former Submariner, I thought it was kind of funny being there." -=#=- That's a pretty weird prop for an opera house... ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ [TAROT CONDITION: 27 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 2] It's going to be pretty difficult to collect all the souls in here, but it can be done to give yourself a Demon Morph and a healthy portion of the 100 you need for the card. Ignore the boxes and so on for now, and just focus on clearing out the last of the ninjas who will leap down from the balconies. Once they're gone the evil samurai will appear from the same place, hurling balls of fire before them. As if this wasn't bad enough, the big boxes will explode once you've gotten rid of most of the samurai, releasing lokhis and some spiders who can multiply and grow quickly if you don't kill them off. Sometimes the chandelier drops and sometimes it doesn't - I'm not sure what triggers it. The best place I've found for dealing with all these enemies is on top of the metal stairs with the ammo packs. Shotgun anyone who gets too close, and jump off once in a while to grab the souls. Or you could just run around like mad, as I usually do. There's health in one of the boxes near the scaffold thing. Once the area is clear you can quick-jump one of the boxes around to the stage and use it to get up to the secret area. ~ Grab the mega ammo packs from the backdrop support, then jump off the stage and go to the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 70 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 3] Grab the ammo in the corner and then hurry up the stairs - it's easier to clear out the ninjas here with grenades, but this only works if you catch them all together. Keep an eye out for any ninjas falling over the banisters and make sure you grab all the souls. Watch out for the fire extinguishers on the wall - they can kill you if they explode too close. There's plenty of ammo at the top and bottom of this area, so get it before you leave. [TAROT CONDITION: 84 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 4] You get the run of almost the whole opera house from up here. You can drop down to the lower levels or to the stage if you didn't get the mega ammo packs earlier. You can also find some pretty weird paintings in one of the other stairwells. Soak in the ambient noises while you're at it - weird stuff, including the ghostly soprano. If you can't be arsed with all that just pick up the couple of ammo packs and run all the way to the far end of this high gallery. There is a dead-end set of stairs just down from the elevator shaft, and there's armour and health down there. Then go back and hit the next checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 84 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 5] Work your way down the staircase here, taking care not to let the samurai too close. Use grenades all the way and take the souls when you see them. More samurai will spawn when you reach the bottom - bait them onto the stairs and introduce them to your grenade-launcher. Once they're gone you can get the second holy item in the last secret area. Get to the top landing, just at the very start of the stairs. Quick-jump onto the banister beside the stairs, then up onto the part of the pillar that juts out at the corner, and then keep quick-jumping up either of the archways above the pillar to reach the holy item. ~ Took me ages to find this one. [TAROT CONDITION: 106 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 6] A few more samurai down here and a couple of ninjas at the bottom. Go back into the auditorium and take out the lone ninja guarding the next checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 114 SOULS COLLECTED] [CHECKPOINT 7] Get the health from behind the little sandwich board, grab the ammo and head inside the final room. There are lokhis and evil samurai in here, as well as some ammo behind each set of stairs, and a bunch of boxes. Bait the lokhis into one big group on the stairs and then use the grenades to wipe them out; then head up the stairs to take care of the samurai. You'll be on a second Demon Morph around here if you've collected enough souls, and it will help delete the next bunch of evil samurai which will spawn into the area. Get them onto the stairs and grenade them into the floor. This is a good area to use your cards in, if you haven't already. Watch out for the destructible pillars surrounding the upper banisters - you can topple them to block the monsters chasing you. [TAROT CONDITION: 151 SOULS COLLECTED] The opera house is now almost totally open to you, but I'm willing to bet you're dying to get the hell out of here. --- TAROT CARD: Speed (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.8 - LEVEL 2/3 ASYLUM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is another level that reminds me of the Thief games, only this time it's the stupendously brilliant Shalebridge Cradle level from Thief: Deadly Shadows - surely the most atmospheric map ever to appear in an fps game. The Asylum is the smallest level in Painkiller, and it's made only slightly less fun by the restrictions necessary to get the card. --- MONSTERS (92): AMPUTEE, FREAK, GHOST GOLD: 300 ARMOUR: 1 HOLY ITEMS: 3 AMMO: 14 OBJECTS: 9 SECRET AREAS: 3 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FINISH THE LEVEL USING ONLY PAINKILLER WEAPON RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Soul Keeper GOLD: Haste / Speed / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- The first holy item / secret area is above the front door of the building. Quick-jump up the protruding bricks in the corner to the right to reach the first bit of the roof, then jump around the window-ledge to the left of this area to reach the relic. ~ Take the armour from the dry fountain and head for the checkpoint. The second secret area is on top of the long tent-like thing at the rear of the area, beside the checkpoint. As in the Cemetery, shoot or push the lamppost over so that it leans against the corner of the roof, then quick-jump up it to reach the super-health. ~ [CHECKPOINT 1] This is just an underground passage with some ghosts in it. Ignore the ghosts and head for the ladder, then up the stairs to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 2] Nothing will happen in here until you touch the pentangle, at which point amputees will start spawning in the four corner rooms. These things are easy enough to bounce your painkiller's warhead off, but try to stay out of the way of the ghosts who will begin to attack. Removing the last of the amputees will release a freak, who can be brought down with no trouble. Notice the room with the blocked door next to the pentangle - this will open later to reveal two holy items and a secret area. Go into the small room and jump up the bookcase to the stairs. Watch out for the gap in the stairs, and jump onto the ladder and up to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 3] Collect the ammo - superfluous if you're going for the card - and go back down to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 4] There are some bedrooms in here, full of freaks and amputees. Duck into one of the corner rooms and let the freaks come to you, walking through the doorway and into your painkiller's beam. Clear out the amputees and hit the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 5] Get rid of the amputees from your vantage point above the hole in the floor, then drop through. The door will be knocked in and you must fight yet more freaks and amputees, some of them clinging to the ceiling (these guys shouldn't actually attack you). Be careful in here, as all the freaks from here onwards will be able to detonate their heads and cause big damage at close proximity. Work your way through all the rooms in the upper floor, then go down the stairs and do the same again. You'll probably get a Demon Morph here, and you may also notice that the directional arrow is broken. Just hunt in every last one of the rooms, and the doors will all open once the last one is gone. Have a look at the freaky paintings on the walls before you go. Before heading outside to the exit, go up the stairwell to the third floor, and get those two holy items from the previously locked secret area. ~ --- TAROT CARD: Fury (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.9 - LEVEL 2/4 SNOWY BRIDGE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This level can be hell on toast, and for a long time, too. I don't have a clue how you design a weird concept level like this, but whoever did it did a great job. It also marks the first appearance of the electrodriver, which comes in very handy on numerous occasions. --- MONSTERS (204): DARK NINJA, EVIL SAMURAI, LOKHI GOLD: 716 ARMOUR: 5 HOLY ITEMS: 3 AMMO: 52 OBJECTS: 122 SECRET AREAS: 6 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FIND EVERY SECRET PLACE RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Soul Keeper GOLD: Fury / Speed / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Turn around and go up the hill so that you can get onto either of the side ledges. Pick up the ammo packs from each, then remove the dark ninjas with stakes or grenades. Pick up the freeze ammo at the back corner, drop down the stairs and onto the pipe to grab the armour, then head along to the left and under the little gap for the three mega ammo packs in the secret area. ~ There's more stakegun ammo beside the pipe, and heavy armour and ammo along at the very far end of this side of the pipe. Try not to pick up the heavy armour if you've just got the small armour from the pipe - you can definitely use the heavy one again later. Head back to that staircase and jump onto the pipe again, this time dropping down to the other side to hit the checkpoint. Don't go along to the stairs before you hit this checkpoint - the checkpoint will disappear if you go far enough along, and you will be stuck in the level. [TAROT CONDITION: 1 SECRET AREA FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 1] You'll have to fight off more ninjas in this narrow area - use the barrels and a few shotgun blasts to clear the way. Along at the end you'll find more ninjas beside barrels and shotgun ammo (under the stairs). Head up the stairs and shoot out the barrels to kill off the ninjas coming at you. The last of the ninjas are at the top of the stairs, and killing them will open the doors and reveal another checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 2] Finally, the electrodriver! Grab it and the ammo, then stand by the walls while the barrels fall and burst. Climb up the first section of the ladder and quick-jump around the narrow ledge to the back of this structure, where you will find a super-health pickup in a secret area. ~ Quick-jump back around to the ladder and climb to the top. Take out the four ninjas on the inaccessible roofs with stakes or shurikens (make VERY sure all four are dead), then grab the armour and health. There is a small ladder against one of the white blocks that you can climb up to see the ninjas better. Quick-jump down the support cables and onto the snowy bridge itself, and this is where this level gets horrible. Thanks to the slippery surface, this zone is one of the worst in the entire game. You'll have to skate around on the icy floor while avoiding billions of ninjas and a few samurai who will be spawning from both ends of the bridge. It's tough to collect souls in here, but if you stick with the shotgun at the start, switch to the electrodriver when the monsters are coming along the bridge in big groups, and finally go to the stakegun to clear out the remaining ninjas, you should be able to get enough for a Demon Morph, which can do you a big favour here. This is also a good place to use your cards, and you might want the super-health pickup at the far end of the bridge. The checkpoint will appear once the last monster is gone, so hit that baby. [TAROT CONDITION: 2 SECRET AREAS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 3] Go down the stairs and collect all the ammo packs around here, then look for the staircase down to the beginning of the level. Now you can run along the right side of the pipe and go up the long staircase which was previously unreachable. There are two holy items in the secret area at the top. ~ Go back along the pipe and up the stairs again, then step onto the cart and scoot along merrily... through a door and into a barrier of explosive barrels which can easily kill you. Unless, that is, you jump off as soon as you see the door come down. Stake the ninjas shooting at you, and quick-jump up one of the sloped parts of the side ledges. I recommend going up onto the left ledge and running along. From the end of this ledge you can jump onto the raised area to the left and begin sniping at the monsters with the stakegun. Watch out for the two above and behind you, then run all around the outer walls. You should find a health pickup and a mega ammo pack in the back left corner, then proceed around to pass behind the crate at the end of the lower train tracks. Keep hugging the wall and pass behind the raised corridor with the locked door. Tucked in here is another secret area with mega ammo packs and some freezer and electrodriver ammo. ~ Keep heading along this narrow passage until you come out at a staircase, near which are more stake ammo boxes. Snipe away the remainder of the monsters (drop onto the tracks for more souls and ammo). Once they're all dead, including the ones sniping from the huge crates, the checkpoint will appear at the bottom of a ladder which you should then climb. Beware of the new ice attacks coming from the samurai. [TAROT CONDITION: 4 SECRET AREAS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 4] The huge tanks will start falling in the distance, but ignore this for now. Head into the corridor and start picking off the monsters with the electrodriver. Some samurai will spawn outside, and a ninja will be sniping at you from the top of the crate. [CHECKPOINT 5] More samurai and ninjas to deal with here - shoot the barrels to make it easier. [CHECKPOINT 6] Slide along a weird, slidey tunnel and get trapped at the end. Freeze and shotgun the samurai skating down towards you, then go through the door and hit the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 7] Run halfway up the ladder and drop off onto the railing beside it. Go down the second ladder on the wall beside the fence to reach the holy item on the support beam. This counts as a secret area. ~ Run back up the ladder, over the fence and onto the first ladder, heading up to the platform above it. Grab the health and ammo, then drop onto the cable car roof and wait for it to begin moving, in a clear nod to Return To Castle Wolfenstein. You'll have to keep moving around on the roof of the car to stop sliding off. You could also walk or quick-jump across the cables themselves, which is much more James Bond. When you reach the far end jump off and climb the ladder to the roof. Grab the ammo and run around to the back, where there is more ammo, health and armour in a secret area. ~ Go back to the ladder and down to the door. Kill the lokhi and go through the checkpoint. [TAROT CONDITION: 6 SECRET AREAS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 8] Grab the armour and go up the stairs. This last area is filled with more and more spawning lohkis, but the electrodriver can make short work of them all. Once the last one is dead and the exit is open, the staircase you just came up will open again and you can make your way back through the entire level, taking care of any secret areas you may have missed. You can run along the cables at the cable car, and quick-jump down the two slidey tunnels. --- TAROT CARD: Dark Soul (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Getting this undeady level's tarot card is no big deal, since you'd pretty certainly be using mostly stakes in here anyway. The secret areas are another story, and the linearity and slow pace of this level make it a bit drab at times. --- MONSTERS (141): AMPUTEE, LEPPER MONK, WITCH, ZOMBIE GOLD: 600 ARMOUR: 1 HOLY ITEMS: 4 AMMO: 39 OBJECTS: 60 SECRET AREAS: 5 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FINISH THE LEVEL USING STAKES ONLY RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Soul Keeper GOLD: Fury / Speed / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Move forward into the first street corner to get rid of the zombies. If the ladder at the corner has fallen on the floor with the explosion from the nearest barrel, restart the level, otherwise you will probably miss the second secret area. Work your way through the streets and look out for the zombies looking down on you from the high ledges and platforms. Stay away from the barrels and collect all the ammo and souls you can get to. Once you see the checkpoint, turn around and go back to the start of the level. Push or quick-jump that big cart under the archway and into the first part of the town, where the barrel is (or was if you shot it out). Turn it upside down and push it against the high wall, so that the two handles at the back are touching the wall (where the dirt is piled up), and the back of the cart is pointing down the next street. Stand behind it and quick-jump into it repeatedly - if you do it right it will raise by ninety degrees with you still quick-jumping on the end, and propel you high enough to reach the secret area, where there is a mega ammo pack and a super-health pickup. ~ A second secret area is just across the street, behind that flaming window. It's slightly easier to reach than the first one - use stakes to make the ladder more secure against the corner of the wooden beams, then run up it to stand on the crossbeam. Face the window while standing on the beam under the left window frame, then shoot the left window frame open with a stake. As the frame swings past, jump up and forwards to collect the holy item. ~ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Adam Levine May 21, 2008 "After repeatedly trying the suggested trick of nailing the ladder up, I found your trick of flipping the wagon worked quite well for both secret areas and was orders of magnitude easier. After flipping the wagon end over end bringing it into the square, point the handles at the center post just to the right of the flaming window. If you keep pushing, the wagon will flip upright so that it is a simple quick jump up the inside of the wagon to the frame. I then flipped the wagon around and used your trick to get to the second secret area with the super health." ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Now go to the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 1] Clear out the next two enclosures, including the zombies up on the balconies and the amputees crawling on the ground. To get to the third secret area, park a barrel (hopefully you didn't shoot them all out when you arrived) under the corner post of the wooden beams, the part nearest the street where the checkpoint was. You can jump from the barrel onto the vertical beam, then onto the short sloping roof beam. This part is tricky, but you can quick-jump from this beam onto the side wall, and around to the window, behind which is another holy relic. ~ This, by the way, is much easier if you shoot off the two window panels so you can get past. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Adam Levine "After repeatedly trying (hours) to figure out where the secret areas are after the first two in the Town, I finally resolved to kill everything and, instead of using a barrel (btw & I rolled and jumped off of barrels to try to climb almost everywhere) I killed everything and brought the wagon from the beginning; it seems to be better for climbing. There are so many places to potentially climb near that first checkpoint, I remain unclear where to go. Ive shot out all the second story windows. The glass breaks, but the frames remain. This suggests that Im not shooting at the correct window." -=#=- Instead of dribbling on I'll just post screenies for a change. This is the window you want (surprised you couldn't see the glow of the relic). The first part shows where to place the barrel to allow you to jump onto the beams; the middle part shows you where to quick-jump from; the third shows you where you want to end up: http://img28.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=97691_2-5_-_Town_03_122_1082lo.jpg And here are similar screens for the fourth and fifth secrets. Just go by the guide's text directions for those ones: http://img16.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=97824_2-5_-_Town_04_122_914lo.jpg http://img17.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=97830_2-5_-_Town_05_122_1144lo.jpg ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Head down the street to meet more zombies and a witch. Take out the zombie on the balcony at the bottom end to finish off the monsters in this street, then go to the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 2] Remove the zombies from this area, including the one on the high balcony, beside the barrel. You might be nearing a Demon Morph, but don't trigger it yet. Move the cart to beside the sloping tiled roof just across from that high balcony, and jump up onto the low sloping roof. From here you can quick-jump along the ledge and get through the gap in the corner wall for another holy item in the secret place. ~ Leap happily down the next street, only to be blocked by a spiky wall at the very end. Try not to trigger your Demon Morph in this area, as the area immediately after it is much harder. Delete the zombies who will appear from the coffins, then attempt the final secret area. Run and quick-jump up the diagonal wooden platform which fell over when you arrived, holding your right and forward keys down to make sure you don't fall through it. This is often easier if you quick-jump up the banister, rather than the main platform. When you reach the top you can jump across the street to the right and through the window for another holy item in a secret area. ~ Hit that checkpoint and brace yourself. [CHECKPOINT 3] Pick up the big armour from the street corner to the right, then head down in the opposite direction. This is just a brawl and, though it may be tempting to offload some grenades, just stick with the stakes if you want that card. Speaking of which, this is a good place in which to use your cards (the only place, really), and if you are VERY lucky you might get a second Demon Morph just as you get rid of the last of the enemies from in here. Oh well. Most of the monsters here are zombies, though there are a couple of lepper monks and a couple of witches. The monks are a priority, and after they're gone (and you've got their valuable red souls) you can just keep jumping, jiving and grabbing souls until the area is clear - use what little freezer ammo you may have on the monks). If the checkpoint refuses to appear there's probably a witch or two still flying around. Try to hear what the voices are saying in Latin when you stand on the gibbet. [CHECKPOINT 4] Follow the tunnels and take the first right. Look for the little doorway to the left and shatter the lepper monk to open the exit. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Taylor "In the room with the final Leper Monk, there are 3 brown corpses, like the ones you see in the hallway leading there. If you hurry and stake them to the ground so the monk can't throw them, and stand far away from him, you can pound away at him with no problems." -=#=- Yup, worked for me. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Make sure to get any secret areas you missed before you leave; if you want, that is. --- TAROT CARD: Double Haste (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.11 - LEVEL 2/6 SWAMP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here lies the second boss, Swamp Thing, shambling around in the muck. --- MONSTERS: Swamp Thing AMMO: 28 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL SWAMP THING IN LESS THAN 4:00 RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Replenish GOLD: Double Haste / Fury / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- This is the easiest of all the bosses (except maybe for Lucifer). Use the shotgun to shoot the bubbles at his feet as he moves, so that they burst and the flames do him damage. Keep quick-jumping around to avoid the weird arm things flailing at you from the mud, and shoot the bubbles he throws at you before they reach you. Once he's taken enough damage from the bubbles he'll become vulnerable to direct attack, so pound him with the shotgun for a few seconds. He then becomes invulnerable again, and six or seven large bubbles appear in the swamp. Set them all on fire with the shotgun. When they're all burning, Swamp Thing becomes vulnerable again, and it should be pretty easy to finish him off if you hit your cards and shotgun him to death. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Alex Eberle "I'm having trouble with the Swamp Thing boss... The bubbles rarely ever pop when I shoot them with a shotgun. The times when they do and I get to the next part where there are six bubbles, I set all those on fire and shoot the boss and it does nothing... how exactly do I kill this guy?" Thanks. -=#=- The bubbles on the water are hard to hit with any of the weapons you have available, but the shotgun is the most effective. Move to the edge of the land, as close as you can get to the bubbles without touching the water. You should see his skin change texture noticeably once all the later bubbles are on fire, and that tells you he's vulnerable to attack. If he is still taking no damage you either haven't set all the bubbles on fire or you're taking too long to hit him. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ --- TAROT CARD: Dexterity (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.12 - LEVEL 3/1 TRAIN STATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ That's one horrible card condition right there, especially in a hellish level like this. You have a double problem here: firstly you have to kill all 266 of the enemies while dancing your way carefully around every single soul; secondly you have to do all this without getting the health bonuses the souls would normally give you. On the bright side, you do finally encounter your first rocket-launcher and chaingun. Check your cards before you start the level - using soul-based cards in a level where you won't be collecting souls is a waste. --- MONSTERS (266): MASO COMMANDO, SADO COMMANDO, SKELETON SOLDIER GOLD: 833 ARMOUR: 4 HOLY ITEMS: 3 AMMO: 68 OBJECTS: 110 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: DON'T COLLECT A SINGLE SOUL RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Replenish GOLD: Dexterity / Fury / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Stake your way around the sewers, avoiding the souls and collecting the ammo, including the mega ammo pack in the secret area pipe set into the wall. ~ There's a side room with armour in it at one point, and more ammo and barrels farther round. Clear away the last of the commandos and hit the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 1] Get rid of the enemies up the ladder with stakes (including the camper behind you), get the health pack from the end of this hallway, then get the next checkpoint at the bottom of the stairs. [CHECKPOINT 2] Pick up the rocket-launcher before you do anything else. This area quickly fills with skeleton soldiers, but they're mostly harmless if you can get onto the roof of one of the trains - this also lets you avoid picking up souls. Shotgun them from here, or send rockets down at them from your newly-acquired launcher; but watch out for the later ones who can shoot bullets at you - they look a bit taller than the melee ones. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Andrew "In the second secret area at the rear of the train before the third checkpoint, I grabbed the secret first and just stood there blasting all enemies away from inside. They don't come in and you can just pound away at them quite easily. I found the stakegun great for this. Step right and shoot, step left to reload. This also helps to avoid inadvertently running over any souls." -=#=- Yep, you got me there, nice one. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Once the minions are all gone, look under the escalators for ammo boxes, and check the very back of the train on the right for a secret area containing two holy items. ~ There is a set of heavy armour available if you can be bothered jumping all the way along the window ledges, though I strongly recommend you get it. [CHECKPOINT 3] This place is pretty tough, especially since there's nowhere to hide. I suggest you drop down to the lower levels and bait the monsters onto the stairs. When they're all crammed together you can take out great groups at once with just one rocket. Keep moving and dropping rockets and grenades everywhere, but make sure you don't back into a soul. Keep saving, and check underneath the stairs for health, ammo and armour to go with the health and ammo on the upper levels. Once this area is clear the checkpoint will appear. You should now have killed 148 monsters without picking up one soul. Head left into the long room. Pick off the two commandos camping above your head, then prepare yourself for a ton of skeletons. It's essential that you don't allow yourself to be backed into a corner here - even if you do manage to get out of it, you can hardly avoid picking up the souls nearby. Keep moving, baiting the soldiers into forming groups, then unleash an electrodriver special or a couple of rockets. You'll have to fight off three or four waves of the soldiers before the final, taller bunch appears and starts chucking smoke grenades around. These guys are easy to take out singly, after which the doors will reopen. Go back out into the main room and turn left again. Head into the second long room, behind the downward stairs, and take out the commandos on the floor and ledges with stakes. Collect the ammo and leave. Turn right outside and go around the curved hallway into a third anteroom. This place can be easily cleared out with a few shotgun / freezer combos, and there is plenty more ammo and even some armour to be had. To reach the secret area in the ceiling, jump from the corner of the counter and onto the vending machine. You can make an awkward, twisty jump from here onto that broken beam, then jump up to the top level for the holy item. ~ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Andrew "In the Train station, just before the 4th checkpoint, you mention that to get to the secret area in the ceiling to jump from the counter to the vending machine then to do a twisted jump to the broken beam. I tried this many times but was unsuccessful so I found another way that is more fun also as follows; 1. Shoot the vending machine with the painkiller twice, (I set the killer as the primary fire mode), and pick up the coins. The machine is now moveable. Look right down and push the vending machine out to the front of the broken beam and turn it around, so that the top of the machine is like a ramp to the beam. Do this gingerly because you don't want the machine to topple over, (the looking down ensures that you are pushing the bottom of the machine). 2. Move the two tables which are leaning over already, (the others are immovable), and put one right in front of the vending machine on its edge. Place the other table in front of the first one but upright, (or completely inverted). 3. Quicksave, (cos it's pretty easy to knock over the machine during the following jumps). 4. Jump onto the first table top, (or base if it is inverted). 5. Jump from here to the top edge of the leaning table. 6. Jump from here to the top of the vending machine. Stop immediately to let the machine stop rocking. I tried to do two quick jumps a few times but the machine just toppled over. 7. Then jump up to the beam. Heaps of fun and you get to move the furniture around as well." -=#=- You're right, reading can be fun :P ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Head outside to the long-awaited checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 4] This is some sort of departure lounge, with some interesting signboards dotted around. Work your way around with the electrodriver or the chaingun, making sure to pick up the mega ammo pack in the tiny room in the back corner. You probably also want that super-health pickup on the ledge the maso commando was standing on. Shoot one of the nearby light fittings free of its supports and it should clatter to the floor. Kick it around on the floor until one of its ends is pressing against the base of the pillar on the right holding the ledge up. Quick-jump the other end of it off the ground (like you did with the first secret area in the Town) and it should let you reach the ledge when it gets to ninety degrees. ~ There's a checkpoint awaiting your attention in the surrounding corridor. [CHECKPOINT 5] This tight room full of commandos and soldiers can be cleared out with rockets and grenades. Check the back room for more commandos, then go around into the dark hallway, clearing away the last of the monsters to reveal the exit. --- TAROT CARD: Soul Catcher (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This level, impressive though it is, seems to go on forever. The tarot card condition sounds easy, but it's surprisingly hard. Many a time (twice) I've jumped into the exit, prepared to swear that I'd reached at least 30, only to be told that I'd failed. This is apparently to do with not having updated from Version 1.0 to Version 1.5 (see contribution below). For this reason it's best to use the soul-based silver cards, in order to give yourself an advantage from the start. With so many monsters in one level you'd think it would be impossible to fail this one, but it's definitely not. The secret areas are also pretty fiendish, and in v1.0 of this guide I could only properly find two secret areas and one holy item, which was absolutely pathetic. I've got them all now though, after a very long and headache- inducing session in the Factory. --- MONSTERS (361): MASO COMMANDO, SADO COMMANDO, SKELETON SOLDIER GOLD: 784 ARMOUR: 5 HOLY ITEMS: 4 AMMO: 93 OBJECTS: 157 SECRET AREAS: 6 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL AT LEAST 30 ENEMIES IN DEMON MORPH MODE RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Dark Soul / Soul Catcher GOLD: Dexterity / Fury / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ vic rabb "I think you should add for Abandoned Factory that, for the game 1.0, you must kill 30 ennemies in one demon morph but for people owning 1.5, you can do it in two, three, four demon morph. It's one of the few differences between the version but it's an important one for getting a card." -=#=- Nice one, thanks for letting me know. The guide will still ideally apply to Version 1.0 of the game though, since there will always be people unable to get the patch. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Pick up the armour in the corner of the room, then poke your head out the door. Commandos will appear, so grab the armour from behind the building and the ammo from the far corner while you clear out the last of the monsters and grab their souls. Heading into the next area you will come under siege from lots of sado commandos. Keep moving and get busy with the chaingun or the electrodriver. Move in fast if you spot a stray soul and let your Soul Catcher card soak it up. There's a bit of ammo around the place, and a rocket-launcher at the back end. Once the last of the commandos are removed from the outer area the building will open its doors. The building is pretty simple - just grab the ammo from above and below while dealing with the commandos dotted around the place. Drop through the broken window on the upper floor to escape to the checkpoint. There's a secret area with a mega ammo pack on top of that half roof - come back to it later. You should now be very close to a Demon Morph, and this next area is perfect for it. [CHECKPOINT 1] The big door will close behind you when you go far enough into this next area, and it doesn't open until you've completed the map. Unfortunately you have to get back to the beginning of the level if you want to tie up all the secrets. The boxes in front of you will open to let out some commandos, and more will be heading towards you from the right. Start running, jumping and shotgunning, while collecting the ammo (including the bunch behind those big boxes), and probably Morphing at some point. [TAROT CONDITION: 14 MONSTERS KILLED] Get to the far end of this area and remove the commandos who'll spring over the wall. If you've worked at it you can reach another Morph as the last of these commandos die off, so head into the next area and use it, looking for the maso commandos at the far end. [TAROT CONDITION: 22 MONSTERS KILLED] ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Squizur Boom! "I found out a little easier way to get the second secret in de Abandoned Factory. You can use one of the crane things and place it next to the wall (between the third and fourth tank) and jump your way up the wall." -=#=- Yep, easier than my way, cheers. Just move one of the hooks to the bottom of that sloped wall and use it as a step up. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Niko Alanen "About crane hooks: How am I supposed to get one off the chains? Shooting rockets at them did nothing..." -=#=- As far as I can remember you just shoot whichever weapon does the job at the chains attaching them to the beams. Though sometimes they didn't fall off for me either, so maybe take a shot at one while you're Morphed to be on the safe side. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Before you leave, look up at the top of the third tank in the left row of six. It shouldn't be on fire, unlike some of the others. Shoot at the top with a rocket and it will fall off. There is a broken part of wall between the third and the fourth tanks, and the top of the fourth tank will probably not be on fire either. If the top is still on it, shoot it off like you did for the third tank. Now quick-jump up the pipes and onto the top of the fourth tank (avoid the lethal fire coming out the top). Then jump across onto the wall and then into the bowl of the third tank for the holy item. ~ Another thing you might want to do in this area is shove one of those big yellow and black striped hook things lying around (sometimes there are none on the ground, so look up and shoot one of the big ones off the wires with a rocket) all the way back to that door which shut behind you earlier. You can come back to it when you've opened the map's exit. Pick up the ammo boxes from all over the area with the oil tanks and head for the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 2] Avoid the crate on the left as you run forwards: both crates will soon explode and do you some damage if you're close. Tons of skeleton soldiers will sprout from the boxes, and you can pick up a lot of souls from their dying ranks. Drop them all with rocket-launchers and head around to the right, to the two big gas tanks. Snipe the commandos off the top of each, and take out the lone commando standing on the stairs at the nearby building. To reach that heavy armour on the cylindrical tank, jump up the three pipes at the back, then quick-jump up the curve on the end of the tank itself. From here you can only just twist and jump around to reach the top of this secret area. ~ There will be a maso commando standing in the doorway of the building behind this tank, so stake him and avoid his soul if you're close to another Morph. You'll have to clear out that building without picking up any souls, because it's not a good place to use a Morph. So use stakes and avoid the souls; then pick up the ammo and armour (if you need it) and hit the checkpoint. This sets the furnace in the centre of the room alight. [CHECKPOINT 3] Run around to the back of this area and shoot out the flaming barrel beside the tall gas canisters: if you do it quickly you can destroy a big cloud of soldiers from that one explosion. This also opens up the main building, but don't go in there yet. Now is the time to hit your third Morph, as hordes of skeleton soldiers will be appearing from two directions. Wipe the remaining ones out using your Morph and your rocket-launcher, then duck into the little building whose door opened when you came out from the previous checkpoint (near the stairs running up the side of the main building). This room is a secret area with health, ammo and a holy item. ~ [TAROT CONDITION: 41 MONSTERS KILLED] Don't go up that ladder yet: instead go back outside and run all the way around to those big gas tanks at the back (they'll be gone if you blew them up earlier). If the tanks are still there, shoot out the barrel to destroy them and open a hole in the building wall. Now you can clear out the interior of the building without worrying about getting trapped, which was a problem before. Jump through that big gap and let the monsters spawn in - this building won't be populated until you hit that low platform just inside the hole in the wall. Hunt around for any remaining commandos, and collect their souls until there are none left. You'll know you've got the last of them when the monster count reaches 216, at which point a checkpoint will appear upstairs. You can get to the roof of this building and get a nice view of the whole level, but there is no secret area up there. Which pissed me off after spending years trying to get up to find out. Grab any pickups you haven't yet got from the area and head through the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 5] Step onto the conveyor belt and ride it until you see the first commando, then step off and run alongside it. Eventually the commando will reach the end, grouped with several other minions. Rocket-launch the sados and freeze / shotgun the maso, and the door will open. You should be nearing another Morph, and this is another perfect area for it. Run up the far ramp to trigger the appearance of several billion soldiers, then start running around with rockets to clear them out. Morph if you're able and grab some more precious kills. To do yourself a favour later leave at least one of the barrels intact. [TAROT CONDITION: 62 MONSTERS KILLED] Once all the waves of soldiers are gone some maso commandos will appear en masse. You could try the stakegun here, but it takes too long. The best way through this is with the freeze / shotgun combo. Get the souls and the ammo and jump up the box to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 6] Using the boxes to quick-jump up the walls, go straight ahead, left, then left again. Get rid of the three or four commandos in the last tunnel, then pick up the super-health and ammo before hitting the final checkpoint. Those two big grey doors blocking one corner of this tunnel network will open later, though you might find it hard to get back to them. [CHECKPOINT 7] If you've been keeping up with me you should be nearing your fifth and final Morph, and this is yet another great area for Morphing. Drop through the wall and around to the left to trigger a huge attack from skeleton soldiers. More and more will spawn, followed by more commandos. You can get two (three at a stretch) Morphs in here, so use them to rack up more kills until the last wave of monsters is gone. [TAROT CONDITION: 112 MONSTERS KILLED] Once you're safe, climb the ladder on the gas tank to find the exit. But before you head out you could get the last two holy items. Jump off to the right of the exit and land on the small tunnel roof. Drop off the left side of the other end of the roof and land on the sloped ledge which rings the gigantic, high chamber. Run around this ledge until you see the long ladder. Climb up and get the quad damage (despite having killed all enemies) and holy items from the secret area. ~ I found it almost impossible to quick-jump back up onto that surrounding wall where the ladder is poking up, so you may have to drop through the gaps in the roof to land far below. This is actually a good thing, except if you die from the fall. There is another way to get back into this chamber from the exit, but it's far more long-winded, so do it the easy way. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Niko Alanen "You can get back on the ladders after picking up Quad Damage if you quick- jump on the left side of the ladders (probably other spots as well)." -=#=- If you make it fair enough, but for the purposes of the guide I'll assume that, like me, most other people will be falling down like noobs. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ You are now in the conveyor belt chamber you cleared out a while ago, and it's easy enough to jump up the same box you used before and turn right at the first junction (where the two boxes are). You went straight on earlier, but now the big grey doors are open to allow you into the secret area with the ammo and armour. ~ If you need to go farther back into the map, make your way back into the big chamber where the conveyor belt ends, and quick-jump (or use a barrel if you kept one) onto the platform to the left of the conveyor belt. From there you can jump into the long tunnel and run all the way back to the area with the two big buildings. This allows you access to all of the early sections of the level. This is the only way you can tie up the very first secret area in the game, so get all the way back to where you left that hook crane part earlier. That big door is now open, so you can push the hook through and position it against one of the pillars holding up the sloping roof beside the building. Remember how you got to the last secret in the Train Station? Same thing here - move the object until one end is touching the base of one of the pillars, then quick- jump into the other end to lift yourself up and onto the low roof, where there is a mega-ammo pack. ~ If you're done, get all the way to the end of the level, climb the last ladder and hit the exit. --- TAROT CARD: Forgiveness (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.14 - LEVEL 3/3 MILITARY BASE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a huge level which is made even bigger by the fact that you have to visit every area in order to get the card. You're probably sick of the sight of skeleton soldiers and maso and sado commandos by now, but you're going to have to meet a lot more of them before you're done here. See how many things remind you of Duke Nukem in here. There's a lot of brilliantly weird radio chatter audible throughout this one. --- MONSTERS (347): MASO COMMANDO, SADO COMMANDO, SKELETON SOLDIER GOLD: 680 ARMOUR: 7 HOLY ITEMS: 4 AMMO: 109 OBJECTS: 91 SECRET AREAS: 7 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL ALL MONSTERS RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Soul Keeper GOLD: Dexterity / Fury / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Kill off the six enemies in this initial area, grab the armour and ammo and go for the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 6 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 1] Work your way up, freezing the masos and shotgunning everyone else, and grabbing the health and ammo. Push that barrel through the door if you want to lay down a trap. Try to use as few rockets as possible for the foreseeable future - you'll be wanting them later. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 20 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 2] Head round to the right and approach the small radar hut, pushing the barrel ahead of you. Soldiers and a couple of masos should appear, so shoot out the barrel to take out the first few, then duck around the corner and chaingun them all to hell while your card leeches the souls. Going around the main building will trigger another wave - use rockets against these guys, and try not to shoot out the three barrels against the wall. Collect the ammo from the guardpost, the bunker and the two huts, then quick- jump up the three barrels to reach a holy item in the secret area. ~ Next, shoot the flaming barrel through the fence to make the truck roll down the ramp and smash into the gates, then go through the gates which should have opened in the wire fence. Sometimes the lower gates don't break, but you can still jump up the truck and over the top. More sados will spawn up the hill, so shotgun them to the deck and pick up the armour from the hut above the truck. Then go to the other hut for the next checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 54 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 3] A sado will appear behind you as soon as the doors close, so gib him one and then poke your head out the door. More commandos around here, so collect enough souls to get near to a Morph (try to miss at least one, because this isn't a great place for a Morph) and let the door into the building open. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 66 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 4] Clear out this room, using your Morph if you're near it, and collect the ammo and gold from the boxes. Step onto the lift in the corner of the floor and it will take you down. Get your freezer ready for the maso commando in the hallway, then hit the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 77 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 5] Use your chaingun to clear out this room and the long corridor, grab the ammo from behind the computers, then remove everyone from the room at the other end of the corridor. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 94 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 6] Drop down to the very bottom of the missile chamber and grab the holy item in the secret area. ~ Clamber gracefully up the ladder and freeze / shotgun the commandos who will be poking their heads into the shaft, so to speak. Climb the next ladder on the inner wall to take on more masos, then the next ladder on the inner wall of this floor to reach the top, where there are - you guessed it - more commandos. Take the armour, go back into the missile chamber and get the ammo and checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 106 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 7] This is the toughest part of the level yet, and as soon as you get off the ladder you will be under immediate attack from some sort of mortar gun nearby. There are several of these mortars dotted around this huge outdoor area, as well as three tanks. Each of these armoured vehicles takes about five or six rockets each before they'll explode (they each count as one kill). You'll also have soldiers flocking around, and you'll have to either jump and dodge all over the place or head for the nearest cover, which happens to be that doorway around to the left of the ladder you just came up. You should also be pretty near a Morph, so clear away the tank, the three mortars and the soldiers this side of the plane, then run into the plane itself for the health. More soldiers will spawn inside the plane, so run out the front and bait them all the way over to the bunch of big garages. When you get close enough to this area, two more tanks will appear, as well as lots more soldiers. Kill one or two of the soldiers to trigger your Morph, then clear the place out with ease, going for the tanks first. One or two of the garages have ammo boxes in them, and the secret area in the plane can be reached by pushing the box up to under the half ladder, then jumping up and forwards to get to the ammo, super-health and heavy armour. ~ There's another secret area on top of the plane - get there by quick-jumping onto the wheel and up the side to get the mega ammo packs. ~ Bearing in mind your card condition, you'll have to explore each of the three bunkhouses just next to the garages. Enter each one from the back, then wait for the door into the sleeping area to open to reveal a few monsters. Make sure you've done all three bunkhouses, or else you will miss your target kill ratio. The plane and the bunkhouses are the areas here which you must necessarily explore in order to kill off all the monsters - the directional arrow will often break during this stage, and it will only reactivate once you go into the areas you haven't yet been to. Anyway, once everything here is explored, head over to the big building in the far corner, surrounded by steel mesh fence. The door will close behind you, and you have to work your way upstairs, past the commandos and collecting the ammo and armour. There is an interior elevator which can take you to the top floor, where you will meet another maso commando and a checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 196 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 8] Go to the other side of the elevator and grab the electro ammo from the back of the eagle's nest. Jump down to the next checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 196 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 9] This is pretty similar to the previous area, only now you also have commandos sniping at you from the roofs of the planes. Avoid the mortars and tanks until you've killed off the foot soldiers by drawing them into the back corner behind the left hangar where, by the way, there is a secret area containing a holy item. ~ When you try to go down to the far end, approaching the planes, more commandos will materialise from around the boxes. Don't get sucked into a fight around here - there are too many mortars and tanks and snipers. Draw the commandos away from the area and erase them with a few bursts of the chaingun or whatever. Now you can get started on the mortars and tanks. You might be on a Morph at some point around here - this is the ideal place in which to use it. Pick up the ammo dotted around and head over to the door in the wall, just right of the end hangar. This is another secret area which you can skip, but which you must visit to reach your kill quota for the card. ~ The door will predictably close behind you, so head out to the right and start erasing the maso commandos running around on the ground. Shoot the ammo box at the guardpost to trigger a big explosion at the truck, then get busy with the freezer and the shotgun. There is ammo lying around, as well as some heavy armour and electrodriver ammo in the hut at the back left (climb the ladder inside). Drop off the side of the roof of this hut to escape this area, then run round to the row of hangars. The plane near the hangar you're about to go into has parked close enough for you to quick-jump onto the top of the plane and step onto the bottom of the tail-fin. You should slide up it without having to move, at which point you can step off the fin and onto the low roof. Quick-jump along to reach the top of the hangar roof and grab the last holy item from the last secret area. ~ If you don't want the card you can drop off the back left of the hangar roof to the small adjoining huts, behind which are mega-ammo packs. This lets you skip the first hangar altogether. If you do want the card then you'll have to do it the long way. There is a big pile of boxes and barrels blocking your way into the back of the right hangar (unless you drop off the roof), so shoot them out and collect the coins. Go through the doorway and have your freezer and shotgun ready again. Once you've dealt with the first lots of commandos, hug the right wall of this maze to be led to a health and mega ammo packs. Go back round and enter the middle of the maze, where more commandos will appear. Watch out for the prox. grenades and keep your freezer busy. More commandos are guarding the back of the maze, but once they've all been removed you can grab the ammo and head for the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 277 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 10] You're nearing the end of the level now, but the following areas can be pretty tough, in a Smash TV sort of way. Look behind the two adjoining outer doors for ammo, then go into the next hangar. Have your chaingun and rockets ready for this part, and stay at the back of the bottom floor while you wipe this bunch of skeleton soldiers and maso commandos out. You may also be on a Morph - use it here if you can. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 304 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 11] More ammo outside, and then a hangar with four tanks in it. Get up high and keep jumping, dodging and moving while you dump rockets on their heads. Once the tanks are gone a few soldiers teleport in, but they're too little too late. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 316 MONSTERS KILLED] [CHECKPOINT 12] And finally, the hangar with the UFO in it. Stay on the bottom level here, freezing and shattering the maso commandos, then taking out the sados afterwards. When they're gone some soldiers will appear, soon to be aided and abetted by more masos. Use rockets on the soldiers, but try to freeze and kill off the masos first, since flaming skeleton soldiers are more difficult to hit than normal. The exit appears on top of the UFO once the last monster is gone, at which point you can tie up any secret areas you've missed and head out. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 347 MONSTERS KILLED] --- TAROT CARD: Greed (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.15 - LEVEL 3/4 RUINS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This boss level can be hard, not really because of Guardian itself, but more because of the incredibly short time limit for the card. If ever your PC will suffer frame loss while playing this game, it's in here. 0:58 on Trauma - 'ave it! --- MONSTERS: GUARDIAN ARMOUR: 2 AMMO: 102 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL GUARDIAN IN LESS THAN 1:20 RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Blessing / Forgiveness GOLD: Dexterity / Fury / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Right, you are going to use two weapons in here, and two weapons only. As soon as the level starts, run forward and grab the shotgun and chaingun ammo at the bottom of the two pillars to either side. Stand still and chaingun the head of Guardian's hammer while he approaches you from the distance. You should see it flash blue-ish silver when your shots hit it, and Guardian's health will start to drop. The hammer becomes invulnerable while Guardian is raising it above his head and smashing it into the ground. Save your ammo while he's attacking, and make sure you're jumping off the ground every time the hammer impacts. He will attack more frequently the closer he is to you, so you might want to use your cards before he's too near. He can stamp on you, doing you severe damage; and he can also heal himself by thumping the bottom of the hammer off the ground. It's therefore a good idea to get rid of the hammer fast. Your chaingun should have his hammer gone soon, especially with the help of the cards, and his first incarnation will die. Guardian will lose the hammer and start attacking with his fists, at which point you should switch to the shotgun, trigger your second shot at the gold cards (hope you followed my card advice), and start pounding him with blast after blast. His second body should fall insanely quickly from your shotgun blasts, and if you did all of the above with a minimum of fuss you should manage to squeeze your success into a time of 1:20 or under. Don't make the mistake of running all over the area, looking for ammo and armour and health, etc. Time is of the essence, so concentrate on Guardian instead of yourself. And use your cards. --- TAROT CARD: Iron Will (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.16 - LEVEL 4/1 CASTLE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a pretty small, easy level, reminiscent of RTC Wolfenstein. You can blast through this one in minutes, though it might take a while to get some of the holy items. --- MONSTERS (127): BEAST, BONES, EXECUTIONER, ZOMBIE GOLD: 924 ARMOUR: 4 HOLY ITEMS: 7 AMMO: 50 OBJECTS: 28 SECRET AREAS: 7 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FIND EVERY HOLY ITEM RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Soul Keeper GOLD: Dexterity / Fury / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Before you head along the bridge, stand on the right edge and look for the ladder leading down. Climb down it and step off to the right for the first holy item in the secret area. ~ There are two more holy items farther along the underside of the bridge - jump around to the side to reach the next area, then again to the last. Then you'll have to jump back again to that ladder. Quicksave a lot and reload if and when you fall off. Back up the ladder, go along the bridge and get jumped by four beasts, two of which can jump far enough to land behind you. Introduce them to your freezer or chaingun, then head through the gate. Grab the armour to the left and the ammo nearby, then start wiping away the zombies above you and along to the right. There are two more beasts here, which should be priorities. I always wanted an excuse to use the word 'crenellations', so here goes. The spiked wall around the corner will lower when the last of the monsters is gone from here, so check the high ramparts without crenellations for any you may have missed. That wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped. This next area will only close and spawn enemies if you approach it by walking on the ground, so run along the ramparts and collect the health and ammo from behind the big house before you drop to the ground. This part is more open and it contains some nice siege weapons; a scorpion, a battering ram and a trebuchet (thank-you, Age Of Empires). The trebuchet will lob a flaming barrel at you, but by that time you've probably frozen the executioner and shattered him to bits, as well as taking care of the two beasts and the rest of the zombies. Well, maybe you weren't quite that fast. Anyway, get the ammo, including the freezer ammo up behind the house, along with the health, then go to the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 3 HOLY ITEMS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 1] Grab the two mega ammo packs inside the house and wait for the two executioners to spawn in front of you. Freeze 'em and shatter 'em, then head outside to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 2] Quickly get rid of the executioner and the two beasts in the courtyard with the freezer. Once these guys are gone you can go to the stakegun and begin picking off the slow-moving zombies. You might notice the game's first quad damage on the gallows platform - use it in here if you want, though the area is not that hard. Anyway, once the courtyard is cleared out you can get the next two holy items. Jump onto the low roof next to the archway you just came through, then up onto the higher roof to the left. Go to the left of this roof, against the brick wall and start quick-jumping up to the right - you should make it up to the secret area after a few tries, to collect two relics and coins from the chest. ~ There's another secret area room full of chaingun ammo under the lower roof. ~ On to the next checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 5 HOLY ITEMS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 3] This building is full of bones, who can steal souls from you if they get too close. You could be on a Morph in here, but this is not a good place to use it. You can let the bones steal some of your souls to keep your Morph at bay, then use it later on. Anyway, work your way through each room and floor of the building, picking up the ammo, armour and health on the way. There are quite a few bones in here, so make sure you search every last room and hallway. Use the electro for any who get too close, and clear out every room you approach with grenades. Get to the checkpoint downstairs and head through. [CHECKPOINT 4] Another part of the building with more bones: go up the spiral staircase and clear them out. The checkpoint will only appear upstairs once they're all gone, so if there's no checkpoint you haven't got all the bones (I always seem to miss the one standing right at the door I originally came in by). [CHECKPOINT 5] Drop down to the chests and go back outside. Look over to the right to see the next holy item. You can't reach it from here, so you'll have to jump from either of the roofs up above you. Walk around the ramparts and go into the tower next to you, up the buggy ladder (try walking up the right of it), and onto the roof where the heavy armour is in the secret area. ~ Quick-jump round and round in circles until you manage to jump from the edge of the cracked area over to the lower tiled roof of the building you were recently in. Jump from here onto the upper roof and round through the secret area to the other side (grab the super-health), to look down on the lonely holy item. ~ Quick-jump off the edge to collect it from the guard tower roof, another secret area. ~ Make your way back round and into the courtyard, grab the quad damage from the gallows if you didn't get it earlier, and go into the low doorway. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 6 HOLY ITEMS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 6] Work your way through these dungeons (both a Morph and the quad damage help in here), then hit the checkpoint. I went with the freezer for the executioners and rockets for the zombies. [CHECKPOINT 7] Down the stairs to more dungeons, this time with quite a few more bones. Whip out the rocket-launcher again once you've taken out the executioners. Killing off the last of the monsters in here opens the exit, but before you go through it, go all the way back out into the courtyard and look in that room across from the gallows platform for the last holy item. ~ [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 7 HOLY ITEMS FOUND] And finally the tedious trek back to the exit. --- TAROT CARD: Rage (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 THE PALACE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You'll have some thinking to do when it comes to picking cards for this level. I go with Soul Keeper and Soul Catcher for silver, since I tend to think I'll need all the health I can get in here. Iron Will would be a good gold card to have here, too. --- MONSTERS (357): ARABIAN WARRIOR,, BONES, EXECUTIONER, TEMPLAR KNIGHT MINIBOSS (4): GIANT TEMPLAR GOLD: 718 ARMOUR: 3 HOLY ITEMS: 2 AMMO: 141 OBJECTS: 150 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FINISH THE LEVEL WITHOUT ARMOUR RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Soul Keeper GOLD: Iron Will / Rage / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ vic rabb "Did you include the Arabian Warrior as a Dark Ninja in the Palace and Babel? Because I was shocked to see there were Dark Ninja in these levels but I didn't remember it - I've checked and I understood that you were talking about Arabian Warrior. My opinion is that Arabian Warrior and Dark Ninja are two distincts characters :)" -=#=- Sigh. Really. Fixed. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ This first area is pretty simple. Stick with the killer if you can, and collect all the ammo and gold once the warriors and bones are gone. You can't get the armour right now, even if you're not going for the card. [CHECKPOINT 1] This big, open, circular area will quickly fill with more and more and more warriors, spawning from every corner. Run around in circles, baiting the warriors into forming groups and then dumping a couple of rockets in the middle. Watch out for the templars sniping at you from the upper ledges and the roofs - you can deal with them later. Avoid picking up the armour and try to push towards a Morph without actually triggering it - by the time you have enough souls nearly all the enemies around here will be gone. Watch out for those barrels too - they may fly straight up in the air and land on the same spot, bursting into a puddle of flames - a nice trap for any bunches of ninjas chasing you. Grab the multitudinous ammo packs and then go upstairs to clear out the upper surround of templars and more warriors. You'll have to pick off the one or two knights high above you - use the stakegun or freezer on these guys, though you'll have to be accurate enough to catch their unprotected right sides. Climb up the sloped pillars and quick-jump onto the roof surround, then run round to the left and quick-jump across for two chests of coins in the secret area. ~ You can also get to that first armour you saw earlier by jumping down from the blue wall surround and then quick-jumping through one of the archways on the dome. Head down to the next checkpoint at the piles of rubble. [CHECKPOINT 2] This area is a bit chaotic, with the fountain in the middle throwing (and it does aim) lumps of "liquid hot mag-ma" at you; the templars sniping at you; the bones running at you; and the warriors appearing from everywhere in wave after wave. Head up the stairs and get busy with the chaingun or shotgun, grabbing however many souls you need to reach a Morph. Do all the damage you can with the Morph, but once it's gone I suggest you stay upstairs and let everyone come to you if you don't think you can cope with the ground levels. It's not hard down there, really, as long as you keep moving and shotgunning. Just watch out for the bags of fireworks which will whee! around if you shoot them. Pick up the ammo and health if you need it, and check the room to the side of the fountain for more. Then go to the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 3] Get through the little room with the bones and chests (for some reason you have to destroy the chests and free the bones, or else the next door won't open), then head into the third of the big outdoor spaces. This area isn't even worth worrying about if you can hit a second Morph. If not, you'll have to keep under cover of the arched surround while you crank up the freezer. Quick-jumping around the backs of templars is easy, allowing you catch them in the back with some ice. There are executioners too, but the bigger problem comes from the four (killable) Sauron-ish eyes parked around the square. Ignore the armour in the side room, but you might want that super-health pickup. It's a pain to get, but there are two ladders leading up the walls around this area. Pick the one on the opposite half of the square to the pillar with the pickup on it; climb the ladder and get pinged off the top (just like with the rope on the pillar in Catacombs), then turn right in mid- air to land on the last ledge on the right. As you land on this ledge you should immediately jump outwards to the right, towards the jagged stone ledge nearby. It's only just possible to make it, and from there you can jump across to the middle pavilion roof, and finally over to the super-health and the secret area. ~ To the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 4] Just a staircase with some bones and electro ammo. [CHECKPOINT 5] Yet another outdoor area, this time with nothing but bones and templars. The templars are the more immediate danger, and this time there are no corners to hide in. Get to work with the freezer, only taking out the bones when they've collected in groups, at which point you can drop them all with one rocket. The pillared ledges in the middle can be brought down by shooting the nearby fireworks and barrels, and you'll have to get rid of the templars on either high ledge by using the stakegun. To get that holy item above you, go to the back left corner, the one farthest away from the new checkpoint, and quick-jump from the corner onto the bouncing square. With luck it will shoot you up to the upper ledge, through the gaps in the ceiling. Jump onto the barrel and up, then run round onto the narrow ledge to reach the first relic and the secret area. ~ [CHECKPOINT 6] This is some sort of throne room, and it will soon be filled with warriors and templars, as well as some executioners later. At long last, an area built for the electrodriver. This place is a stroll if you just hide in one of the side corridors and let the monsters get grouped at the bottom of the stairs. Keep dumping electrobursts into them, or use drivers on the warriors and electro on the templars. There's plenty of ammo nearby, and you can pick up the quad damage if you need it (this is probably the best place to use it in). When the last monster in here is dead the next checkpoint will appear. [CHECKPOINT 7] Run up the stairs and remove the pesky Arabs, then head into the upper circular corridors and start mowing down the warriors and bones with the chaingun or electrodriver. This area is easy if you watch your back, and another Morph will make it even easier. The exit opens as the last minion up here dies, but before you head back down either spiral staircase, check the newly-opened door in between them, in the long top hallway. In this secret area you can find three chests full of coins and the second holy item. ~ When you approach the exit someone chuckles evilly, and the exit disappears. Four Giant Templars will materialise, but they're actually pretty easy if you just run into one of the raised hallways on either side of this room. The giants are too big to fit through the door, so just drop them with a few rockets each. With the Giants' demise the real exit will appear. --- TAROT CARD: Vitality (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a classic Painkiller level, made longer and more immersive by the fact that you have to hunt down every little ammo pack (and pick them all up). There are some very dangerous areas around here, and weapon choice is important. The worst secret area in the game lurks here too. --- MONSTERS (228): ARABIAN WARRIOR, BEAST, EXECUTIONER, TEMPLAR KNIGHT MINIBOSS: GIANT BEAST GOLD: 950 ARMOUR: 4 HOLY ITEMS: 4 AMMO: 95 OBJECTS: 168 SECRET AREAS: 5 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FIND ALL AMMO RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Vitality GOLD: Iron Will / Rage / Time Bonus -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Before you do anything, look directly ahead and up at the light shining in the ceiling just above and beyond that little doorway. It's not a light, it's a cunningly disguised holy item, made to look like all the other golden glowing things around here. No wonder I missed it in v1.0. Get it later. You're low on ammo and you're going to need lots, so start collecting from this area while avoiding the health pickup in the middle. There are the following: Chaingun (3): In the back left corner, in the dark Grenade (2): In a corner to the right of the stakegun ammo Grenade (3): In the back right corner Shotgun (3): To the left of the starting point Stakegun (3): Around the corner from the barrels right of the starting point Collect all the warriors into groups and then use your rockets or grenades to kill them off in big bunches. Try to pick off the two sniping templars up high, too - shoot the barrels beside them. When you try to pick up the quad damage and the health some templars will appear, accompanied by executioners. The one ammo type you need - freezer - isn't here, so do what you can with what you have (not much electro ammo either). Once they're gone the stairs to either side of the area are opened to reveal three more templars and an executioner up top. Make sure you've got all the ammo boxes, then climb the stairs to the next checkpoint. From here you can quick-jump off the roof to reach that health pickup. And you'll also want the first two holy items. Stand facing the doorway at the upper checkpoint, then go along the left half of the roof. Facing the back wall of the level, at which you started, stand at the far end of this broken roof and drop through the hole to land on the sloped, broken wall you can see below it (hold forward as you fall). Turn right when you land on this wall and jump over to the first dark arch. Jump onto the beam and quick-jump into the light to get the first relic in the first secret area. ~ As for the second relic, you can see it on one of the high towers on the right of this first area. Previous versions of this FAQ contained lots of elaborate bollocks involving pushing around blocks at the end of the level, but apparently none of that was necessary. Read the following. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.4 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Antti Repo "in the level Babel, there is a holy item in the tower, on the right side of the level's starting area. The only way to obtain it, according to faqs I've read [OK, point taken...], is to push one of those big stone crushers next to the tower and jump in. Now, I'm not sure how many players have noticed this or how many e-mails you've gotten about it, but there is another way, and it's the "right" way. :D At the very start of the level, run left to the third tower. There's a crumbled wall with a small, dark area in it. There is also a narrow platform with a yello light, just high enough you´re not able to jump on it. (I somehow managed to make the jump once :) Just push some barrel underneath it. When you get to the light, you´ll be teleported to the tower." -=#=- There's not much I can say about a contribution that hands you what used to be the trickiest holy item in the game on a silver platter. Thanks for this :) I'll just try and improve on those directions, since I could only find where you were talking about with the help of your screenshots. There are two towers on the left of this first area with lights hanging off them. Go to the nearer of the two - the third tower along, as the above contributor said - and find the flowerpot against the section of wall. Now push the flowerpot around the near corner, so that it's against the dark ledge right at the base of this tower. Jump up the pot and into the sandy-coloured teleporter. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.4 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Psycho "I had alrerady blown up all the barrels and pots but found if (facing checkpoint 1) you go down the right side of the roof you can drop down then jump over to the teleport." -=#=- Worth mentioning, thanks. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Then go back up to the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 14 AMMO BOXES FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 1] In here are beasts running at you from the end of the room, but they can all be taken down with a few grenades before they reach you. Then you get the Giant Beast, who is about six times tougher and twice as big as a normal beast. He also drops a red soul, worth six health points. Chaingun or shotgun him and grab the gold from the chests and the ammo boxes: Driver (8) Go back down the big stairs and head for the next checkpoint at the huge archway. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 22 AMMO BOXES FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 2] Shoot out the barrels to damage or kill the executioners and beasts coming down the stairs, and try to stake their bellies if they survive. There are two more templars at the top, as well as two more ammo boxes: Grenade (2) Take out the templars and hit the checkpoint. Don't go through it yet, though it's important to hit it before you turn left and start going around the roof, because if you try to come back to it later it won't be there and you'll be stuck. Running around the circular roof, you should soon find a few more ammo boxes spaced out against the inner wall. In order: Shotgun (1) Stake (1) Stake (1) Stake (1) Chaingun (1) Chaingun (1) Freezer (1) Freezer (1) Freezer (1) Grenade (1) Grenade (1) Along the way you'll meet lots of templars and Arabian warriors. The templars are suckers for grenades, since they mostly stand around in groups. Hug the inner walls and poke your head out while firing the grenades. I've encountered a couple of weird bugs in this area, such as templars sliding along while being unable to move, and other templars becoming invincible. Eventually you'll reach the end and arrive in a secret area, where there is much needed health and armour, as well as more ammo ~ : Electro (4) Grenade (3) Mega Ammo (3) Shotgun (4) Quick-jump up the big bricks sticking out of the wall and over the top to where that checkpoint was earlier. Shimmy under the moving stones (touch them to start them moving if they aren't already) and you will reach another checkpoint. I don't think the falling ceilings can harm you even if you do get caught underneath them. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 49 AMMO BOXES FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 3] Grab the ammo boxes: Freezer (1) Shotgun (3) Make your way upstairs, taking out the beasts with explosive barrels strapped to their backs. Grab that quad damage and run to the upper area to trigger the next bunch of monsters. Take care of the executioners with the freezer, and draw the warriors into the proximity of the stacks of barrels. You'll hit a Morph up here, and it should help you clear the area out pretty quickly, especially when combined with the quad damage. There are some more ammo boxes placed along the closed inner wall: Grenade (3) Shotgun (6) Next, head up either set of stairs to the next checkpoint, picking up the health and the following ammo boxes just before you touch it: Chaingun (3) Shotgun (2) Stakegun (2) [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 69 AMMO BOXES FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 4] Turn right and go along a bit, and you'll meet a bunch of templars, as well as some barrel beasts and an executioner. Hide against the inner wall while you take out the first three monsters, then grenade the hell out of the templars. Farther round is another upwards staircase, leading to a checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 5] Turn left and quick-jump over through the nearest arch to safety, just as the floor caves in. Run all the way around this level until you spot the holy item at the bottom of the ladder in the secret area. ~ Grab the relic, climb the ladder and run around to the right until you find the next ladder leading up, four pillars along the outer part of wall. There's another holy item up in that secret area, along with a super-health pickup and another mega ammo pack ~ : Mega Ammo (1) Drop off and go around the inner wall to find the checkpoint through the open window. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 70 AMMO BOXES FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 6] Freeze the arses off the templars and executioners, including the one who will spawn on that middle platform once all the others are gone (is it me or is this guy much bigger than normal executioners?). Once that one's dead the platform will collapse to the lower level. Pick up the ammo boxes from this upper circle: Freezer (2) Shotgun (2) Drop off this upper area to the middle level, where there are more boxes of ammo: Chaingun (4) Grenade (3) Shotgun (3) Take the health if you need it, then drop to the final area. First comes a great big bunch of templars, who will fall easily to a nice electroburst or a few grenades. Next come the beasts, whose souls can push you to another Morph. Finally, the executioners. Pick up the last of the ammo boxes from in here: Chaingun (2) Driver (3) Shotgun (6) Hit the exit. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 95 AMMO BOXES FOUND] --- TAROT CARD: Double Time Bonus (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.19 - LEVEL 4/4 FOREST ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This beautiful little level is like something out of Oblivion or UT2004, and it only opens once you complete Babel on Trauma difficulty, so if you're not there yet you might as well skip this part for now. If you've reached the Forest you're in for a tough time. It's split into two smallish sylvan areas, separated by a little valley; but the enemies come fast and furious, and some of them are hell to take down. Oh, and by the way, say ta-ta to your cards if you want to complete your collection. Cards would come in incredibly useful in this hell-hole, which is probably why you're not allowed to use them. You can revisit the level with cards equipped once you've unlocked it, which might help with reaching that ludicrous secret area... --- MONSTERS (107): BONES, BIG VAMP, GHOST, WITCH MINIBOSS: HEAVY COMMANDO (2) GOLD: 300 ARMOUR: 1 HOLY ITEMS: 3 AMMO: 34 OBJECTS: 4 SECRET AREAS: 2 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FINISH THE LEVEL WITHOUT USING THE BLACK TAROT -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Right. Start running around the outer circle of this area while you consider how to cope with the following problems: The big bones aren't too bad if you can keep them in front of you, but it's amazing how often they appear behind you, at which point you find half your health mysteriously gone. Keep moving! The big vamps hanging around aren't too bad either, but while you're trying to shotgun them out you'll be getting stabbed in the back by the irritating bones. Freeze 'em to death when you get a second, but it's probably best to ignore them altogether until the bones - the main danger - are all dead. The ghost flying around is an irritation, but a big one given your meagre 100 health combined with the fact that this is Trauma difficulty. The good news, such as it is, is that there is armour (the only one) in the middle of the ruins, as well as quite a lot of ammo spread out around the area. Once you've dealt with all the other monsters here, the insanely fast witches will still be giving you major headaches. There are four or five criss- crossing the ruins, but the slower ones can be shot down with a couple of close-range shotgun blasts or some nice work with the chaingun. The two fast ones are a different kettle of fish, and you can either expend a lot of shotgun shells trying to do them minimal damage as they disappear into the fog; or you can stand at the extreme end of each one's linear flight path, aim your stakegun at a point you've watched them pass through a few times, and do a bit of stylish clay-pigeon shooting. Just fire so that your stake arrives at the spot at the exact same time that the witch does. Once the last witch is dead the checkpoint appears. Hit it to save your game, as I'm sure you're probably desperate to do, but don't head in yet. There are two holy items on top of the highest arch, but you're going to have a hell of a time getting at them. Luckily, you have this wondrous guide to help you... Run around the outside walls of the ruins until you find the right-angled corner of wall with a lump of rubble leaning up against it. You can either try to quick-jump up to the top of this rubble (it will keep spitting you off maddeningly), or you can stand at the base of it and just walk straight up its slope to the top - there is a certain spot at the bottom which lets you do this without pinging you off again. From the top of this stone, quick-jump off to the right to land on the big broken gap in the right wall. Turn and face the bricks to your left and quick-jump up the narrow, invisible ladder set into them. It's very tricky and you'll have to jump to the right when you reach the top, otherwise you will fall to the ground and have to start again, which you really don't want. It's around about now that you'll start getting pissed off at the fact you're not allowed quicksaves in the Forest. Anyway, you should be standing on the first, low arch, and you can reach the one to the right by jumping up the little wooden stick leaning in the corner. Once you're on the outer arch, you have to run across that drooping vine to the middle arch, then onto the next vine and across to the top of the arch where the holy items are. A wonderful sense of achievement should accompany the worrying thought that you lost all that health and armour when you kept falling off before, and you still have the second section of this level to go... Drop to the checkpoint, using the walls to avoid losing more health. [CHECKPOINT 1] This valley will shut on you when you approach the quad damage, and you'll have to get rid of two bones and another couple of witches. Once they're dead the gates open again and you can run into the next clearing. You'll soon get jumped by more bones and big vamps, and this place is pretty tricky to move around in because of all the trees and other crap in the way. Pick up the quad damage and start dumping rockets into the groups of bones. Deal with the vamps next, then start on the witches. Once the witches are gone the big scaffolds up the hill will collapse noisily and a couple of minibosses emerge. I don't really know what they are but I've called these guys Heavy Commandos, as they look like bigger, harder sado commandos. Treat them the exact same way you treated those four Giant Templars you met two levels ago. Try to move into the valley they came from while you're firing rockets at them, since you don't need those witches chucking fire at you. Knock down the remaining witches, pick up the holy item hiding in the secret area cave to the left of where you picked up the quad damage (look behind the bush, next to the freezer ammo), and head over the central hill to the exit. ~ --- TAROT CARD: Divine Intervention (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.20 - LEVEL 4/5 TOWER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The toughest of Lucifer's bosses lurks here, in a tower with four different levels. You basically need to kill Alastor four times, once per level, using a different approach each time. This is the final level you'll have to complete if you're playing on Trauma difficulty. Once you kill Alastor on the hardest setting you will get to see the true ending to the game. --- MONSTERS: ALASTOR ARMOUR: 3 AMMO: 37 OBJECTS: 8 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL ALASTOR IN LESS THAN 5:00 RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Forgiveness / Vitality GOLD: Dexterity / Double Time Bonus / Rage -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- This boss isn't quite as tough if you know what to expect, but he'll still take a hell of a beating before you finally off him. Grab the ammo and armour, and chaingun Alastor as soon as you see him. He shouldn't last long up here. Stick to the very outer wall while he moves to the centre and smashes the floor in. [LEVEL 1 COMPLETED] You might lose health when you fall, and it's important to grab the super- health and the armour around here. Get to work with the chaingun again, and try to avoid the annoying rubble everywhere. [LEVEL 2 COMPLETED] He's smashed in the floor again, and now is the time to trigger your cards (use my recommended configuration for best effect in this level). You can batter him quickly with the shotgun, while using your cards and collecting more ammo. Again, stick to the outer ring when he breaks the floor afterwards, as doing anything else can kill you on the next big drop. [LEVEL 3 COMPLETED] If you were on the outer wall when the floor broke you can jump off the little blue ledge - from which you can also score some cheap hits before you drop - onto one of the broken pillars below, then down to the floor. Get out of the middle and start collecting the health and heavy armour. Once you've got your stats up start hitting Alastor with the shotgun or chaingun. Once you get his health down he will move into the middle and start regaining health from the statues surrounding the inner circle. While he's doing this you should be destroying them - the chaingun is good for this and the Rage card makes it miles better, though make sure you're close enough. This is another good place to use your cards, especially if you've got Forgiveness equipped. The more statues you take down, the less health Alastor will have when he returns to the action. Eventually you'll destroy them all, and you can finish Alastor off at your leisure. --- TAROT CARD: Triple Haste (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.21 - LEVEL 5/1 CITY ON WATER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is like hell twinned with Venice, and it's a bugger if you have no sense of direction. Some damned horrible secret areas, too. --- MONSTERS (249): HELL ANGEL, HELL BIKER, SKULL GOLD: 772 ARMOUR: 5 HOLY ITEMS: 4 AMMO: 135 OBJECTS: 145 SECRET AREAS: 6 TAROT CARD CONDITION: FIND EVERY SECRET AREA RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Vitality GOLD: Dexterity / Double Time Bonus / Iron Will -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Destroy all the smaller boxes for gold and ammo, then head through to the main outdoor area. Start sniping with the stakegun, working your way along from this right area to the dock to the left, where there are more boxes. There are a few hell bikers around here, all of whom must be killed to open the next checkpoint. Look out for the snipers on the roof, and try not to shoot out that white barrel in the middle of the main bridge. Once the monsters are gone, stand in the square area on the left, 'north' of the dock and facing the pillared building. Run and jump around its left corner, past the water, to reach a secret area with chaingun ammo in it. ~ Jump around again and head over the small bridge in the middle. There is a hole in the side of the single building here, containing more ammo and another secret area. ~ The third secret area can be reached by rolling that white barrel all the way back to the beginning, and using it to blow up the big box, which should go spinning madly away into the water. Face the tall building and quick-jump onto the bouncy square to reach the very top, where there are two holy items and a super-health pickup. ~ Drop down to the next level for heavy armour, then down again, then down to the ground. Head for the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 3 SECRET AREAS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 1] Go inside the building and up the stairs to clear this room of angels. Take care of the biker shooting at you through the window. You can skip the upcoming section by following these directions: climb up the staircase with the barrels and walk straight on until you arrive at the windows. Turn ninety degrees left and you should be looking at more open windows beside a locked brown door. You can jump through those windows and onto the outer ledge, farther across to the far balcony. This lets you into a corridor full of ammo, and you will end up in the stairwell which you would normally get to only after checkpoint 4. If you want to do it the usual way, go to the second checkpoint instead. [CHECKPOINT 2] Head through to the next room and destroy all the bikers and angels shooting at you from outside, including the biker up high. Go around to the next room and up the curving staircase to the ammo room, from where you can take out the angels outside with the chaingun or stakegun. Drop through the windows to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 3] No monsters here - just go upstairs to the next checkpoint. Remember this doorway at the little set of steps - you'll be coming back here later to get to the final secret area. [CHECKPOINT 4] Head through to the stairwell and start mowing down angels and bikers on the stairs and the roof. There is armour down the bottom, and killing the last monster reveals the next checkpoint. That side corridor is blocked, but it has some chaingun ammo which you might want for the next area. [CHECKPOINT 5] Stick with the chaingun in here, and you'll probably get a lovely Morph at some point, too. Grab all the ammo and make sure you've cleared the roof area of angels. There are also snipers on the far roofs, but nothing that can't be staked. The checkpoint will appear on the bridge you came over. [CHECKPOINT 6] Head up through the building you were in earlier to deal with the next bunch of monsters shooting at you from the balconies. You'll end up on a balcony yourself, with an angel below you on the bridge (follow the arrow). Kill him and jump off the balcony railing, down to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 7] This is where you'll meet your first skulls, but the freezer can handle them with ease. Dodge their shotgun blasts by hiding behind the pillars, or bait them upstairs and lob grenades down. There are lots of angels around here, too, upstairs and down, and your chaingun will be red hot by the time you're done. Before you head for the checkpoint at the far end of the courtyard, check the front of the fountain for the tunnel which leads to the secret area containing a holy item and some grenades. ~ [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 4 SECRET AREAS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 8] This next outdoor area is just a massive brawl. Pick off the bikers on the barrels with stakes, then try to bait the angels onto the bridges, removing them with grenades. You'll reach a Morph in here (probably), and that quad damage will help, too. One of the boxes in the back left corner contains armour. Get rid of the last of the seemingly endless angels, and snipe the bikers on the roof (the mask makes this simple with stakes). Then run all the way round to the right, step onto the ledge over the water at the back corner, and run along the back of the long wall for the health in the secret area. ~ [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 5 SECRET AREAS FOUND] [CHECKPOINT 9] This room is the final area of the level, and there is armour along the end corridor to help you out with all the skulls and bikers. Freeze the skulls and use your cards if you've saved them thus far; and try to hang around long enough to watch the skulls picking up the bikers and using them as human (?) shields. Once the exit appears you have only one secret area remaining, and it's just a pity it's a nightmare to reach. Run back through the level until you're back in that upstairs room at the exact spot where you hit the fourth checkpoint earlier. Instead of going down the corridor, as you did before, jump out of the window to the right of the corridor's entrance, then onto the side ledge and across to the far balcony. You can then quick-jump up the corner to reach the humped roof of the corridor beside you. Once up there, stand on the raised part at either side and quick- jump up to the higher tiled roof. Go to the front left corner of this big roof and look over to the long balcony with the holy item glowing in the middle. It's a chore to get there, but you'll have to do it for the card. Now get over to your left, to the roof's outer corner nearest the holy item's perch. You need to quick-jump along the front edge of this roof and across to that long building, and time your jumps so your last one is right on the corner of the roof you're now on. You're aiming to leap over to the small balcony on that long building across the water, just before the wall turns inwards at the corner. Once you've reached the tiny balcony on the long building's corner, jump up onto its railings and face the relic. You now want to do a standing quick-jump around the corner of the wall, hit the window-ledge around there, then immediately jump off again and onto another little ledge between the window and the relic's balcony. Jump off the last ledge as soon as you touch it and you should reach the balcony for the relic in the final secret area. ~ Don't be surprised if this takes you ages, or if you completely fail to get the relic altogether. This secret is, in my opinion, the toughest to get to in the whole game. Now you just have to get back to the exit, so drop off the balcony to the ground and make your way back to the upper room with the glass display cases, then go down the staircase and onto the bridge. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 6 SECRET AREAS FOUND] --- TAROT CARD: Last Breath (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.22 - LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It's only by going for all of the impossibly difficult to reach holy items, and by being forced to visit almost every corner, crevice and perch that you'll truly appreciate how brilliantly this level is designed. It might not be pretty, but the secret areas are such an absorbing challenge that I practically forgot all about the monsters. I busted my arse working on cracking this level, and now I've got a headache. All for you, dammit. Try beating 33:27 on Nightmare, collecting all holy items and visiting all secret areas. Bet you can't... The tarot card for this tough level should be achievable without resorting to your Dark Soul card, though I'd still advise using the Soul Catcher. Use Dark Soul only if you want to be safe, though 198 from 259 should be very doable. --- MONSTERS (259): HELL ANGEL, HELL BIKER, SKULL GOLD: 1282 ARMOUR: 7 HOLY ITEMS: 9 AMMO: 217 OBJECTS: 119 SECRET AREAS: 10 TAROT CARD CONDITION: MORPH INTO DEMON AT LEAST 3 TIMES RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Vitality GOLD: Dexterity / Double Time Bonus / Iron Will -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Turn right, climb the crane and onto the top cables, and run back along to drop onto the electro ammo and lovely heavy armour in this secret area. ~ From here you can see at least five holy items, though getting to them isn't going to be simple... Drop off the roof of this control room and stand with your back to the door. Walk forward and turn right at the railings. Jump over the railings and onto the yellow beam, then turn right again. You should see two mega ammo packs and a super-health pickup trapped in a little secret area. ~ To get to them you have to walk off the edge to try to fall onto the tiny platform. It takes practice and a few reloads but it's possible, and the pickups will help you with the first bunch of enemies below. If you do get the super-health and ammo you'll have to drop off and land on the diagonal beam running down the crane (land on the middle of it, not the place where it meets the vertical beam). Stake any bikers you see below you and then jump onto the back of the ladder and down. If you don't go for the second secret you can descend by climbing into the elevator cubicle and letting it take you down safely. This area is difficult if you want to collect souls, which you do; and the best way is probably to kill everyone on the upper level first, then drop down to get rid of the others. Stick with the chaingun or driver, use the boxes as cover, and bear in mind that these guys fire in bunches of four shots at a time. Collect the plentiful ammo and the gold from all over this area, then go for the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 1] This area fills up with hell bikers, only this time they're drinking from bottles and lurching around drunk. You can take out a few if you shoot out the big blockade of boxes when they're near enough, but the rest should be picked off with your chaingun. Grab the ammo and armour from the area once you've gotten rid of the guy on the truck and the sniper on top of the crane. By now you should have just over 40 souls collected. [CHECKPOINT 2] This part is tougher to clear out, so run around to the right and hide by the dead end until you've baited as many of the monsters into the firing line of your chaingun as possible. Then work your way around the alleys between the buildings, being extra careful of the angels with the rocket-launchers, standing on the boxes. Try to get around 65 souls, but don't hit a Morph in here, as you will get it just as the last of these monsters dies, which is a waste. Pick up the mega ammo packs on the dock before you leave. [CHECKPOINT 3] Nothing tough in here, but watch out for those rockets. Get your Morph in here and get the pickups before you hit the checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 1 DEMON MORPH USED] [CHECKPOINT 4] Go up the lift to the top of the crane and then stop. At this point you have three choices: To miss five holy items and two entire sections, run to the end of the beam with the checkpoint on it and drop down to beside the building, where the ammo boxes are. Now skip to the second paragraph after CHECKPOINT 7. To get the monsters and powerups but ignore the holy items, drop onto the checkpoint and then down onto the box hanging underneath it. From here you can drop to the top deck of the ship below. Now skip to CHECKPOINT 5. To get five holy items (if you're a decent quick-jumper), and some hidden monsters and powerups to help you greatly towards a second Morph, read on. Bear in mind that you can always get back to that checkpoint if you get stuck at any point during the following guides to getting the five holy items. You can also get any combination of the three sets - they don't all have to be reached. This is probably the most difficult work you'll ever have to do for the sake of 500 gold. Run to the end of this part of the crane above the beam where the checkpoint is, and onto the sloped part leading up to the top. Quick-jump all the way up the sloped beam, then quick-jump across the top part to the back right corner, then quick-jump off the very edge of that corner towards the two big, grey, cylindrical things hanging on the end of the beam on the crane to the right. If your quick-jumps were fast enough (start while on the diagonal beam on the first crane - if you just try it from the top bit you won't make it) you should just catch the edge of the bottom cylinder, and from there you can jump up to the top of this second crane for those two holy items in the secret area. ~ You should now be standing on the very top of this huge crane, in between the two holy item spots and facing directly forwards, away from the crane you just jumped from. Look down (if you can) and you should see two little platforms below you: one of them is brownish and is thicker and wider than the beam you're currently standing on; the other one is a bit farther forward and is just a yellow square in between two sloping yellow beams. You want to drop from where you are and land on the brown platform. Once you're there you then want to walk forwards off that platform and land on the next tiny platform below, where the crane's hook is hanging. From this final perch on this crane you can do a standing quick-jump to leap away down and to the right; in this way you can land away down on the horizontal yellow beams of the next crane. Once there, run to the end at the right, do a twisty jump around onto the diagonal beam leading upwards, then get all the way to the top of this third crane for two more holy items in this secret area. ~ To get to the fifth relic you'll have to run back down to where you just landed on this third crane, drop onto the steep diagonal yellow beam which leads up under the crane from the ground (beside the fence), and land on the ground in the area you entered when you hit the fourth checkpoint. You took the lift up the first crane before, but this time you have to run up the ladder in the lift shaft, then drop through the gap onto the first level of surrounding beams. Now you have to quick-jump up one of the diagonal beams running up the outside of the crane, the one that lets you jump off the end and onto the upper part of that ladder, only this time you're climbing up the other side of it. You can then get to the top, to where you were before, but this time you should drop onto the checkpoint beam. Don't hit it yet. Instead stand with your back to the grey thing in the middle, and face along the beam to the grey room on the end. Quick-jump all the way along the beam, sticking to the left edge. Turn left to face the fourth crane when you reach the very end of this beam, and your last quick- jump should allow you to soar over and land on the corner of the first level of it. Now run up the diagonal support beam and jump off to land on top of the little lift. Jump up off the lift to the second level, run up the ladder and onto the top. Now you should run onto the diagonal beam leading upwards, then go halfway along the top beam. Jump forwards off the right side of it and twist around in the air to land on the tiny ledge where the holy item is perched, in this fifth secret area. ~ Now drop back down this crane, all the way to the ground where the fourth checkpoint was earlier. Climb up the ladder of the first crane again, and so on until you're back on that checkpoint beam. Now hit the checkpoint and drop onto the big box hanging underneath it, then down to the top of the ship. [CHECKPOINT 5] You should now be standing on top of the dark ship, wherever you came from. That big box suspended in the air will drop and smash, releasing a few skulls, and you'll have to get busy with your freezer. Grab their souls and then chaingun your way through the ship, picking up the ammo from inside and outside, as well as the medium armour at the bow. There's also a heavy armour sitting on the big lock at the far end of the ship - quick-jump off the upper deck to reach it. The bikers all over the ship can be a pain in the arse - make sure you watch your back. Once the ship is cleared out the next checkpoint will appear at the top of the right staircase outside. Make sure you hit the checkpoint and go through the gate at the top of the right staircase - if you go through the gate at the top of the left staircase this can cause problems with future checkpoints (such as getting locked in the level). [CHECKPOINT 6] Clear out this area of more skulls and drunken dock bikers then go to the next checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 7] Run around to the right before you go down either staircase. This area is where you would have landed had you jumped off the end of the crane at the fifth checkpoint. Get the mega ammo packs and go down the stairs, once you've gotten rid of the stray bikers. The monsters will appear when you get down into the middle of this area, and you'd better use the chaingun and rockets to remove them, at least until you can get close enough to another Morph. It's possible to quick-jump onto the piles of boxes from the upper surrounding area, then just dump lots of grenades off the edges from safety. To clear out this area and get the next checkpoint to spawn you also have to approach the smaller truck (the one on the right, near the big building) or destroy the boxes on the trucks. Wait for the cargo to explode in a shower of coins. This releases the otherwise hidden skulls whom you have to kill to progress. I've had a few emails about this part because people think they have killed everything and can't understand why the checkpoint won't appear. If you have 156 kills and have hit all the checkpoints in order the game should allow you to progress. If the checkpoint still won't appear then you should reload from the autosave at checkpoint 5 and start again. Try skipping the boat section if you went through it before, since the boat section can cause checkpoint bugs. But if you have fewer than 156 kills you'd better figure out where you missed those enemies earlier, so keep a close eye on the monster count. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Hristo Hristov "When a reach Chapther 5 - checkpoint6 I have killed all drunks and skeletons (jumping from the blasting trukc) I am getting locked. I am spining around the buildings, I have climbed to stairs and took a holy objekt - glass, then nothing...I am stuck. The arrow is not show me a... sheat. She just freez. So where is the checkpoint?" -=#=- First, patch the game. Although this guide was written for version 1.0 of Painkiller they are now on version 1.64, and both 1.61 and 1.64 contained fixes specifically for this problem in the Docks. Second, check your monster count. If it's at 156 and the arrow is white and pointing due north, you have encountered the bug. If it's less than 156 and the arrow is frozen, you have missed an enemy in some place you were in earlier, though I can't tell where. I see a reload in your future... ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION_____________________________ Before you head to the next checkpoint, get the super-health by quick-jumping onto the red roof of the truck cab, then onto the freighter part. You can come back for those two relics on the sides of the buildings later, or you could try the following suggestion. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ jason lougee "In the Docks level, there is a relic on the top of the second building where the containers are stacked (the area at checkpoint 8). Instead of climbing up the ladder on the crane by the ship, jumping to the diagonal beam on the left, quick-jumping up it, plummeting to the beam on the right, and quick-jumping to the roof, there is a much easier way. After you clear all the baddies (156 kills), go back to the corner where the mega ammo packs were at the top of the stairs. Jump from the top of the stairs onto the platform of the loading bays. Jump around the walls separating the bays and get to the platform at the bottom the stairs. Now just climb the stairs and get the relic!" -=#=- I wish people would stop coming up with contributions that make me look like a tube. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________V1.10 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Get the mega ammo packs from the back right corner, and head around to the next checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 2 DEMON MORPHS USED] [CHECKPOINT 8] Easy enough, this - just walk forward until the crane collapses, then start working with the rocket-launcher. Make sure to keep close enough to grab those souls, then pick up the ammo from around the next corner before going up to the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 9] More skulls and bikers - just avoid running in straight lines and you'll be fine. [CHECKPOINT 10] Up the lift (note the long ladder running up the shaft), run around to the small ladder when the lift stops, and climb the crane's cables - like you did at the start - to get the electro ammo, super-health and heavy armour from yet another secret area. ~ Drop onto the checkpoint beam and hit the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 11] Right. Remember those holy items you saw on top of the two storage buildings? You can reach them thusly: Run up the cables to the top of the crane, then down to the other side. By jumping off this side of the crane you should just be able to land on the roof of the building beside which you hit the eighth checkpoint earlier (the building on the right below you). Don't worry about losing health - that super-health you just picked up should mean you have enough. Run to the back of this roof and drop down to the lower part to find the holy item in the secret area, in between the two explosive boxes. ~ Now run along the roof towards the corner nearest where the tenth checkpoint was. Drop from here onto the little ledge which leads around the side of the building, over the fence below. You can run all the way along this ledge until you arrive at the diagonally opposite end of the building, just above the next holy item's perch in the secret area. ~ Drop onto it and run all the way back round to where the tenth checkpoint used to be, at the bottom of the crane. Instead of going up the lift, which is now stuck, climb up the ladder running up the lift shaft. When you're near the top jump off to the left and land on the diagonal beam of the crane. Quick-jump up this beam, and jump off to the right just as you reach the top - if you do it right you can plummet down to just catch the horizontal beam on the far side of the crane. Quick-jump along this and off the end to reach the roof of the other building. Drop off the far side of the roof to the stairs, and pick up the holy item from the secret area. ~ Now get back to that diagonal beam you jumped onto from off the side of the long ladder, only this time you can quick-jump left off the top to land on the boxes on the deck of the ship. If you can't be bothered with all that, just drop from the eleventh checkpoint and onto the higher of the two boxes hanging underneath the crane, then down to the lower box, to the next crane, to the tops of the boxes on the ship. Welcome aboard the S.S. Lumbago. Grab the quad damage, and the health pickup hiding behind it, then drop to the deck. You'll be under siege from angels here, so crank up the chaingun and work towards a third Morph. If you don't get one here, don't worry - you will in the next stage. There is medium armour and more ammo at the back of the ship, where the next checkpoint will appear once these monsters are down. [CHECKPOINT 12] Take out the bikers in here with your electrodriver (these guys are the best minions to introduce to electrobursts). You'll probably reach another Morph at this stage, even though there aren't enough enemies to justify using it. Go through to the other side of the ship and outside once more, destroying the skulls and bikers here, and picking up the ammo. Push that box over to the sloped wall and jump up for some mega ammo packs. Keep jumping up to the top where the ninth and final holy item rests in a secret area, tucked behind that funnel thing. ~ Go back down to the other door and head inside to the next checkpoint. [TAROT CARD CONDITION: 3 DEMON MORPHS USED] [CHECKPOINT 13] Go downstairs and grab the mega ammo pack, then just work your way upwards through the ship, deleting the skulls and bikers until the long-awaited exit finally materialises upstairs. --- TAROT CARD: Confusion (Gold) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This penultimate level is like something out of Undying, only with better weapons. Some of the checkpoints in here appear as big revolving red pentagrams, but the game won't autosave when you hit them. You also need to make sure you find and 'collect' all the stars, otherwise the level could lock you in. My card choices are based on helping you with the tarot card condition, but you have so many cards now that you might come up with better ideas. --- MONSTERS (159): BANSHEE, DEVIL MONK, EVIL MONK GOLD: 688 ARMOUR: 3 HOLY ITEMS: 4 AMMO: 85 OBJECTS: 69 SECRET AREAS: 4 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KEEP HP ABOVE 50 RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Soul Catcher / Vitality GOLD: Double Time Bonus / Endurance / Iron Will -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- You seem to be able to walk on water in this level (for a change), which means you can actually get to the final cave where the exit appears just by running around on the sea and doing a bit of quick-jumping. The exit won't appear until you've killed all the monsters, of course, but it's still quite nice. Anyway, chaingun your way up the hill, getting rid of the banshees and monks in your way and avoiding the falling rocks. Watch your health, and keep an eye on it throughout this level. Turn left at the top of the hill and go up to the tree on the high cliff. You'll get jumped by more evil monks and also some devil monks. Try to avoid using the shotgun with these guys, since souls are more difficult to collect when you've just sent your enemies soaring off a cliff and into the sea. A second lot will run up the hill from the lower right once you've removed the first bunch, so chaingun them to hell and collect the super-health from down there if you need it. Head for the new checkpoint once you're done - it's a big red star hiding under that tree. [CHECKPOINT 1] Run down to that stone clearing with the armour and ammo in the middle. More monks will spawn in, at which point you can run back to that quad damage if you didn't pick it up earlier. You can skip this area altogether if you never approach it, but do it if you want. One thing you should do here is drop into the well, and to the secret area with the holy item just underneath the top. ~ Drop to the bottom, grab the armour and kill off the banshees and monk packing this tunnel, then push the rock out of the way and head all the way up the stairs to the house on the second hill, where a few more monks will attempt to do you some piffling damage. Spot the holy item on the roof, then duck inside the door to look for the next checkpoint. There isn't one - not yet, anyway - and more big monks will attack inside this horribly tight house. Do what you can with the shotgun, and watch out for the lamers above you throwing bombs down to the bottom floor. Get the much needed driver ammo from the back right corner of the lower floor, then go upstairs to finish off the monks and pick up the ammo for both the electro and the driver. Take out the monk along past the barrels and go through to the stairwell. The door closes behind you and you have a choice: up or down. Go down and get the ammo among the many barrels; then up and use your driver to negotiate with the monks. You can chuck a grenade down the stairs to destroy the barrels, and the explosion will blow the wooden door apart, but just don't be anywhere near them when they explode, including on the floor directly above them. Get the star checkpoint inside the bell. [CHECKPOINT 2] Climb onto the bell and out the double window. You can run round on the roof to get the holy item from the secret area. ~ You've cleared out the start of this area, so run up to the monastery itself. There is ammo on either side, and you can quick-jump off the left cliff to land far below on the high stone surround of the area with the armour and ammo packs. From there you can quick-jump up and round to retrieve the third holy item (don't jump off until you're sure you've got it, because it's tricky to pick up). ~ Back up to the monastery and through the front door to the checkpoint. [CHECKPOINT 3] Devil monks on the floor and evil ones above your head, dropping flaming barrels on you. Use the freezer and stakegun, grab the ammo from this area and head around to the left to go upstairs, past the coffins. Deal with the monks on the upper level, then drop to the ground again and head over the big plank which makes a bridge over the crevasse (or whatever that gap is). There are lots of ammo and some armour to be found in the back of the bottom of this area, then you can work your way up and around all of the upper ledges, including the ones in the side building. This area is pretty confusing, as it produces two star checkpoints at once, and the arrow goes all wonky. I tend to hit the one in the side building first, then go all the way around to the one above the front door I started at. When you reach the checkpoint at the top of the open side building, you can jump out the nearby window by going to the highest point of the ledge, right at the end, then doing a standing quick-jump forwards and around onto the window sill. Just drop out to the roof and grab the fourth holy item from the corner. ~ You'll have to drop to the ground and get back inside again. Make sure you hit both star checkpoints before trying to continue. [CHECKPOINT 4] [CHECKPOINT 5] Look for the big, silver crucifix thing hanging above the centre of the main area of the monastery, and jump into the swirling golden fake exit in the centre. Sometimes there isn't one, so just shoot the crucifix to make it drop; for some reason this object seems to count as a kill, and when you destroy it you will hear the usual checkpoint spawn sound. The structure will collapse and smash the stone tablet below, providing you with your next route. You can shoot the crucifix away with a shotgun or whatever, but even if it lands nowhere near the tablet underneath, the stone will still break for you to fall through. [CHECKPOINT 6] Remember this spot you've just arrived at, as you will have to make your way back up here later, through the hole you just dropped through. Run around and down the slope, and as soon as the grey door shuts behind you run around the little corner on your left to find the route to the next checkpoint. Lots of barrels down here, which can be shot out to expedite the demise of the monks. Hunt around for any you may have missed (there's one hiding on a ledge above you - run around to the left and up the steep slope of rock), then go around to the checkpoint over the gap. [CHECKPOINT 7] Kill another devil monk and quick-jump back across, heading back up to the big hole you fell through earlier. Jump all way back up into the floor of the monastery building and go to the front door you came through when you first entered this ruined interior area. The main doors at the front of the monastery should be shut, where you hit checkpoint 3 earlier, but now there's another devil monk waiting for you nearby. Kill him to make the next (ordinary) checkpoint appear right next to the front door. [CHECKPOINT 8] Fall clumsily down the spiral stairs to hit the next checkpoint at the bottom of the first flight. [CHECKPOINT 9] At this point you can go two ways (though they both lead to the same cave), so take the left way and hug the left wall to find a little corner full of ammo and a devil monk. Some banshees and monks will appear in the main cave with the pillars, so annihilate them all and return to the stairwell, where you will find another checkpoint in the same spot as the previous one. [CHECKPOINT 10] Downstairs, past the big rock and - colour me astounded - meet more monks. Watch out for the devil monk standing on the table, and pick up the three mega ammo packs in the pit in the back wall when you're finished. Jump into the area to the left of the little table and then hop across to the next checkpoint. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.9 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ Graham Dale (grizzlygd@yahoo.com.au) "I am in the old monastery and I have shot down the big cross and gone down the hole and killed everything and I climed back out of the hole and down the sprial stairs. I have killed all in this area but I can see no table or an area to jump into. There is only one level of stairs in this area. Have I got the right set of spiral stairs and if so can you tell me where the area is that I have to jump into." -=#=- Sounds like you've gone down the first half of the spiral stairs and are looking for the table, when in fact you have to clear out a middle area first. Once that's done you go back to the stairs and go down the second half to the bottom - this is where the table cave is. ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________V1.9 CONTRIBUTION______________________________ [CHECKPOINT 10] There are a few similar caves and gaps around here, but the general rule is that you're looking for a way down. Just cleave your way down the cliff face, deleting the monks as you go. The exit is at the very bottom, and see if you can catch whatever it is that Lucifer mutters just as you approach it. --- Soul Redeemer (Silver) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.24 - LEVEL 5/4 HELL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was expecting some sort of inferno, but this final level is a really nice surprise. I guess this might be quite a lot of people's definition of hell. Again, my cards are chosen to help with this particular level as much as possible. I chose the first Haste because the 'better' two are just a bit too overkill for me. You can't use the cards against Lucifer, but you can use them if you're getting overwhelmed by the monsters. There are technically quite a lot of monsters in here (devil and evil monks, psychonuns, zombie warriors), but they are all as weak as each other, and all can only do slow melee damage. Lucifer himself is the only one important enough to be listed in the game. --- MONSTERS: LUCIFER ARMOUR: 5 AMMO: 32 SECRET AREAS: 5 TAROT CARD CONDITION: KILL LUCIFER RECOMMENDED CARD SELECTION -------------------------- SILVER: Replenish / Vitality GOLD: Double Time Bonus / Haste / Iron Will -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Try not to gawp for too long at the brilliant design of this area. Instead start grabbing the mega ammo packs, and wait for the monsters to start appearing. You'll notice three things about the monsters: one, they are only partially visible; two, they are really easy to kill (one shuriken each? pfff); three, that they're not dropping any souls. If you're unlucky enough to get hit by one, you'll notice a fourth thing: they do a lot of damage, which you can't afford. If you are the type of person who enjoys watching lemmings plummet off cliffs, you may enjoy this sneaky trick I've discovered for v1.1 of this guide: Walk up the first hill and jump over to the left, onto the small rock platform with the stone pillar on it. The monsters will begin spawning and walking towards you, but they won't be able to make it over the gap and will simply drop to their deaths. You don't need to fire a single shot, and can just watch the kills stack up until Lucifer appears. If you find this too boring (I didn't), keep moving and use the chaingun or shotgun to take the monsters out. The object is to kill 66 of them, at which point you will get a Morph and Lucifer will appear. But killing 66 takes time (unless you let them walk off the cliffs), and you'll want more ammo and probably some armour. The nearest armour is under the big missile platform thing pointing at the sky, around the corner to the left of your starting position, hidden in a secret area. ~ There are plenty of mega ammo boxes scattered around, too, but try not to pick them up until you've exhausted most of the ammo you currently have. As for the other four secret areas: there are two in the upper floors of the two larger ruined buildings in the middle area. The building on the right has medium armour on the top floor - reach it by quick-jumping all the way around the broken walls and from the top wall around to the armour. ~ The other building has super-health in it - and this one is much easier to get. ~ The fourth secret area is on top of the building in the enclosed area away to the left, the one exploding with rubble flying through the air. Quick-jump up the diagonal beam behind the house and onto the roof for a heavy armour. ~ And the fifth and final secret area is perched on a lump of molten rock in mid-air. Follow the wall with two sides meeting at a right angle, just behind the gigantic nuclear missile poking out of the ground, and jump up the cliffs at the smashed end of the wall. You can jump onto the first big orange rock, the one with two rocks between it and the armour. Get to the back of this big rock, quick-jump up to the top of it and then over to the next rock, and from there you can jump to the third rock and then onto the fourth, where the heavy armour sits. ~ Standing quick-jumps help a lot here, though it will still be tricky. Anyway, when you reach 65 kills or thereabouts, go and find some armour or health pickups so you're ready to face Lucifer, and quicksave before you continue. Killing the 66th monster will Morph you and reveal Lucifer as a giant, orange figure looming above you. Weirdly, Necrogiant is much bigger than this guy, and Lucifer might well be the simplest boss in the game. What a weed. To beat Lucifer you have to first avoid the swings of his big sword (the first occasion in the game where you will take damage while Morphed). He'll do this a few times but more important are the falling rocks coming from way above you, which will be summoned from the ground when you see Lucifer chuck his sword above his head and catch it. As soon as you spot the rocks dropping from the sky start quick-jumping straight backwards (you may notice the big changes which have come over the landscape), as far from Lucifer as you can get until the rocks begin to land. This lets you avoid the rocks falling directly down, and also sets you up perfectly for the second stage of the attack. When they are landing shoot at them so that they go flying into Lucifer's body. If you get four or five shot into him (you can do this with just one bunch of rocks) Lucifer will take a few seconds' breather before flinging his sword directly at you. At this point you should be battering the primary fire over and over, so that your shots hit the sword before it reaches you, sending it right back at Lucifer, dropping him to the floor and killing him. Lucifer will disappear if you don't kill him off in about a minute, and then you'll have to get rid of another 66 monks to try again. Unlike with the other main bosses, Lucifer's body doesn't collapse in slow motion and black and white, so you might have to take a look to make sure he's really down. Once he is dead the arrow will direct you to the exit, a big shimmering blue pentagram; but before you leave you really should explore the area to appreciate its incredible design. You could also try a pretty weird thing I found: quick-jump all the way up to the highest point of the trebuchet just uphill from the level's beginning - the one near the big ruined gap in the right wall. Stand on the very top for a few seconds and you should get catapulted away across to the starting point of the level. Useless but fun, just like me :) --- TAROT CARD: Mercy (Silver) -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- Sit back and watch the disturbing end movie, featuring such favourites as Alastor and... Alastor. This movie leaves you hanging a bit, supposedly braced to take on Painkiller at Trauma level. This is one of two end movies in Painkiller - to see the real ending you'll have to go through most of that crap again, only this time on Trauma difficulty. -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.25 - FROM NIGHTMARE TO TRAUMA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you managed to collect all 23 tarot cards from the Nightmare game the highest level - Trauma - will now be open to you, and you can use your twenty- three cards while attempting it (not all at once - boo). To begin a Trauma game, press Space to skip the Nightmare credits, choose Yes when asked if you want to lock all the levels, and No when asked if you want all your cards removed. Go to the tarot board and choose a new card configuration. For some reason the tarot card conditions are still in effect on each level, even though it's impossible to get to where you are without having collected all of them - I guess this is in place for the sake of those people who were dumb enough to pick Yes when asked if they wanted their cards deleted. --- Trauma is of course more difficult than the other levels, but in some ways it's a bit easier. For instance, you have all the cards (assuming you kept them all), so you will hardly ever be needing to mess about with the tarot board to suit each level. This of course means you don't need nearly as much gold, which gets rid of one chore right from the start. Also, there are no souls in a Trauma game (!). This means you will have much less health, but also no need for those soul-based silver cards, which should make card selection easier. And you get to ditch the Demon Morphs, which I quite appreciated, as they were really starting to get on my tits. You'll also be using your gold cards much more in Trauma, which makes your brand new Mercy card a very attractive proposition. I recommend sticking with the following card configuration for pretty much the whole of your Trauma game - worked great for me: Silver: Mercy / Vitality Gold: Double Time Bonus / Iron Will / Rage This combination virtually turns you into a Demon, except you get to use it three times per level. If you carried your cards over all cards will be UNLOCKED at the end of each Trauma level, whether you obey the card conditions or not. This means you can use whatever weapons you want in the Town and Asylum, won't have to bother hunting in every corner of the Military Base, and so on. One thing you'll quickly notice when you start a Trauma game is that you can't quicksave (no more forty second 'quickloads' then). The checkpoints now act as your only saves (autosaves), which means you must plan each battle carefully and save as much health and armour as you can while you clear out each area to open the next checkpoint. --- As Lucifer is now dead, Hell is gone and so are the three fifth-level maps leading up to it. A Trauma game ends in the Tower, so you only have to get past Alastor to see what the game calls 'Painkiller's true story'. Intriguing... You will also get to play the newly-unlocked Forest level - the last remaining hidden level, containing the twenty-fourth tarot card - just before you face off against Alastor for the last time. This level appears after you complete level 4/3 Babel, and it will be the new level 4/4 in place of The Tower, which will have been moved to level 4/5. My guide to beating the Forest level is in section 3.19. Once you complete your Trauma game you will have all the cards and can start a new Daydream, Nightmare or Insomnia game (Trauma is sometimes greyed out - why?!). But the game will remove certain cards from your collection when you start a new game - I started a new Nightmare game after I completed Trauma, only to find that I was missing four cards: Confusion, Soul Redeemer, Mercy, and Divine Intervention - in other words: the cards for Docks, Old Monastery and Hell, which are unreachable through a Trauma game; and the card for Forest, which is unreachable through anything other than a Trauma game. This pissed me off. City On Water is also locked out of Trauma, yet you get to keep the friggin' card. Argh! If you do want to start a new Trauma game you'll have to reload from the autosave at the beginning of the Atrium Complex level. You should have all twenty four cards if you do it this way, though you'll miss the Cemetery. You may also find that you have an autosave for City On Water on Trauma difficulty, despite the fact that the Trauma game ends after you finish the Tower level. Trying to load the autosave just resets the map to the Cemetery - weird. --- Anyway, congratulations on completing Painkiller (at least on Nightmare difficulty), and I hope you used and enjoyed my guide while doing it :) -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- @-------------------------------------@ | 4. CONTRIBUTORS / CONTRIBUTIONS | @-------------------------------------@ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- Version 1.0 - 16 November 2006 - Michael Sarich: Copyright Disclaimer <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.1 - N/A <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.2 - N/A <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.3 - 21 December 2006 - Tiit Teder Contribution to section 2.3.2 PICKUPS (Gold) 11 December 2006 - Publisher Contribution to section 3.3 - LEVEL 1/3 CATACOMBS <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.4 - 23 January 2007 - Antti Repo Contribution to section 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.5 - 02 February 2007 - Earnest Shadie Contribution to section 2.3.1 WEAPONS (Painkiller) 06 February 2007 - Sazaban Contribution to section 3.7 - LEVEL 2/2 OPERA HOUSE <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.6 - N/A <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.7 - 18 April 2007 - Saraphan Contribution to section 2.3.1 WEAPONS (Painkiller, Rocket-launcher) 22 May 2007 - Squizur Boom! Contribution to section 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY 28 June 2007 - Taylor Contributions to section 2.3.2 PICKUPS, 3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN 03 July 2007 - jake mcwhae Contribution to section 2.5 MONSTERS (Templar Knight) 10 August 2007 - jetscope Contribution to section 2.1 MENUS <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.8 - 09 September 2007 - Thomas Tarpey Contribution to section 2.2.2 COMBAT, 2.4.2 SILVER CARDS <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.9 - 24 December 2007 - Graham Dale (grizzlygd@yahoo.com.au) Contribution to section 3.23 LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.10 - 20 November 2007 - Hiu Zhan Yuan Contribution to section 2.4.1 GOLD CARDS 22 January 2008 - Psycho Contribution to section 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL 27 January 2008 - jason lougee Contribution to section 3.22 LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS 03 February 2008 - ken whitaker Contribution to section 2.5 MONSTERS 14 February 2008 - vic rabb Contributions to sections 2.41 GOLD CARDS; 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY; 3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 PALACE 02 March 2008 - Niko Alanen Contributions to section 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY 22 May 2008 - Adam Levine Contributions to section 3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN 25 May 2008 - Alex Eberle Contribution to section 3.11 - LEVEL 2/6 SWAMP 05 June 2008 - rofl pwn Contribution to section 2.3.1 WEAPONS 12 June 2008 - Andrew Contributions to section 3.12 - LEVEL 3/1 TRAIN STATION 10 July 2008 - Hristo Hristov Contribution to section 3.22 LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS 15 June 2008 - Kelsey K Contributions to section 2.3.2 PICKUPS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THANK-YOU TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- @------------------------------------@ | 5. VERSION HISTORY / UPDATES | @------------------------------------@ -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- Version 1.0 completion - 16 November 2006 <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.1 completion - 19 November 2006 Section 1: 1.1 INTRODUCTION - Added notes about secret areas; added notes about similar fps games Section 2: 2.3.1 WEAPONS - Added notes to Painkiller, Shotgun; removed mistake about Demon Morph being compatible with gold cards 2.3.2 PICKUPS - Added notes to Quad Damage 2.3.4 SECRET AREAS - Rewrote section 2.4 TAROT CARDS - Added notes about Black Tarot Cards 2.4.1 GOLD CARDS - Added notes to Fury, Rage 2.4.2 SILVER CARDS - Added notes to Soul Redeemer 2.5 MONSTERS - Added Raven; minor changes to Hell Biker, Lepper Monk, Psychonun, Witch, Zombie, Zombie Warrior Section 3: Renamed to 3. WALKTHROUGH 3.1 - LEVEL 1/1 CEMETERY - Added notes about miniboss's soul 3.4 - LEVEL 1/4 CATHEDRAL - Corrected mistake about amount of gold acquired after collecting holy item 3.7 - LEVEL 2/2 OPERA HOUSE - Added notes about fourth secret area 3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN - Corrected to include amputees; improved notes on reaching third secret area 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY - Rewrote the section to include all secret areas 3.14 - LEVEL 3/3 MILITARY BASE - Corrected mistakes about secret areas 3.16 - LEVEL 4/1 CASTLE - Added missing checkpoint; rearranged section; corrected mistakes about secret areas 3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 THE PALACE - Improved notes about second secret area 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL - Added notes about first and fifth secret areas; added notes about Big Beast's red soul 3.19 - LEVEL 4/4 FOREST - Added notes about first secret area; rearranged section 3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY - Added missing checkpoint; rearranged section 3.24 - LEVEL 5/4 HELL - Corrected mistakes about tarot cards and minions; added notes about fifth secret area; added alternative method of killing minions Miscellaneous: All secret areas now included Corrected errors in grammar, typing and formatting <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.2 completion - 24 November 2006 Section 2: 2.5 MONSTERS - Added notes to Maso Commando Section 5: Corrected mistake about version 1.1 completion date Miscellaneous: Corrected errors in grammar, typing and formatting <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.3 completion - 14 December 2006 Section 1: 1.3 CONTACT ME - Added notes about first few version releases Section 2: 2.3.2 PICKUPS - Corrected error about gold trinkets Section 3: 3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY - Improved descriptions of checkpoints 8 and 9 Miscellaneous: Corrected errors in grammar, typing and formatting <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.4 completion - 28 January 2007 Section 2: 2.3.1 WEAPONS - Added notes to Painkiller Section 3: 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL - Improved description of last holy item - now reachable from beginning of level <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.5 completion - 18 March 2007 New disclaimer Section 1: 1.1 INTRODUCTION - Added notes about Battle Out Of Hell guide 1.2 USING THIS GUIDE - Improved information 1.3 CONTACT ME - Improved information Section 2: 2.2.1 MOVEMENT - Added notes about standing quick-jump 2.3.1 WEAPONS - Added notes to Painkiller; Grenade-launcher 2.3.2 PICKUPS - Added notes to Souls 2.4 TAROT CARDS - Added notes about missing cards 2.4.2 SILVER CARDS - Added notes to Soul Catcher 2.5 MONSTERS - Added notes to Devil Monk; Evil Samurai; Freak; Maso Commando; Sado Commando; Skeleton Soldier; Zombie Warlord Section 3: Made corrections and improvements to the following sections - 3.1 - LEVEL 1/1 CEMETERY 3.3 - LEVEL 1/3 CATACOMBS 3.5 - LEVEL 1/5 ENCLAVE 3.6 - LEVEL 2/1 PRISON 3.7 - LEVEL 2/2 OPERA HOUSE 3.8 - LEVEL 2/3 ASYLUM 3.9 - LEVEL 2/4 SNOWY BRIDGE 3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN 3.11 - LEVEL 2/6 SWAMP 3.12 - LEVEL 3/1 TRAIN STATION 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY 3.14 - LEVEL 3/3 MILITARY BASE 3.15 - LEVEL 3/4 RUINS 3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 THE PALACE 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL 3.21 - LEVEL 5/1 CITY ON WATER 3.22 - LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS 3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY 3.24 - LEVEL 5/4 HELL 3.25 - FROM NIGHTMARE TO TRAUMA Miscellaneous: Improved formatting New and improved screens for every secret area now available <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.6 completion - 22 March 2007 Improved formatting <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.7 completion - 17 July 2007 Corrected copyright notice Updated disclaimer and allowed sites Section 2: 2.3.1 WEAPONS - Corrected error in Electrodriver 2.3.5 MISCELLANEOUS - Added notes to Checkpoints; Pushable Objects; Corpses 2.5 MONSTERS - Corrected errors in Hell Biker, Lepper Monk Section 3: 3.16 - LEVEL 4/1 CASTLE - Corrected error about reaching the secret area after checkpoint 2 3.22 - LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS - Added notes about checkpoint bugs 3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY - Corrected errors about several of the latter checkpoints. Miscellaneous: Corrected various minor errors Corrected error about two v1.5 releases <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.8 completion - 15 October 2007 Miscellaneous: Corrected various minor errors <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.9 completion - 02 January 2008 Section 2: 2.4.2 SILVER CARDS - Corrected error in Double Haste / Triple Haste Miscellaneous: Corrected various minor errors <-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Version 1.10 completion - 12 July 2008 Section 1: 1.1 INTRODUCTION - Added notes about patches; added link to game patches; added S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to list of recommended games 1.3 CONTACT ME - Added more information Section 2: 2.4.1 GOLD CARDS - Added notes to Double Time Bonus; corrected descriptions of Haste; Double Haste; Triple Haste; added Dexterity 2.5 MONSTERS - Added description of Arabian Warrior; corrected description of Dark Ninja Section 3: 3.11 - LEVEL 2/6 SWAMP - Changed recommended Gold card selection 3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY - Added note about tarot condition; patch 3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 PALACE - Corrected Arabian Warrior entry 3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL - Corrected Arabian Warrior entry 3.22 - LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS - Slightly altered description of a secret area -=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=-=#=- Thank-you for using this walkthrough. I hope it helped you out, or at least taught you how _not_ to play the game. At the very least, I hope you found it entertaining. ¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_| This guide was written and formatted with the excellent Metapad: http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/ ¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_|¬=-¬_| Useless - utuselessut@hotmail.com /============================================================================\ -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- -=#=- \============================================================================/