speculawyer said:
Just finished on Crushing. Damn, that is hard. Some levels, like those
guys are relentless.
There was a level deep in the bowels of the cruise ship where I finished it by getting stuck inside a crate somehow. Very odd. I couldn't shoot the enemies and they couldn't shoot me. They just walked around the crate until the ship capsized.
Those two levels were awfully designed on Crushing. They are almost impossible to do and defeating them seem to rely on fast reflex and luck. They are as bad as the Airport level except that the Airport battle (2 crazy shotgunners + 2 laser snipers at small enclosed space) is avoidable if you can do the stealth correctly.
With the bowel of the ship, if you fail the 3rd wave, you're back with 2nd wave, that has an annoyingly accurate goon shooting from the top and soaks bullet like sponge. Then there's the usual crazy 2 shotgunners with body armor. My tactic went like this: prior to this encounter, make sure you spare at least a shotgun with 6 bullets, 2 grenades, and a long-range mini gun. I had a Magnum as mini gun so that helped tremendously.
When the battle start, shoot the guy in front of you with mini gun, then shoot the guy on the top platform ACCURATELY or you have no chance at all to defeat this sequence. Quickly throw 1 grenade at shotgun guy. Then use shotgun to drop him dead. Next defeat the guy with steel armor carrying the machine gun. Shoot his armor with shotgun and when he drops down and shows his head, ACCURATELY shoots his head.
As soon as the enemies in front of you are all dead, quickly run to the other side of the crate, taking shotgun bullets left by the dead guys and a new mini gun. Be careful because by now the laser guys will start aiming from behind you. Hide behind the crate and hang from them and shoot the 2 laser snipers now standing on a platform behind you (well, in front of you now). You have to be crazy accurate and fast or else, the new shotgun guy will come after you by now. Don't engage him. Just move to the right side of the crate, hang from it, and shoot the other henchman. Then quickly JUMP over the crate (don't stay around because a sniper will soon show up behind you), running back to your original cover position and face the shotgunner + sniper from there.
What happens now involve a really fast reflex and luck because you have no idea if one of the henchmen will drop down behind you like Ninja or not. You can try to make sure he doesn't sneak behind you but with another 2 laser snipers aiming at you, it's understandable why this scenario is almost impossible on Crushing. Quickly kill the shotgun guy with the last grenade or mini gun if you haven't drop him dead. Watch out for the top left corner of the room, and you may or may not see a fucker trying to run on the top ledge towards where you are. Shoot him dead before he arrives at his destination (your original cover). And shoot the snipers on the front platform if you see one.
Your position behind this crate is no longer safe at this point because another laser sniper will move towards right hand position so you should move to the crate near the area that almost capsized. If you're lucky, this is when a weird bug happens: the water will start to rise and capsized and swallow you, covering you from the laser sniper's shoot (but you can't shoot at him either). All of a sudden, you're drown and the next thing you know, you're transported to an empty area where the sniper is no longer around. Phew, you just survived an awfully designed level based on bug and dumb luck.
As for the
guys, as usual always always carry a shotgun with you before the encounter. In the 1st encounter, quickly alternate your shotgun with a Rocket launcher on the top platform. Fry those fuckers (there are 3-4 IIRC) then if you run out of Rocket launcher, run to one of the windows because there's a hammer with 6 rounds there.
If you managed to dispatch them, there'll be 3-4 more coming via the lifts. Aim your mini gun (I had a magnum), fire at his face then give him more Rocket. On the top left corner from the lift, another fucker is hiding. Give him hammer/rocket love. Move around the lift and you should find hopefully the last one skulking around. Hopefully you still have two shots of hammer and are accurate with mini gun to dispatch him.
With the 2nd and 3rd encounter, again, make sure you find more hammer before the encounter. Then spam the bejeezus out of them at least and there should be at least 6 more Hammer for your final and most frustrating battle with these fuckers. When the final battle starts, run away from the fountain. Cross your finger that you avoid their shots before arriving at the back pillar. From here on it's quick reflex + luck + hammer/rocket fiesta.
Quickly look in front of you, usually a fucker is skulking around trying to get a shot at you. Give him a taste of your mini gun then hammer the living crap out of him. If you're lucky, you'd accidentally take out his 2 friends who are also there with him. Then look behind you (or at the direction of the fountain), a few more will try to flank you. Introduce them to your best friend, Mr. Hammer a few more times. By this time you will have run out of Hammer. But your next best friend, Mr. Rocket launcher is not far from you. Use the 3 ammo carefully.
By this stage, you should be on the 2nd wave but if you die in the 2nd wave, thanks to ND's ingenue design decision, you're back at 1st wave. So don't die or you'll kick yourself silly. The back pillar is still the best area to hide providing you move from right to left pillars in succession. There is this one guy who'll try to flank you from behind. If you're on the left pillar, quickly move to right because he'll sure be behind you now. Then after shooting him once from right pillar, move to the left, because he sure will haunt your ass from behind the right pillar. And then I think there is 1 more guy left but as long as you're careful, he should be easily dispatched with your remaining rocket launcher. There's also another Hammer on the far left side of the fountain if you need more ammo.
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