Blacksite: Area 51: Weapon and Enemy Guide:
Document Started: August 20, 2008
by Alan Chan (joylock @ hotmail.com)
The Usual:
This document is mine. Please don't rip it off or take credit for it. If you
use any of the information provided in this guide in your own FAQ,
walkthrough, or guide, you must acknowledge that you obtained the information
from me, and give me proper credit.
That being said, feel free to post it on any site you want, provided you a)
don't make any changes to it, and b) don't charge money for it. You
don't even have to get my permission to post it (as long as it remains
unaltered), but it would be nice if you emailed me and let me know
(joylock @ hotmail.com).
Purpose of this Guide:
After playing through Blacksite: Area 51, I found that, despite being
something of a budget release, it was put together reasonably alright,
and I found it to be a fun game. And, since I wrote a weapon/enemy FAQ
for the previous game, Area 51, I decided to write one for this sequel.
Version History:
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*1.0: Initial Release                                                         *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************
The latest version of this FAQ can be found at www.gamefaqs.com.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Game Mechanics
- Combat Tips
- Weapons
- Enemies
*****************
*Game Mechanics:*
*******************************************************************************
-  Blacksite: Area 51 has 3 difficulty settings: Casual, Hard, and Expert.
"Casual" is easy, "Hard" is more like normal (and also the default
difficulty), and "Expert" is more like hard.
On Casual difficulty:
- Enemies do roughly 60% damage
- Enemies have roughly 66% health
On Hard difficulty:
- Enemies do 100% damage
- Enemies have 100% health
On Expert difficulty:
- Enemies do 200% damage
- Enemies have roughly 120% health
Difficulty may or may not affect enemy accuracy or intelligence,
although I personally haven't noticed any significant difference.
-  The game uses a regenerating health system. When you take
damage, your vision turns red, veins appear in the corner of your
vision (to simulate your eyeballs bleeding, I guess), and you start to
hear your heartbeat. The more damage you take, the more pronouced
these symptoms are, so that if the screen is almost solid red, you're
about to die. To heal damage, you need to avoid taking damage for
about 4 seconds, after which your health will regenerate back to full in
less than a second.
-  Note that in Blacksite: Area 51, you can take a relative high amount of
firearms damage before dying. On the default difficulty level, you can
survive more than a few dozen assault rifle hits before dying. Even on
the highest difficulty level, Expert, it takes more than a couple dozen
shots to kill you. Many of the melee and spitting attacks used by Xeno
aliens can kill you in just 3 to 5 hits, however.
-  For almost the entire game, you'll be accompanied by 1 or 2 Delta
Force squadmates. The game uses an extremely simplified, single-
button squad command feature. There are 3 basic combat-related
commands you can give your squad:
MOVE TO: To move your squad to a position, point at the area you
want them to move to, then press the squad command button. Note
that your squad likes to stick close to you, and will actually run BACK
to you after running to the ordered position if you're too  far away
from them.
ATTACK: To get your squad to concentrate fire on a specific enemy,
point at that enemy and press the squad command button.
USE TURRET: Point your crosshair at a mounted turret, then press the
squad command button, and one of your squadmates will man the
turret and use it to mow down attacking enemies (this is VERY useful,
so be sure to use it when turrets are in the area).
Even if you don't give them commands, your squad operates
independently in a generally effective manner; they take cover, fire at
enemies, blindfire around cover, manuever around, follow you around the
battlefield, and even toss grenades at groups of enemies.
-  Your squadmates consist of Logan Somers, Cody Grayson, Mitchell
Ambrose, and Dr. Noa Weis. Somers, Grayson, and Ambrose are
armed with assault rifles (M4 Carbines), while Dr. Noa Weis carries a
unique pistol which seems to be a wood-handled Beretta M9 with a
recoil compensator muzzle extension attached. All four also carry frag
grenades, and can also melee attack enemies that get too close.
-  Squadmates are unkillable. If they take too much damage, they'll be
knocked out for a dozen seconds or so, but will recover and get back
up again soon enough. The amount of damage squadmates can take
before they are knocked out depends on squad morale.
-  The effectiveness of your squad is affected by the game's morale
system. The morale system is based on how well you and your squad
are doing in combat. Killing enemies, scoring headshots, and
commanding your squad to attack specific targets raises morale.
Taking damage lowers morale, and if one of your squadmates is
knocked out, morale automatically drops to "low".
When morale is low, your squadmates become very vulnerable, and
can be knocked out after suffering relatively little damage. They also
become less effective, and will fire back at the enemy much less often
(only firing 2 or 3 shots every couple of seconds, for example).
Conversely, when morale is high, your squadmates become tougher
than usual, and can survive more damage without being knocked out.
They also become more effective in combat, firing at the enemy in
prolonged, accurate streams of gunfire.
Morale will return to normal over time. Thus, if your squad morale is
low, it will eventually go back to normal once the current firefight is
over and you go for several seconds without any combat. Likewise, if
morale is high, it will also go back to normal after a couple dozen
seconds or so of you not killing anything.
**************
*Combat Tips:*
*******************************************************************************
-  Taking cover behind walls and objects is a good way to reduce the
damage you take from enemy gunfire. You can also duck behind low
objects, then stand up briefly to return fire before ducking down again
to avoid the enemy's return fire. Note that most of the objects you can
take cover behind in the game are destroyable by enemy gunfire, so if
the concrete barrier you're hiding behind crumbles away, you'll want
to run to a new piece of cover to avoid getting shot up.
-  Don't be shy about using ammo or grenades. Both are plentiful
throughout the game, and you'll frequently come across ammo
pickups that fill your levels of ammo or grenades up to maximum.
-  Also, don't get too attached to your weapons, as you'll often be reset
back to an assault rifle and a pistol at the beginning of each new
mission, and sometimes even at each new level transition.
**********
*Weapons:*
*******************************************************************************
-  In Blacksite: Area 51, you can only carry 2 weapons at a time. When
you pick up a new weapon, you'll drop the one you're currently
holding in your hands. Besides your two primary weapons, you'll also
be able to carry 5 frag grenades, which can be thrown at any time.
You can also perform a melee attack with whatever weapon you're
holding.
-  Blacksite has a relatively small weapon selection, with only 6 useable
firearms. Of those, only the pistol, assault rifle, scatter gun, and
advanced sniper rifle see general use throughout the game. The
antitank launcher mostly appears only in boss fights, and the plasma
rifle is only available in the game's last few missions.
-  In the game's first mission ("Iraq"), you're equipped with an assault
rifle and an advanced sniper rifle. All of the game's other missions
start you out equipped with an assault rifle and a .45 combat pistol.
-  The game features four types of ammo pickups: small ammo crates,
large ammo crates, grenade crates, and missile crates. Small ammo
crates give you 2 magazines worth of ammo for each weapon you're
carrying (1 magazine of ammo for the Scatter Gun). Large ammo
crates give you the maximum amount of ammo you can carry for all
weapons you're holding. Grenade crates give you 3 grenades. Finally,
missile crates refill your store of antitank launcher ammo. You can
also get ammo from the weapons that enemy soldiers drop.
-  NOTE: Area 51: Blacksite doesn't have an SDK or any other method
for me to browse the game's files, so the damage values given here
are estimates based on in-game observation.
Melee Attack:
Damage: ~100 to 200
You can perform a melee attack with the firearm currently held in your
hand. This is useful for striking at enemies that manage to get right up
in your face. The melee attack is actually pretty powerful; it usually
kills enemy soldiers in 1 hit (although you occasionally have to hit
Reborn soldiers twice to kill them).
==========
.45 Combat Pistol:
Real Name: H&K Mk23 Pistol
Damage: 40
Rate of Fire: 450 rpm
Clip Size: 15
Max Ammo: 90
The .45 combat pistol is the game's backup sidearm. You begin
almost all missions in the game with an assault rifle and a pistol.
The pistol does more than twice as much damage as the assault rifle,
and also has a pretty quick rate of fire and a decent clip size. It also
reloads relatively quickly, too.
On the downside, it's semi-automatic, so you need to press the fire
button each time to fire each individual bullet. The pistol also doesn't
have perfect accuracy, unlike the assault rifle, so you do tend to miss
some of your shots at long range. One final drawback of the pistol is
that it's not loaded with tracer rounds, so you won't be able to see
your bullets travel through the air, or reliable track where they strike.
Overall, the pistol is a decent backup weapon, but it's not as good as
any of the game's primary weapons. I recommend you trade it for a
scatter gun, advanced sniper rifle, or plasma rifle if any of them
become available.
==========
Assault Rifle:
Real Name: M4 Carbine
Damage: 15
Rate of Fire: 600 rpm
Clip Size: 45
Max Ammo: SP: 450
MP: 225
The assault rifle is your default weapon in Blacksite: Area 51, and will
be the weapon you use most often throughout the entire game. The
assault rifle is actually a really good weapon, with perfect accuracy, a
high rate of fire, a large clip size (45 rounds instead of the standard 30
round mags of most FPS assault rifles), and a pretty fast reload. The
assault rifle is also equipped with a reflex scope, which lets you zoom
in somewhat on distant targets. Ammo for the assault rifle is also
really common, as most of the enemy soldiers you encounter will drop
assault rifle ammo when killed.
One neat trick with the assault rifle is that it's loaded with two
magazines taped together with duct tape. When the first magazine
runs out of bullets, you'll immediately swap to the second magazine in
a split second (without even needing to re-cock the rifle), allowing you
to keep up a constant rate of fire. This "fast reload" is quicker than a
manual reload (where you swap both magazines for a fresh pair, then
re-cock the rifle), but only occurs when you fire all the bullets in the
first magazine. Pressing the reload button performs a manual reload
(which, although slower, is still reasonably fast).
Overall, the assault rifle is a great weapon with no real drawbacks,
and should serve you well throughout the game. I recommend you
always carry it around.
==========
Advanced Sniper Rifle:
Real Name: XM-8 Sniper Variant
Damage: ~170
Rate of Fire: 120 rpm
Clip Size: 5
Max Ammo: 15
You start the game's first mission equipped with an advanced sniper
rifle, and can also pick one up later in the game from enemy snipers.
As you'd expect, the sniper rifle is equipped with a high magnification
scope that allows you to zoom in on and pick off distant targets at
long range. The sniper rifle is semi-automatic and features a relatively
fast rate of fire (you can fire 2 shots per second). It's also reasonably
powerful, and will kill enemy soldiers with a single shot to any part of
their body. Ammo for the sniper rifle is also pretty common, since it's
restored to full whenever you pick up a large ammo crate.
The only real drawback to the sniper rifle is that it's not particularly
effective against Xenos, such as Drudges or Flatworms. It's best to
use it exclusively for picking off enemy soldiers (use the fast-firing
assault rifle for mowing down Xenos). Another drawback of the sniper
rifle is its longer than usual reload time.
The sniper rifle hits instantly. When dealing with moving enemies
(such as enemy soldiers who are strafing while firing), you should
move the crosshair ahead of their path, then fire once they run right
over the crosshair.
Overall, the sniper rifle is a great weapon, and lets you pick off enemy
soldiers at from the relative safety of long range. Don't be shy about
using it, as you restock ammo for it pretty often.
==========
Antitank Launcher:
Real Name: FGM-148 Javelin Missile Launcher
Damage: ~1500+
Damage Radius: 14 meters
Rate of Fire: N/A
Clip Size: 1
Max Ammo: SP: 3
MP: 2
The antitank launcher is a bulky, single-shot missile launcher. It is VERY
powerful, and will kill any normal enemy (except for Large Flatworms
and bosses) in a single hit. It also has a very large splash damage
radius of more than 40 feet, and can kill a group of several enemies with
a single missile. On the downside, the antitank launcher needs to be
reloaded after each shot, and it takes about 3 to 4 seconds for each
reload. The launcher is also very heavy, and slows your movement speed
down to about half when you're wielding it (it's the only weapon that
affects your movement speed).
The launcher is equipped with a computerized targeting scope that
allows you to "lock-on" to enemies with the missile's heat-seeking
feature. Just activate the scope, then aim the crosshair at the enemy
for a second or so to lock-on. Once locked-on, the heat-seeking
missile will seek the enemy and track it even if it moves or tries to
dodge. Missiles fired without using the scope are "dumb-fire", and will
travel in a straight line without any heat-seeking ability.
The antitank launcher and its corresponding ammo is also quite rare;
you usually only get it for use in boss fights, i.e. against enemy
helicopters, Spore Towers, or Fire Brutes.
Unlike the game's other weapons, you won't get missile ammo from
ammo crates. You can only get more rockets specifically from missile
crates, or by picking up spare antitank launchers.
The antitank launcher's rarity makes it mostly only useful for the boss
battles in which it appears, although you can carry it around after the
boss battle and use your 3 missiles to kill some regular enemies too.
==========
Scatter Gun:
Damage: ~30 x 12
Rate of Fire: 60 rpm
Clip Size: 10
Max Ammo: 50
The scatter gun is an experimental alien weapon used by the Reborn
soldiers (most Reborn soldiers are equipped with either assault rifles
or scatter guns). It behaves similar to a shotgun, firing a spread of 12
orange energy pellets. The spread is pretty wide, making it mostly
useful at close range, and less useful at medium or long range due to
the pellets dispersing so that only a few hit after a dozen feet or so.
The scatter gun is reasonably powerful, and can kill enemy soldiers in
a single shot at close range.
The big drawback to the scatter gun is its rate of fire is rather slow,
especially compared to other FPS shotguns. You can only fire 1 shot
every second. Also, there's a split second delay between when you
press the fire button, and when the gun actually fires. Finally, the
reload time is somewhat long when compared to the assault rifle or
pistol.
The scatter gun can be "charged" by holding down the fire button. A
charged shot doesn't do more damage, but the pellet spread is much
tighter, increasing the weapon's effective range. Pellets from a
charged shot also bounce off walls and other objects. Finally, when
you charge up a shot, the gun fires as soon as you release the fire
button, without the split-second delay in firing that normally occurs
when you just fire a regular shot.
Overall, due to the low rate of fire and split-second delay when firing
uncharged shots, the scatter gun isn't as useful as the assault rifle.
I don't particularly recommend it. If you really want to use it,
for best results you should use charged shots; charge up a shot
when you're safe behind cover, then pop out and nail an enemy with
it. Since charged shots have a narrower pellet spread, they can still
kill enemies at medium range (although it may take 2 or 3 shots to do
the job).
==========
Plasma Rifle:
Damage: ~400
Damage Radius: 5 meters
Rate of Fire: 60 rpm
Clip Size: 5
Max Ammo: 25
The plasma rifle is probably the most powerful weapon in the game
(it doesn't do quite as much raw damage as the antitank launcher, but
unlike the antitank launcher it's common enough to be used as a "normal"
weapon and isn't only limited to special encounters). The plasma rifle
basically fires a fast-moving plasma ball that passes through enemies
and explodes on impact with a solid surface. It is very powerful, and
will kill enemy soldiers in a single direct hit. The splash damage is
also usually lethal with one hit, and has a decent radius of about
a dozen feet. Additionally, the rate of fire and clip size are also
pretty good considering how powerful the individual shots are.
The plasma rifle is kind of a combination of a railgun and a rocket
launcher. The plasma ball can pass through multiple enemies, killing
them all, and also produces a small explosion on impact with a
surface.
The plasma rifle's only real downside is the fact its low rate of fire
makes it ineffective against large swarms of small, weak enemies (i.e.
packs of Explosive Skrabs). It also has a longer reload time than the
assault rifle or pistol (just like the scatter gun and advanced sniper
rifle.)
The plasma rifle is only available in the game's last few levels (you
can pick up it from fallen Reborn soldiers), but it's a great, powerful
weapon, and I recommend you use it as your second weapon next to
your assault rifle.
==========
Frag Grenades:
Real Name: M67 Frag Grenades
Damage: ~1000
Max Ammo: SP: 5
MP: 3
Along with your two primary weapons, you can also carry a few frag
grenades to throw at enemies. Frag grenades explode a couple
seconds after being thrown, or instantly upon hitting an enemy. They
have a reasonably large splash damage radius of more than 20 feet, and
can kill a group of several enemy with a single blast.
You can also "cook" a grenade by holding down the throw button to
shorten the time it takes for the grenade to explode after landing. Be
careful though; if you hold onto the grenade for 2 seconds, it will
explode in your hand: this is lethal on Expert difficulty or in
multiplayer, and will critically injure you on default (Hard) difficulty.
Don't be shy about using frag grenades, as refills for them are fairly
common (you get frag grenades from grenade crates, and enemies
also drop them fairly often).
**********
*Enemies:*
*******************************************************************************
-  NOTE: Area 51: Blacksite doesn't have an SDK or any other method
for me to browse the game's files, so the health values given here
are estimates based on in-game observation.
===========
=Soldiers:=
===============================================================================
-  Enemy A.I. in Blacksite: Area 51 is surprisingly solid, but nothing
revolutionary. Enemy soldiers do most everything you'd expect from a
modern FPS game. They strafe while firing, often run for cover, and
usually take cover behind objects while popping out to fire at you.
They provide covering fire for each other and typically advance under
covering fire, as well as make rudimentary attempts to flank you.
Enemy A.I. in Blacksite is pretty good at advancing towards you from
cover to cover. So, instead of charging you head-on, enemy soldiers
tend to advance forward from one piece of cover to another. They're
also reasonably reactive, and will retreat to a better position
if you flank their cover area or shoot them.
Still, overall enemy soldiers in Blacksite are easy enough to mow down
individually with the assault rifle. They're reasonably manueverable
and mobile and do spread out somewhat across the battlefield, yet they also
can often be caught standing in one spot firing at you (especially indoors),
making them a stationary target. Overall, it's fairly easy to take cover,
then pop out and shoot them. They also general always advance towards you
in a reasonably predictable manner, and don't seem to retreat and set up
ambushes like, say, the Replica soldiers in F.E.A.R.
Offensively, enemy soldiers can melee you with the butt of their firearm
if you get up close to them. Enemy Reborn soldiers can also throw frag
grenades at you to flush you out of cover or to attack you directly.
-  Enemy soldiers are vulnerable to headshots. However, the way this is
implemented is different from most other First Person Shooter games.
Enemies don't take extra damage from headshots, but after taking 2
or 3 shots to the head, an enemy soldier will die instantly.
Iraqi Republican Guards require 2 headshots to kill. 1 shot will
knock off their helmet or beret, while the 2nd shot kills them.
Reborn Soldiers require 3 headshots to kill. 2 shots will damage
their headgear, while the 3rd shot will kill them.
Iraqi Republican Guard:
Appearance: Middle Eastern soldier wearing tan-color shirt uniform.
Health: 130
Weapons: Assault Rifle (AK-47)
Sniper Rifle (Dragunov)
Other Attacks: Melee Attack
DESCRIPTION:
Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers are your primary opponents in
Mission 1: Iraq. Despite being standard human soldiers (as opposed
to the augmented Reborn troops you face later in the game), IRG
soldiers can actually survive quite a few bullet hits; on the default
difficulty, it takes 9 assault rifle shots to kill one (which is still less
than a second of constant fire). Still, IRG soldiers are somewhat weaker
than Reborn troops; they have less health, and they also either have
weaker weapons or lesser accuracy, because it seems to take longer
for them to kill you with assault rifle fire.
IRG soldiers are armed with AK-47 assault rifles, and can also melee
you with the butt of their rifles if you get too close to them. Unlike
Reborn troops, IRG soldiers don't seem to throw frag grenades.
IRG soldiers have the same basic behavior and A.I. as the game's
other soldier characters. They take cover behind objects, fire from
behind cover, advance from cover to cover, strafe while firing,
change cover when threatened or outflanked, etc.
Overall, Iraqi Republic Guard soldiers aren't much of a challenge,
even on Expert difficulty. You can survive a few dozen bullet hits
before your health is significantly threatened, and it's easy enough to
mow them down with assault rifle fire, or a well-aimed burst aimed at
their heads.
VARIANTS:
There are actually 3 different types of IRG soldiers you'll encounter in
the game; basic soldiers, officers, and snipers.
Soldiers: Standard IRG soldiers wearing tan helmets.
Officers: IRG officers wear red berets; usually 1 or 2 of them can be
found leading each group of IRG soldiers. Officers don't seem to
behave any differently from standard soldiers, as far as I can tell.
Snipers: There are about 3 enemy snipers in the Iraq missions. They
wear red berets and green shirts, and are armed with Dragunov
sniper rifles. They usually snipe at you from high-up locations, such
as wall ramparts or up in wood scaffolding. They're not too
dangerous; on the default difficulty level, you can survive several
shots from their sniper rifles before dying.
==========
Reborn Soldier:
Appearance: Cybernetically augmented soldier with grey, mottled
skin, wearing large black armored vest, armored gloves
and boots, and grey camo uniform.
Health: 170
Weapons: Assault Rifle
Scatter Gun
Plasma Rifle
Antitank Launcher
Other Attacks: Melee Attack
Frag Grenades
DESCRIPTION:
Reborn soldiers are your primary opponents in Blacksite: Area 51,
and the game's plot revolves around them and their insurrection
against the U.S. government spilling out into open war in and around
Rachel, Nevada.
The Reborn are kidnapped civilians or disappeared U.S. soldiers who
have been augmented with alien gene therapy treatments and
cybernetic implants. They have mottled grey skin (they look a lot like
the newer version of the Borg), and wear a heavy suit of black body armor
over dark grey camo uniforms.
ATTRIBUTES:
Reborn soldiers are tougher than the Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers
from Mission 1. They have more health, better accuracy and/or more
damaging asssault rifles, and also throw grenades at you to attack
you or flush you out of cover. They can also melee you with their rifle
butts if you get too close to them.
On default difficulty, it takes 12 assault rifle shots to kill a Reborn
soldier. Reborn soldiers can also be killed with 3 headshots (the first
two shots damages their facial covering, the next shot will kill them).
Most Reborn soldiers are equipped with assault rifles (M4 carbines) or
scatter guns. About 4 Reborn soldiers in the game carry antitank
launchers, which can critically injure you on Hard difficulty and
outright kill you in 1 hit on Expert. Finally, a dozen or so Reborn
soldiers carry plasma rifles in the game's last few levels.
KILL STRATEGY:
Overall, Reborn soldiers can be taken out using standard combat
tactics. Take cover, pop out and mow a couple down with the assault
rifle, then dodge back behind cover before you take too much
damage. Aiming bursts of fire at their head can be effective, and
grenades can be used to wipe out close-together groups of Reborn
soldiers.
VARIANTS:
There are 3 different Reborn soldier character models, however the
difference between them appears to be entirely cosmetic. Which
model appears when a given soldier spawns is entirely random.
Reborn Insurgent: Story-wise, these are the lowest-ranking Reborn,
created from homeless citizens, illegal immigrants, or captured enemy
combatants. They have unmodified faces, wearing only a pair of
combat goggles.
Reborn Soldier: Mid-rank Reborn, identified by a metal face-plate over
their face. These guys have no dossier file describing them, and are
only named in the game's multiplayer mode.
Reborn Recon Troop: An improvement over the standard Reborn
Insurgents, the Reborn Recon Troops are made from injured U.S.
soldiers who were officially dubbed KIA and shipped to Area 51 for
experimentation. The wear black hoods over their heads, and have a
single targeting lens over one eye. Although the game's dossier
describes them as better trained and more effective than Reborn
Insurgents, I didn't really notice any major in-game difference.
Reborn Elite: The game's dossier files describe "Reborn Elite", special
Reborn soldiers injected with Xeno cells. However, they don't seem to
appear in the actual game (the photo attached to the "Reborn Elite"
file is just a regular Reborn Soldier shrouded in shadows).
==========
Reborn Sniper:
Appearance: Reborn Recon soldier wearing black mask, with a
yellow monocular scope over one eye.
Health: 130
Weapon: Advanced Sniper Rifle
Other Attacks: Melee Attack
DESCRIPTION:
Reborn snipers are a special group of Reborn Recon soldiers armed
with advanced sniper rifles. They actually have less health than other
Reborn soldiers, but compensate with their long range sniper rifles.
Reborn snipers basically just stay in one position and snipe at you
from long range; they won't move around, try to dodge behind cover,
or throw grenades (although they do try to melee you if you run up
into their faces).
Reborn snipers are actually pretty rare. You'll face a few guarding the
drive-in theatre in the last level of Mission 3: Rachel (entitled
"Somebody Call FEMA"). You'll also snipe several in a sniping
sequence early on in Mission 4: Counter-Insurgency. A few are also
guarding the outpost where Noa Weis crashlands in Mission 5:
Topside. Overall, there's only about 16 or so Reborn snipers in the
entire game.
Reborn snipers are very accurate, seldom missing their shots. They
also have a decent rate of fire, firing a shot every second or two. On
the plus side, their sniper rifle shots don't do too much damage; on
Hard difficulty, it takes 8 hits to kill you, and even on Expert difficulty it
takes 4 hits to kill you.
When fighting Reborn snipers, your best bet is to advance towards
them while using objects (such as barriers or cars) as cover to hid
from their shots. Once you get close enough, counter-snipe them with
a few bursts of return fire from your assault rifle.
==========
Reborn Scout:
Appearance: 10-foot tall cyborg, consist of a woman's head, arms,
and upper torso attached to an exoskeleton frame with
two large mechanical legs.
Health: ~370
Weapons: Dual Pulse Weapons
Other Attacks: Melee Attack
DESCRIPTION:
Reborn Scouts are the most heavily cybernetically augmented Reborn
troops, consisting of a woman's upper body surgically severed from
the waist up, and attached to a mechanical exoskeleton with two large
mechanical legs. They are somewhat mis-named, as their in-game
role is more akin to a walking mobile weapons platform. Reborn
Scouts are equipped with a pair of energy pulse weapons mounted
over their shoulders, which they use to rapid-fire twin streams of
energy blasts at you while they stride back and forth across the
battlefield. Their weaponry is almost twice as strong as the assault
rifles wielded by standard Reborn soldiers. They also have near-
perfect accuracy, and won't miss you unless you hide behind cover.
Reborn Scouts are mostly found in Mission 3: Rachel, although
several appear in Mission 4: Counter-Insurgency, and a couple
appear near the beginning of Mission 5: Topside. Many major
shootouts against Reborn soldiers will also feature 2 or 3 Reborn
Scouts mixed in as fire support. There are a total of about 23 Reborn
Scouts throughout the entire game.
ATTRIBUTES:
Reborn Scouts are relatively heavily armored, and it takes a couple
dozen rounds of assault rifle fire to bring one down. When "killed",
the Reborn Scout's exoskeleton will collapse, and the torso will detach
itself and start crawling towards you rapidly; if it gets near you,
it will explode and do significant damage. Once you drop a Scout,
be sure to blow up the torso with a few more assault rifle shots
before it gets close to you.
KILL STRATEGY:
Fighting Reborn Scouts is straightforward enough; aim your assault
rifle at them, hold down the fire button and don't let up until they die.
They're pretty tough, so expect to use more than 2/3rds of a full clip of
ammo to bring one down. Be sure to fire from near cover, and to dodge or
duck behind cover once you start taking significant damage from their
constant energy pulse fire. At close to medium range, you can toss a
grenade at a Reborn Scout to kill it instantly, although you'll still have
to deal with the kamikaze torso.
========
=Xenos:=
===============================================================================
- "Xenos" is the term used for the various alien lifeforms that are
appearing around Rachel, Nevada as a result of the alien device
the Reborn have activated. Although the Reborn soldiers will be
your primary enemies in Blacksite, encounters against Xenos are
staged at regular intervals between Reborn shootouts to give the game
a good level of variety.
Most Xenos, such as the Skrab, Bug-Ridden, and Drudges will simply
charge towards you and attack you when they get close. Flatworms
are a stationary, turret-like Xeno that will spit average-speed
homing balls of plasma at you.
Xenos are fairly simple-minded, monster-type enemies, and generally
attempt to overwhelm you by attacking in groups of several at once.
Explosive Skrab:
Appearance: Pig-sized, lobster-like insectile alien with glowing yellow
eyes and spider-like legs.
Health: 1
Attacks: Exploding
DESCRIPTION:
Described by one of your squadmates as "walking IEDs", Explosive
Skrabs are basically small, insect-like aliens that scuttle towards you
and, when they get close, will leap at you and explode themselves.
They do significant damage, and on the default difficulty level can kill
you with 3 direct hits. Skrabs usually attack in large groups of up to
several at once, and you'll often face swarms of several groups in a
single area. They are the most common Xeno enemies you face in
the game.
On the plus side, Skrabs' speed is pretty average (more of a scuttle
than a full run), and their highly explosive nature also makes them
very fragile. A single hit from any weapon will kill a Skrab, causing it to
explode and blow up any other Skrabs near it. In fact, a swarm of
several Skrabs can be killed by just shooting one of them; the
explosion will create a chain reaction causing all the other Skrabs to
pop.
Since killing a single Skrab tends to blow up its entire swarm, Skrabs
are actually pretty easy to fight by mowing them down with quick
bursts from your assault rifle. In fact, they're a good way to rack up
kills to boost your squad's morale level.
==========
Bug-Ridden (Xeno-infected Human):
Appearance: Muscular mutated human, with barbed tentacle growing
out of its mouth, blade-like claws, and glowing yellow eyes.
Health: ~170
Attacks: Melee Attack, Goo Spit
DESCRIPTION:
Bug-Ridden are mutated humans who have been exposed to Xeno
spores. They mostly attack by running at you and swiping at you with
their claws when they get close. They can also spit a large wad of
brownish goo at you in an arc from a few dozen feet away. Their
attacks do average damage; it takes 5 claw strikes or several goo spit
hits to kill you. Bug-Ridden can survive roughly the same amount of
damage as Reborn soldiers. They tend to attack in groups of several
at once.
Bug-Ridden actually only appear about 4 times in the entire game;
Several of them attack you in a condemned building in Iraq, and a few
more can be found inside the bunker at the end of the Iraq mission. A
couple dozen Bug-Ridden also attack you throughout the suburbs in
the "Domestic Surveillance" level about halfway through Mission 3:
Rachel. Finally, a dozen or so Bug-Ridden attack you at the beginning
of the game's final mission inside the ruins of Area 51, Mission 6:
Wrecked. There are a total of about 52 of them throughout the entire
game.
ATTRIBUTES:
Shooting a Bug-Ridden in the head will cause it to enter a confused
state. The Bug-Ridden will stop running and instead lurch towards you
in a walk, and may even attack other Bug-Ridden that get in its way.
Thus, the best way to stop Bug-Ridden from swarming you is to shoot
them in the head, slowing them down significantly. Note that, when
lurching, Bug-Ridden can still spit goo at you from long range.
Bug-Ridden have a nasty habit of getting back up again a few seconds
after seemingly being "killed". On the plus side, when they do get back
up, it only takes a few more bullet hits to kill them again, permenantly.
KILL STRATEGY:
Overall, the best way to kill Bug-Ridden is to shoot them in the head
to slow them down to a slow lurch, then finish them off with gunfire
from your assault rifle. Be prepared to mow them down with an
assault rifle burst if they get back up again after being "killed". Slowing
them down with headshots is pretty important, as several of them can
swarm and overwhelm you and your squad if you let them run at you
at full speed.
==========
Drudge:
Appearance: 8-foot tall, brown, sandcrab-like alien, with a large
crested head and a single glowing yellow cyclops eye.
Health: ~250
Attacks: Melee Attack
DESCRIPTION:
Described as "Octopus-Dogs" by your squadmates, Drudges are
large, Crab Spider-like aliens based on the urban myth of the Iraqi
Camel Spider. They scuttle towards you, and claw at you when they
get close. Their claw attacks do decent damage, and can kill you in 4
hits. Although they move at average speed, Drudges are tougher than
average, and take a decent amount of firepower to bring down (it
takes almost half a clip of assault rifle fire to kill one).
Drudges can sometimes slide sideways when shot to try and avoid
your fire, but mostly they simply charge straight at you.
There are several areas throughout the game where you'll encounter
Drudges. They're rarer than Reborn soldiers, but more common than
Bug-Ridden mutants. You'll face a few dozen of them throughout the
game.
KILL STRATEGY:
Drudges are probably best mowed down with the assault rifle. Aim for
the head, and particularly the glowing eye, for the most damage. It still
takes almost 20 shots to kill a Drudge even when shooting it in the
eye, but you'll do somewhat more damage aiming for the eye or head
than for the body. Shooting them in the eye also causes them to twitch,
briefly stunning them and preventing them from advancing on you.
Despite their higher-than-average durability, overall Drudges aren't
too much of a threat if you're reasonably skilled. Just mow them down
with the assault rifle as they come. Rack up kills to boost your squad
morale, and they'll help you mow down the Drudges much more
quickly.
==========
Dark Drudge:
Appearance: 8-foot tall, black, sandcrab-like alien, with a large
crested head with spiky protrusions, and a single glowing yellow
cyclops eye.
Health: ~450
Attacks: Melee Attack, Goo Spit
DESCRIPTION:
Dark Drudges are a tougher, more advanced class of Drudge that first
begin to appear from Mission 4: Counter-Insurgency onwards. Dark
Drudges have about twice as much health as regular Drudges, and
also can spit a spray of greenish acid at you from medium range.
Their acid attack does heavy damage, and can knock off almost half
of your health in a single hit. Their claw attacks are also stronger than
those of standard Drudges, and can often kill you in just 3 hits.
On the plus side, Dark Drudges are pretty rare. They are spawned
infinitely by the Spore Tower bosses, but outside of the Spore Tower
battles you'll only encounter less than a dozen or so through the
regular course of the game.
KILL STRATEGY:
Other than their increased durability and ranged acid spit attack, Dark
Drudges behave similarly to regular Drudges. They scuttle towards
you, and will slash at you with their claws when they get close. They
can be killed in the same manner as regular Drudges, but their high
health means that it takes almost a full clip of assault rifle fire to kill
one. It's best to order your squadmates to concentrate fire on a Dark
Drudge to help you take it down; you can also use grenades against
them for easy kills.
==========
Small Flatworm:
Appearance: 12-foot tall snake-like brown worm, with a custacean-like
split-jawed head.
Health: ~1200
Attacks: Homing Plasma Spit
DESCRIPTION:
Flatworms are large, snake-like alien worms that erupt out of the
ground and attack you at various points in the game, most often on
the highway during the game's vehicle sections. Flatworms are quite
tough, and it takes about 2 clips of assault rifle fire to kill one.
Flatworms are stationary, and attack by spiting out homing balls of
plasma every couple of seconds. Flatworm plasma balls move at an
average speed, but will perfectly home in on you and explode upon
contact. They do significant damage, and can kill you in 3 hits.
Small Flatworms actually only appear in about 4 different areas in the
game, and there are a total of about 22 Small Flatworms throughout
the entire game.
KILL STRATEGY:
When fighting Flatworms, it's important to shoot down their homing
plasma balls with your assault rifle. This is pretty easy to do, since
Flatworms have a low rate of fire and their homing balls move
relatively slowly. When no homing balls are in the air, concentrate
your fire on the Flatworm itself. They're not too tough, as long as you
make sure to destroy their projectiles before they reach you.
When driving an armored Humvee, for some reason your AI-
squadmates are unable to shoot down the Flatworms' homing plasma
balls themselves using the Humvee's machinegun turret. They'll fire at
the plasma balls, but for some reason they won't hit them. When a
Flatworm appears, you'll have to get out of the vehicle, hop in the
turret yourself, and shoot down the homing balls manually.
When on foot, one way to quickly finish off Small Flatworms is to toss
a grenade at them. This will seriously injure them, and all you to finish
them off with a quick burst of assault rifle fire.
==========
Large Flatworm:
Appearance: 25-foot tall snake-like brown worm, with a crustacean-
like split-jawed head.
Health: ~4000
Attacks: Homing Plasma Spit
DESCRIPTION:
Large Flatworms are the larger, tougher versions of the standard
Small Flatworms. These things are huge, taller than a house (one
even bursts OUT of a house, smashing through the roof). They're
extremely tough (it takes several clips of assault rifle fire to kill one),
and the homing plasma balls they spit out do more damage (2 hits
can kill you dead).
You only fight 4 Large Flatworms on foot throughout the entire game,
and each one serves as a sort of mini-boss fight. You'll also fight
about 13 Large Flatworms split between two vehicle sections towards
the end of the game.
KILL STRATEGY:
Fighting them involves more or less the same strategy as the Small
Flatworms. Blast at them with your assault rifle, but be sure to switch
targets and shoot down their homing plasma balls whenever they spit
one (which is usually every couple of seconds). As long as you
destroy their plasma shots, they shouldn't pose much of a threat to
you, and will go down after you shoot them enough. You'll
use up a lot of ammo taking one down, but the supporting fire
from your squadmates helps a lot in killing them faster.
During the final vehicle section in Mission 5: Topside, you'll drive a
military Humvee through a canyon populated by Large Flatworms.
Your squadmates seem to have trouble shooting down the Flatworms'
homing projectiles, so you'll need to get out of the vehicle whenever a
Flatworm appears, man the roof-mounted turret yourself, and hose
the Flatworm with machinegun fire while shooting down the projectiles
it fires at you.
=========
=Bosses:=
===============================================================================
Reborn Helicopter:
Appearance: A Blackhawk military utility helicopter, painted black.
Health: High
Attacks: Side-door-mounted XM312 machinegun turrets, Rocket launchers
DESCRIPTION:
Military helicopters crewed by Reborn soldiers will strafe you at a few
occasions throughout the game. These helicopters have mounted
machinegun turrets on each side door, which the Reborn soldiers will
use to open fire on you from the sky. Typically, you can kill the
Reborn gunners with assault rifle fire, which will cause the helicopter
to retreat or even crash.
BOSS FIGHT:
You'll also face a "boss battle" against a Reborn helicopter at the end
of Mission 3: Rachel. You'll be on the roof of a drive-in theater, while
the helicopter circles around while pelting you with machinegun fire
from the side-mounted turrets. You can kill the Reborn gunners with
sniper rifle or assault rifle fire to temporarily stop the helicopter from
shooting at you, but they'll respawn after several seconds.
Watch out if the helicopter flies off to long range; that's usually a sign
it's going to launch a barrage of rockets at you. The rockets are very
powerful; a single hit on Hard can seriously injure you, and on Expert
even the splash damage from an indirect hit will kill you instantly. To
avoid taking damage from the rockets, you need to use the theater
walls as cover; if the helicopter flies off to long range and launches
rockets, put the theater between you and the copter so that the
rockets hit the walls instead of you.
KILL STRATEGY:
The key to killing the helicopter is to snipe the pilot with your
advanced sniper rifle. You don't even have to aim through the cockpit
glass; your sniper rifle is powerful enough to penetrate the helicopter's
hull, so all you have to do is hit the front of the helicopter roughly on
the pilot's side to score a hit. The helicopter will usually spin out of
control for a couple seconds to let you know you've scored a hit (your
squadmates will also usually tell you when you've hit the pilot). It
takes about 7 good hits to kill the helicopter. An infinite amount of
sniper rifle ammo will spawn inside the theater, so you don't have to
worry about running out of ammo.
==========
Jumbo Flatworm:
Appearance: 200 foot tall snake-like brown worm, with mass of
tentacles serving as a "foot" wrapped around a bridge.
Health: Extreme
Attacks: Homing Plasma Spit
DESCRIPTION:
You fight the Jumbo Flatworm in a rail-shooting sequence in the first
level of Mission 5: Topside. You're inside a helicopter that's circling
around the Jumbo Flatworm; you have no control over the
movements of the helicopter itself, and all you can do is shoot at the
boss with the side-mounted turret.
The Jumbo Flatworm is the size of a downtown office building, and
wrapped around a concrete bridge spanning a desert canyon. Your
helicopter will circle around the Jumbo Flatworm and will often dive
down to fly underneath the bridge, which is kind of annoying as it
prevents you from getting a clear shot at the boss.
BEHAVIOR:
Like the regular Flatworms, the Jumbo Flatworm attacks by spitting
homing plasma balls at you every couple of seconds. On the plus
side, this balls are weaker than those of the standard Flatworms, and
it takes 5 hits to kill you on the default difficulty. Unfortunately, the
homing balls are hard to shoot down because they hit you less than a
second after the Jumbo Flatworm fires them (due to the lousy piloting
skills of your retarded helicopter pilot, who for some reason thinks it's
a good idea to fly near the Jumbo Flatworm at point-blank range), and
they are also tough to hit because of the helicopter's movements and
the limited aiming cone of your machinegun turret.
The Jumbo Flatworm can also occasionally swat your helicopter with
its tentacles, but this doesn't do any damage and only serves to
disorient your aim.
KILL STRATEGY:
To kill the Jumbo Flatworm, you need to detonate an oil tanker truck
that's cradled at the base of its tentacles. The truck can be hard to hit
because your line of sight is blocked by the boss's tentacles, so you'll
just have to spray at it and hope you eventually get a clear shot. Once
the oil tanker explodes, keep shooting the boss until it dies. Be sure to
at least try and shoot down the boss's homing projectiles whenever it
fires one (don't worry if you get hit a couple times, as your health will
regenerate if you can avoid getting hit again for a few seconds by
shooting down the next couple of projectiles).
If you get killed in this boss fight, you'll have to start the entire level all
over again, which is very frustrating.
==========
Spore Tower:
Appearance: 40 foot tall, dark brown, trilobite-like alien tower, with 6
glowing yellow "eyes".
Health: ~1120 per pair of eyes