I have just completed the game, on hard mode, without taking damage. At all. None, nada. I played every section of the game, in a continous game (with a bajillion saves of course). I did not use cheats. I also tended toward killing the enemy instead of rushing through an area, although there were times where running made a lot of sense (especially from the infinitely respawning enemies)
Below I discuss some of the more difficult portions (that I remeber) so there are obviously spoilers below, but you knew that, because of the title right? Anyhow, now is your chance to stop reading.
Several portions were excessively difficult. The first major problem I had was the cannals. The tanks on the bridges open up with thier chain guns at close range. Those suckers are damned near impossible to dodge, and you have to have the airboat for later scenes, which raises your target size. I managed to get a very lucky run through and pulled it off. The second time is when the helicopter is chasing you and you are heading for the culvert, which has a tank over it. I had to work hard to keep the helicopter in "mine dropping mode" and working up enough speed to dodge the tanks chaingun, and if that wasn't enough imediately after I had to slide up the side walls to avoid the helicopter which peppers you after you entry to tube.
The end of the canals with the chopper fight was annoying, because of all the dodging nececary. I also found that shooting the mines was very effective.
Ravenholm was a no-brainer (I took dog's ball all the way through it, until the water bit at the end, where it explodes).
The next interesting bit was the buggy. Aha! you say, you HAD to have taken damage, the buggy hurts you when it drops! You are right, it does. Which means, of course, that I had to ditch the buggy, and do the entire beach run without it, and without taking damage. Well THAT was tough, lemmie tell you. Luckily the water was nearby, and the antlions drown in it.
The nova prospect beach scene was exciting in places, but with the antlions to soak up the bullets and distract the gunners, things worked out in the end. Inside for the turret defense scenes, it was mostly a matter of good placement, good maintinence, and a bit of intervention at the right spots. It did help that I always herded the turrets forward, so that I had a full 8 turrets to work with in the final defense scene.
Things got interesting again the museum, where I had to leverage a fair bit of interesting table placements. The roof I'd rather not discuss, but I will say: never give me infinite ammo!
Climbing the last building outside, with respawning waves of enemies and strider circling the building was very tough. My ammo would run down because I would kill enemies in places I couldn't get to, but I worked that out in the end.
The citadel was fairly easy, pretty much wait at the right places and zap them as they come. The one challanging scene there I tried repeatedly was the elevator. Jeez. What I ended up doing was collecting almost every console and monitor I could tear off the walls, and building a fort around the elevator platform. That protected me enough to get my shots off, and wait out the ride.
The final sequence wasn't too bad, just getting some good shots off, and timming things well. On the last platform, you can jump-duck onto the raised area to the right of the window, and tear the teleporter apart from there to complete the game.
So, its possible! And I think it added greatly to my enjoyment of the game (the second time through of course!) If you have any doubts, or want more details on my tactics at certain places, post your questions.
I'll be bundling my saves up for all to use in a bit here.
Below I discuss some of the more difficult portions (that I remeber) so there are obviously spoilers below, but you knew that, because of the title right? Anyhow, now is your chance to stop reading.
Several portions were excessively difficult. The first major problem I had was the cannals. The tanks on the bridges open up with thier chain guns at close range. Those suckers are damned near impossible to dodge, and you have to have the airboat for later scenes, which raises your target size. I managed to get a very lucky run through and pulled it off. The second time is when the helicopter is chasing you and you are heading for the culvert, which has a tank over it. I had to work hard to keep the helicopter in "mine dropping mode" and working up enough speed to dodge the tanks chaingun, and if that wasn't enough imediately after I had to slide up the side walls to avoid the helicopter which peppers you after you entry to tube.
The end of the canals with the chopper fight was annoying, because of all the dodging nececary. I also found that shooting the mines was very effective.
Ravenholm was a no-brainer (I took dog's ball all the way through it, until the water bit at the end, where it explodes).
The next interesting bit was the buggy. Aha! you say, you HAD to have taken damage, the buggy hurts you when it drops! You are right, it does. Which means, of course, that I had to ditch the buggy, and do the entire beach run without it, and without taking damage. Well THAT was tough, lemmie tell you. Luckily the water was nearby, and the antlions drown in it.
The nova prospect beach scene was exciting in places, but with the antlions to soak up the bullets and distract the gunners, things worked out in the end. Inside for the turret defense scenes, it was mostly a matter of good placement, good maintinence, and a bit of intervention at the right spots. It did help that I always herded the turrets forward, so that I had a full 8 turrets to work with in the final defense scene.
Things got interesting again the museum, where I had to leverage a fair bit of interesting table placements. The roof I'd rather not discuss, but I will say: never give me infinite ammo!
Climbing the last building outside, with respawning waves of enemies and strider circling the building was very tough. My ammo would run down because I would kill enemies in places I couldn't get to, but I worked that out in the end.
The citadel was fairly easy, pretty much wait at the right places and zap them as they come. The one challanging scene there I tried repeatedly was the elevator. Jeez. What I ended up doing was collecting almost every console and monitor I could tear off the walls, and building a fort around the elevator platform. That protected me enough to get my shots off, and wait out the ride.
The final sequence wasn't too bad, just getting some good shots off, and timming things well. On the last platform, you can jump-duck onto the raised area to the right of the window, and tear the teleporter apart from there to complete the game.
So, its possible! And I think it added greatly to my enjoyment of the game (the second time through of course!) If you have any doubts, or want more details on my tactics at certain places, post your questions.
I'll be bundling my saves up for all to use in a bit here.
![[46] pushit [2]](https://valvetime-data.community.forum/avatars/m/23/23967.jpg?1330940211){kind=avatar}
