Zombie Revenge - Strategy Guide (Page 06)

Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Zombie Revenge - Strategy Guide (Page 06).

So...right after the shotgun zombie misses, you'll probably still have
some ways to go before reaching the crate. This is kinda difficult, but
your best bet is to hit the crate with a quick handgun shot before you
reach the crate (you can't lock-on to it, so you'll hafta aim manually)
so that the grenade is ready for pick-up, or at least is almost done
bouncing, when you arrive. Most of the time you'll survive to see the
grenade, if not pick it up, so long as you have enough life left. Now
it's a matter of picking up the grenade and chucking it at the first
blue-sight lock you see. You now pray for rain, hope that it hits, and
also hope that there's lots of zombies so that life gets easier.

If that just doesn't seem like a good idea for any reason, you should
also consider running around the playing field once you grab the grenade
to try and find yourself a better opportunity to chuck the grenade.
Remember, by dashing in wide arcs the armed zombies will almost
certainly miss you, and you can outrun any zombie except the hatchet
zombies.

Usually the grenade will at least hit something. 5 zombies to go is
better than 6 to go. But try to make the grenade count -- while in your
take cover animation, the other zombies are free to attack -- and, gulp,
blast you with a shotgun or machine gun -- before you're able to move
again. Now that the grenade has done its job, you'll now have to rely on
your instincts to get rid of the survivors before facing the Boss. Aim
to finish off the hatchet zombies first if any survive, running around
in wide arcs to make sure any surviving armed zombies can't get a good
shot off at you while you concentrate on the hatchet zombies. Then knock
down any surviving armed zombies to disarm them if you can do so safely.
Then just deal with the surviving normal zombies.

Even if you can't get to the grenade, or it missed, or whatever, don't
lose hope! The battle is half won if the hatchet zombies are taken out
-- and remember, they can't absorb much damage. I've been able to clear
this scene once without the grenade with hit-and-run tactics. Keep at
it!

Should you make it past this scene, you can always get yourself the
cannon shot and give it a whirl just to see what it looks like, but
watch your time. Lucky you, after just two short scenes you've gotta
beat the Boss. Follow the arrows through the double doors (make sure you
have a fresh handgun clip) and you'll find yourself facing...

BOSS: Big Green Gooey Head (yeah, I KNOW it sounds silly) -- usually not
TOO bad, but still a rough fight

You enter a first-person perspective cinema as you run down the narrow
corridor leading to the Boss, and your party gets a look at the goopy
monstrosity. It's basically a big pinkish reddish weird giant head with
multiple eyeballs (but not where the sockets are -- ewwww) with
something of a lizardish neck, attached to a column/pool of green slime.
Ick. The sight of this weird Boss will make Linda fall to her knees. Aw,
c'mon, she's a rough-and-tumble AMS agent, but hey, I didn't write the
script :P. Get ready for an interesting fight.

Attacks: (Projectile attacks are not blockable, physical attacks are
blockable)

(Projectile) -- both have start-up signs and charging time.

1. Laser Blast. Kinda like the second head of the Area 4 boss, but not,
the Boss will open its mouth to reveal -- a laser?!? Don't gawk too
long, it'll start charging and then fire a streaming straight-line laser
blast for about 2-3 seconds which also tracks you. If you are in its
path from the beginning, you are hit multiple times for 50-70%+ damage.
If you are caught by the laser after running from it for a couple of
seconds, you are still hit multiple times, but only for 30-40% damage.
The Boss's head must be in a specific retracted state, and not hanging
overhead, before it can do this move.

2. Torrential Reddish Spit. The Boss will hang its head maybe 6-10 feet
above you and then spit out a large vertical column of dark reddish
fluid that tracks you. Lasts about 4-5 seconds. If it connects it does
multiple hits, but strangely for ridiculously low damage. You shouldn't
be too afraid of this move, but remember, avoid damage wherever
possible, especially now. The Boss must be hanging its head somewhat
downward, looking directly downward, before it can perform this move.

("Head-based" :P)

1. Head Butt (don't laugh). Watch for some start-up signs, for example
when the Boss isn't moving much or just seems to be staring at you. It
will then charge down rather quickly to home in on your position. If it
head butts you, you take 1/3+ damage. The Boss's head must be somewhat
high in the air and not hanging overhead before it can perform this
move.

2. Triple Head Bang (again, don't laugh, I'm trying my best here). The
Boss will hang its head above you for a little while, but instead of
doing the Torrential Reddish Spit move, it will instead proceed to hit
the floor three times with its head. It won't try to track you. Watch
for an abnormally long lag while the head hangs over you, and for the
head NOT to be facing downward at you. If you are hit you will probably
automatically stagger out of its range to avoid the next two hits. The
actual hit does no more than 1/10 damage. However, what it also does is
bring down 4 the little scorpion helpers Area 4 Boss helpers) from the
ceiling to assist it. Be very careful, the Boss seems to love performing
a Laser Blast right after the scorpions land. The Boss must be hanging
above you to do this move.

I suppose you can be thankful this Boss doesn't seem to have more
attacks, or especially any super-duper slam/munch/shock/whatever moves
(that I know of). But its four attacks are plenty bad enough. Perhaps
one reason why this Boss doesn't NEED a "super" attack is because of the
fact that its projectile attacks, should they hit you, hit multiple
times. This of course means multiples of damage.

The only way to defeat this Boss is to take careful aim and fire only
red-sight shots at its head whenever possible (to save your ammo). Be
patient, the Boss can move its head out of range sometimes. Also, this
Boss is quite durable, expect to hit it many times before it falls. Just
try to conserve your ammo as much as possible.

The key to beating this Boss is recognizing its patterns. There are
start-up signs for everything, and you can be assured that unless the
Boss is in certain positions, it will be unable to attack you in a
certain way. For example, don't worry at all about the head butt or the
laser if the Boss hangs just above you. (As you get experience fighting
it, you'll HOPE it hangs its head above you all the time, the two
attacks it can't do are much more powerful =)=)=)) Do worry about the
column of spit or the calling down of the scorpion helpers though.

One helpful way to think of this Boss battle is to think of the Boss's
attacks as "events." When it acts, you must also act appropriately to
avoid getting damaged. In between the Boss's attacks are ample
opportunities to shoot at the Big Zombie Head and get at least one red-
sight shot off. But don't think you can just shoot the Boss around after
you've escaped one attack. There will be plenty of attacks to come.

If scorpions are summoned, take care to try and get rid of them as
quickly as possible (note they have more life than the previous scorpion
helpers on Area 4), they can complicate matters a whole ton. They will
NOT come down again unless the Boss does the triple headbang thing.
Manage this task carefully with avoiding the Boss's own attacks.

Also, since the projectile attacks track, you have no choice but to run
or face certain doom. However, I'd be careful about just plain dashing
around for the Laser attack. Dashing around is perfect for the spit
attack -- you could practically run circles around the Boss's column of
spit. However, the Boss tracks just as well while it's charging to fire
its _Laser_ whether you dash or not. There may also come times where
you're dashing in one direction and you run out of space too quickly, in
which case you eat the later part of the laser attack, which is quite
painful. What you do while the Boss BEGINS charging is to merely walk
around (for about a half second). Since the room you have to move is
somewhat limited, if you're near a corner take the time to turn yourself
around. But don't walk for long, and break into a dash before it fires
the laser. You will get hit much less by the Laser with this technique,
since you won't have to cover as much ground and have less of a chance
of running out of running room.

Also be warned that the only really effective way to dodge the laser is
to make it track you left and right. The laser beam is rather wide and
fires at an angle; running from the end of the laser isn't effective,
and you'll get zapped if you try to make the laser fire over your head.
Run from the laser itself.

Other than the laser, another big worry to deal with is the Head Butt,
since it hurts so much. My best advice to you is to just block to
deflect it well before the Boss actually starts to headbutt you. You can
run from the head, but you'll need a lot of space and you'll need to be
very fast. The Boss will also be very persistent in trying to run you
down. If you can avoid it, great, you get some free shots in. The
problem with this strategy is that you frequently won't have much life
to spare when you fight the Boss. The block damage from the headbutt is
more than a little, and it can in time wear down your lifebar a lot, but
it's better than taking 1/3+ damage in one blow that you probably can't
afford. I'd only try running away if I knew I didn't have enough energy
left to block the headbutt. So my general advice, lots of life left or
not so much, block the head.

But when to block the head? You want the Boss to use this attack as
little as possible, since it's probably the most dangerous attack, but
at the same time you want to be sure you can attack the head without it
"countering," although the Boss technically does NOT have a counter
attack. You'll find that the biggest warning sign is when the Boss has
its head higher in the air, and it just seems to be staring at you and
following you as you move around, if you're moving around. If this
happens, just face the Boss and start blocking right away until it
headbutts. If you fire a shot at it, you'll all too often fall for a
trick very similar to the "Area 5 First Handgun Shot Sucker Punch" (See
above). After you hit it, it will "counter" and pound you before you can
recover and block in time. Remember that the Boss headbutts quicker than
you think, and that even after you recover from the handgun shot, you
still need some time to put up your guard.

But I'm digressing. Since excessive blocking against this Boss will cost
you valuable life in the long run, try to make it use its other attacks
by 1) moving around a lot and 2) not fire too many shots at it at any
one time (of course, the other three attacks aren't fun either). If
you're scoring too many successful hits, the Boss will probably try to
headbutt you (be especially watchful if you hit the Boss and it suddenly
recoils backward). If you just stand there and shoot at the Boss, you'll
almost certainly have to block another headbutt soon after. The block
damage/Boss damage trade-off is not good because the Boss can take some
serious punishment.

Just keep this advice in mind and you shouldn't have too tough a time
with this Boss. One note though - if you fire an unaimed shot at the
slime column and see a machine gun fall out, don't get it. It'll slow
you down too much.

Another thought -- the Triple Headbang attack is one that requires quick
response. The scorpions summoned are weak by themselves, but they can
hit you practically on contact, and when the Boss is charging up to
blast you this means really bad news. Targeting and eliminating the four
scorpions quickly is not an easy task. One possible way of preventing
this attack is 1) firing a quick volley of unaimed shots at the Boss
before the Headbang to make it recoil its head or 2) try to hit the head
with a melee attack (practically impossible though, but you could try
Stick's charged physical attack?). I don't know if these 2 things would
work since I've never tried them. Maybe you're just out of luck if the
Boss gets ready to handbang. But experiment and see if these or other
methods work to stop this annoying attack.

After you defeat the Big Scary Head, relax, stretch your hands and
fingers, control your breathing and your pulse :), and enjoy the cinema
before you arrive at...


-------------------------------------------------------------
Part VII: Mount Sacrifice

Good thing the movie's pretty long! You need the break!

In the cinema, our three heroes look around surprised as the Boss's
environment shakes. Enter Zed, big surprise. Zed will go through his
thing of getting revenge on and getting rid of the humans. Stick bravely
dismisses this as nonsense. Linda for some reason starts getting really
panicky and covers her face with her hands, wondering why Zed's leading
them around, and wondering if they're all gonna die. Huh? An AMS agent,
scared of a mere threat?! (Well, it is kinda cheesy and B-movieish) Zed
will then go through his normal ha ha ha ha routine, remarking that
Stick especially must suffer (but why?) as green gas erupts from the
floor (Stick wonders: "What's with the smoke?"), and Stick, Linda and
Rikiya collapse from inhaling it ("W.....H.....A.....T.....").

We next find our AMS agents lying face down on a decidedly spooky dirt
path (I guess this is Mount Sacrifice) with very well done moody
lighting, rain effects, and windswept trees on the side. Stick will be
the first to recover, and everyone is OK. But not long after, the first
wave of zombies comes along...

Difficulty: Medium/High
Life-ups: 1, but ya gotta extract it from the Boss ;) (gives about 10-
15% life)
Expect to lose this much life: 25%-all
You're fine if you leave the Area with: at least 50% life
Secrets: 1
Combo Opportunities: 1, maybe

You'll need all the life you can get when you arrive in this section,
since you encounter a "new" breed of zombie this stage. These green
zombies, who are present in this area and the next, can and will both
spit at you and combo you around like nobody's business. They seem
similar to the brown zombies of Area 3 but they've got more life, they
attack a little more quickly, and unlike the brown zombies, aren't
"assigned" to any specific task as it seems in Area 3. You'll notice
after time that the Area 3 brown zombies have a primary means of attack,
either standing on a platform and spitting at you, or actually moving in
and attacking you up close. The platform zombies won't normally use the
combo moves, and the melee-type brown zombies won't often spit at you.
The green zombies, however, have no such scruples. Try as you might,
you'll often find yourself getting hit at least once or twice before
getting to the Boss, especially in the first scene...it's really
annoying.

Unfortunately, every regular zombie in this area is a green zombie. And
the very first wave is none other than 3 green zombies. Oh boy.

You'll begin on the west side of the screen, the camera taking a
horizontal perspective until you get to the Boss. The green zombies are
a good distance to the east in this first scene, and so is the entrance
to the next scene. The first thing I recommend you do is to start
dashing towards them right away, but not directly. Dash in a east/south
easterly direction so that the green zombies will all be above you in
the screen, or due north. You need to dash at the start because one or
more of the zombies is preprogrammed to spit at you at the outset, and
you might get nailed if you wait for the zombies to come at you -- even
worse, they might just stand there and spit. I wish you good luck :P.
It's now up to you to deal with them as best you can without them
nailing you with either melee attacks or spit. This is the difficult
part. For some reason dash attacks miss much more often for me...
grrr...leaving the door open for you to get nailed by spit. I suggest
you try to knock down as many of the three zombies as you safely can,
block any incoming spit, and use quick basic combos or close-up shots to
do quick damage when possible (I recommend PPS). With luck you'll make
it to the next scene, over to the east, unharmed.

You'll hop over some patches of fire in a transitional cinema, and
you'll now find yourself nearby three landmarks: 1) an open building or
back of a vehicle? at the north, 2) a cave-like bunker to the southwest,
and 3) the second and last "???" box in the game. Save the ??? box for
last and be careful not to break it open until you defeat all the
zombies -- it contains a green zombie who will roll out and usually
knock you over, if for little or no damage.

Out of the vehicle/building/whatever will come 3 or 4 green zombies for
you to deal with. The initial problem here is that until the zombies
actually leave the structure, you can only see their feet. This means
you can't really tell if they're gonna spit at you. One thing I try to
do which helps is to peg them with a charge-up shot as the zombies
become hittable. It knocks them down and leaves me better able to
concentrate on one zombie at a time until they exit the structure. There
are possibly other ways around this, but it works the best for me. Just
damage them as much as possible before they leave the structure (now you
have to deal with spit AND combo attacks), and then do what you did last
scene to defeat them all. Overall, the odds of getting hit this scene
are a little lower.

If you have some leftover time and you're a point/combo fan like I am,
feel free to break open the zombie box now :) Since there's no other
zombies left anymore, and you don't take much if any damage from being
knocked over at all, take out your frustrations on this lone zombie with
a niceeee long combo...it's got a long lifebar :P. Don't fight it all
the way to the east end though, because you can now enter the Boss area,
and you don't want to yet, you want the bonus weapons first!

In any event, before you go east to fight the Boss, enter the secret
cave/bunker to the southwest by kicking open the doors (press G, P, or
S). You'll be treated to a special room where you can select three
weapons, not by picking them up, but by "shopping" for them by centering
them in your sights and selecting them in a first-person perspective.
Use the joystick to pan from weapon to weapon, and press P to select
(this is the first time you get to see the special weapons in their
close-up glory :)), but choose quickly, you don't have much time. As you
press P to select your desired weapon it will show up in a weapon slot.
Get three weapons and you're off to fight the Boss.

Be careful what you choose...you get many options, but limited time to
pick them. The first-person perspective isn't immediately intuitive as
you select the weapon which is in the "center" of your field of view,
rather than walking over it and picking it up (you don't see your
character here, you seem to instead look through his/her eyes). Also,
the camera pans rather fast from weapon to weapon, it can get kinda
dizzying. Talk about polygon-pushing power! Also note that you can only
take one of a certain weapon (no three grenades for you), and you can't
change any choices you've made. Be careful with selecting with P as
well, I suggest you tap it lightly.

That all being said and out of the way (I know, heck, it's a BONUS
room!), it's time to pick what weapons you want. It's up to you, really,
but I would as a general rule ALWAYS pick two weapons -- the machine gun
(get the shelf with the two machine guns on top in your sights to get
em) and the grenade (see the grenades in the cardboard box, you start
off looking right at em). The third weapon is really up to you, but I'd
pick either the chain gun or the flamethrower. The flamethrower is
probably the safer bet since the chain gun isn't great at aiming. You
could also select a land mine or the shotgun as viable alternatives
(unsure about dual handguns and other weapons, look around if you have
enough selection time). With time you'll remember where to look for the
weapons you want, it'll save you time and worry.

Special Note: I would *avoid* the futuristic looking gun you might come
across while shopping for weapons against the Boss. That's the laser
gun. While it's wonderfully efficient and can fire about 18 laser blasts
one at a time, it slows you down, you can't dash with it, and most
importantly, it doesn't have the concentrated power to actually bump
back the Boss since it fires both slowly and in single sharp beam, as
opposed to searing streams of flame or 16 chain gun bullets. It does
SUPER damage against the Boss -- I got the Boss down to 1/3 life and
still had some laser charges left -- but the Boss isn't blown back when
you fire the weapon, and firing just takes too long. This gun wouldn't
stop a counter attack or keep the Boss away from you. Don't forget that
it also can't lock-on. Just don't get it if you can help it.

Sorry if it seems like I spoke 10 volumes too many about the bonus room
-- but really, it's very important to take the right weapons for the
Boss to even the odds, since it does have 2 forms.

After you leave the weapons room, you'll notice you don't actually
"have" the weapons ready for use. What you DO have is a "Weapons Bag"
with the weapons inside. Don't worry about it for now, just meet the
Boss...who kinda looks like the Area 1 Boss, only mechanized and
robotized (and with a spookily grayish human face!)

BOSS: Mechanical Monster (two forms) -- pretty tough

Attacks: They are exactly like that of the Scrapyard Monster, but I
can't exactly remember how much damage each attack does. I think the
damage done is basically similar except for the counter attack, which
does more damage when it knocks you down. All the attacks this Boss has
in common with the Scrapyard Monster are blockable except the old
shockwave tantrum thing.

This Boss also has some extra attacks to make it more dangerous.

1. Physical Attack - Shoulder Charge. After not very long of a start-up
at all, the Boss will start running at you to knock you down. Worse, the
shoulder charge TRACKS. It only looks slow; it can catch up to Stick's
dash with frightening speed, especially if you're not far away when the
charge begins. The Boss will keep running for a long time to knock you
down and if it does, you suffer about 1/6-1/8 damage. This is NOT
blockable.

(Weapons attacks -- not blockable)

2. Chain-gun attack. The Boss will crouch on one knee, stop, and open up
a chain gun in its chest, proceeding to blast away in a wide arc (looks
quite identical to one P-burst from the chain gun you can carry). If
you're not close to the Boss when he fires, you'll take really low
damage if you get hit at all. If you're in front of him and don't try to
hit him out of the move, you'll probably suffer heavy damage. In
general, just keep your distance and you'll be fine. Not a very
dangerous move, and one you should take full advantage of.

3. Rocket Attack. The Boss will stop, stand straight up and open a panel
in its chest to reveal four small red-tipped rockets. If you don't hit
the Boss out of it with a dash attack etc. it will launch the rockets in
the air one at a time. They will be somewhat guided and then fall to the
ground after a time, one by one.. If they all hit you, you take about
about 50-60% damage (about 1/8+ damage per rocket)

I have nothing against trying to get around to the backs of Boss zombies
(e.g. Area 1, 4) and hitting them while they're vulnerable and can't
fight back. The whole game is basically one or two people alone against
a zombie horde, I'll use any strat I can to defeat Zed :P. The classic
problem is that actually running around to the back of a Boss is rather
tough, at least for me. The Boss pivots to track you as you run, and
will often whack you good with a swipe or whatever before you can circle
it. While this Boss is pretty slow, trying to run around it after it
attacks is still a very risky proposition, especially if you don't have
much life to spare (and I rarely do). If you can run to the back of this
Boss, excellent, hammer away with PPPPP if playing Stick and just watch
out for the temper tantrum shockwave, back off and start pounding again.
If you can't do really do this, like I can't ;), that's where the
Weapons Bag comes in to make life tons easier.

The Weapons Bag you collected will automatically drop to the ground at
the beginning of the Boss fight and out will magically pop the three
weapons you chose earlier, ready for you just when you need em the most.
And you'll need em soon, since the Boss is lumbering towards you.
Fortunately, you and your weapons are a good distance away, so take the
time to pick one up (heavier weapons usually pop up behind you). I would
take the flamethrower or chain gun first. If you have the flamethrower,
it's a piece of cake, flame the Boss at maximum range and watch his
lifebar melt away...just remember that if he does a tantrum attack or
counters, he's near impossible to damage for the time being. The tantrum
attack probably won't reach you, but if the counter attack looks like it
might, flame the Boss good to stop him in his tracks. Do note that the
flamethrower will probably hurt the Boss for less damage than the chain
gun -- about 1/2 damage as opposed to 2/3 damage on the big bad
superzombie -- but also keep in remind that you never have to worry
about missing and reloading.

If you have the chain gun...well...aim at the Boss as best as possible
and wait til he gets pretty close before letting loose with the S-burst.
If it works, he'll be drilled for up to 16 hits and be bumped _way_
back :). The chain gun is the superior keep-away weapon, and does better
damage on the Boss if all the bullets hit, but since it doesn't aim
well, use it with care. Repeat until the weapon is empty, and always
wait until the Boss is "within range" to mow it down with the S-burst.
It doesn't work from too far away.

Generally after using this first heavy weapon, the Boss will be at about
half life, or maybe a bit more, and only rarely will he have had the
chance to even touch you. The flamethrower and chain gun make excellent
keep-away weapons.

Next, I recommend you move on to the machine gun. Sure, it's not nearly
as powerful as the shotgun here, which actually does pretty nice damage
against the Boss, but I recommend you pick the machine gun for three
main reasons: 1) it fires more quickly and you're slowed down a bit less
by it, 2) you can fire 8 bursts of ammo at the Boss vs. 6 shells, and 3)
the machine gun has the all-important lock-on capability. The blue lock-
on sight makes this weapon the most worry-free of all to use against the
Boss. The range is good, and as soon as you have a blue sight, fire an
S-burst. Don't burn all 40 bullets at once (actually get 8 blue sight
locks) and be patient, and the Boss will be further damaged, again
without ever having had a chance to hurt you. The machine gun also does
a decent job at keeping the Boss away.

*****...You know, now that I think about it, I might have been leading
any readers astray :P! Don't forget that there's nothing stopping you
from picking up whatever weapons you want at the secret cave/bunker
room. Now that I think about it, getting a flamethrower, THEN a chain
gun and grenade is also a possible collection combo. In theory the chain
gun will almost certainly finish off the first form of the Boss after
the flamethrower's done its job. So why'd I tell you to get that wimpy
machine gun in the first place when you can play with REAL fire :P?!?

Well, I have a valid defense for not thinking of this earlier ;). Don't
forget, the machine gun locks on. Also note that in the very beginning,
you and the Boss are quite far apart, so you have lots of time to get a
heavy weapon from the Weapons Bag. This is usually no longer be the case
after you finish using your first heavy weapon. Also note the general
rule that as Bosses lose life, their attacks seem to become more
aggressive. Thus, you're at risk of a shoulder charge or even a rocket
attack (particularly bad news since you'll have to run from it at top
speed to avoid it). But whatever. If you've had better luck than me with
using the chain gun first, superb! Get the flamethrower next and burn
that Boss to the ground. But be careful for any incoming attacks...
*****

So hey, things aren't going so bad after all, and you still have the
awesome power of the grenade left! But save it unless you're really
feeling insecure and need to stay in the game. The Boss should now be
near 1/4 life or less. Now all you have to do is bring that down to 0 to
finish the first half of your fight. Not as easy as I would like it to
be without the grenade, though. Try keeping your distance and use aimed
shots. If the Boss does a weapons attack, interrupt it if you can
(physical attacks, possibly a fast volley of blue-sight shots if far
away) and hit the Boss in the back while it's vulnerable. If the Boss
does the charging attack on you, dash away with quick cornering and hope
he doesn't catch you -- although you CAN take advantage of the Boss's
relative stupidity. There's a very big metal wall that serves as a
boundary for this fight, and if you can "steer" the Boss into it, it
will stop the charge and the Boss will be stunned :). Let me know if
there's a better way to avoid the shoulder charge.

When the Boss is almost out of life in its first form, it will drop a
life-up (10-15%). Don't get it yet, though -- the life-up sticks around
a while, and the Boss is just about standing over it. When the Boss is
at 0 life, it will automatically perform one tantrum attack before it
goes into its second form.

The second form is actually a mini-boss which comes out of the Boss
itself! It acts as a mini hatchet monster and also as a mini-scorpion in
terms of its attacks. It's also very, VERY small, too small to possibly
hit with fists. It is somewhat fast and can damage you, but not very
much. This miniature Boss is no threat to you by itself. The problem is
that the original Boss will still be around to attack you freely, and
this makes things difficult.

The trick to putting down this Boss once and for all is to concentrate
on attacking the little zombie/creature Boss, since only it takes any
damage. The bigger Boss is now invincible, although it can be stunned.
Luckily the little Boss is very vulnerable to well-aimed handgun shots
and is weak in general. Still, it won't be easy finding opportunities to
hit the little Boss. This is where the grenade you also hopefully chose
comes in real handy :).

Run over to the grenade and get it as soon as it's safe to. Pick up the
life-up too if you haven't done so yet. Of course, the grenade, being so
light and all, doesn't slow you down a bit, and since only handgun shots
are of any real use at this stage, you can afford to carry the grenade
with you for a while until the time is right. What you're trying to look
for is an occasion where the little Boss is either separated from the
bigger Boss by some distance, the bigger Boss is performing a useless
attack like the chain gun move so it can't really hurt you, or where
you've been able to hit the little Boss while it's flying in the air so
it's now downed for a moment. If you can get a blue-sight lock, chuck
the grenade at the little Boss and hope it hits. You might want to try
and shoot the little Boss once with a quick handgun shot to stun it
first, though, this seems to increase the odds of success. If the
grenade hits this little creature....KABOOOOM! It's lifebar will be
devastated for up to 60-70% damage! A definite, definite help :).

Even if the grenade misses, don't worry too much. The little Boss is
vulnerable whenever the big Boss can't effectively protect it, or if you
can knock the little Boss down mid-air and pelt it with quick-charging
shots. With patience, luck and skill, you will prevail, and this Boss
will be done for good.

Congratulations on surviving yet another tough battle! You're now going
to enter...


-------------------------------------------------------------
Part VIII: The House of the Dead

***After a certain point in this level my game frequently ends just as I
step foot in the door to Da Big Scary House.
The following information after entering the house and up to the second-
to-last boss in Part IX is less reliable, as I've only gotten past the
first room in the house about three times.***

That big red metal wall barrier I mentioned earlier turns out to be a
giant door! Our heroes watch as the walls give way for them to enter,
and so the assault on the House of the Dead begins.

Difficulty: High
Life-ups: 2 (for about 70-100%+ life altogether)
Expect to lose this much life: a lot, 0 up to the Boss if you're
extremely skilled or extremely lucky
You're fine if you leave the Area with: unsure, at least 50% life
Secrets: 3
Combo Opportunities: 1-2, I generally wouldn't think much of big combos
at this point

If you get here, you REALLY deserve a pat on the back! It's difficult
with one player and one credit :P. You won't get much time to control
your surely erratic breathing and racing pulse since the cinema is
rather short (hey -- this game is INTENSE), but things aren't so bad to
start.

As a starting note, all battles up to the actual House of the Dead
(HOTD) will be shown from a vertical camera angle, and you'll begin each
scene facing north and generally having to progress north.

When I finally make it to Area 8, I frequently find my character in
quite a trashed state; very rarely do I actually have anything near half
a lifebar :). And the life-ups are still quite far from reach! Luckily,
the first scene at least is very manageable.

You begin on the road leading to some outer entry gates. You will face
three very weak regular zombies far to the north. Just get rid of them
any way you like, they are absolutely no threat to you. Try and knock
down all three with a charge-up shot, it's fun :). Stand in place and
use your handgun and you'll take no hits. Enter the gate to the north to
enter the next scene, a gated fountain area.

This area is also not too hard if you play it right, although you now
have to deal with up to 5 green (ugh) zombies. Try as much as possible
to take care of them one at a time. The first zombie will hop out of the
fountain in the center to land near you (don't worry, it's programmed
to, don't move til it drops to the left of you and you won't take any
damage). I generally recommend you get rid of it quickly with three
quick-charging red-sight shots, as long as any other green zombies in
the area aren't ready to spit at you (they would be to your north). I
bet that Rikiya will excel in this department. After getting rid of this
zombie, face the one to your north and finish it off if the other three
green zombies haven't yet clambered out of the fountain yet (what _do_
they put in this mansion's water supply...)

Just remember these general rules of thumb. Block any incoming spit
tossed at you, and make frequent use of the dash attack, followed by
quick-charging shots, and then quick basic combos or more dash attacks
to floor the zombies again. After you're all done here (you can usually
clear the room without taking any damage), empty your clip for a fresh
one and leave the gated area through the north gate.

You will then come to a bridge leading to the HOTD. If you played the
HOTD light gun game, this is all starting to look really familiar to you
:). A lone green zombie will be at the far end of the bridge.
Immediately run up close to it to eliminate the distance gap so it
doesn't get the chance to spit at you. Don't worry, it won't attack you
right away. Then plug away its lifebar with those oh-so-great quick-
charging shots. Three or four should do the trick, no knockdowns
required, and you get the job done much faster! Now run back across the
bridge, firing a quick shot off midway...for some reason you'll usually
nail one of the two green zombies who have since shown up from the back.
This is a good thing because the zombies often feel like spitting at
you, and one of em won't for a while now that you've stunned it. Finish
running across the bridge and deal with the two green zombies, it isn't
too difficult with all you've learned so far. You stand a very good
chance of making it through this area unscathed, too.

Congratulations. You've played it smart and conserved your lifebar up to
this point. It's just too bad that it's hard to have a lot of life
coming into this Area, because things get more difficult in the next two
scenes.

Now that you've beaten the zombies in the bridge scene, head over the
bridge and up the stairs to the north to enter the next scene, but watch
for the frogs bouncing across your path, shoot them or run while there's
a gap to avoid taking damage.

Now you face four zombies, and they're ALL PACKING SHOTGUNS!!! Now this
is a more frightening scenario than even the 5 hatchet zombies of Area
4, or the green zombie barrage of Area 7, and possibly even the tough
zombie room in Area 6. Don't panic, it's manageable with practice. The
camera will swoop in on the two armed zombies at the top of the stairs
that look like they're just about ready to floor you. They're really not
(yet), it's just for show. These are your first targets. Dash attack
them down quickly and THEN try to damage them with quick-charge shots or
combos, whatever's faster, as quickly as possible before the two armed
zombies at the bottom of the stairs move within firing range. Don't
immediately panic, the shotgun zombies, like you, cannot aim
upwards...but be wary of the shotgun's wide area effect. Also remember,
if they DO stop and aim, it means they've got a lock on ya. I suggest
that you now turn your attention to disarming them before they put a
very quick end to your game. I wouldn't pick up any shotguns if I could
help it due to the slowdown factor and again, the unreliable damage it
does. While you have averted the shotgun threat temporarily, the zombies
will inevitably rise and re-arm. This now becomes an exercise in precise
dash-attacking and very quick attacks to try and eliminate the zombies
while preventing the others from either shooting you or crowding you
(careful, these guys can combo attack). Luckily, these zombies don't
have that much life, and 2 of them don't have much life at all.

Man, that was a lot of work just battling your way to the front door!
But there are still 2 waves of enemies between you and the nearest life
restoration pickup...

Follow the arrows north and you'll now find yourself in the HOTD. It's
interestingly brightly lit as opposed the outside, but don't waste any
time trying to warm up and dry off. Two hatchet zombies will come down
from the chandelier above and attack, and lucky for you, the last two.
But there's also two fast-hitting zombies who will soon converge on you
from behind.

I have absolutely no doubt that if you had a full lifebar coming into
this room that you would survive. You can burn a few Clear Out Attacks
to even the odds ;) The problem here, as I've said many times before
like a broken record (sorry :)), is that from Area 6 to here, you have
to make do with one life-up and scads of dangerous enemies who eat away
at your lifebar. That said, you're almost to the legendary life-
restoring elixir, if you can just get past this and the next wave of
enemies.

This room lends itself to potential starting strategies that I haven't
been able to practice. But I can tell you that the first thing you see
when you finish the transitional cinema is a hatchet zombie right in
front of you, with you locked right on to it. So you have the choice to
get a free hit, which is important. The problem is the lifebars of all
four enemies are sky-high. If you try to basic combo, the punches might
go over the hatchet zombie's head. If you try to shoot it down with
quick-charging shots, the two zombies from close behind will get you. If
you try to run around, the other hatchet zombie will soon fall from the
chandelier and give chase. In any case, you must somehow dispatch four
durable and fast-moving opponents. Any advice I can give is theoretical
at best, but make getting rid of the hatchet zombies a first priority
...the two regular zombies are much less dangerous. If you do have about
40-50% life, I might try a Clear Out Attack once the two zombies from
behind get into range, so that 3 of the 4 zombies will be temporarily
floored. Keep moving as best you can in the somewhat tight space, and
knock down the two regular zombies if it's safe so you can work on the
hatchet zombies.

Should you make it past this stage, head on over to the left by the
staircase (knock over any statues if you wish). You will now be facing
three bats at the top of the stairs, but they're a piece of cake --
three quick shots standing in place should drop them all. After this,
though, DON'T head up the stairs! Instead, face leftwards and press G, P
or S near the wall with the picture frame to kick open a secret
passage!!

Once inside you'll find two spiked walls slowly closing in, a host of
brown zombies (but different looking and weaker), and at the far end of
the cavern, the coveted Elixir!!! Get to that Elixir by dash attacking
down or very quickly getting rid of the zombies in your way. Don't just
run at the Elixir, a zombie might hit you on the way. Get the elixir
(blue bottle) by climbing up the platform. Success! But now you have to
get out, and worse yet, even more brown zombies have sprung up. Deal
with them quickly (I recommend handgun shots and PPS), avoid the spikes
that are closing in as best as possible (they damage you for about 1/6),
and finish off all the zombies so that you can leave the room.

If you've made it all this way and now have the Elixir in your grasp,
Bravo! You've earned an effective free play, since you'll be brought
back to full health if your lifebar runs out. Now head up the stairs.

You will soon face four armed zombies once again, but these are the
familiar, non-comboing red coat zombies. Knock down the three in the
back of the room (due north) with dash attacks quickly before they
utterly waste you, and then turn your attention to getting rid of the
armed zombie behind you if you can. Then pick up a machine gun and rip
those zombies to shreds. You should make it through unhurt.

Head into the narrow corridor for the next scene, replete with flaming
torches for lighting. The wall (or is it a gate?) will slam behind you
and you must now face a new enemy, the laser zombies. Strangely enough,
they're not that dangerous at all! They can fire a guided laser attached
to their arm (can't be knocked off) that hits for 1/7ish damage (don't
know if this is blockable), or stab at you with the gun attachment
itself (blockable), but to compensate, they act very slowly. They also
start with kinda low life. Take advantage of this to run in there and
raise some hell (or, un-raise the undead, whatever :P), it's actually
very effective since the laser zombies attack so slowly. Charge-up shots
also work well to knock these zombies down. Just take care to knock down
any of the six zombies here that are readying to fire the guided laser
or stab at you and you should be just fine. When I was playing my best
game (in score and progress -- can't play anymore, sniff :P), I had the
elixir and about maybe 7% life left, and I made it through with the 7%
life left. Although I was largely running on nerves, I still think this
room isn't too hard.