Portal Runner - Strategy Guide (Page 03)

Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Portal Runner - Strategy Guide (Page 03).

Now for the fourth ghost.  Go back down the first corridor,
take the last door on the left, then go down that corridor to
the last door on the left, which will open onto yet ANOTHER
corridor lined with doors.  The remaining required ghost is
behind the first door on the RIGHT this time. Return to the
trap room, wait for the ghost to arrive, then jump through
the electric hoops to trap this fourth and final required
ghost.  Once the large door opens, hurry inside to the
Checkpoint.

Follow the line of T-bone steaks to jump the gap and collect
jewels.  There will be two black lions in the area; these
need to be eliminated quickly.  Leo's easy passage is now
blocked by large boulders, which can be broken with a simple
attack.  Again, follow the line of T-bone steaks and jewels
to jump across the 'goop' river, landing just in front of two
more black lions; they should be close enough to each other
that a single attack will eliminate both black lions
simultaneously.  Leo can now move forward, break the large
boulders  (this will require a little more effort this time),
then collect jewels on the way to the Checkpoint.

This next part is rather tricky, and it is probably best to
use the left analog stick (the L3 stick) to control Leo.
Once Leo advances to the next chamber and finds Vikki, he
must continually run around in circles hitting the many
counterweights to keep Vikki's cage from falling into the
'goo.'  With the D-pad (the directional buttons), this is a
bit harder than it at first might seem, which is why the L3
stick is strongly suggested here.

Once this has been completed, keep circling the area until a
new platform is revealed; it will require a jump for Leo to
reach this area.  Step on the button to activate the cutscene
showing Vikki's rescue :-)

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LEVEL 17
World: Castle
Play as: Vikki mounted on Leo

Objective: Find the golden arrow to unlock the way to the
portal

Hint: Have you ever heard 'Fast as You Can' by Fiona Apple?

Vikki is mounted on Leo for this level, so it may be a good
idea to briefly review the controls for this character set-
up.

This level is a timed level: Vikki and Leo have ten minutes
to try to stop the wedding between Sarge and Brigitte Bleu.
Basically, just follow the line of T-bone steaks and jewels
and arrows along the various corridors, jumping gaps as
needed.  At the end of the corridors, jump to floating tiles,
then back to the next corridor and repeat the process.  At
one point, Vikki and Leo must jump down to a lower level to
continue their quest.  The entire time, beware of various
enemies, and destroy large barrels and crates to gain new
items (often arrows).

Once the Golden Arrows have been retrieved, jump on the large
blue tile, go up a level, and continue following the
corridor.  At its end, use a Golden Arrow to shoot the Golden
Shield to reveal another large blue tile, which will carry
Vikki and Leo up to the next level.  Hurry along this
corridor to the portal (noticeable from a distance by its
accompanying blue mist-fog-smoke).

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LEVEL 18
Worlds: Spacestation, prehistoric jungle
Play as: Vikki mounted on Leo

Note: Vikki now wears a rather snug-fitting futuristic
outfit.

Objective: Defeat the flying saucer to get the key to the
wedding hall

Hint: Is it fish night?

After the cutscene, Vikki is again mounted on Leo on a
futuristic spacestation.  Follow the spacecraft (and the
jewels and T-bone steaks) and jump the gaps and the laser
barriers.

Keep moving along through the portal back into the
prehistoric jungle.  Jump the falling logs and enter another
portal back into the spacestation.  Keep moving forward,
jumping gaps as necessary, until the area with the energy
spheres.

Here, the energy spheres move in two directions; go to the
left, as that will allow more time between energy spheres.
The 'median' in the center has breaks in it; at the first
break, get into the 'median,' then turn around 180 degrees
and press the red button to turn it green.  The floor
underneath Leo and Vikki will turn into a floating tile,
which will permit access to several jewels before they are
returned to the floor.  Continue on down the left side.
Eventually, the corridor will double back, and the spacecraft
will return back through the various portals to the
prehistoric jungle and then back to the first area of the
spacestation.

The spacecraft will continue to do this until Vikki can shoot
it with enough arrows to force the key to be dropped, at
which point the key must be collected and taken back to the
portal at the beginning of the level.  This will eventually
become a timed puzzle (due to all the jumps), with about
thirty seconds to complete the level; this can be
successfully done within twenty seconds, so there should be
no worries here.  A quick cutscene ends the level.

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LEVEL 19
World: UFO spacecraft
Play as: Vikki (separated from Leo)

Objective: Find the way to the Brain Room

After the cutscenes, Vikki is alone in an overglorified Trek-
style transporter room.  She needs to first collect the
arrows from the transporter room, then make her way though
the green barriers.  Beyond the barriers are jewels; a little
further down the corridor is the first Checkpoint.

The next room is a bit tricky.  Vikki must kill the lone
Martian before it can trigger the alarm.  If Vikki is not
successful, guards on tiny hovercraft emerge.  In this case,
Vikki must kill anything that moves and use an Explosive
Arrow to destroy the computer which controls the alarm.  Once
this has been completed, she can return to the lower levels
to collect more jewels and/or arrows (if necessary), then
return to the computer console that controlled the alarm.

With her back to the computer console, Vikki can see several
beams of light leading up to a platform with arrows.  Once
she collects the arrows, she can step on the red button in
the center of the platform; the beams of light will be
deactivated, but the exit will become unbarricaded.  Vikki
must jump back toward the computer console and head toward
the exit and its Checkpoint.

Continue along the corridor.  There will be a choice of
paths: up to the left, or down to the right.  Go down, kill
the Martians, and run around the perimeter to collect the
Lightning Arrows.  Vikki must drain the 'goop' to proceed.
On the back side of this room is both a Checkpoint and a red
button on the center pillar; the button must be shot at with
an arrow to drain the 'goop' from the room.  Vikki can then
finish collecting arrows (if necessary), then go to the front
of the pillar and approach its door, which will open.
Stepping inside will take Vikki up one level.

Vikki is now in a room with pods, each with a power button.
The power buttons are the small red buttons to the side of
the pods.  The power buttons can be shut off by shooting at
them with arrows.  There is no way for Vikki to shut off ALL
the pods before some of the Alien Lords emerge, so she must
be ready to fight.  Once the Alien Lords have been defeated
(either killed, or the power turned off for each pod), the
exit will open and reveal another Checkpoint.

The next segment of corridor has security lasers.  With good
timing, Vikki can safely make it through by just running down
the exact center of the corridor.

Beyond this area, the corridor turns to the left, but is
blocked by a barrier.  Use a Basic Arrow to hit the red
button on the top-left of this barrier, which will activate
the barrier and cause it to slide out of the way.  Pass
through and step on the red button on the floor to cause the
room to transform (via a cutscene).

Once the transformation is complete, go directly to the
Checkpoint, then run around the perimeter of the room to
collect arrows and jewels and health hearts.  Next, run out
the door and down the corridor, fighting off more guards on
small hovercraft.  This will lead to another elevator-like
contraption, but before entering, Vikki should run around
behind it to collect another jewel.  NOW Vikki can enter.

In this next chamber, Vikki must destroy the energy balls
which float around in the air.  Collect the arrows and fire
away.  Trident Arrows are best, but Lightning Arrows also
work well here.

After running out the door, Vikki finds herself on a high
ledge above where she was before.  Using a Basic Arrow, she
can shoot at the red button on the central shaft to activate
the floating platforms.  The platform she is currently on
will return her safely to the ground, where she can use the
ramp (to her right) to jump up on a floating platform; this
will raise her up to a stationary floating platform, which
holds a Checkpoint and numerous arrows.

Vikki must now make her way upward to the ring at the top.
This ring has a moving platform, which moves in circles and
is a great way to collect the many jewels on this level.
There is also an exit, but it is blocked by barrier beams.
There is also a pathway to the next Checkpoint, where Vikki
needs to go to continue her upward climb.  The entire time,
she is plagued by incoming fire from Martians and their
spacecraft; Basic Arrows or Trident Arrows work on the
Martians, while Lightning Arrows and Explosive Arrows work
well on their spacecraft.

Upon reaching the next Checkpoint, Vikki is nearly at the
top.  After another short climb, she arrives at the top,
where there are several consoles, arrows, jewels, and a red
button on the floor.  Activating the button releases the seal
on the artificial gravity generator (above her).  Pointing
upward, the floating green discs must be destroyed, then the
protective barrier on the artificial gravity generator will
open; a shot with a Piercing Arrow will destroy it, and a
cutscene will show the changes.

Vikki must now make her way back down.  This is like the
'disco room' in the medieval levels, so Vikki can jump and
essentially 'float' a long distance to make her way to
another platform; this is important, as the beams of light
which connected the platforms before was deactivated with the
destruction of the artificial gravity generator.

Once back on the level with the moving platform, Vikki can
head through the exit and down the corridor, where the level
comes to an end.

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LEVEL 20
World: UFO spacecraft
Play as: Vikki (separated from Leo)

Objective: Defeat the Brain

Note: 'It's Pinky and the Brain, yes Pinky and the Brain...'

Hint: Try not to do anything which may disrupt your rhythm.

After a long cutscene, Vikki must take on the Brain.
Lightning Arrows must be used to bring down the Brain's
defensive shield, and continual volleys will hurt the Brain
even more.  However, there are various annoying enemies
flying about firing or hurling projectiles at Vikki, so she
must be constantly on the move.

And, of course, Vikki has NO arrows at the beginning of this
level >:-(

After a few minutes, rotating lasers appear; Vikki must jump
over these lasers or suffer damage to her health level.

However, there are a few areas where the danger is lessened.
Look for the alcoves, which are raised just enough that Vikki
need not worry about lasers while here.  Martians may still
be running about, and may chase her to these areas, and most
flying enemies will not fire into these areas, even though
the Brain will still hurl large green rocks into these
'havens.'  However, Vikki will be slightly freer to fire off
volleys at the Brain; the only need to emerge from these
areas is to collect more arrows.

Eventually, Vikki will defeat the Brain, and the level will
end.  After a screen showing the final score, the final
cutscene shows how everything ends (I will not divulge it
here).

At this point, all the cutscenes are available for viewing
again; from the Main Menu, select Movies, then select the
individual cutscene.  The photos taken at the various Vista
Points are also available for viewing; from the Main Menu,
select Extras and scroll through the various images, just
like a scrapbook or a photo journal.

The game has ended - congratulations :-)

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OVERALL EVALUATION
Overall, Portal Runner is a great game.  For those (like
myself) unaccustomed to the Army Men universe, the storyline
can at times seem a bit silly, but that is quickly lost once
gameplay begins on each level.

Sound is perhaps the best feature of the game, especially the
supporting music and the voice acting.  Except perhaps for
Brigitte Bleu, the voice acting is highly convincing,
seemingly pushing the envelope of believability without
crossing the thin line into corniness; given the script of
some of the cut-scenes and the comments Vikki makes
throughout the gameplay itself, this is quite a feat!!!
Brigitte Bleu's fake accent is only okay, but it does convey
important character information nonetheless.

In each level, the music fits the current world and/or
situation like a glove.  While the music certainly grabs the
attention, it also does not consume all of the player's
attention.  I believe that independent of the game, the music
would still stand on its own as a really good CD.

As for replay value, those who play such games once and then
sell them on eBay (or elsewhere) should not use Dream Mode,
which is EXTREMELY easy.  However, replaying the game at
progressively higher levels of difficulty should be quite
interesting.

Overall, Portal Runner is a great standalone game; as I am
unfamiliar with the rest of the Army Men universe, I cannot
comment as to its appropriateness within the Army Men series.
As a standalone, I would rate Portal Runner at 7.5/10.  The
puzzles are sufficiently challenging, the storyline and
characters rather intriguing, and the controls easy to learn.
Where the game hits a real pitfall is in replay value and the
need for more levels (the latter is especially important for
those playing in Dream Mode).

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CHESS MOVEMENTS
Here are the movements permitted in chess.  The letters and
numbers indicate the coordinates of each of the sixty-four
spaces on the traditional chess board.

In these examples, an X indicates a piece's starting
position, and an * indicates permitted movements (assuming a
clear path to the intended destination).  Caveats to piece
movement are also given.

Bishop
    12345678
   A*     *
   B *   *
   C  * *
   D   X
   E  * *
   F *   *
   G*     *
   H

King
    12345678
   A
   B
   C  ***
   D  *X*
   E  ***
   F
   G
   H

   Caveat #1: The King and a Rook can switch positions ONCE
              if there are NO pieces in the intervening
              spaces AND the King's passage through these
              spaces would put the King in Check (i.e., in
              danger of being captured).
   Caveat #2: The King cannot move to any space which would
              place him in Check (i.e., in danger of being
              captured).

Knight
    12345678
   A
   B  * *
   C *   *
   D   X
   E *   *
   F  * *
   G
   H

Pawn
    12345678
   A
   B
   C
   D
   E
   F  *
   G  X
   H

   Caveat #1: If a Pawn has not yet moved in the game and the
              first two spaces ahead are not occupied by any
              piece, the Pawn may move forward two spaces.
   Caveat #2: If the two forward diagonal spaces in front of
              a Pawn contain an enemy piece, the Pawn may
              then capture that piece.
   Note:      Once a Pawn attains the any space on the
              enemy's back row, the Pawn can be transformed
              into any other piece, with the exception of the
              King.  The piece of choice is generally the
              Queen.

Queen
    12345678
   A*  *  *
   B * * *
   C  ***
   D***X****
   E  ***
   F * * *
   G*  *  *
   H   *   *

Rook
    12345678
   A   *
   B   *
   C   *
   D   *
   E***X****
   F   *
   G   *
   H   *

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CONTACT
For rants, raves, etc., contact me at FEATHER7@IX.NETCOM.COM;
also, if you have enjoyed this guide and feel that it has
been helpful to you, I would certainly appreciate a small
donation via PayPal using the above
e-mail address.  As this is the final version of the Portal
Runner Guide, I will likely not be able to answer specific
questions about the game - my time is extremely limited now,
and I am concentrating on the newest F1 games.

To find the latest version of this and all my other PSX/PS2
game guides, visit FeatherGuides at

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