TimeSplitters 2 Atom Smasher (Hard) guide
Written by InzomniaPSU
Email -
[email protected]
---------------------------Table of Contents---------------------------
1. Basic Info
2. That Tough?
3. General Pointers
4. The Guide
-First Bomb
-Second Bomb
-Third Bomb
-Fourth Bomb
-Fifth Bomb
-Endgame
*Method #1
*Method #2
5. Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
6. Version History
---------------------------Basic Info---------------------------
Before you start reading about what could quite possibly become one of the most
aggravating experiences of your entire life, there are a few things that should
be stated from the get-go.
First, I have the GameCube version of the game. I honestly don't think this
will matter since all of the games are roughly the same on each system.
Regardless, I just wanted to throw that out there.
Second, I'm assuming you have a good idea of what the level looks like and how
it is structured architecturally and objectively. If you aren't familiar with
Atom Smasher at all then I suggest making a few runs through it on a lower
difficulty setting so you won't be in the dark when I start describing certain
things.
Third, have something nearby to punch and/or kick to minimize the destruction
you will cause to yourself and to your immediate surroundings after making
several attempts on this level. If you can't obtain something to readily maul
after each time you get the failure screen then I suggest having 20 extra bucks
ready to buy another controller.
---------------------------That Tough?---------------------------
Alright, now that the fun stuff is out of the way, we can get on to that
burning question that's probably on all of your minds:
Is this level that damn hard?
Why yes, yes it is that damn hard. As a matter of fact, it's so damn hard that
I had to sit here and give up almost FOUR hours of my life trying to finish
this thing. It would already be a pain in the nuts as a standard level, but
throw in that wonderful ticking timer at the top of the screen, seemingly
telepathic enemy snipers that could probably hit you if you were invisible, and
one of the hardest end-of-level battles in the whole game and it quickly moves
this into the realm of a digitized assraping.
Yet, even with odds like that stacked against you, it IS quite possible to pull
through this level like a pro. Besides, if I can do it I'm sure you can as
well. With that being said, let's get the ball rolling!
---------------------------General Pointers---------------------------
Before we get to the meat of this guide, there are a couple of things that
you'll need to be aware of throughout the level if you want to stand any chance
of beating it.
The most important of these points is conservation of your health. This may
sound plainly obvious to everyone but it can't be stated enough on this level.
As you'll see in the guide below, there are certain health levels that you
should have when entering into specific areas. For example, upon reaching the
checkpoint, you should still have about 90% of your life left. This translates
roughly into being shot only once. I realize this isn't exactly the easiest
thing to do, but it's practically required. Move swiftly, but don't put
yourself into potentially ugly situations in order to save a few seconds.
Which leads us to...
Time. Time is your biggest enemy throughout the majority of this level. You
can't sit back and pick off foes one by one like you could on previous levels,
so keep a sharp eye on that clock and don't dilly-dally on any one thing for
too long. Keep pressing forward.
Memorization of the level, particularly where enemies will appear, will go a
long way into keeping you in one piece up until the end. The snipers are the
biggest threats here, as they're always located in the same positions and are
crack shots. Have your aim trained onto where they will be before you move and
get that first shot in.
When encountering a sniper, quickly strafe into their field of view and then
strafe out of it. They should take a shot at you and miss, forcing them to
spend a second or two to reload. Make sure they don't get that second shot in!
Most of the snipers in this level can be dispatched easily using this simple
method, but you have to know exactly where they are beforehand. This ties
directly into the above point.
Finally, get used to switching between weapons using the start menu rather than
cycling through them in the actual game. Nothing wastes more time than
fumbling through a large inventory for the specific item you need. Be sure to
use that menu!
---------------------------The Guide---------------------------
The First Bomb:
You start off in a small torture room reminiscient of old James Bond movies
(which the level happens to be a parody of). An out of control laser on the
ceiling is firing all over the room, so wait for it to rake its beam over the
doorway control panel and quickly make your way out of the chamber. Grab your
Temporal Uplink lying on the floor, run to the locked door, and hit the panel.
The door will take a few seconds to open, so in the meantime go to the control
console and rapidly cycle through all of the three cameras, shutting them off
as you go. Pull away from the console and head back to the door. It should
have just finished opening enough for you to squeeze though.
------------------------------ Update ------------------------------
When playing Atom Smasher on hard, realize that there is NO turret
attached to the 3rd camera like there is on easy and normal modes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Head out and turn to your right. You should see one of those goofy looking
troopers walking down the hallway, but ignore him for the time being. Head
down the hallway and take the left turn. You should see a pistol lying behind
a crate with another goofy trooper standing by the railing. Pick up the
pistol, nail the fool in the head and hit the next door panel up ahead.
Quickly turn around and you should see the first trooper running down the hall
like a moron. Gun him down as he's passing by and head in the direction he was
running from. Dust the next trooper you meet around the corner and have the
scientist defuse the first of the 5 bombs. Proceed back to the now opened door
and step through into the next hallway.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 100%
Time remaining 2:35
The Second Bomb:
Keep going down this hallway and you should see another dimdong asking for a
headshot. Take him out and hang a right. Up ahead are several troops
accompanied by a special ops guy dressed in black. The main threat here is the
spec ops guy, as he packs dual pistols and pretty good aim. We'll deal with
him in a second. The immediate problems you've gotta handle are the troopers.
You shouldn't have any trouble spotting the oh-so-stealthy bright yellow
uniform of the trooper standing behind the stack of crates to the rightmost
section of the hallway. Try to get a quick headshot on him if you can, but
watch yourself as the other enemies are going to start moving. Using the
crates as cover, drop each foe as he comes into your line of sight, going for
the head if possible at all times. Remember, head shot = fast kill, fast kill
= time, and time = good. The spec ops guy might try to be a pain in the ass by
hiding behind a crate and peeking out for shots. If this happens, just run out
and try to cap him before he can get a shot off on you. Pick up the ammo and
2nd pistol from your slain foes and proceed down the hallway to the next door.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 90-100%
Time remaining 1:55-2:00
Once the door finishes opening, step out into the room and you'll see the bomb
in front of you but no scientist around to defuse it. This next area might
result in the depletion of some health, so be wary. Turn to your left, wipe
out the troopers that come down the other hallway and get into into position so
that only the right portion of the hall is visible. A spec ops guy hiding
behind a crate should make his presence known by firing a few rounds of hot
lead into your face. Use the wall as cover and pop him when you can. Once he
goes down step out into the hallway while aiming towards the leftmost portion
this time. Another spec ops guy is there, but he usually goes down with 1 or 2
shots so kill him quick and get behind the crate he was crouched behind. A
trooper and another spec ops guy should head down the stairs and come towards
you. Eliminate with extreme prejudice, then turn your attention to the sentry
gun at the far right corner of the hall. You can either try to avoid it using
the Temporal Uplink to guage the small window of opportunity where you can slip
by, or just blow the damn thing up. I prefer the latter, as it affords me more
freedom to handle the two enemies in the next area.
After turning the sentry gun into scrap, head towards the doorway but DO NOT
enter the room. Wait for another trooper to come down the stairs and let him
have it. Now it's time to deal with the first of the ridiculously annoying
snipers in this level. The sniper here is located at the upper right-hand part
of the room, so have your guns trained onto his position and quickly strafe
into the room and then back out again. The sniper should take his shot and
miss, affording you the opportunity to make an immediate followup attack. If
you DO manage to get shot, don't worry, just take him out quick and make your
way up the first set of stairs to activate the checkpoint.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 80-100%
Time remaining 1:05-1:15
Once the checkpoint has been activated, head back down those stairs and turn
the pressure valve. This will cut off the flow up above and stop the fire from
spreading. Be sure to also grab the package of 20 remote mines underneath the
stairs as well, as these are going to become the centerpiece to your strategy
in several key locations. Make your way back onto the stairs and head up,
being sure to pick up the fire extinguisher between the 2nd and 3rd flights of
stairs. You should hear the screams of two immolated scientists, so extinguish
them both and one will start making his way back towards the bomb. If you can
only manage to extinguish one of the scientists easily then don't worry about
chasing the 2nd one down, just immediately turn your attention to the flaming
piles of debris and extinguish them as fast as you can. A key thing to
remember here is that if you only blew out one of the burning scientists then
be sure to begin putting out the debris starting with the piles in the back.
This will prevent the remaining scientist from accidentally lighting you up.
Once the debris are out, the fire door will start to open up with another
sniper waiting for you on the other side.
------------------------------ Update ------------------------------
Statx Forscythe fired an email my way to inform me that it's quite
possible to put yourself out with the fire extinguisher if you're suddenly
feeling all hot and bothered by one of those scientists. Simply equip the
extinguisher, go into aim mode, and point down while firing. Although
this is a great piece of info, I'd advise against doing this when going
through the area immediately after the checkpoint. A simple restart
outweighs the time lost while putting yourself out, as well as any life
drained by the fires.
Nevertheless, this is something to keep in mind when your friend turns
into a pyromaniac during a multiplayer game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pull out the double pistols and have your aim focused on the upper center-left
portion of the screen. Once you see the sniper, immediately fire and don't let
up until he drops. After he goes down, the door to the shipping crate he was
perched upon will drop, revealing a spec ops guy toting a grenade packing
Soviet. Treat this guy just as you did the sniper, making sure he doesn't get
a chance to fire. This dude is pretty resilient though, so watch out. There's
a good chance that, even though he's being blown back by your shots, he may
manage to get a shot or two of his own off. Your best bet is to keep a good
bit of distance between the both of you until you see him hit the floor.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 80-100%
Time remaining 2:00-2:10
The Third Bomb:
Run into the container he occupied and pick up his Soviet along with a shiny
new vest of body armor. Exit the container and another shipping container door
up ahead will go down, revealing a trooper carrying a pistol. Gun him down
with the Soviet and grab his ammo, then switch to your remote mines. Back out
of the container, throw a mine down the outermost side, and then go back in.
Detonate after about one second. If you were fast and timed it right, that
mine will take out the spec ops guy hidden behind the container and either one
or both of the yellow troopers running towards you. Finish off anyone who
survives and plow forward. You'll meet two more troopers before you reach the
sniper, so make short work of them with the Soviet and then get those double
pistols out.
The sniper in question here is located near the upper right area of the hall on
a container. Have your aim fixed to his exact location and move in and out of
his view. After you hear the sound of a bullet ricochet, go after him while
firing BEFORE you begin to move. This will let one of your shots catch him
first before he can hit you. After he goes down, several troopers and a spec
ops guy up ahead will try to impress you with their AI routines by hiding
behind walls and taking pot shots. You should also see a barrel by the
container the sniper was on. Whip out a remote mine and throw it so that the
explosion will kill the guy behind the wall AND detonate the barrel, thus
killing the spec ops guy hiding near it. I've even managed to kill a 3rd
trooper with the same sequence of explosions, so make sure your timing and
placement of the mine is true for effective results. Three more enemies will
rear their ugly heads up ahead; put them to rest with the Soviet and switch to
remote mines.
You should now see a sentry gun scanning the hallway atop one of the shipping
crates. Throw a mine at it and blow it to bits. What's critical here is that
your mine doesn't have to be right on top of the gun for it to blow. You can
manage to throw the mine down towards the bottom of the container and it'll
still manage to take out the gun. Basically, just make sure that the explosion
from the mine is lined up vertically with the gun, and it should go down. Walk
up past the sentry gun and kill the pistol wielding trooper who appears. Once
you get past the crate the sentry gun was on, another sentry gun and trooper
will present themselves. Blow down the trooper with the Soviet and remote mine
the gun. Now quickly turn back and enter the door on your left. Turn the
pressure valve to cut the flow of gas in the other room and then head out. As
you step outside of the room, be sure to place a remote mine or two by the
crate to your immediate left. Once you back up a certain distance, the door
will fall down and your now detonated mines should have taken out both of the
fools within.
Head into the other door to find a bomb on a moving platform with a magnetic
crane up above. Match your speed with the bomb and press the button to
activate the magnetic field. This may take several tries so don't fret if you
miss. Once the bomb is hoisted up onto the crane, position it over the hole
and drop it in.
------------------------------ Update ------------------------------
Some people have asked why I bother going past the wrecked gun and taking
out both of the enemies up ahead before hitting the steam valve and
defusing the bomb. The simple answer is that, while I'm busy grabbing
nuclear bombs with magnetic cranes and saving the world, I don't enjoy
being shot in the back. The first trooper with the pistols spawns once
you get near the crate the sentry was on, while the second will
occasionally follow if you make too much noise dealing with the first.
The last thing I need is to be interrupted while managing the crane, so I
prefer to spend a few extra seconds securing the area before I start doing
something that leaves me wide open. Taking out the sentry gun at this
time is just a preference of mine.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 80-100%
Time remaining 2:00-2:10 (after the time from the dropped bomb is added)
The Fourth Bomb:
Head out of the room and take a left turn, proceeding down the hallway where
the wrecked sentry gun is. Grab the fire extinguisher along the way. Another
sniper is here, so follow the usual drill. He's in the same general position
as the last sniper you fought, so be aware of his location and start firing
those double pistols before you re-enter his field of view. Something of note
that you should keep in mind is to never use the sniper rifle to take down
snipers. It'll only slow you down and there's a good chance you'll get shot
before you can do anything. Stick to double pistols for now and conserve
sniper ammo for later.
After the sniper hits the deck, you'll have to deal with a trooper behind one
of those protrusions sticking out of the wall, as well as another trooper just
ahead of him. Toss a remote mine in to take care of the hidden guy and switch
to the Soviet to hammer his buddy into oblivion. You should see two shipping
crates here with a small walkway in between. Switch to mines and carefully
peek out until you can see the two sentry guns on the other side of the
containers. Blow them apart and move to where they just were. Now turn around
and face the two shipping container doors. It doesn't take a genius to figure
out what's going to happen here, so stick a mine on each side of the wall and
another right in between the front of the two doors. Back up until you see the
doors fall and detonate them for a pretty funny looking display of
explosive-based acrobatics. Don't bother with picking up the ammo, you won't
need it. Turn around and extinguish the flaming debris. Don't rush through
this and touch the fires; take your time and do it right.
The fire doors should start opening up to reveal yet another sniper in the
upper left portion of the screen. This guy isn't as bad as some of the others,
so you'll actually have a split second to lock onto him and bring him down.
Ignore the lift on your right and turn left while facing upwards at a roughly
30 to 40 degree angle. A sniper is waiting here on a catwalk, so be sure to
land those first pistol shots.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 70-100%
Time remaining 1:00-1:10
Keep heading down the pathway the 2nd sniper was perched over and make a right
turn. Continue down this path until you notice a trooper above with his side
turned towards you. Remember those sniper rifle rounds I told you to conserve?
It's time to introduce one of them to this guy's cranium. Once he goes splat,
step out until you can see down towards the end of the room. You should
observe a spec ops guy with a soviet walking above the room on a catwalk. Wait
until he stops moving and send a slug into his skull. If you took more than
one shot to kill the first guy you sniped then the spec ops guy would have been
alerted to your presence, making this harder than it should be and consuming
more of your precious time.
Once the troopers overlooking the room are wasted, it's time to whip out the
Soviet and go kill the 4 scumbags lurking in the shipping container area. If
you have less than 50% of your armor then I recommend heading towards the
container to your left, as it contains a new vest. If not, save the vest and
take out the 3 troopers and spec ops guy you find down here. The scientists
that will defuse the next bomb are located in the container closest to the far
wall, however they will not be able to move freely until you finish the enemies
in the area. Hit the next door panel while the scientist is heading towards
the bomb to save some time.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 70-100%
Time remaining 1:45-1:55
The Fifth Bomb:
The way to the 5th bomb is actually one of the easiest, so you can breathe a
sigh of relief now that the hard parts are over. Enter the newly opened door
(isn't it annoying how almost every door in this level takes forever to open?)
and turn to your left. Keep going and you should see a trooper standing there.
Get him with a single pistol headshot so as to not alert the others in the
room. Slowly peek out, nailing the spec ops guy under the ramp with the
Soviet. This will trigger another trooper at the base of the ramp and a spec
ops guy on an above catwalk to come after you. Smack down the spec ops guy and
then turn your attention to the trooper down below. You may get hit by the
enemy up on the catwalk if you aren't fast enough, so watch yourself.
After dispatching the four guys in here, proceed up the ramp towards the next
bomb. The scientist should be right by the fire door control panel, so let him
do his thing as you hit the switch. That was the last bomb, so that dreaded
timer is now history and you can move about at your own pace. But first, let's
get some additional usage out of that sniper rifle. After the fire door opens
you should be overlooking the shipping container room. At the far end of the
room should be two troopers, one to the left and another on the right. Two
headshots are in order here. You won't be needing the sniper rifle anymore
after this, so switch back to the Soviet and mines for the rest of the level.
Cross over to the other side of the room on top of the steam spewing pipe,
making sure avoid the geysers. Once there, activate the sprinkler system to
put out the equipment fires in the next section and move in. A sentry gun is
around the corner so have a mine ready to blow it up. Switch back to the
Soviet and hit the laser deactivation panel on the control console. This shuts
down the laser grid guarding the reactor area. Afterwards, head out the door
and grab a fresh suit of armor.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 60-100%
Time remaining: None
Drop down to the floor and check your ammo status. You want to be carrying
about 70-80 extra soviet rounds for the next part of the stage, so backtrack to
previous zones of carnage and see if there was anything you didn't pick up.
Once you're set, head down towards the area previously guarded by the lasers.
Three spec ops guys will round the corner and make a pathetic attempt to gun
you down. Show them who's boss and grab the armor if you need it.
Endgame:
Now you'll have to fight Khallos, but there's a method I figured out to beating
him that's a surefire way to drop him every time. The first few times I
entered this area Khallos would always appear behind me and tear me up with his
dual Soviets, so I quickly caught on and started mining the area where he
spawns. What you want to do is place about 3-4 mines by the corner in a line,
pointing towards the reactor area. To further illustrate my point, I've
created a crappy drawing for your viewing pleasure. It should look something
like this:
^
| to reactor |
| |
| |
--------------------------------------X-| |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
|
A |
|
----------------------------------------------------------|
X - position of mine
A - body armor
Once you've laid down your remote wall of death, keep facing the mines and
start slowly backing up towards the reactor area. Once you see Khallos appear
near your mines, detonate them. You are guaranteed to take off AT LEAST 80% of
his life if you placed and timed them right. I've even managed to completely
kill him this way. Quickly finish the battle off with the Soviet and head
towards his corpse. Grab the 2nd Soviet and time crystal he was carrying.
Now, prepare for what can be one of the most ridiculously difficult sections of
the entire game.
When Khallos first appears, he brings along some support. No, not those dumb
looking troopers who resemble midnight joggers or those battle hardened spec
ops guys, but TimeSplitters. Not just regular TimeSplitters, mind you, but
Scourge Splitters too. Arrrggghhhhh...
Four things to keep in mind:
-No matter HOW MANY YOU KILL, they will ALWAYS COME BACK.
-Only TWO Scourge Splitters can be out at any one time. This is crucial to
remember.
-The Reaper Splitters do NOT pose a threat if you're half decent at strafing,
so ignore them. The Scourge Splitters, on the other hand, are the guys
who'll mow you down single handedly if you give them two seconds to.
-Strafe, dodge and weave like a madman. That's the biggest factor in staying
alive here.
There are 2 methods that I managed to complete this level with, one being a
WHOLE lot easier than the other.
Method #1 (For crazy people):
Alright, this is going to turn into a straight out brawl, so make sure those
double Soviets are locked, loaded and ready for action. Immediately unload on
the first two Scourge Splitters that appear and MAKE SURE THEY GO DOWN. You've
gotta keep running towards the reactor switches at all times, so being
proficient with fast, un-aimed headshots will be a massive bonus here. After
those two are gone, ignore the Reaper Splitters and make your way towards the
switch on the right. Flip it and turn around ASAP. Another Scourge Splitter
should be warping in around this time. Let him have it fast, being sure to aim
at its head for maximum damage. The 2nd Scourge that warped in will start
firing on you, however we don't have time to fight him. The trick here is to
utilize your main advantage over the enemies, namely, the fact that they reel
in pain when shot whereas you do not. Keep the 2nd Splitter pinned down with
sporadic bursts of gunfire while running backwards towards the second switch in
the center. Flip that and finish off the Splitter you've been firing upon
while heading to the final switch. You will have more than likely taken some
serious damage at this point, which is why I tried to hammer home the point of
conserving health throughout the stage.
At this point you should have, more or less:
Health 30-50%
Time remaining: None
Jumpiness: Extreme
Once that Splitter goes down, begin doing the exact same thing to the other
Splitter taking shots on you. Remember, as long as he's being blown back by
your shots he can't be firing at you. Once you back into the third switch hit
it and make a complete mad dash for the portal. Keep firing at all times and
make sure that those godawful Splitters can't. If you make it to the portal
then drop the controller and do a stupid little dance while yelling really loud
like I did. Oh, and make sure no one is around to laugh at you.
Method #2 (For non-crazy people; Recommended):
This is a method that I recently discovered and it works flawlessly every
single time. What you need to remember is that, because there are only two
Scourge Splitters that can be anywhere in the level at any one time, and
because they follow you around everywhere like dolts, you can abuse this and
lead them off on a wild goose chase. Once you blow Khallos into a million
pieces and pick up his stuff, turn around and fire a few shots at the Scourges
heading towards you. Only do this to get them pissed off at you so they will
take up pursuit. Turn around and start heading back towards the ramp that was
used to get to bomb 5. Try not to run in a straight line, as the Reaper
Splitters behind you will easily send a few thousand volts of electricity into
your back. Proceed up this ramp and wait by the fire door until you see the
two Scourges up there with you. Immediately jump down to the ground floor and
hightail it to the reactor. The only things you should encounter from this
point on are the Reaper Splitters, which can't really do much to you in the
first place. By the time the Scourge Splitters realize they've been duped and
make it back to the reactor area, you'll already be on your way to the portal.
I have yet to die using this method in the dozen or so times I've tested it, so
it seems like a pretty surefire way to beat the stage if you prefer a less
battle-intensive end. This also means you don't have to be so cautious of your
health throughout the stage, though having a decent life total always helps.
Once again, do a dumb little jig and start yelling at the top of your lungs
once the level is completed.
If you DIDN'T make it to the portal then don't worry. Yes, it IS extremely
frustrating to die at the end of this annoying level, but it took this author a
few right-in-front-of-the-damn-portal deaths to finally get it right. Take
comfort in knowing that the rest of the levels on hard mode come nowhere near
the difficulty of this one (yes, even Robot Factory), so if you can beat this
then you can sure as hell get through the rest of the game.
That brings us to the end of my first-ever GameFAQs guide. I seriously hope
you got something useful out of this, and if you feel like you've got anything
interesting to add then by all means email me!
---------------------------Legal Mumbo-Jumbo---------------------------
Copyright 2003, Francisco Serrano
You can use this guide for whatever you wish, as long as you keep it complete
and don't add any dumb side strategies you thought of, like "don't grab any
armor!" or "press the reset button 40 times in a row and your gun will shoot
faster!". Keep it all together and you can use as you please, people.
Thanks to crate3333 for having the only complete hard mode walkthrough around.
If my method isn't working for you then I'd recommend that you go try out his!
Props go out to Statx Forscythe for his fire extinguisher info.
Thanks to GameFAQs and CJayC for hosting my guide, as well as all of the people
on the boards who contribute strategies and hints for the game!
Your name might be here if you send me something noteworthy or correct any big
errors of mine in the guide.
Finally, a great big thanks goes out to Free Radical for creating TS2 and Eidos
for making sure it got into our hands! Nice work guys, just fire the dude who
made this level, or at least put laxatives into his coffee and purposely clog
the toilets ahead of time.
---------------------------Version History---------------------------
Ver 1.1 (Jan 6th, 2003) Added some more information and made minor grammatical
corrections
Ver 1.0 (Jan 2nd, 2003) First submitted, feature complete
Guide created by InzomniaPSU (Francisco Serrano)
Send all suggestions, comments, and lectures to
[email protected]
This is my first FAQ, so be kind!
