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RED ZONE
Walkthrough/Instructions
v1.0
"The First Walkthrough for Red Zone on the Internet"
by VortexSpin (Nick Gibson)
(c) 2006
Table of Contents
| Legal
| Viewing the Guide
| Updates
| Introduction
| Controls
| Characters
| Apache Weapons
| Mission Walkthroughs
| Infiltration Strategies
| Enemy Guide
| Cheats
| Links
| Further Gaming
| Contact Me
| Thanks
| Wrapup
|LEGAL|
You all know the drill. Don't post this on any site without asking me first,
and don't plagiarize any portion of it, either. Feel free, however, to print
this out and/or distribute it, as long as you don't 'distribute it' to another
site. In other words, you can print the document out or share the link with
others, but don't upload the file anywhere without my permission. If you want
to cut out a piece of it when you print it, you must put in the phrase "Edited
by [your name]" below the version number. If you do not, I will use my powers
to send the Red Zone trio over to your house. They will not treat you kindly.
If you are reading this file from any site other than the ones listed below,
please contact me immediately! It means that they stole it!
- http:\\www.GameFAQs.com
All content herein is the property of VortexSpin, 2006. All rights reserved.
|VIEWING THE GUIDE|
NotePad stinks, and I hate the way GameFAQs makes me use it. But that's the
way things work, so I'll have to put up with it. However, if you want to view
this in Word - and I don't blame you at all - then you'll have to change the
margins. Go to FILE --> PAGE SETUP and change the left and right margins to
5. That way, at least, the paragraphs will be correct and you'll be able to
read this like it was meant to be read.
|UPDATES|
v1.0 Initially posted.
3/13/06
|INTRODUCTION|
Welcome to the first ever FAQ for Red Zone! In here you'll be able to find
instructions, strategies, cheats, and walkthroughs for this incredible game.
Interestingly enough, the prerelease beta for this game, "Hard Wired", was
given to the public domain by Zyrinx! (Along with Zero Tolerance and the beta
Beyond Zero Tolerance.) That's right, you can download Hard Wired, ZT, or BZT
with 100% legality! Some of you emulation types are laughing right now at such
prudishness, but hey, what can I say? Some of us have those hang-ups called
'morals' and need such information before we'll download it. Now, Hard Wired
is more of a demo than anything else, but it'll do fine as a sampler to see
whether or not you want to buy the official Red Zone release.
Bah, enough intro. Let's get to it.
|CONTROLS|
Flying Your Chopper
(START) - Brings up Extended Radar.
(A) - Fires Cannon.
(B) - Fires Secondary Weapon.
(C) - Selects Secondary Weapon.
(X) - No function.
(Y) - No function.
(Z) - No function.
(MODE) - No function.
(D-PAD) - Left and Right rotate your Apache in the respective directions.
Up moves your chopper in the direction it is facing.
Down backs your chopper up, opposite the direction it is facing.
Controlling Your Squadmates:
(START) - Pauses game.
(A) - Fires machine gun.
(B) - Fires/throws special weapon.
(C) - Jumps
Activates levers and computers.
Pushes certain objects.
Opens crates.
Grabs on to certain crates.
(X) - No function.
(Y) - No function.
(Z) - No function.
(A+B) - Sets Explosives.
(MODE) - No function.
(D-PAD) - Moves your character in the desired direction.
Navigating the Satellite Map
(START) - Brings up Extended Radar.
Closes Extended Radar or Satellite Map and returns to game.
(A) - Selects an option.
Advances text boxes.
(B) - No function.
(C) - Cancels.
(X) - No function.
(Y) - No function.
(Z) - No function.
(MODE) - No function.
(D-PAD) - Right brings up Satellite Map from Extended Radar screen.
Up and Down move your cursor through the three options on the
Satellite Map
All directions move cursor in respective directions while in the
Info and Zoom modes of the Satellite map.
|CHARACTERS|
Here's the lowdown on the three fighters that make up the crew of your Apache
chopper.
Shades:
Shades is the commander of the group, and is armed with hand grenades. I
usually pick Shades if I can, since the grenades are great for going over
fortifications and taking about enemies around corners.
Rocco:
Slower, but his rocket laucher is rather formidable and all it takes is a
single contact of his flamethrower to kill an enemy! That's right, just
brush them with it and get behind cover while they burn to death. Nice.
But now that I think of it, the rocket launcher can actually be a hindrance,
since it can't always take out enemies behind cover (although usually you can
get lucky with the blast radius).
Mirage:
Fast and agile, but her knives are sort of a downside. The game is a bit
cheaty in that it allows you to just barely, *barely* nick an enemy and still
kill him, but even with that it's hard to kill enemies when they're behind
cover. Interestingly, if the knives hit a wall and rebound, they'll still
slice open anyone they touch until they stop moving. This means that if you
can get up on the cover that a enemy is using (or on cover nearby that is
equal in height), you can throw it at the wall behind the enemy and catch
him in the back. Also, if your knives miss, you can pick them back up simply
by running over them. Awesome!
|APACHE WEAPONS|
In this section you can read summaries and recommended strategies for your
helicopter's armaments. Read this carefully, since obviously mastery of your
weaponry is the key to longevity!
Cannon:
Press and hold the (A) button to fire it on full auto for as long as you
have ammunition. This is the perfect weapon for taking out non-hostile
targets and even weaker enemies that you don't want to waste serious fire
power on. Just keep in mind that the targeting halo for this is very small,
so it's hard to hit what you want on the go. Best for when you've got the
drop on an enemy from behind, for instance.
Rockets:
Air-to-ground non-homing weapons. I usually have these set for the (B)
button unless I know I need something else. Use those twitchy gaming
reflexes to burn anything that moves as you traipse across hostile zones.
You pack a bunch of these, so there's no need to be stingy. The targeting
halo is small, yes, but there's a considerable blast radius to consider.
Translation: don't worry if you're not lined up perfectly. Fire in clusters
and you'll probably take your target out.
Stingers:
Air-to-air homing weapons. When you equip them, your targeting box will
zoom to whatever enemy aircraft is in range. When the red brackets appear,
fire! You only have four of them, though, so be thrifty and use them only
when necessary.
Hellfires:
Air-to-ground homing weapons. Great for taking out those lethal Missile Pads
and all types of ground-based menaces. Directions for use are the same as
your Stingers: equip, fire on red, and forget. Only 8 to an ammo box,
though. Keep that in mind.
|MISSION WALKTHROUGHS|
Mission One: ACCCBCABBAB
Fly to the southwest corner of the map to find a small island and a landing
pad. Get out and talk to the commando with the (C) button in order to acquire
the floppy disk with the Virus.exe file. There's no point in engaging enemy
forces this early, so try to stay away from the mainlands and don't play
around. The missions get harder soon enough, so enjoy the simplicity while
you can. Also take the time to accustom yourself to the controls for the both
the chopper and your ground troops. Later on you'll be under pressure from
enemy fire and timers, respectively, so take the time to learn now.
Mission Two: ABACBCBCABA
Before you go destroy the radar, fly to the northern end of the large island
to the northeast of your own base. Deal with or avoid the tanks, then blow up
the uranium core (marked with a yellow gamma symbol) with your cannon. Now you
can just follow the power grid south to the radar base. Enter in through the
gate guarded by the now deactivated autoturrets and pepper the radar dish with
your cannon. Now you can land at the pad. Time for your first run-'n-gun
stage!
Select your character. Keep in mind that if you die, then that character is
gone for the rest of the game! So be careful and consider replaying a mission
if you die during this stage. Head through the base. When you reach a room
with a explosive barrel and all sorts of mines, set off the barrel with your
special weapons or rifle. After the smoke clears, continue on. You're trying
to reach the command center, further in. You'll recognize it when you get
there. You can access the computers by standing in front of them and hitting
the (C) button. But before you do that, pick up the explosives along the
south wall. Now you can upload the Virus.exe program into the system. Then
there's a failure and you have a short time to escape. Now is where those
explosives come in! Retrace your steps quickly, and when you get to the gate
blocking your freedom, press (A) and (B) simultaneously to drop an explosive.
Get out of the way of the blast, then get to the exit.
Mission Three: ACCCBCABBCA
The first thing you need to do is obtain air superiority. To do this, you'll
need to make a visit to the airfields to the northwest. It'll be marked as a
large clump of red marks on your realtime radar. Try to approach so that you
can take out the personnel and/or tanks before you start messing with the jets.
Once you do that, charge! Just use your autocannon to obliterate as many
aircaft as you can before they take off. Then switch over to your Stingers.
They'll race by overhead and douse you with a nasty shower of lead. Turn to
face the little circle with the range countdown in it, and fire before they
come onscreen. These can take you out in two passes, so be snappy about it.
If you run out of Stingers, then that means you're a sitting duck and there's
nothing you can do. Prepare to take damage. Note: if you do take extensive
damage, use your satellite map to locate a repair kit. Try to be at full
health when you go after the nuclear ramp base. (You'll probably need fuel,
too, just to be safe.)
Now you need to enter the base to self-detonate the missiles. This is all
pretty straightforward. If you can't advance due to gates, you missed a
switch early on. Watch out for floor tiles that fall away! You'll lose
your character if you fall into water! Eventually you'll reach a place where
the tiles give way to another level. You need to go down the hole and then
jump back up on the other side of the wall to the right. You'll go into an
elevator. When you get to a trolley car, go past it to the left just far
enough to pick up a medical kit. Then get into the car. You'll be taken all
the way across the screen and you'll go into another elevator. Now things
get more interesting.
There are two computers in the big room. Access the one near the south wall
to download the Map.exe file. You'll now have a full map of the level. Clear
out the troops in this room, then access the computer to the north. The
warheads will start moving along their tracks. Quickly run to the right, past
the warhead and enter the ]-shaped path that acts as a maintenance shaft to
the track. (Hopefully you know what I'm talking about. You're trying to
beat the warhead to its location.) You'll find a computer again, so access it
and set the warheads to detonate. Get back to the elevator as quick as you
can - you'll have to come back the way you came, more or less - before the
timer runs out and the level explodes. Now all you have to do is retrace your
steps and get back to the chopper. Another mission down!
If you're having trouble with the fighting in these run-'n-gun stages, go
ahead and read my Infiltration Strategies section.
Mission Four: ABACBCBCACC
This is actually a rather simple level, if you know what you're doing. All
you need to do is blow up an unarmed submarine and get past a mined gauntlet.
First things first: fly to the north until you find the towers that block
your path. Follow the perimeter to the east until you see an orange opening.
Ready your rockets, then go AROUND the gate and along the outside of the
maintenance pathway. Eliminate the Missile Pads as fast as you can, then go
back and enter the path. Be careful here! You don't want to lose a ton of
health by bumping in to things! On the other hand, fuel is probably your
biggest enemy here, so try to keep things snappy.
You'll get through. Now blow up the Missile Pads with your Hellfires, assuming
they're not damaged, then proceed to use your cannon on the nuclear submarine.
Finally, the escape!
You can't go out the way you came. Fly to the west from the nuclear sub to
find a gate-like construction similar to the ones you've flown under before.
DON'T GO THROUGH IT! The trap will spring and it'll be Game Over for you.
Ease your nose underneath it, then back up. The crossbar will sink and blow
up. Now comes a very tense rush to the exit. Explosives will start going
off behind you, so you need to go as fast as you can. At every gate, ease
your nose under, back up, and advance. You needn't wait until it sinks into
the water and detonates - indeed, if you do that, you'll die! Let it drop a
short distance, then move on. When you get out, watch for the Missile Pad.
You don't want to die after all that! Get to your base; there's nothing else
to do. You might want to check for a handy fuel pickup on your Extended Radar
if you're low, but otherwise just call it a day.
Mission Five: BAAABBBCCBB
Take off and head northeast. You should be able to get to the fuel grid
without encountering resistance from ground emplacements. Entry points can
be identified by destructable yellow silos next to the larger armored silos.
Go into the grid, but be careful to avoid running into anything. You'll
face several enemy choppers; check out the Enemy Guide for strategies. Use
the Extended Radar to check your position relative to the landing point,
and work your way it. Keep damage to a minimum! You have a lot to do yet,
but repair kits aren't going to be an option, as you'll find out soon enough.
Land your chopper and the infiltration will begin! I'd recommend Shades for
this one - hopefully he's still an option. If not, well...do your best.
You've seen all this before: blow away the bad guys, avoid the trapped floors,
and pick up the explosives. You'll reach a fork in the road, but the east
path will be blocked by a gate. Head south to reach a very dangerous room.
Go right carefully. When you see chemical tanks on the right, stop! Proceed
with extreme caution, because you can die in a split second here. Push the
last 'normal' oilcan over to the right so it's near the chemical vats. Watch
your footing - there's a point where you'll start losing health. Get back to
the left quickly if that happens. At any rate, set an explosive near the
barrel you pushed and GET OUT OF THERE! Head for the fork you reached
earlier. You should just barely clear the explosion and the resulting wave
of toxic fluid. An enemy soldier wasn't so lucky...
Dispose of those still alive and keep going. Next stop is a room with a med
kit. Fall down through the weak tiles and run to the left, then up into a
room with a conveyor belt. Don't tamper with the belt! If you get dragged
to the right, you'll die. Now, when I say 'tamper', I'm not saying you can't
blow everything up. That's fair game. Set an explosive on the belt and, once
again, get the heck out of there. The whole place will go up in fireworks.
Chaos is established, friends.
Now for the nukes! You've got a very short time to blow them up - thirty
seconds, to be exact. Somehow I don't think that 'chaos' strategy worked
very well... Anyway, you need to get out of the fuel grid pronto; hopefully
you didn't take too much damage during the initial part of this mission! Try
to avoid tangling with enemies - you don't have time for it. On the other
hand, don't start spazzing out and running into objects/choppers. You'll go
down in a heartbeat if you lose your cool. Make your way northwest, following
the scorchmarks that indicate the fuel tanks that have exploded. Once you're
in the clear, head north. Ignore the message about radar. You want to go
to the center of the compound, where there are four nuclear missiles in their
underground silos. What you need to do is blow them up after they ratchet
above ground but *before* they lauch! Use your Hellfires at this point! They
take two each, which means you'll have enough for all of them if you didn't
use any earlier (like on those rocket pads near the touchdown point in the fuel
grid). If you don't have enough, then fire your cannons at the nukes *while
simultaneously firing off a Hellfire*. You need to be fast. Something that
might cause trouble is the central structure. Make sure you don't bump into
it, but try to keep all four missiles in view so you can see which one has
ratcheted up. They won't all come up at once, meaning you have a second or two
to blow one up before the next readies itself. When you've destroyed them
all, the mission ends.
Mission Six: ABBABCAABCA
First things first - pick up the ammo crate on the eastern side of the island.
There's a fuel can to the north, so get that, too, if you need it. The zone
in question is marked by the flashing red dot on the western side of your
Extended Radar. Go land there. Talk to the commando in order to get him to
man the escape jeep, then get back in your Apache.
We come to a scenario that is very familiar to fans of the Strike series. And
that's escort duty! Whoopee! But hey, it's not as bad. You can actually fly
on head and toast the defenses, then go about your duty. So here: fly towards
the two white squares near the southeast. You should have to blow up a
Missile Pad, several Rocket Pads, and a few tanks to boot. If you haven't,
then find them to make sure the jeep gets to its destination intact. Use your
Hellfires - no reason to conserve them. Once you've gotten rid of the ground
forces, you'll come upon a building that's guarded by an orange gate. The
gate will close when you come near. Notice all the electricity? That's
right. You have to blow up another power plant.
This time you can't just shoot it with your Apache. You must infiltrate.
Follow the power lines and land at the plant. I recommend Rocco for this one,
since his rockets will easily take out enemies just offscreen. You want to
blow up four power rods here. You can jump across the smaller gaps, and
you need to fiddle with the various levers to get pathways to slide across.
When you find a power rod, shoot at one of the two capsules projecting the
electric field until it starts sparking, then get out of the way before it
blows. Now you'll be able to get up to the core and lay an explosive. When
you get to a big core, make sure to go around the back and lay it there: the
electricity in the front can't be stopped and will hurt you quickly. Needless
to say, if you fall, you die. This shouldn't be too hard, though. Blow them
all and get to your chopper.
Now you need to fly back to the place you couldn't get before and land. If
you followed my advice to fly on ahead, the Jeep will now be there. More
infiltration! Mirage is good for this. When you start, just run forward and
ignore the first two guards on either side, then jump to avoid getting caught
by the third and go past him. Now you can work your way back to the start
and only have to mess with one at a time. Be sure to get the explosives. Now
simply go through the place, laying explosives at the base of the gates to
knock them out and talking to all the prisoners. Follow their advice and it
will all go smoothly.
You'll get to a larger chamber. After you've killed the guards, just walk
into the chains fastening the President's arms to free him. Now run to his
head to talk to him. The timer will start. Push him south, over the first
grillwork pathway. When you get to the pit, run into the left cell and pull
that switch. Continue, then when you get stopped pull the switch in the right
side cell. Now push el Presidente to the exit. Mission complete!
Mission Seven: BAAABBCAAAA
The commando and the President will get in the jeep, you'll get back in your
chopper, and the prison will blow up. Okay, so now we get to an escort duty
worthy of the most harrowing mission of Desert Strike. Equip your Hellfires
for the first of two stages. Use them all before you get to the halfway mark,
because there'll be an ammo box. Fuel and repair, too, so all you have to
do is make it to the checkpoint alive. You'll notice that you can't fly too
far away from the Jeep, but that's fine. Fly just behind it, so that you can
take care of enemies approaching from all sides. Ignore the tanks at the start
if you can; soon you'll have to be toasting Jeeps and Tanks left and right.
Use your cannon when you can, but don't be afraid to crack off a Hellfire.
This half of the mission is either easy or hard, depending on whether you're
still playing from the last mission or you reloaded your password.
Once you get through all that, the escapees will transfer to a jetboat and you
can stock up on all three pickups. Now comes the hard part! The escaping
jetboat will be swarmed by enemy jetboats shortly. Make sure you don't take
out your ward in the chaos! You should equip your Hellfires - Rockets are
pointless because it only takes a burst of Cannon to take them out, and since
the targeting points are the same size you might as well use your (B) button
for the seeker Hellfires.
If you get to the edge of the map with at least one passenger left onboard the
jetboat, the mission will be over. Now comes the final stretch! It's payback
time, y'all.
Mission Eight: ABBABCAACAC
Pick up Fuel and Ammo on the northwestern island, then head East to the base.
Eliminate only the enemies you need to attain a safe landing, then infiltrate!
Try to keep your damage to a minimum and use as few resources as possible - it
will all be clear to you in a minute. If you take extensive damage securing
the landing pad, consider snagging the ammo and repair crates to the southeast
and northeast.
Choose Shades for the infiltration if you still have him. This is all pretty
straightforward and should not pose a problem to you by now. Kill the guards,
dodge the traps, etcetera. (Note the computer terminal early on - it's an
arcade booth! Anyone up for Asteroids?) You'll get to a big computer center.
You can use the computer banks to hide from the enemy soldiers' gunfire; just
use your grenades to take them out from total safety. Awesome! Once you've
secured the room, access the northern bank of computers. The username you
need to input is "IVAN...."; the password is "DEATH...". Your clearance will
be accepted, and now you just have to get back to your chopper. Seems easy,
right? Read on.
Mission Nine: No password given. (!!!)
You read that right. There is no password for Mission Nine, which means you
have to play at least Missions Eight, Nine, and Ten back-to-back. Ouch. Oh,
and by the way, this is where the game finally gets hard. Very hard. On the
other hand, you wouldn't have wanted it to be a cakewalk the whole way through,
would you? Right? What's that? You would? Okay, fine. Be that way.
The point is that you can't just reenter a password to get free health, ammo,
and fuel. You have to take on this mission with the leftovers of mission
eight. Since you'll encounter the toughest resistance you've seen yet, you
might want to grab the ammo and fuel packs to the southeast and northeast if
you didn't earlier. IMPORTANT: the game doesn't tell you this, but you're on a
timer! You have to get to the convoy before it reaches its destination, so if
you mess around too much, you're going to fail the mission. Be snappy - don't
engage enemies, if possible.
If you head south immediately, you'll run into the convoy on the road. (But if
you wait a bit or get otherwise hung up, you'll have to chase it down.) Note
that this convoy is protected by tanks, choppers, and the road is covered by
numerous ground emplacements. Joy. This is it, so lock and load with salvos
of Rockets, Stingers, and Hellfires to secure the convoy. Don't forget the
ground emplacements, like I said - they can kill you even faster than the
actual convoy can. Of course, if this was Desert Strike, you'd just be able
to take advantage of the game engine and blow away some of the baddies
without getting the others onscreen (and consequently loading). In Red Zone,
though, enemies are active even when they aren't onscreen. You might be able
to work it so that you can hit some of the convoy without being exposed to
fire from the whole shebang, but...you'll probably die trying to find that
sweet spot. A parting note - I said to use Hellfires, but if you do so be
careful NOT TO HIT THE TRUCKS! You have to destroy the jeeps, tanks, and even
the choppers, but if you destroy all three transport freighters you'll fail
the mission. The choppers can be hit offscreen with Stingers, and the tanks
take more hits than most - just a heads-up for you.
Pick up one of the explosives by hovering over it and pressing (DOWN) + (C).
Now you've got to take this south to the blinking dot on your Extended Radar.
Realize that you're slowed down by the extra weight, which means you're a
sitting duck for any enemies, ESPECIALLY Missile Pads. Try to stay out of
fights. You'll recognize the Sun Cannon when you find it... If not, it's a
grey ball with a big muzzle sticking out of it. Drop your bomb down the orange
hole, then land to take command of the cannon. You're aiming for a bunker to
the extreme west. (Pay attentiont how you're oriented when you land.
Depending on how you do it, West might not be the lefthand side.) Rotate the
turret as far as you can in the right direction, then press (A) to fire.
KABLOOMY! End of mission.
Mission Ten: No password given. (Dang.)
Fly to the West until you reach the bunker you blew up. Land, and it's game
time! Pick Mirage for this, if you can - you'll need her quickness. Okay,
so when you enter you see a big conveyor belt. Experienced gamers will get
out their hardcore hats, because they know that conveyor belts always mean
trouble and frustration. And guess what? This one's a royal pain. The idea
is to run against the flow, weaving between barrels and avoiding the claws
that will drag you all the way back to beginning. But before we get started,
I have a question for you. Are you hardcore?
If you are, then take a gander at the thicker gray pipe to the left, just
below the endpoint for the claw tracks. If you're quick, you can jump
across that and skip the whole pain-in-the-neck shebang. Run a little ways
north, past the pipe, then run to the left, timing it so that you'll step off
the conveyor belt and onto the pipe without having to adjust yourself. Now
jump like crazy and you may make it over, in which case you just have to head
to the south to get in the elevator.
If you're not hardcore, then you're in for a fun time. [/sarcasm] I can only
give you some tips here; I can't hold your hand. Try not to jump unless you're
attempting to make headway against the belt. Jumping on top of a can is a bad
thing, since by the time you make it off you'll have lost ground. Remember
that you can simply run to hold position or inch forward on the belt...use that
when you need to stall. Also keep in mind that you can run between to barrels
positioned diagonally from each other. Oh, by the way - I said to try not to
jump onto barrels, but you *must* jump if you want to make any progress. It'll
take all day if you don't. Just try to avoid hopping onto barrels. The claws
are devastating - they'll snatch you and take you back to square one. My
tactic is to get grabbed by the one on the left at the start so that the two
pincers are staggered. Now you'll be able to switch sides when you have to in
order to avoid the setback. If this isn't clear to you in text, you'll see
what I mean when you get there.
Once you head north, then back south, or if you just jumped across the pipe,
you'll be in a new area. Drop down, then head north. Jump back up and pull
the switch to the right, past the crane. Go down a level again and head east.
You'll pass through a room and get to another one. Now jump up again, get the
ammo, and pull another switch. This was where I was stuck for ages...I kept
trying to jump onto the crates. Finally I figured out what you need to do.
Just as the crate is being hoisted up by the crane, you have to press and HOLD
the (C) button to grab onto the crate. When you get to another platform, get
off in order to kill the soldier, then get back on the next crate. Jump off
again when you can to eliminate the opposition. Now go East across the bridge
to get explosives and pull a switch. A sluice gate goes up, and you can drop
down to where the lava was earlier! Get to that middle ledge, set a bomb, and
get back down. Now you can get into the room you were only able to run under
earlier! Kill the enemies and OPEN ANY CRATES THAT YOU'VE LEFT BEHIND! Don't
save anything for later, because there ain't gonna be a later. That's right -
you're at the end of the game! Boss time, baby!
You're going to fight Ivan in a big rectangular room. He'll be flying a hover
chair of some sort, and he can attack with either a machine gun or timed
explosives. There's a medpack in the top right corner, a grenade case in the
bottom left corner, and two ammo crates in the bottom right corner. Disclaimer
time, everyone: I'm not sure if the damage you give Ivan 'carries over' through
deaths. Translation, if you get him to 50% with Mirage, then die, I'm not sure
if you can get him down the other 50% with your next character or if he goes
back to 100% capacity. At any rate, if you die just pick someone else and
enter the fray again. Mirage really is best for this because of her speed,
but Rocco's rockets will reall help you here. Shades' grenades are worthless.
Concentrate on using your machine gun here...it's the best way to drag him
down. Use any explosives (you should have three left), and if you're lucky
he'll get hurt by his own. This isn't *that* hard, at least not compared to
some of the helicopter sequences. Hopefully you still have all three of your
squad members. There isn't much more advice I can give you, since Ivan's more
dynamic that most other Genesis bosses. There is not pattern I can discern.
Just be smart and fight hard, comrade! If you damage him enough, he'll go
crashing into a wall and explode.
It was a heck of a day, I know, but you just stopped nuclear holocaust and the
rise of an insane tyrant. Stand up straight and be proud! Then enjoy the
modest ending sequence and let out a long sigh of satisfaction.
Congrats, soldier.
|INFILTRATION GUIDE|
Primarily since I'm lazy, but also because it's the most concise way to prevent
the information, this section will be done in bullet points. Like so:
- Crates: You need to approach a crate dead-on center when you press (C) to
open it. If you don't then you'll simply jump over it, which means a fall
into a pit in certain situations. Be sure to center yourself on the side
of the powerup crate, just to be safe.
- Gun Arm: If you can get an enemy on the right-hand side of your character,
then you can take all the time you want about killing them with your machine
gun. Because the hit detection is a bit larger than the actual visible
characters, you can edge your way over so that his stream of fire is just
barely going past your right shoulder. Then open fire. If you've done it
right, there's nothing he can do and you can save your special weapons (and
health) for later.
- Corpses: Trampling on fallen bodies slows you down, which can mean death in
the harsher timed sequences. Jump over the corpses or just skirt around
them. Unless you're a sadist, of course.
- Trap Tiles: These tiles are indicated by hash marks on their lower left
corner. When you step on them, they'll give way - usually to something
deadly. Run across them quickly or jump over them unless you *know* you
need to drop down a level. (Which happens occasionally.)
- Hit Detection: The hit detection box is bigger than it should be, especially
for special weapons. So with Rocco or Mirage, all you need to do is hit the
air next to a target to bring him down. (Great for taking out baddies that
are hiding behind cover!) This also works with your normal weapons, to a
lesser degree.
- Bullet Strings: When you get hit, you pause for a brief moment. This is
very bad when you get caught in a stream of bullets, because you'll find
that you can't run into the clear without taking multiple hits. So instead
of trying to run, jump away. You'll only take as many hits as your reflexes
allow, instead of the mandatory half-dozen (approximately) you'll get by
trying to run.
- Explosives: When your character dies and you reenter as a different one,
remember to get any explosives again! You don't want to waste a ton of time
by having to backtrack because you didn't have any bombs when you need them!
I don't know how many times I've forgotten this...
|ENEMY GUIDE|
Missile Pads
Identifiable by their two missile racks and central pivot system. They will
launch heat-seeking missiles whenever you come within range. Note that you
can shoot down their missiles with your cannons or simply outrun them. Just
make sure that you run until you hear them self-detonate behind you. I don't
know how many times I've stopped running, only to have a flight of missiles
crash into my tail. To shoot them down, turn to face them and start flying
backwards, cannons on full. They'll take a few hits, but you should be able to
take them down before they impact you. Just realize that the Missile Pads can
shoot pretty much nonstop, so this is only a viable strategy once you've
destroyed the Pad and are only having to deal with the missiles it already
launched. You'll get nowhere if you try to eliminate the missiles before
you've taken out their source.
Enemy Personnel
Surprisingly annoying, much more so than in the Strike series. They're armed
with both automatic weapons and rocket launchers. Use your cannons if you've
got time, but you can clear them out faster with the fragmentation effect of
your rockets.
Jetboats
They're armed with heat-seeking missiles, so although they don't have as high
a rate of fire as the Missile Pads, they're still troublesome. Hellfires work
best, since they're a bit speedy to tag with rockets easily. Weakly armored,
though, so maybe in the final analysis they're nothing more than annoyances.
Tanks
They can turn to follow your flightpath, and will shoot large shells every two
seconds or so. They can be taken out easily with either cannons or rockets; if
you're having trouble, try flying in a little circle around them to get them
tracking after you. You can then stop and destroy them before the turrets
catch up. The best strategy is to approach them from behind and blow them away
before they lock on.
Jeeps
Quite hard to catch, but they only take a short burst of cannon fire to
destroy. Extremely satisfying!
Defensive Turrets
As the in-game info screen says, 'instant death'. They have an extremely high
firing rate and follow you very tightly. Do not mess around! Eliminate their
power sources instead of trying to get past them.
Rocket Pads
They cannot turn and will only fire if you cross their sights. Needless to
say, even if you're only being slightly cautious, these should pose no problem.
Approach from any direction other than head-on and take them out with cannons
or rockets. If you feel like flying in front of them, then do so at almost a
screen's distance. That way, even if they fire, you'll be out of the way by
the time their rockets reach you. Be very glad they don't have seeking
capabilities.
Helicopters
Not that much of a threat, if you keep your distance. Cannons work well, and
you can kill them with a single Stinger. (Seems somewhat wasteful, though.)
The big, big, huge problem with these guys is if you run into them! That red
bar will go plummeting faster than you can sneeze. Do not let them touch you,
or your mission will probably end right there.
|CHEATS|
There are two cheats avaliable for Red Zone, both of which are used in the
password screen. Here they are, in all their glory:
Invincibility: (See below)
This will allow you to start on whatever missions you wish, with an
invincible chopper and infinite deaths in the run-'n-gun levels. (If you
die, then you don't lose that particular trooper like you usually do.)
Mission Two: ABBBABACBBC
Mission Three: BAABAACBCBA
Mission Four: ABBBABACBAC
Mission Five: BAACAABAACA
Mission Six: ABBCAACACCC
Mission Seven: BAACAABAABA
Mission Eight: ABBCAACACBC
Hidden Asteroids Game: CCACAACACAC
You'll be able to play the classic game Asteroids, Zyrinx style! (C) shoots
your weapon, (B) gives you a burst of speed in whatever direction you're
facing, and (A) teleports you to a random location onscreen. Destroy all
the asteroids to advance a level; if you touch an asteroid you die and go
back to level one. (With your score intact, oddly enough.) You can also
access this game via a computer terminal in Mission Eight.
|LINKS|
Here are various links that I think might be useful to you. Once again, please
email me any cool links about this game you know of and I'll put them up, along
with a thanks to you for finding it. This section needs expanding, now! The
content of these sites is the property of their respective owners, by the way.
- GameFAQs: The main page for Red Zone on this site. You can find cheats and
a forum here. Go check it out, and say hello!
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/data/_________.html
- Sega-16: Your Home for Everything Genesis: This site has become the premier
place for the Genesis gamer. There are reviews, of course, but also scanned
print ads, television clips, dozens of links, and articles with tons of
information that you just can't find anywhere else. Not only that, but the
site has a forum with a fraction of the idiots you'll find on GameFAQs!
Yay! Melf (the driving force behind it all) deserves as much credit as he
can get. He's simply *the man* of the Genesis world right now.
http://www.sega-16.com
- Genesis Collective: The place was hacked in 2002 and died soon after. It
hasn't been updated in ages, but all the old information is still there.
Download the Genesis Collective Offline file *now*, while it's still
avaliable! A great place if you want to look at scans and screenshots.
http://www.genesiscollective.com
- Genesis Project: Neat-o place with manual scans and "The Big Book of Game
Genie Codes". Used to be dead, but now it's alive again!
http://www.genesisproject.com
|FURTHER GAMING|
Whereas in my Beyond Oasis FAQ there were several games to list, there's really
only one series to mention here, and that's the Strike games. These were the
obvious inspirations for Red Zone. Although I think Red Zone surpasses them,
you should give them a shot anyway! They're great games and can provide many
afternoons of enjoyment. Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, and Urban Strike are
avaliable for the Genesis - they're probably the best games in the series. On
the SegaCD is Surgical Strike, but it's a different sort of animal and doesn't
come highly recommended. Soviet Strike can be found on the Sega Saturn, and
the final installment, Nuclear Strike, is avaliable for personal computers.
Now that I think about it, though, if you enjoy the missions and tactical
joy of Red Zone and the Strike games, there's something to be said for Target
Earth, too. (Also on Genesis.) It's so hard that you have to use the
invincibility code, so that sort of kills the strategic value, but it's a cool
game and deserves to be played.
Lastly there's SeaQuest DSV for Genesis. It's another blatant clone of the
super-popular Strike games. Only problem is that everyone says it stinks. I
don't know if that's true, but...there you go. Find out for yourself!
|CONTACT ME|
I'm providing my email so that you can contact me for the following reasons:
- to submit something to the guide.
- to provide constructive criticism.
- to give me compliments. =)
- to make corrections to any errors in the guide.
- to suggest things I should add to the guide.
- to ask me a question about the game.
- to just talk about Red Zone. (Whether or not I talk back depends on
whether or not you're an idiot. =D )
- to notify me of an incorrect or dead link.
Basically anything intelligent and genuine. The following are emails that
will get deleted and possibly get the sender blocked:
- ads.
- anything with pornography, profanity, obscenity, and the like.
- anything not about Red Zone or closely related subjects.
- requests for ROMs, warez, and various illegal products.
- "chattese", many grammatical errors, or general stupidity.
- hoaxes. If I find out you're lying, you're done. Plain and simple.
Basically anything that will (or is meant to) irritate me. That said, here's
my email: godly_paladin[AT]hotmail[DOT]com. I look forward to hearing from
you!
|THANKS|
As usual, there are some people I must thank for the existence of this guide!
Here they are...give 'em all a round of applause!
- Daniel and Brenda: My parents, because they're the reason I've got a Genesis
in the first place!
- Victoria: My sister, for being my backseat strategist.
- GameGenie.com: For providing the invincibility passwords.
- Zyrinx: For obvious reasons. I really admire these folks for having the guts
to go beyond the norm and make the Genesis work hard for once. They're one
of the few developers who actually used the power that was avaliable.
- Sega: For equally obvious reasons.
|WRAP UP|
Hardly any wrapup to be done here. What's there to say? This game is great,
it needed a FAQ, so I wrote it. I hope it helped you! It's 10:14 AM on a
Monday morning in the American midwest...apparently we're going to get up to a
foot of snow/sleet this afternoon, so it's time to batten down the hatches and
settle down to my good 'ol Genesis/32x combo.
Spinout.
[E N D O F D O C U M E N T]
