Walkthrough Dark Ruins

[Graziana Getz]

Youll start out in a dead-end clearing within the maze-like ruins of the Skedar Temple. Before going anywhere, switch on the R-Tracker and you should notice three dots appearing on the radar, these are the temple targets. Take out the Callisto and head forward to the opening ahead. Once you pass through the opening, you'll hear a Skedar emerging from your left or right, quickly back into the clearing and blast it when it comes at you. Head back through the opening and around the corner. You'll now be at the entrance to a long hallway. A Skedar will appear, stay where you are and blast it as it charges. A second one will be at the far end of the hallway with a Reaper, use the Falcon 2 and zoom in to blast it, just try not to get hit from it's fire. In this hallway, a large pillar is on the right side, if a yellow dot is near the center of the radar whenever you're standing by a pillar, it means that the pillar is a target.

There are five pillars around, you'll only have to deal with three of them. If it's a target, switch to the Target Amplifier and throw one on it, otherwise take out the Devastator and shoot a wall-hugger grenade onto the pillar to destroy it (doing this to the two pillars you don't deal with will give you a double Phoenix later). Head through the opening at the other end of the hallway and go around the curved path. More Skedars will appear and charge at you, be ready with the Callisto to mow them down. Go around to the end of the curved path, on the right will be a long canyon. Another Skedar might appear here, blast it and continue to the end of the canyon. Once you step out of the canyon, run backwards as two Skedar either side will appear and charge, blast them and continue on.

Go down the right path to reach a dead-end with another pillar, throw a Target Amplifier on it, if it's on the radar, otherwise destroy it with the Devastator. Head back out and go down the other path. Straight ahead will be the ravine leading to the Inner Sanctum, on the right will be another long pathway. Edge around the wall and look down the long path, a Skedar with a Reaper is at the other end, quickly blast it. Head down, another pillar will be straight ahead and an opening on the right wall. If the pillar's a target, throw an amplifier or destroy it if it isn't. Through the right opening are two Reaper-wielding Skedar behind a fallen pillar, use the Callisto to blast them. Head through the opening behind them, then deal with the next pillar up the stairs on the right. Up the staircase on the left is a shield, behind the ruined wall is another long room with the final pillar. Once all three targets are set they'll eventually explode and you'll have completed objective 1.

Head back to the ravine opening leading to the Inner Sanctum, and if you've destroyed the two non-target pillars with the Devastator, a Phoenix will be on the ground on the edge of the ladder leading down. Grab it and you'll have a double Phoenix. Use them or the Callisto to blast the Skedar over by the ladder on the other side of the ravine, then edge over the top of the ladder in front of you and look down to the right. Another Reaper-wielding Skedar will be below, snipe him out before he can hit you. There are now two ways in which you can reach the other side of the ravine. One way is to carefully climb down the ladder first, but make sure you don't jump off and fall in the hole. Climb around the rocky ledge to the left, then jump across to the other side where the gap is the smallest.

Climb around the ledge and over to the ladder. The other way is to take a running jump from the top of the ladder and sidestep over to the other side, if you're fast enough you should clear the ravine and land to the right of the ladder. Climb up and go across the path over to the walls on the ruined temple. When you jump down off the path, a Skedar will appear just on your left, back away and blast it quickly. Behind you, a path leads off to a dead-end area with a shield and two Skedar, and within the walls of the temple is the weak section of wall. Switch on the IR Scanner so you can see it, then use the Devastator or the Phoenix's explosive shells to break it open.

Head in and around the corner. You'll reach a long corridor leading off to the left. Several mini-Skedar will appear, use explosive shells to knock them down easily. Once they stop coming, head down the corridor and open the door on the right wall at the corner. Inside will be another mini-Skedar, blast it and walk over to the small rock near the pillar. Crouch down and push the rock over the top of the switch in the floor by the pillar to activate the bridge and to complete objective 2.

The rock on the pillar will keep the bridge active so you can pass over, leave the room and go right. Go around the corner and head across the bridge. Switch on the IR Scanner and continue on. Several more mimi-Skedar will appear in the darker corridors, blast them with the Phoenix, just make sure they don't jump at you. Head around the corridors until you reach a door on the left and a ramp leading up on the right. Blast the mini-Skedar at the top of the ramp, then head through the door at the base of the ramp.

Using the Phoenix's explosive shells, whip out around the corner in the next room and you'll be in a larger area with a Slayer-wielding Skedar straight ahead. Blast him with the explosive shells, then hopefully when he fires a rocket it'll blow in his face. Run over and grab the Slayer, then stay hidden, as another Skedar with a Slayer is around the corner below a bridge. Use the same technique to blast it, then head back over to the ramp in the other room. Head up the ramp and go through the door at the top. You'll now be on the bridge in the room where the two Slayer-wielding Skedar were. Head over the bridge, once you reach the corner, sneak around it and quickly pummel the Skedar standing in front of the door with explosive shells. Head through the door and go through the next room.

You'll now be in the Inner Sanctum area. Go through the next two doors and you'll be in a large dark room. Once Joanna stops speaking about the Skedar army in the room, the lights will come on, and Skedar will begin to come out of the green doors on the left and right sides of the room. Using the Devastator and Slayer, fire at the base of the doors to easily blast the Skedar inside, or just wait for each one to come out and blast them. Each one has a Mauler, try to grab as many as possible. Once they're all gone, head over to the next door opposite to the one you came in through. Head around the pillar in the center of the small room, then go through the next door to finally reach the Skedar King's shrine for the final battle.

The shrine is a large long room, and the Skedar King will be standing up on a platform at the end of the room with a large statue behind him. The statue has five large spiked-shaped arms, they'll be critical to defeating the king. The king has an indestructible shield, so you won't be able to directly injure him with your weapons. Take out the Mauler and head into the room. At first the king will begin firing rockets at you, as he fires them strafe left or right to easily dodge them, just stay away from the rear of the room so you don't get caught in the explosion. You'll have to weaken his shield and then damage the statue, so begin firing charged shots at him as much as you can.

He might sometimes run to one side of the platform and raise his staff in the air, if he does, a lightning bolt will flicker on the base of the platform on the left or right side, if it flashes on the left, a normal sized Skedar will appear and charge at you, blast it and grab the Mauler it drops for extra ammo. If the flash is on the right a mini-Skedar will appear, just blast it and grab the ammo it drops. The King might sometimes completely disappear, if he does he'll teleport down to the ground and charge at you, make sure he doesn't get too close, switch on the IR Scanner to see him and blast away before he moves back to the platform.

Once you damage the king's shield enough, he'll walk over to the statue and crouch down in front of it. You should notice that normally each arm on the statue has a glowing yellow shield around it. When the king crouches down to recharge his shield, all the arms except the largest will be exposed. Aim and shoot one of the arms with a charged shot to destroy it instantly, with other weapons you'll need to fire a few more rounds into each arm to destroy them.

Once an arm falls off, the king will jump up again and resume his rocket-attack, keep blasting him quickly to drain the shield. Keep destroying the arms when he crouches below the statue, once all but the largest one pointing straight up are gone, it's shield will go down. Blast the final arm of the statue and once it falls, enjoy the finale, and get ready for the Special Agent setting, you're not out of this game yet.

Once you begin, switch on the R-Tracker and equip the Callisto. Head forward, then once you pass through the opening and you hear the Skedar appear, quickly dash back and pelt it once it appears around the corner. Head around into the hallway with the first pillar. Wait for the cloaked Skedar to appear, blast it then finish off the Reaper-wielding Skedar at the rear of the hallway. If the pillar here is a target, throw a target amplifier on it, otherwise destroy it with a wall-hugger grenade from the Devastator. Head over to the next opening and go around the curved path. Blast the two Skedar appearing ahead and behind you, then go down the long canyon path and blast the Skedar that appears there. Head down to the end then quickly backpedal into the canyon, pop the two Skedar that rush at you from ahead. Leave the canyon, then head right and deal with the pillar behind the wall at the end of the path. Head back out, then turn right at the first opening before the ravine. Charge down the Reaper-wielding Skedar at the end of the path, then deal with the pillar behind it. Sneak out from the opening on the right wall of the canyon, then carefully blast the two Skedar firing at you from behind the fallen pillar. Once they're down, head over to the next opening, deal with the pillar at the top of the stairs on the right, then deal with the final pillar behind the ruined wall ahead. Once all three target amplifiers are placed correctly objective 1 will be complete.

2. Activate bridge Once the three pillars are done with, head over to the ravine cliff and pick up the double Phoenix on the edge (make sure you destroy the two unused pillars). Take out the double Phoenix, then fire an explosive shell at the large rock covering the ladder on the other side of the ravine to uncover it. Pound the Skedar across the ravine, then slowly edge over the ladder and pound the second Skedar below on the right. With both gone, carefully drop down onto the rocky ledge, then head down the left and cross to the other side where the gap is smallest, or you can just make a running jump from the top of the ladder to the other side.

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