Cortana

The scene opens on the burned out crater left when that flood chuck came plopping out of the sky. A Banshee flies overhead. It was the Chief and he gets out to step into a puss-y, bile-y muck that is the former Covenant city, High Charity.

I feel sorry for the Chief in this level. Trying to win back an ex from a new boyfriend is never easy. I am sure they had a great times together in Halo 1 and Halo 2, but, man, when you left her on the other Halo, she totally looked down on that. She’s all up in Gravemind’s head now. I don’t think you can win her back at this point. You just need save face now Master Chief and find a new AI.

Rampant

From this first great room, pickup some Spikers and Plasma Rifles and continue down the hallway killing off the swarms of Flood infestation. Continue through the nearby sphincter.

Gravemind speaks to Master Chief and lens effect he uses makes this look like a colonoscopy. The overlord says that he does not forgive the sins that a father passes to his sons. This is a reference to the Forerunners who first fired the rings and the sons would be the humans that descended from them.

Weapon Recommendation: A close range weapon such as a shotgun or a plasma sword and then a ranged gun such as a carbine. If you ever find a Brute shot, hang on to it the blade on that thing is a Flood killing machine that doesn’t waste ammo.

Descend through the ground sphincter and hear Cortana ecstatically laugh/cough. Fight your way up the ramp and into a much larger chamber that has the full range of Flood types.

• The Pure Form Stalker (new to Halo 3) will climb the ceilings then turn into the Ranged type. So, if you are being shot at and you can’t figure out from where, look up.
• It can be easy to lose your way in this room so your first goal should be to find the Pelican that has crashed into the side of the structure. There you can find some pistols and a shotgun.
• From there, head over the hill on the other side and descend into the tunnels.
• Get the checkpoint and then head through the next sphincter.

From here on out Cortana and GM will takeover Master Chief’s brain microphone and not really taunt, just sort of give status updates on their relationship. Its bad enough to go crawling back to your ex-AI, but it’s even worse when she makes fun of you as you do it. Such a shame, I am really more worried about Master Chief in this level than Cortana.

To add further insult, Gravermind’s tunnel vision starts again and he tells the Master Chief that he knows he is here for Cortana but it is no good anymore. They are one now.

Further down the hall an almost childlike Cortana says that she is nothing but a buildup of lies. Gravermind retakes Master Chief’s brain and says that maybe her heart still remains with Master Chief but her mind is definitely with Gravermind. Read: “She may still like you a little but I am the one who gets to have her at night.”

The next room has a bunch of Flood clad in shinny black suits. Fight them off and then head up the hill and jump down the hole into a room that is less consumed by the flood. The walls and floor are that Covenant Purple.

• The Ranged form is really infesting this area so you should hide behind a structure and let the Covenant come to you. When clear, pop out and snipe at them before they rain down on you with those green spittle shots.
• As you fight, Cortana, sounding very childlike, introduces herself and asks if you like to play games. Its like her memories are being consumed and all that is left is her memory of introduction to the Chief. Here is also where you find the next skull:

Continue on, a way point should appear to guide you through this room. The hallways continue almost indistinguishably. As you round a particularly narrow point, child Cortana says “I’m just my mother’s shadow, don’t look at me, don’t listen.” Either this is an offspring we are listening to or she has completely regressed to thinking her old self was her mother. Continue slowly through this very infested hallway. At the end of it Gravemind frustratingly yells at Master Chief.

The next great room is again crawling with the Range form Flood. You need to head straight up, almost like a platformer. The jumps are pesky, but even more pesky when the Flood are firing at you. Clear the room of flood before you proceed up this room.

• Look for the Brute shot in this room. It is most effective against the wall clingers.
• To climb up the room, go to the big purple box in the middle. Jump on it, then to the metal platform across from it. Continue up there and then jump across the next chasm.
• From there, wind around the ancillary hallways. If you going uphill, you are on the right path.
• There will be another chasm to jump across before you reach the sphincter at the top.

Cortana is back and says “I have watched the edge of the abyss and I have seen your future” Gravemind interjects: “SUBMIT.” What a grump. I guess I would feel the same way through if a someone was climbing through my orifices.

Through the next hallway and out the next sphincter you reach a giant room with a hollow column down the center.

• The place is crawling with the spider form. - Use the Brute shot heavily in here. The melee blade can take out the bigger, Tank form and a few shots can take out the Ranged form.
• Circle around the perimeter to the bridge that leads to the center island.
• From the center, take the flesh bridge across to the other side and reach a door that has yet to be consumed by the Flood.

Gravemind and Cortana have become almost one at this point. They are talking over each other and it is almost cute. He wants to know what she hides (most likely the location of Earth) and she plays coy. Through the next door Cortana admits that she is a monument to all your sins. Insult and injury.

In the next room, Cortana sits in the middle of a pop-a-matic bubble. Melee it and you find a distressed Cortana. She lies there and looks up at her rescuing Chief. Apparently, rampancy causes an estrogen cascade because Cortana is downright busty. Cortana was the mousy librarian in Halo 1 and now she could give SHODAN a run for her money. Cortana reveals that she still has the activation index (that is what she was saving from Gravermind). He reclaims Cortana and puts her in his head.

Nor Hell a Fury

References to dead English playwrights aside, Cortana is back and boy is she pissed at Gravermind. Cortana begs to be taken out of there.

• Head back in the central chamber
• When there, Cortana has the great idea to start a chain reaction to destroy the ship. Throughout the Halo saga, Cortana’s solution to pretty much everything is to overload the propulsion system to make it self destruct.
• Activate the console in the center island and then blow up the four other towers (indicated with the navigation icons).
• The chambers explodes and it is another Metroid escape sequence.
• Wander around a bit and wait for an explosion to clear the escape path which Cortana will mark with a nav icon.

This next sequence is classic Bungie. God Bless Em. It’s another backtracking through an old level. I mean really, couldn’t that chute that was blown open in the last room been a long freefall that spit us out right next to the final door. No sir! Its Hansel and Gretel time. I just wish I had told you all to leave breadcrumbs on your way in. Wander around aimlessly enough and you will be given nave points to lead you out.

The Chief finds the Pelican and the Arbiter. They climb aboard and escape the tendrils of Gravemind and ride off into the sunset. I am disappointed that we never got to see Gravemind. I have a feeling Bungie was a little scarred to roll him out again considering many called him a little shop of horrors doppelganger.

Time 1:09:26 Rating **** //I got lost a lot, combat was confusing