The Covenant

 Trident

A platoon of Pelicans and two Elite transports fly over the ocean approaching the shield generators. Johnson and his men will take out the first shield generator, the Elites the second, and Master Chief will take the third station. As Master Chief’s platoon nears the landing zone, the paper mache Pelicans lose altitude and crash on the shore. I think an approaching cold front and the resulting spike in humidity may be to blame for the Pelicans’ downing this time. Jump off the Pelican and good heavens that’s a big gun Master Chief has.

The level starts with your classic beach storming mission in which an entrenched enemy uses their beach entrenched advantage against you.

• Keep pushing forward using grenades and the Battle Rifle
• Save the Spartan Laser for later. I am talking like 10 minutes later, there is a big vehicle battle coming and you will need it then.
• When you reach the two red turrets, strafe right and follow the river path around to flank them. Hit them with a sticky grenade or shoot out the Grunt gunner.
• When you reach the top of the hill you will find the other downed Pelican and two Brutes. When they are gone, destroy the anti-air Wraith with the fuel rod gun that one of the Brutes dropped.
• Take the remaining bullets as well as the Spartan Laser with you. I know they are both anti vehicle and woefully overpowered against infantry, but again there is a big nasty vehicle battle ahead and you will need both of these weapons.

With the air defenses cleared, a Pelican deploys a Mongoose and a Warthog. Master Chief must drive his men towards the generating station- So, as Master Chief lead these men to the first Generator.

• Take out the pursuant Wraith using the Spartan Laser. Doing so will give you the “Too Close to the Sun” achievement.
• The subsequent uphill path leads through a picturesque valley that makes me think the Forerunners had visited Yosemite National Monument.
  

The trail descends into one of the greatest, most beautiful video game waterfalls I have ever seen. It rivals the one on the Legend of Zelda Splash Screen. Down in the gorge is the huge vehicle battle and the reason I made you save your Spartan Laser and Fuel Rod Gun.

• Use a ranged weapon to snipe out a Ghost’s driver and use it to take out the ground troops.
  
• Don’t fight the Wraith until you have dealt with all the tertiary attackers.
•  The two Brute vehicles can easily outgun your Ghost so use the Spartan Laser on them.
• With both vehicles gone, use the Ghost to loop around the valley shooting at any beasts. Retreat after they knock out your shields.
• Focus on the Wraith. Use the ghost if you are daring or the Spartan Laser if you are lazy.With the valley clear, head for the garage door that is at the buried in the side of the canyon.
• Use grenades and range weapons such as the Beam Rifle (it is located at the top of that metal structure opposite the garage door)

The inside of the building is a nearly identical regurgitation of the shield generator stations from Halo 1. The room has an outer ring of hallways and then a central lobby area where there is a mysteriously glowing energy field. - Keep moving around the outer ring picking off the Covenant as they attack.- There are a lot of fusion cores here. Aim for them and you can clear a room quite efficiently.

• Wind around the perimeter of the map and look for the ramp that leads to the second floor.
• TERMINAL 04 - From the second floor, walk over to the energy beam but don’t hit the switch. Instead, jump over to the nearby darkened room to find another of the terminals. In this entry, another besieged author dreads his pending fate while still maintaining excellent sentence structure (t04)
• When complete with the terminal, jump back to the elevator and hit the switch to activate an elevator to the generator’s control room.
  

At the top of the beam station is a floor absolutely teaming with Grunts. Is all this necessary? It’s as overstaffed as a GAP.

• You should be adept by now at taking out a pack of Brutes. Fire a shot or two at one of them and then wait form them to come and get you.
• By slowly picking off one or two at a time, you slowly bleed the platoon of its Brutes.
• Use their equipment against them. If they throw down a bubble shield, jump into it, kill everyone in there, and then stick around until it recharges. Same thing for the green regenerator fog.

When the room is clear, head to the window and flip the switch. The energy beam deactivates. Looking across to the other installation, the Arbiter deactivates his assigned beam. Quick pan to the third and final beam and it doesn’t turn off. Johnson’s team failed. After stranding himself on the Delta Halo, crashing countless Pelicans, and now this, it’s becoming apparent that Johnson really isn’t that good at what he does. Keys changes the plans. Regroup with the Arbiter and then go bail out Johnson.

So, turn around and backtrack your way out of this installation and back into the waterfall valley. Two vehicles have been dropped off. I opted for the Aerostar edition Warthog.

When you get back to the beach, two Hornets descend and the pilots get out. With their smaller helmets and diminutive size, they look like diet Master Chiefs. Hop in and fly off to the final shield generator.

If You Want it Done Right ...

The shield generator station that the Arbiter was assigned to and the one that Johnson failed to disable are further down this rocky coast. The first station that is on your right was the station assigned to the Arbiter. It has successfully been deactivated so is only of interest to you if you want to get a skull and a terminal.

• Flying tip #1: The right stick controls your altitude. The left stick is the forward throttle.
• Flying tip #2: there are so many Covenant aircraft target only the ones that are harassing you.
• Flying tip #2: When fighting airborne enemies, target its engines. The little glowing things on each wing for the Banshees and the big glowing balls on the transport ships are the equivalent of a headshot.
• TERMINAL 5 (t05): Land the Hornet and from the ground floor of the installation, head around to the back. The fifth terminal is there along the wall.
  

Continue past the Arbiter’s generator station and around the cliff face is the third generator station.

• If you are being hit from behind, spin the Hornet around and fly backwards as you shoot at the Banshee attacking you.
  

When you get near the third metal tower, there is heavy anti-aircraft fire.

• Fly low and take out the two orange turrets, the Wraith, and the two AA tanks on either side.
• When those are clear, the Brutes really start pouring out of the station. The Hornet can make short work of them.
• If you dislike flying the Hornet and want to tackle this area on foot, there is a Fuel Rod Gun in the forested areas on the right landing zone. (its behind a rock in a Covenant crate)
• If needed, you can jump out of the Hornet from a high altitude. You will almost be paradropping in.
  

Head into the Forerunner structure to deactivate the third shield.

• Along the left side are a mess of drones, get a pair of Spikers ready to neutralize them.
• When they are gone, head to the middle lobby and battle it out with the Hunters. If you still have the Brute Hammer use it on them. Otherwise, use the fuel rod gun that is back in the grassy area.
• When the area is clear, your Elite allies will crouch around the door that you should enter.
• Advance up the ramps and battle the Brutes here.
• TERMINAL 6 (t06) - Climb up onto the beam elevator but, like last time, don’t go up. Instead, jump across the darkened room to get the sixth terminal.
• Jump back to the beam elevator and ride it up to the control room.
  

Like last time, the generator control room is over-staffed with Brutes. This time they have been upgraded with invisibility

• Stay back in that first little alcove, pop out and shoot the passing invisible Brute a little and he will com back at you.
• Continue to shoot them one-by-one and they will follow you back to that first alcove.
• When all the other Brutes have been taken care of, there is the chieftain at the head of the room. Use your Hammer or the nearby Needlers.

After hitting the switch the sky instantly opens and appears to defecate. The space turd, traveling at high velocity, sideswipes the Elite mother ship. A second chunk of the sky-stool crashes through the window and skids across the room. Whatever that was that just happened resulted in a ton of Flood in the generator room. Grab the plasma turret the Chieftain was carrying and get to work on the Flood-ites.

The Elite’s ship lost its weapons systems in the collision but is stable otherwise. Miranda commands that we focus on the Truth and deal with the Flood later.

Backtrack out of the base and back onto the landing zone. Guilty Spark recommends that we explore the meteorite crash site for damage to the Ark. Miranda’s alternate plan of Truth first is getting more traction. So, it seems we are headed out to breach the Profit Truth’s Citadel.

A fresh supply of vehicles is delivered. Pick the tank unless you want to do some more driving while you live vicariously through your shooting NPCs.

Journey’s End

Drive the tank through the now snowy country side. As you descend through the region, the Halo 3 Love Theme builds in the background. The Giant Forerunner structure glints softly in the dusk light and looks like the face paint of LCD Soundsystem’s lead singer in the “All my Friends” video. As you wind around the trail, shoot across the switchbacks to take out many of the vehicles before they even get within range of your vehicle.

At the end of the path two Hornets are deposited for a fight against two scarabs.

• You can take the scarab out two ways, the first is the one employed earlier in which you jump onto it and circle round to the shield core. The other method, now that you have a powerful Hornet, is to shoot at the large glowing thing that can only be described as the Scarab’s butt hole.
• If you choose to take the scarab out by boarding it, fly around it to shoot the Brutes that come out and stand on the Scarab’s back.
• If the rear-end attack is more up your ally, circle around to the back side of it and aim for the glowing thing. Continue to shoot at the tail and the backside will fall off exposing the core that must be shot to implode the Scarab.
• While in your Hornet, always maintain a far distance from the Scarab. They pack quite a punch if you get too close.
• Repeat this for the second scarab.

With the two Scarabs defeated, the Citadel’s main defenses are down. The Covenant is holding Johnson captive (again) and they are ready to fire the rings. Two excellent reasons to storm the base. Get yourself to the navigation icon and the Guilty Spark will activate the drawbridge.

As the Master Chief heads in, Cortana comes back to say “It asked and I answered, and for a moment of safety I risked damnation”

Inside the citadel, the Profit does his best imitation of Apple’s 1984 inspired Macintosh commercial. Inside the control room, a Brute beats Johnson as he taunts the Brute. The Truth needs a human to activate the Ring and his best hope is to force Johnson into doing the deed.

Realizing that Master Chief is too far away to stop the profit, Miranda takes the initiative by crashing a Pelican into the command center’s window. Do Pelican’s even have landing gear, or are they all just one time use crafts? She jumps out of the wreckage and holds both the Brute and Profit at Jon Wu-style gunpoint. Realizing the best option to prevent the ring activation is to eliminate all the humans in the room, she points her gun at a weakened Johnson. As she wavers, the Profit shoots her in the back with a Spiker. I want to feel like that is a bummer but I can’t remember and great moments in the story that involved Ms. Keys. She was more of a project manager than a character.

As the Profit stalks like Monty Burns across the room, he explains that the human race was left by the Forerunners so that, if needed, they could one day activate the rings. Humans are the equivalent of the key you hide under the rock in the backyard in case you need the neighbor to open the back door when you leave the oven on. The Profit gently places Johnson’s hand on the turn-on-the-rings button and the neon lights activate like the front of the Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. As the Master Chief and Arbiter arrive, two flood tanks drop in. Communicating through their bottle-brush mandibles, they agree to team up, just for now, in order to stop the rings from firing.

 Revelation

The Master Chief and the Arbiter, accompanied by a legion of friendly Flood, barrel forward towards the Profit.

• Head down the hallway but slow down so the two hulking Flood beasts will take the brunt of the shots fired by the Grunt and the Jackal.
• Hide behind the barricades that line the bridge if you need to recharge/reload
• When you get to the end of the hallway, grab the plasma turret for use in the next hallway. It should play out very similarly to the one you just went through.

Cut Scene:
The Master Chief and Arbiter arrive just in time to see Johnson cradling the dead Miranda like a gender inversed Pieta. The Arbiter grabs the Profit by his ample neck and holds a blade to it. As the Profit continues to claim that his path to salvation is the right one, the Flood slowly leaches out of his face. The Master Chief powers down the rings. The Arbiter commits Truth-icide and then lets out a primal yell. Johnson caries Miranda into the amazingly still-functioning Pelican but as he takes off, Gravemind’s tentacles wrap around the platform and it. Before the Chief and Arbiter can escape off the Pelican, the tentacles pull them back in. The short Flood/Sentient life truce comes to an end and they start attacking immediately.

Cortana, not to be forgotten, interjects: “I’m a thief but I keep what I steal”

Backtrack through the same ringed hallways, continue through the Flood until you reach the glowing blue hole. Jump down it.

Cut scene: The Master Chief looks around the next hall and sees Cortana’s ghost. Master Chief opens the nearby hatch and the shutter lifts exposing an exquisite view onto the Ark’s core. Then, a huge metallic structure that rivals the size of the Halo 3 marketing machine rises out of the molten depths. Chief says that he intends to fire the rings so that he can destroy the Ark. The Guilty Spark jubilantly floats off to prepare it for the process.

The Halo 3 loading screen starts and I keep thinking that one of these times it is going to make the AT&T logo.

Hr: 1:58 | Ranking *****

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