Shockwave: The official Level 3 (Los Angeles) solution
By Laurent Benes <lbenes@ea.com> from Electronic Arts who designed most of the levels. (A froggie! Hi Laurent!)
Introduction :
OK guys, I saw many many articles about the mission 3 in ShockWave. Far
more than I ever thought it was possible when I was working on this
mission. Actually, don't blame me too much, I was not the only one to work
on this mission. The real problem seems to be these two fast ground vehicles
in Burbank that run away on the left. I didn't do that, I even slowed them
down. After a lot of testing many people wanted to remove them and I
insisted to keep that because I thought that in the mission 3, it was time
to put the player in trouble. Actually, it seems that it was too much
trouble !!!
I am sure that at least, I brought a huge satisfaction to every ShockWave
player who finaly succeed the mission 3 !!
Here is the official solution :
There are 5 objectives in this mission :
- Las Vegas: Destroy all aliens here in order to get your first
objective done. You have 20 aliens to destroy there. (3 Tripods - 5
Collectors - 7 Scouts - 5 Interceptors).
- Riverside: Destroy all aliens here in order to get your second
objective done. You have 25 aliens to destroy there. (4 Tripods - 7
Collectors - 3 Scouts - 5 Interceptors - 3 MobileAA -1 HeatSeeker - 2
Swarms). You must also destroy the 4 powerCells but NOT the prison.
- Pasadena: Destroy all aliens here in order to get your third
objective done. You have 19 aliens to destroy there. (3 Tripods - 3 strong
Tripods - 2 Collectors - 3 Interceptors - 2 MobileAA -5 HeatSeeker s- 1
Swarm). You must also destroy the 4 powerCells but NOT the prison.
- BurBank: Destroy all aliens here in order to get your fourth objective
done. You have 20 aliens to destroy there. (6 strong Tripods - 3
Collectors - 3 Interceptors - 4 MobileAA - 3 HeatSeekers - 1 Scout). !!!!!
Be careful here because 2 MobileAA quickly try to escape on the left of
the path. If you are not fast enough in the beginning of this objective,
you may not be able to destroy them.
- Los Angeles: Destroy all aliens here in order to get your fifth
objective done. You have 15 aliens to destroy there (5 Scouts - 4 strong
Tripods - 6 Swarms). You also have to destroy a fast moving new craft
called Cobras (their number depends on your performance on the first
objectives). You have to destroy 12 PowerCells in order to free 3 prisons.
Finally, you have to be careful with the satellite dishes. Don't destroy
more than 1.
Hints :
- On Las Vegas, if you don't destroy any civil building, then you get two
bonuses:
- Your first Refueler is going to be full, else it's going to be partial.
This first Refueler is not visible on your radar because a tripod is
exactly at the same position.
- An extra Refueler in Riverside, far on the left of the path, invisible
on the radar.
- You need to protect the Atomic Power Plant form the Collectors walking
towards it (else you're probably dead) and also save the 6 close towers
from the tripods. If you save them, then you get an extra Refueler far on
the left of the path in Los Angeles.
- After Pasadena, in the Refinery region, you have a partial Refueler
(invisible on your radar) on the right of the path.
- To destroy a Swarm, just shoot the immobile one.
--
--Laurent Benes (lbenes@ea.com)
michel.buffa@cmu.edu