______       ______
  /     |   3   |    
=/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
|  Basics of Geo Wars |
=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/=
-(      Controls       )-

The default controls are:

Left stick - Moves your ship.
Right stick - Aims your weapon and fires at the same time.
Trigger - Deploys a bomb.

Controls may be changed to the following combos:

Left stick - Aims your weapon and fires at the same time.
Right stick - Moves your ship.

Or:

Left / Left or Right / Right - Moves your ship and fires in the same
direction of you moving at the same time. Highly un-recommended because
you can't shoot behind you without turning around.

Trigger may be changed to bumper at any time. However, I prefer using the
right trigger because it is most comfortable for me. You can't deploy a
bomb very quickly if your finger cramps up from a weird position, and you
should always have your finger over the bomb trigger, because you may need
to press it faster than you can think possible sometimes. Although the
bumper may be a bit faster because it is a simple, non-pressure sensitive
button, it's up to you.


-(       Scoring       )-

For every enemy you destroy you receive that enemy's base score times your
multiplier. Your multiplier begins at x1. After destroying 25 enemies in
one life your multiplier becomes x2. At 50 enemies x3, and so on, up to
x10 with 2,000 enemies destroyed in one life. If you die your multiplier
returns to zero.

Every 10,000 points there is a chance your main weapon will change. Which
weapon you receive is random, but if you receive the same weapon you are
currently using then it's like nothing happened.

You will receive an extra life every 75,000 point interval on the score.

You will receive an extra bomb every 100,000 point interval on the score.


-(       Enemies       )-

There are ten enemy types.

Windmills - Purple in color. Size of a square with a windmill, or "x",
type shape. They do not follow you around, but rather simply move about
the field randomly.

Seekers - Aqua in color. Size of a square with a flexing diamond shape.
Will follow you directly. They are slow at first, but gain speed over
time. Let them last long enough and they -will- become faster than you.

Scares - Green in color. Square shape. Will follow you directly. Are
fairly fast, but they are "scared" of your bullets and will try to jump
from the path of your weapon fire.

Spawners - Pink in color. Square shape. Will follow you directly. Are a
little slower than the Scares. Are comprised of four smaller squares. When
you shoot it at least one of the squares is destroyed and the rest will
break apart into Spawns.

Spawns - Pink in color. Square shape, a fourth of the size of the Spawners.
Will follow you in a looping type movement. Very slow because of this, but
also harder to hit.

Sidewinders - Blue head, orange tail. Snake shape. Head is a heart shape,
with the pointed part being the "nose". Tail is like a chain link of long
triangles that tapers to a point. Movement is a curving path. They
basically move like snakes, but despite the appearance of their random like
movement they will follow you around the screen. Fairly slow as a whole
when curving a lot, but the head itself moves about very fast.

Magnet Ships - Red in color. Look like a larger version of your ship.
Extremely fast. Will charge you. While moving head on towards you it will
deploy an almost invulnerable shield. Sometimes you can get a bullet past
it, but it's way to dangerous to practice on a normal basis. Wait until it
passes you then shoot it from behind before it turns around.

Jacks - Purple in color. Very small with a triangular shape. Some what
slow, but can "jump" forward about a square on the field sometimes.

Wormholes - Red in color. Large circle. Spawn on the field inactivated and
move extremely slowly towards you, but are effectively immobile. Once shot
they begin to suck in everything, including you and your enemies, but it
repulses your ammo from a distance. If it sucks in enough enemies it will
explode and release a number of smaller circles called Atoms.

Atoms - Blue in color. Small circle. Extremely fast. If you are too close
to a Wormhole when it explodes these guys will almost always get you
because they quite literally explode outward from the Wormhole. They have
incredible inertia however, so if they miss you, or you somehow dodge them
they will actually bounce off of the walls giving you a free shot.


-(   Overall Strategy  )-

These are just some basic overall strategies that may prove helpful in the
game.

Never focus your eyes too much on any one object on the screen. That
includes your own ship or an enemy ship.

Keep your concentration on the game. Pausing for even a moment can mean a
certain death upon your return. If you must pause wait until there are
almost no enemies on the screen or the moment you've just used a bomb.

Sit in a comfortable position fairly close to your TV. Not so close that
you can only see your TV, but so that when you blur your eyes a bit you can
see about half a foot around the outside of the TV's perimeter. Note: This
is how close I sit and it works great for me. I find that if I sit too far
away I can't see the smaller Jacks and Spawns very well. But if I sit too
close I can't see the overall field very well which causes some surprises,
not to mention that if you sit too close your blind spot can cause
problems. (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/blindspot1.html) Find what works
for you.

Once you find a nice position and distance and get used to it don't move.
If you move even a few inches it throws off the angles at which you see
your ship, the enemies, and the field, which throws off your reactions
because your brain is used to a particular angle, so it's used to sending
the same signal to your fingers when it sees something. If you see
something, but you're at a different angle that you're used to, you will
mess up. I know this sounds a bit crazy and over the top, but if you don't
believe me try it yourself.

Move around the field in a circular motion. Counter-clockwise and/or
clockwise.

Keep moving unless you get trapped.

Learn the sounds of the spawning enemies. Each enemy has a unique sound and
can give you a warning of what might be spawning on the other side of the
field.

Learn to fly in the opposite circular direction around the field in case
you can't fight through your current path and need an alternate route.

Learn to fly straight through the middle for those times when you can't go
in any circular direction.

Learn your limits. What you can navigate, what you can aim, and when to use
a bomb. Don't live by your limits however. You can't get better if you
never take risks at things you normally couldn't do.

Practice aiming in the beginning of the game with the Basic Machine Gun. If
you are good and accurate with a weapon that isn't very accurate you'll be
even more accurate with weapons that are far better.

Attempt to get the Pacifist Achievement, not shooting a single round or
deploying a single bomb for the first sixty seconds, in every game. It's
harder than it sounds and greatly improves your movement skills.

Don't give up. The more you play the better you will get. Period.


   ______       ______
  /     |   4   |    
=/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
|       Weapons       |
=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/=
-(        Types        )-

There are four types of weapons.

Basic Machine Gun - Fires two parallel bullets at medium speed. You start
with this weapon and it's only available during the first 10,000 points.

Heavy Machine Gun - Fires three bullets in a triangular formation at high
speed. Bullets spread apart when fired and slowly spread out over time. One
of two main weapons you'll use throughout the game.

Missiles - Fires five missiles in a sweeping formation at slow speed.
Missiles are bunched together when fired but spread out fairly quickly.
One of two main weapons you'll use throughout the game.

Bombs - Highly destructive. When used will clear the field of any enemies
on screen. Does not give you any points and enemies destroyed with the bomb
do not count towards your multiplier.


-(    Pros and Cons    )-

Basic Machine Gun:
Pros - Good for aiming practice. Only have it for the first 10,000 points.

Cons - Too slow with too few bullets. Would be useless at higher levels.


Heavy Machine Gun:
Pros - Fast firing. Allows for accuracy. Bullets spread apart when fired,
allowing for increased accuracy at close range.

Cons - Only 3 bullets per shot making some waves harder to destroy.
Bullets spread apart when fired, meaning the very small Jacks and Spawns
can sometimes fit through the tiny space between the bullets and get you.
Bullets spread out slowly, meaning they're fairly parallel the entire time
they're on the board, making distanced shots on fast enemies harder.


Missiles:
Pros - More missiles. There are five missiles in one shot, which means that
when you're surrounded you can destroy more enemies at once, even when
compared to the machine gun which is faster. Missiles spread out quickly,
ensuring that you have more coverage when making distanced shots, allowing
you to "trap" fast enemies behind a wall of missiles. Fires missiles
bunched up, which allows for devastating power at close range, ensuring
that you can easily clear a path in front of you for a quick escape.

Cons - Very inaccurate until you get good practice with it. Slower firing
than the machine gun, which makes it seem harder to hit more enemies at
one time. Missiles fired bunched up, which makes it harder to hit certain,
faster enemies at close range.


Bombs:
Pros - Essentially an extra life and a multiplier. Destroys everything, or
nearly everything, on the field in an instant, allowing you to live in an
otherwise unbeatable situation.

Cons - Only obtained every 100,000 points. Can make split second decisions
hard because you may be afraid of running out of bombs. Deploying a bomb
does not give you any points and does not add to your multiplier, no
matter how many enemies are on the field.


-( Enemy Effectiveness )-

Note: All techniques are given under the assumption that you are moving at
full speed, but in any direction.


Basic Machine Gun:
Windmills - Good enough. Windmills don't follow you, so you should
not have to worry about having this weapon while facing them.

Seekers - Unless you're trying to get the Pacifist Achievement
this gun should work just fine. If you are trying to get the Pacifist
Achievement the Seekers will be moving extremely fast by the end of the 60
seconds. You will have no more than a second or so to destroy them while
clearing a path through the Windmills at that point, so you had better
work on your aim if you want to live and not use a bomb.

Scares - Hardest enemy to hit while you have this gun. Shoot in
a straight line then move towards a wall causing the stream of fire to
"push" the Scare into the wall before he gets hit.

Spawners - Shoot a straight line at them constantly. The released Spawns
should loop right into your fire. Read below for Spawn information.

Spawns - Sweep the fire across the Spawn if they miss your straight fire.

Sidewinders - N/A. You should no longer have this weapon by the time
you first encounter Sidewinders.

Magnet Ships - N/A. You should no longer have this weapon by the time
you first encounter Magnet Ships.

Jacks - N/A. You should no longer have this weapon by the time
you first encounter Jacks.

Wormholes - You must be very close for this weapon to be effective,
otherwise the ammo will be pushed away.

Atoms - A Wormhole often appears rarely during the first 10,000 points, but
if it does, and you let it explode, you are going to have a hard time with
these guys with this gun. The best I can say is don't let a Wormhole
explode, but if one does sweep the fire across the field and you should get
them.


Heavy Machine Gun:
Windmills - Once you have this gun you probably won't even see Windmills
any more. They'll be destroyed instantly or simply won't spawn.

Seekers - Tears through them like they were made of paper. Very effective
later on when there are hundreds of Seekers on the screen. Can be used to
cut straight through the middle of a swarm if you need to.

Scares - Works well at close range. Just shoot in the direction of the
Scare and he should be hit. Horrible at long range, but okay at medium
range.

Spawners - Highly effective at long range. Simply shake the control stick a
little to make sure no Spawns make it between the gaps in the bullets, and
you should be able to destroy the entire bunch. Read below for Spawn
information in case some make it through.

Spawns - Aim straight at it and shake the control stick a bit.

Sidewinders - Very effective at all ranges. Because of the high rate of
fire you don't miss any chances when the Sidewinder is twisting around.
You must still aim for the head, but when you do the Sidewinder should be
destroyed in just a few moments.

Magnet Ships - Very effective because of the fast rate of fire. If you are
surprised by a ship that is almost on top of you, and you can't dodge it,
you -may- be able to destroy it by shooting directly at it. Because the
lines of the "shield" of the ship come forward from the ship in intervals
you may get a shot in between one of the lines, but don't count on it.
Other than that just wait until the ship passes by you and shoot a few
shots towards it. The high speed should get it before it can turn around.

Jacks - Highly effective at long range. Okay at medium range. Dangerous at
close range because the Jacks may slip through the gap between the bullets
and destroy you.

Wormholes - You may be farther away than when using the Basic Machine Gun,
but still close enough so that all three bullets hit it.

Atoms - Effective at any range. Just aim at them. They're so fast that they
just fly into your ammo.


Missiles:
Windmills - Once you have this gun you probably won't even see Windmills
any more. They'll be destroyed instantly or simply won't spawn.

Seekers - Very effective when you're at medium to long range from the
Seekers, and good for destroying them at close range, but very ineffective
for cutting a path through the middle of a swarm.

Scares - Effective at all ranges. Simply sweep the control stick, causing a
wall of missiles to fly towards the Scare. May dodge for a moment or so,
but seems to forget to dodge after that and gets hit.

Spawners - Highly effective at all ranges. At close range simply shoot
straight into the center of the Spawner. There are five bullets in a blast
from the missiles and only four pieces in a Spawner. You do the math. At
medium and long range create a wall of missiles, similar to when shooting
at the Scares, but not nearly as wide. It needs to be just a little wider
than straight shooting because the missiles are slower, which allows the
Spawns more time to loop away. Compensate for that with the wall. Read
below for Spawn information in case some make it through.

Spawns - At close range shake the control stick. At long range simply fire at
them. The missiles should spread out enough to get the Spawn anywhere in it's
loop.

Sidewinders - Very ineffective at close range and medium range. At long range
just shoot a few founds towards where the snakes head will be by the time
the missiles reach the Sidewinder. You must work on your timing.

Magnet Ships - Effective only once the ship has passed you. Do not try to
shoot head on. It won't work.

Jacks - Very effective at medium and close range, just shake the control
stick a very small amount. At long range just keep moving while shooting.

Wormholes - Effective at close and medium range. Two shots at close range
will open and then destroy a wormhole.

Atoms - Effective at long and medium range. Just shake the control stick a
little when shooting at them. At close range things are a little risky, and
you have to aim straight at each one because there is no time to shake the
control stick, but so long as you're moving away from them and shooting
behind you then you should be fine.


   ______       ______
  /     |   5   |    
=/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
|   Spawn Strategies  |
=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/=

This section is about each of the different types of spawns, when an enemy
appears on the field, that'll you'll encounter for each of the enemies.

There are five types of distinct spawns.

Ambush - When a single type of enemy spawns in a circle around you all at
once.

Corner Spawn - When a single or small group the same type of enemy spawns
in all four corners of the field at the same time.

Random Spawn - When an enemy appears randomly on the field.

Swarm - When a single type of enemy spawns in all four corners. Different
from a regular corner spawn in the fact that in a swarm there may be up to
a thousand or more enemies instead of just a dozen or so.

Rainbow Corner Spawn - This is the only type of spawn that requires more
than one type of enemy, so I'll explain it all here. Spawn of a single
wormhole and at least one Seeker, Scare, and Spawner from each corner. The
longer you play a single game the more Seekers, Scares, and Spawners come
from each corner. When one of these occur head for the closet corner in the
direction you're moving in. Clear a path to the wormhole and destroy it.
Move in a circular pattern around the field clearing a path and destroying
the wormholes. Now, later in the game these spawns can become very intense.
A good, though some what risky, strategy is to destroy the first wormhole
you come to, to allow your enemies time to fly behind you and give chase,
then when flying by the next wormhole activate it, but don't destroy it.
The wormhole will quickly explode, releasing many Atoms, but not as many
enemies as it sucked in. The Atoms will move towards you very quickly, so
you won't have time to fight them off and clear a path in front of you.
Instead just move towards the next corner, activate the Wormhole, then move
on to the last Wormhole. By the time the third one explodes most of the
enemies following you should have been sucked in, and you just have to
destroy the remaining Atoms released from the last Wormhole.


-(      Windmills      )-

Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me.

Corner Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me.

Random Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them.

Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me.


-(       Seekers       )-

Ambush - Quickly move away from the wall you're closest too, towards the
most open space on the field. Shoot towards the Seekers in your path, and
to the sides of your path, because they will quickly move in. Once you get
out of the circle the remaining Seekers will bunch up, making the perfect
target for which ever weapon you have.

Corner Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them.

Random Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them.

Swarm - Begin flying around the field in a circular motion, shooting
towards each corner as you pass by it, slowly tightening your circle, until
the Seekers get too close for comfort. You should then move back towards
the wall, and in the opposite direction of your circular motion. (IE. If
you were moving clockwise now move counter-clockwise.) Clear a path in
front of you and continue in a circular motion. By now the rest of the
Seekers should be bunched up near the middle, making the perfect target for
which ever weapon you have.


-(        Scares       )-

Ambush - Quickly move away from the wall you're closest too, towards the
most open space on the field. Shoot towards the Scares in your path. You'll
destroy some, or they'll dodge your fire, but it doesn't matter. You just
have to clear a path of escape for now. Once you're outside just shoot them
like normal.

Corner Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them.

Random Spawn - Simple. Just shoot them.

Swarm - Move towards the corner farthest from you, firing as you go. Once
the Scares behind you get within a few squares distance from you begin
moving in a circular motion around the field. Clear a path in front of you,
and shoot behind you, even if it's only one round, every once in awhile to
force the Scares back. Once they stop swarming just shoot them like normal.


-(       Spawners      )-

Ambush - Unlike most ambushes the Spawners don't ambush you in a complete
circle. They spawn a six point square around you. (Four corners and in
between each corner.) Move towards one of the corners, towards the most
open space on the field, and destroy the single Spawner that will be there.
Do not move for one of the sides, because there are two Spawners for every
side. Now, if you're not that great at destroying the Spawner and all it's
Spawns in just a few shots you'll want to move through one of the gaps
between a corner and side, which is actually far less risky, because the
Spawners are relatively slow during an ambush. Once you're outside simply
destroy them like normal.

Corner Spawn - Destroy the Spawner closest to you. Then destroy the others
normally.

Random Spawn - Destroy them like normal. Try not to let any Spawns survive.

Swarm - The single hardest thing in the game hands down. These occur very
rarely, but when they do there is always upwards of twenty Spawners from
every corner. Not only do you have to worry about a minimum of 240 Spawns
(20 Spawners times 4 corners times 3 Spawns for each destroyed Spawner),
but for some reason the Spawners in a Swarm initially move faster than any
other enemy in my experience. I currently can only survive 1 out of 5 of
these Swarms unless I use a bomb, and, at the time of writing this, I'm a
3,000,000+ point player. So, if you don't think you're good enough at the
game overall, don't even risk your life and multiplier. Just fly to the
middle, wait for the last possible moment to allow as many of them to spawn
on the screen as possible, and blow 'em away. However, if you want to save
your bombs, or have no bombs to speak of, or are just a crazy dare devil
like myself, I have devised a way of fighting through this.

Yes, I did say that I only survive 1 out of 5 of these swarms, but that's
pretty good, I think, considering how hard these are and that I don't use
bombs. I think it's just a matter of practicing it to get better. Now, in
order to do this, not only do you have to be good, but you need to be "in
the zone". You need to be able to see every Spawn and shoot it, while
dodging the incredibly fast versions of the Spawners, while making sure
other Spawners don't hit you from behind. Not only that, but these Swarms
usually only occur later in the game, so there will me a lot more on screen
already. As for the strategy, it's fairly simple. Either weapon works fine.

If you're in the center when this happens you need to immediately move
towards the closest wall and move towards the farthest corner on that wall.
If you're already near a wall, good, you have an extra half second of time.
Don't shoot directly at the corner, but so that the bullet or missile
closest to the wall is parallel to the wall, and shake the control stick
a bit. Keep a very close eye behind you, because the Spawners from the
closer corner on the wall you flew to will catch up before you reach the
farther corner. Fire a few shots at them, just enough to get the ones
moving really fast, then continue shooting forward.

When you get close to the corner, about the distance of two Wormholes, aim
at an angle. The angle should create a "right triangle" with the corner,
one with equal sides. If you don't know what that means, you should Google
geometry. :) Shoot in that direction for just a moment, while moving in the
same direction, then move towards the corner while shooting at it for
another moment. Then move towards the next corner in the same direction.
Everything in this paragraph should be performed within less than a second.
In other words, a very fast, and very accurate maneuver.

By now most of the other Spawners on the map are almost on top of you. You
will want to begin moving towards the next corner in the direction you are
already moving in. This is the hard part. Most of the Spawners that spawned
in the corner you're flying towards will have already moved towards the
middle of the field, because they were flying at you why you were against
the previous wall, which means they can and will try to slam into you from
the side. To make matters worse, there will still be a few Spawners coming
straight at you from the corner you're flying at. Basically you'll want to
shoot as much ammo in front of you, in a similar fashion to how you were
shooting at the previous corner. You should be able to do this for about
half a second, which means you need to destroy a path for yourself fairly
quickly. After that half second is up you'll need to pull off some damn
fine shooting. You DO NOT have time to sweep the control stick. You will
have to jerk it from enemy to enemy. Because there are so many you do not
have enough time sweep (rotate) the control stick for even a moment. I say
this again. You must shoot one Spawner for every round you shoot. If you
have the Machine Gun then you need to jerk the control stick very quickly,
or you'll waste every other round. If you have the missiles you need to
shoot two enemies with every round. Note: I'm not saying try to do these
things, I'm saying you need to do them, or you die.

If you can make it to the next corner, you've survived. Just continue to
circle around the field and destroy them like any other swarm.

Simple, huh?

I would love to hear feedback about this strategy.


-(     Sidewinders     )-

Ambush - One of the harder ambushes, but definitely not impossible. If you
aren't being assaulted by other enemies at the moment go ahead and stop
moving to take the time to shoot a Sidewinder or two. Don't wait for too
long however, because if a Sidewinder gets close to you they tend to move
in more of a straight line than curved. As in straight at you. Make sure to
shoot a path that leads to the most open space of the field, and try to
find a part where there are fewer Sidewinders to avoid all your shots being
blocked by multiple tails. Now, if you are already in heavy battle you have
two options. One is, obviously, deploy a bomb. By far the easiest solution.
The other solution requires much more skill and is far riskier. Despite
your instincts in wanting to move as fast as possible from those following
you you will have to slow down just a bit. I usually accomplish this not by
easing off the control stick, which is hard to control, but by radically
shaking it back and forth, giving you a zigzag motion which is slower than
a straight-line motion. Now for the hard part. You need to quickly decide
which part of the ambush square in the direction you're already moving in
is weakest, even if it doesn't lead to a large amount of space. (Unless
you're moving towards a wall, at which point you should just use a bomb.)
Concentrate on hitting the head(s) of just the Sidewinders in your way and
make sure to shoot a round, or two, behind you if another enemy gets too
close. Even if you only destroy one Sidewinder you should be able to
fly through with a bit of awesome piloting. Despite my ability to regularly
perform this technique I still recommend using a bomb.

Corner Spawn - Unique corner spawn in the fact that they may spawn in one
to all of the corners, instead of all the corners all the time. When they
spawn in one or two corners simply distance yourself to the other side of
the field and sweep ammo across the corners. This should take care of most
of the Sidewinders.

Random Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me. They only ambush or corner spawn.

Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me. They only ambush or corner spawn.


-(     Magnet Ships    )-

Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me.

Corner Spawn - Most common spawn early in the game. If you have the
opportunity take the time to destroy them before they turn towards you and
form their shield. You'll have a maximum of about a second to do this.
Otherwise just dodge their charges and shoot them when they pass by.

Random Spawn - Once you hit 3,000,000 points this occurs almost constantly.
I honestly have no strategy for this yet because I've only been to
3,000,000 points twice, my last two games, and both times I got screwed by
these guys and finally lost my game. I can only speculate that I need to
be able to dodge these guys faster while still clearing a path and being
able to shoot them as well before too many of them accumulate on the
screen. Doesn't sound hard; just needs practice.

Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me.


-(        Jacks        )-

Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me.

Corner Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me.

Random Spawn - N/A. Never happened to me.

Swarm - As far as I'm concerned this is the only way they spawn. In the
beginning of the swarm wait in the middle shooting at all four corners.
You want to do this for as long as possible so that enough Jacks will
appear on screen so the invasion stops by the time you need to get through.
Once they get too close for comfort move to the top or bottom. Top or
bottom, not left or right, because the field is a rectangle and going to
the top or bottom gives you more maneuvering room to your sides. Now, the
below illustration works on either side of the field, but depicts the left
side of the field. Follow the numbers; this is right after you need to move
from the center. Doesn't matter what weapon you have, just make sure to
shake the control stick about a degree or so to spread out the ammo.
Shoot in the direction of the arrows/lines. Works with either weapon.

           17-> 16
        16->   17
    15->   18/
  14->     /
  /    
13      
   |       
  12|
   11|      / <-1
    10|   /  <-2
      9 /   <-3
      /    <-4
    /    <-5
  /    8|<-6
/       7

When you get to 16 turn around and begin moving in the opposite circular
direction. At 17 start destroying the few remaining Jacks on this side. By
18 most of them should be gone, and you can being moving in a circular
motion around the rest of the field. The remaining Jacks from the other
side will just float around the center, making the perfect target for
which ever weapon you have.


-(      Wormholes      )-

Ambush - N/A. Never happened to me.

Corner Spawn - See the "Rainbow Spawn" description above.

Random Spawn - Happens quite often later in the game. No harder than when
they spawn otherwise. Can also be used for the tactic in which you activate
one to absorb a bunch of enemies then leading them to another Wormhole and
so on, but more dangerous because these Wormholes can spawn anywhere on the
field, meaning that enemies can be "flung" around the gravity of the
Wormholes from more directions, unlike the corners.

Swarm - N/A. Never happened to me.


-(        Atoms        )-

Wormhole Explosion - Because they explode out of the Wormhole in a 360
degree radius the ones that are initially moving towards you are very fast
and need to be destroyed immediately. The others have to gain speed like
any other enemy so they should be no harder than Seekers or Scares.


   ______       ______

+----------------------------+
| Section V. - The Main Menu |
+----------------------------+

When you start up your game and it finishes loading, like every other game on
the planet, you will have a main menu. Well, this section will briefly go over
it. So let's go.
NOTE:  While playing, hitting the "Esc" key will bring up a similar menu for
       you, allowing you to load your games or save them, etc.

Single Player - Selecting this options allows you to play through the main part
                of the game, the single player. You play as the Pointman, all
                alone the majority of the time, on several different missions.

Multiplayer - Selecting this option will prompt you with a question asking if
              you wish to switch to Multiplayer. Selecting "No" will do close
              the box. Selecting "Yes" will close the game briefly and re-open
              it with a new menu, the Multiplayer one.

Options - There are more options in F.E.A.R. than any other game I have ever
          played. You can tweak your gameplay right down to the very edges of
          a chair's shadow or the brightness of lights. You also may view the
          game's weapons or change the game's difficulty and or controls here.

Profile - Let's say more than one person plays F.E.A.R. on your computer, but
          that person likes to use different control settings than you do. By
          creating, saving, and loading profiles, you don't have to worry about
          your settings being deleted or having to re-do them every single time
          you want to play. Just load yours and go! =)


===============================================================================

+-----------------------+
| Section VI. - Weapons |
+-----------------------+

Unlike in many other FPS games where your character can somehow manage to carry
a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, five machine guns, three pistols, thirty
grenades, a crossbow, a sniper rifle, ammo for all of it, and a teapot just in
case he wants a glass of tea, in F.E.A.R., you can only hold up to three wea-
pons at any given time and their ammo. Grenades do not count as one of these
three, so don't worry. However, despite this, I'm going to name off each weapon
and everything you need to know about it to put it to best use.

Your weapons are held in keyboard slots 1, 2, and 3. Grenades are held in later
slots depending on their type (time/impact-detonation, proximity, or remote).
If you come across a machine gun that you want and don't already have, you can
press your Drop Weapon key (you can change this to whatever you want in Options
on the Main Menu) to pick it up. The catch is, however, that if you already are
in possesstion of three weapons, you will drop your current one to pick up the
new one. So if you value two of your weapons much more than another, drop the
one you don't value at all for the third by first switching to it before press-
ing your Drop Weapon key.


----------------
  AT-14 Pistol
----------------
Your average pistol. You can hold a maximum of 100 bullets for it, 18 of which
are in each clip. It's relatively powerful, 1-2 shots to the head kill your
enemy, 3-4 to the body. Great weapon if you have some nice aim and it's even
better once you pick up a second one and dual wield them. When dual wielding
pistols, you basically have 36 bullets per clip, just as powerful, twice the
firing speed, and 200 maximum ammo.

----------------------
  RPL Sub-Machinegun
----------------------
Your basic excellent-at-close-range machine gun. You can hold up to 500 bullets
for it and it has a 50 round clip. A single mouse-click will fire 3 bullets in
a burst if you want, or you can hold down the trigger for automatic rapid fire.
The only draw back to this great weapon is the fact that each bullet is pretty
weak, so you really have to load your enemy up with about two bursts and hope
most of them hit him in the chest for it to be an excellent killing machine. If
you can burst-fire slow-motion three rounds into a target's head though, it's
awesome.

----------------------
  G2A2 Assault Rifle
----------------------
Easily one of the best weapons in the game. Highly accurate, very powerful. You
can fire it in 3-round bursts like the sub-machinegun or go all out rapid fire
crazy with it. Pretty much nothing bad about this weapon. Clip and Max ammo
needed.


===============================================================================

+----------------------------+
| Section VII. - Walkthrough |
+----------------------------+

F.E.A.R. is divided into intervals, as will this section of the guide. This
section will easily be the biggest and will contain spoilers in it all over the
place since it guides you through the game. If you haven't gotten to a particu-
lar part, I suggest that you not read that part. F.E.A.R. is an incredible game
and should be experienced to the max, and in order to do that, one mustn't have
everything spoiled for them. Now, finally getting to the main part of this
guide, without further wait, this... is F.E.A.R.


--------------------------------
|  A) Interval 01 - Inception  |
--------------------------------

SITUATION:

A high level alert has been issued.


MISSION:

F.E.A.R. team is to report for emergency briefing on the situation.

You have just been transferred to the unit as point man. This will be your
first assignment with F.E.A.R.


The game starts with a black screen and the following quote slowly appears on
it: "In 2002, the U.S. Army formed a secret unit dedicated to combating para-
normal threats to national security. The unit was named First Encounter Assault
Recon." It then shows you a couple credits and a short video, starting with a
man in a jail cell on his knees. This man is Paxton Fettel. You can hear whis-
pers in his head during the video from a little girl that say, "Kill them" and
then "Kill them all". You will see her briefly in the door's window. The video
then shows a bunch of soldiers that look like they are asleep while standing,
and then "wake up". Paxton Fettel will then proceed down a hallway, kill some
dude on a couch, some more dudes get owned by the wide awake soldiers, Paxton
eats a dead guy and... wait, what?

Yeeea... anyway... you continue to watch and Paxton Fettel is actually eating
one of the dead guys with "ATC" on his armor. After that, the screen will go
black and you will see "Interval 01" on your screen and here a man tirely say,
"Yes?" and a woman reply, "Sorry to wake you, Senator. It's about origin." The
Senator asks what happened and she tells him that there was an uprising and
that Fettel (Paxton) has taken control of some prototypes, but it can still be
easily resolved. He ends the conversation by saying that he will make a few
calls and your control starts.

You are in a room with a man and woman on your left and another man on your
right. The man on your right will brief you on the situation, explaining that
Paxton Fettel has the ability to control large numbers of super-soldier clones,
and that in order to stop all this, the best thing to do is to simply take out
Paxton Fettel. He then assigns you to do this and states that your reflexes are
"off the charts". You will see what this means soon. The screen fades to black
and you see Paxton's face come closer to you. He bends down and asks you what
the first thing you remember is. You then see a light like the ones in dentist
offices, hear a woman scream, and see a doctor say, "You will be a god among
men."

Freaky, huh? Next thing you know, you're in a car. On your left is the man who
objected to you being put in the field in your briefing. Immediately on your
radio, the F.E.A.R. team coordinator, Betters, comes on saying that Paxton's
signal is in the area. He asks Jankowski if his team is ready and a mission
screen pops up. It says:


SITUATION:

F.E.A.R. mission coordinator, Rowdy Betters, has tracked enemy commander,
Paxton Fettel, to an abandonned building in Auburn district.

Hannibal-3 Spy satellite in geosynchronous orbit shows no signs of Replica
soldiers in vicinity.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. combat operatives will infiltrate target site from two separate entry
points and attempt to neutralize Fettel. According to Armacham technical advis-
or, once Fettel is contained, Replica soldiers will become inactives and can be
rounded up without incident.


You press any key or click the screen to acknowledge your mission and exit your
car. Your gun is pulled out. It's a standard issue pistol, holds 18 bullets per
clip and fires relatively quickly. If you're playing on a hard mode, I advise
that you waste no ammo shooting at rats and walls and such. Move forward in the
direction the car is facing and turn right around the corner. Break apart the
boards with melee combat (don't waste ammo)(your hotkey for melee combat can be
found and or changed in Options). Make your way through the "door" you just
opened and turn left. Locate the flaming barrel and head towards it and through
the door on the right by using your Use key on the door to open it.

Make your way through a couple of doorways until you come to a very dark room.
Your screen will tell you how to activate your flashlight, so do so and head to
the other side of the room and open the door here the same way you did the last
one. It will fall down inside instead of opening on hindges. Make your way in
and look left to the boarded up door. Jankowski will tell you to find a differ
ent way around. A mini-mission comes on your screen saying to meet up with him.
Now look around. You can go up a few steps or through a doorway or two on the
right. Go right and pick up the blue injector on the table by walking over/near
it. This permanently boosts your health. Remember to keep an eye out for these
incase I miss one in this guide. Your health should now be at 105 max.

Head back out of this room and up the stairs. Hang a left (you can't open the
pair of double-doors directly in front of you, so go left) and follow the hall-
way with the blue floor around a right corner. Jump over the steel table block-
ing your path and continue down the blue-floor hallway. You'll see a strange
black cloud in the middle of the hallway and when it hits you, a bloody, torn
up face will flash on your screen for a split second. Continue down the hallway
and crouch under a half-boarded-up door. A man on the other side, or a spirit,
or shadow, or SOMETHING will just disintegrate in front of you. Continue right
down the hallway (now a brown floor) and you will hear a voice tell you some
things and ask you why you brought it back. The door directly in front of you
will then slam in your face.

Re-open the door and move into the room and cross it to the exact opposite side
and into another room with a doctor's bed/table in it and some filing cabinets.
In here is another door that has a golden lock on it. Take careful aim (there
is a key/mouse button to take very careful aim, I believe it's the right mouse
button by default) and shoot the lock off. Open the door and head through and
up the stairs to a pair of blue double doors. Your screen will freeze here for
a second while it automatically saves a checkpoint incase you die later on and
have not been saving your game.

Jankowski will come to the other side of the door and push over a dresser
blocking your way. Walk through and up to the next door with him and rush in as
he does. All of a sudden, you will both be in slow motion and you will watch
him also disintegrate in front of you. Paxton Fettel will then psychically say
to you, "You were born here... in this place. I was there." Move your way
through the room on the right and into the next one that has a dead guy in a
chair. Your slow-motion will stop and poof, Jankowski will be standing there
saying on his radio that he needs Jin up there quick and then will tell Betters
that you were too late. Betters will say that Paxton's signal is still very
close and Jankowski will send you to look for Paxton.

Do so by exitting the room to the right of the dead guy in the chair and head
up some steps to a doorway that leads to the roof of the building. Open it,
head outside and forward to the end where you can only make a left. Do so and
open the next door to be in a hallway with windows on the right. Head to the
end of it and through the door there to again be outside. Go the only way that
you can, right, and... BAM! You get hit in the face by a piece of thick wood by
Fettel and knocked out. He will then speak to you and tell you that the dead
man's name was Charles, will mention some memories, a woman's memories, and
tell you that Charles deserved to die.

At this point, you will become conscious and Betters will be talking to another
man about some trouble "down at the harbor" and how Fettel completely dis-
appeared from the scanner. Your mini-mission now becomes to rejoin Jankowski
down by Mr. Dead Charles. So head back, but go slowly if you want to hear what
Jin and Jankowski say about you. When you reach the top of the steps you have
to go back down (right before dead dude's room), they'll be talking about you,
she will call you cute, and Jankowski will say that you seem a little odd. Oh
well, head into the room. The woman will tell you two to move along because she
will be awhile. You'll then have a flashback or see a movie, hear a man say,
"Breath! C'mon man, make her push!" and then see Paxton standing in a room,
saying that he's "tried to forget... tried so hard to forget."

Next thing you know, you'll be sitting in a helicopter. A black man outside
will tell his team that you are from F.E.A.R. and are joining them. He'll brief
you on how an attack will be planned out and say that you're not dealing with
ordinary bad guys. Once he's finished, the screen will fade to black and you'll
have a loading screen....


---------------------------------
|  B) Interval 02 - Initiation  |
---------------------------------

SITUATION:

Paxton Fetterl managed to elude F.E.A.R. operatives in Auburn, and his tracking
signal was subsequently lost.

Body of unidentified male was discovered at the site.

Hannibal-3 spy satellite has photographed sizable force in vicinity of South
River Wastewater Treatment Plant.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. combat operatives will attach to responding Special Forces Operational
Detachment-Delta (SDOD-D) troops to reconnoiter the area for purposes of recom-
mending military response. Teams should not engage the enemy unless fired upon.

F.E.A.R. combat operative, Jin Sun-Kwon is remaining in Auburn to conduct for-
ensic investigation.


Your helicopter will fly in and you and three SFOD men will jump out and head
forward to a gate. One of them will tell you to find a way to open the gate, so
head directly behind him and behind the huge crates. You should see a rather
large metal door that is halfway open. Crouch under it and go inside. Locate
the yellow injector on the box to the left and grab it. This permanently in-
creases the time that you can use your super reflexes that Betters mentioned.
Using a hotkey that you can pick in your Options, you can enter basically your
own slow-motion for a small period of time in order to help you out in combat.
Your aim improves greatly and you're slightly faster than your enemies. It
greatly increases your chance to survive in any combat situation, but you only
have a limited amount of it to use before you return to normal speed and have
to wait for it to recharge.

Exit the room the same way you entered and locate the stairs on the side of the
building directly nearby. Head up them and across the steel walk-way above the
room you got your reflex booster. Continue through small uneventful rooms until
you come to one with a yellow switch near a window looking out to where your
buddies are. Click the switch/lever with your Use key and the gate opens and
your men run through and tell you to head back to them. Do so. On your way back
your radio will open up, the men will yell, you will hear some signal on your
radio, a man scream "What the hell is that?!" and then silence. Betters will
tell you and the team to meet up with Jankowski.

Once back at the gate, you will find another black strange cloud and all your
men slaughtered on the ground by the gate. Nothing but their blood and their
skeletons is left. When you touch the black cloud, you will see them rush in,
guns blazing, and the little girl in red that you saw through the window in the
beginning of the game telling Paxton to kill everyone. The little cloud-video
will end and you will walk forward a couple steps and receive a new mission
brief that reads:


SITUATION:

Status unknown. Both teams have gone silent and F.E.A.R. team's life signs mon-
itors are offline. Interference is preventing satellite reconnaissance.

MISSION:

Surviving operators should attempt to rendezvous and exfiltrate mission area
until reinforcements arrive.


Once you click or hit a key, head across the courtyard area past the back end
of an 18-wheeler truck and some boxes to a door near a dumpter with a yellow
sign near it. Open it and walk in slowly to see a guy dying on the floor to
your right. As you move in more, you will hear loud voices over a radio that is
not yours saying that all civilians have been neutralized and that they should
hold position and kill hostile forces. Head a bit past the dead guy, using cau-
tion and turn the corner through the door. You can see a soldier with his back
turned to you. Now let me explain something: When enemies in this game are not
aware that you are present, the slighest thing will kill them. Normally it
takes a few shots, but if they are unaware of your presence, it only takes one
single shot or a single melee combat attack to kill them.

Anyway, kill this guy and kill the next guy in the room just passed him. Coll-
ect ammo and a medkit from the next room in here. Medkits restore your health
a bit and you can carry up to ten of them at a time. They can be used with your
hotkey designated in your Options menu. Make your way to the next room and up
the stairs (opening the white double doors at the bottom of the stairs takes
you outside and does nothing). So head up the stairs and around the indoor-bal-
cony to a room with another medkit inside before going down the hallway and out
the window onto a small room that allows you to jump over a fence. Do so and
open the small blue door (you get a screen-freeze and checkpoint save here).

Head through the door slowly and you hear Replica soldiers talking about echo
zero not responding and to hold position. Slowly move around the boxes and take
out the guy who also has his back toward you and the following five guys that
come after you. Use the boxes to your advantage for cover. One of the best tac-
tics you can use in this game is to let the enemy come to you. They will soon.
Take them out and don't go outside yet. Head through the door to the right of
the guy that you killed in the first place and collect the medkit in here and
the pistol on the opposite table. You now have two pistols, one in each hand.
Your ammo has pretty much doubled with pistols as has your firing rate with
them. Have fun if you hate the machine gun.

Anyway, head outside now and locate the lamp post and the armored truck. Just
in front of the truck is a ledge you can hop up on to. Do so and proceed
through the silver door here. Head to the other end of the uneventful boxfilled
room and through the doorway to another, huge room with shielves stacked with
boxes. You'll hear something like an electrical explosion and a small crash.
Okay. Make your way to the exact opposite corner of this room as the one you
entered and head through the door. You'll hear the Replica'd radio again, so be
careful. Head through the next doorway and kill the two that stand in the room.
A third will come soon enough from around a corner and will most-likely jump
through a window into a smaller room for cover, so kill him too. Collect their
ammo and the medkits from the two smaller rooms in this large one. Do not for-
get the pick up the two grenades on the desk as well. These grenades explode
after 3-4 seconds of throwing them OR if they hit a person, so be careful when
you throw them.

Now, make your way into the next large room with the massive crate in the air
and tons of boxes. Kill the two Replica soldiers in here and head to the other
end of it to the hallway. Go in and make your way up the stairs ahead. Just as
you do, you'll see another Replica soldier trying to sneak by. If you're fast
enough, you can get the one-shot-unaware kill. If not, waste a few more bullets
on him. Collect his ammo and the medkit, grenades, and pistol ammo from the
rooms nearby. There's also some armor on the floor as well as a large rifle.
Pick it up as well for your third weapon slot. This baby is your best friend.
It can't zoom in very well, but it's very powerful and very accurate. Enjoy.

Now locate the threshold up here that takes you into the large room again, but
upstairs on a balcony. Hop up the left on the shelf filled with boxes and drop
down onto the next balcony and head in the room that has a phone in it and a
blinking red message. Also in here is some pistol ammo and a grenade. The mess-
age is from some guy (you can listen to it by clicking your Use key on the
phone... phones and laptops can provide you with very useful information to
figure out what the hell is going on). Anyway, get ready... click the yellow
lever here and kill the two Replica soldiers that attack from the other side of
the room. Once the huge crate in the air that the lever made move stops, hop on
it and walk across to the other balcony where the two guys you just killed lay.

Collect their ammo and go left, towards the red vending machine. Go in the room
right next to it to collect some pistol ammo and more ammo for your new rifle
as well as some armor. To the right of the vending machine and way you came in
is a medkit on a small shelf as well. As you can see now, this room basically
just wraps around both ways to a door that leads into another room, but up-
stairs on a steel balcony. Watch as a few Replica soldiers make their way in.
If your aim is good, go into slow-motion and hit one of them with a single gre-
nade. They have no idea you're there, so it's easy and will kill all three very
easily. Now head across the balcony and open the single blue door. Make your
way down the stairs here, but be careful, others may have been made aware of
your presence.

Anyway, collect ammo from the dead Replica, but don't go outside just yet. Lo-
cate the two silver double-doors. Don't go through them, but walk up to them.
Outside, you can see some Replica soldiers, quite a few actually. There are
about 5-7 of them and they can see you as well, but will not fire unless the
doors are open. Your best strategy is to pick them off through the door windows
or wait for one of them to kick open the door and walk through. Either way you
want to do it though is fine, have fun. Take them out, collect ammo, and walk
outside, but be weary of any other guards you may have missed out here.

Locate the lamp post on your right and make a right around the corner just past
it. Head down a few steps on the side of the building and through a door for a
checkpoint. After the auto-save checkpoint, collect the machinegun ammo from
the next and continue through this small room... wait... what's this? You're in
slow-motion once more after a scary face popped on your screen. Oh noes. Make
your way down the hall past the room you started scary-face-slo-mo mode in and
you'll see a man (not Paxton) disintegrate in front of you. Continue through
the hall, past the fire extinguisher on the left wall (ignore the rooms to your
left and right, nothing in them) and make the only turn you can, left.

In front of you, you'll see the same guy and a voice will say, "Is s-s-someone
t-there?" Go into the room that has the yellow sign on the wall next to it that
says "Shipping and Receiving" where the guy diintegrated and make the first
right that you can, just before the pile of boxes. Head back in this room with
a piece of machinery until you see the blue injector on the box. Pick it up to
increase your health. It should now be 110 max.

Exit this room the same way you came in, back into the Shipping and Receiving
room. Make your way past the few boxes into a room that has blood, guts, and
skeletons on the floor. Turn right and about fifteen feet in front of you are
some stairs. Go up them, open the door, and the only thing in this room of any
significance is a window. Jump out it and... BOOM! The area in front of you
will explode and the little girl will appear and come towards you, as will the
flames. You can try to run, but it won't do any good. You'll be thrown upwards
and taken to a loading screen....


---------------------------------
|  C) Interval 03 - Escalation  |
---------------------------------

SITUATION:

Hannibal-3 spy satellite is back online. One F.E.A.R. combat operative has been
found alive. Remaining operative is still missing, but life signs are stable.

Paxton Fettel's tracking signal has been detected in the area.

SFOD-D reinforcements are en route to assist in primary mission.

MISSION:

Remaining F.E.A.R. combat operative will attempt to locate and neutralize
Fettel.

F.E.A.R. technical officer and SFOD-D escort will continue search for missing
F.E.A.R. operative.


You will wake up and Jin Sun-Kwon will be in your face with another guy, saying
that you made it out alive and she'll send you on your way. She's the technical
officer the mission talks about, so just leave her there and make your way
straight ahead and around the corner to the right. Locate the stairs that lead
underground (they have a yellow handrail) and open the door at the bottom. Walk
in the room here and straight ahead and around the corner to the right. Make
your way through these empty halls until a Shepherd, A. comes on your radio and
says that he won't be able to give you any reinforcements. He and Betters will
have a small conversation.

Make your way up the stairs in the room with a dead guy on the floor and around
the corner at the top to a door. Open it and go outside. Now look around. You
see how there's a huge, steel, yellow walkway across a round tank with no top?
You see how the round tank is in a large area in the ground? Jump over the rail
and into that area, basically the lowest you can get. Make your way around in
this area and locate the three small lone boxes. Right next to them is a yellow
injector to boost your reflexes for personal slow-motion. Enjoy. Now make your
way back to the stairs in this area that lead up, back to normal ground and go
in the door up here. Hit your Use key on the phone in this room and some guy
will come on it, starting with, "Mike?! What the hell is going on over there?!"
You there? Okay. In the same room is a yellow lever. Click it as well and watch
the yellow walkway outside change positions.

Exit the room the same way you came in and walk across the yellow steel walkway
and over the round tank to the other side. Once there, turn right a bit and lo-
cate the yellow ladder that leads downwards. Click your Use key on the ladder
to mount it and climb down to a small ledge with another ladder. Click it as
well and slide down it too. Once down here, make your way through the hall.
Your radio will turn on and it will be silent, saying "Unknown Origin" on it.
As you may have already noticed, it just does that sometimes. *shrug* Continue
through the hall, past the rats that run by until your running slows down, your
breathing becomes heavy, and a little girl runs by in front of you just ten
feet or so. What the hell is with her?!

Anyway, continue forward and pick up the blue health injector. Your max health
should now be 115. Yay. Turn to the right of where you got the health injector
and click on the ladder for a big surprise! Oh boy, a saving checkpoint! Once
that's done, climb the ladder and you'll be outside again. Head forward about
twenty feet, over a small yellow walkway to a door. If you were fast enough,
you'll see a single Replica soldier on the other side of it through the window.
Kill him and then turn around and hop down into the water that the yellow walk-
way took you over. Collect the medkit and climb the small ladder on the oppo-
site side of this pool to get out of it. Go back to the door you shot the sold-
ier through and open it and make your way inside and to the left, up the stairs
that he was going up.

Kill the second soldier that will eventually patrol to the top of those steps
if you haven't already and head back down a bit to the bottom. Pick up the med-
kit and grenade on the table near the two huge tanks at the bottom of the steps
and then go back up them and in the room on your immediate right. Pick up the
armor if you need it and the machinegun ammo next to it. Exit this room and
follow the walkway at the top of those steps around a corner and past some
rather large, blue cylinder-shaped tanks and stop for a second. You now have
some blue tanks on your left and right in a narrow hallway and a corner that
turns left ahead of you, right?

Around that corner are two guards, ready for you. One is on your right and the
other is behind a tall box on the left, but you can make out his head easily.
My suggestion is to activate slow-motion and run out from the corner. Cap the
guy's head a few times to kill him and then take care of the guy on your right.
Easy, done. Now look around. You see how the steel walkway makes a perimeter
around the room and how there are two grey tanks in the middle of it? The first
thing you want to do is to jump over the railing and down onto the ground level
with the tanks. Now locate the stairs. Look behind them. Turn on your flash-
light and crouch down back there. Navigate your way through this small passage,
following the pipes to the end. Pick up the reflex booster injector (a yellow
injector) to boost the duration of your slow-motion.

Turn around and head out of here, back to the two large tanks and up the
stairs. Now locate the gate here on the walkway that goes around the room.
Shoot the lock off the gate with a single aimed bullet and open the gate with
your Use key. Head up the ladder in the small room you now have access to and
walk straight forward onto some pipes that lead out and to the left. Walk on
them out over the room you were just in with the tanks and walkway and follow
the pipes into a vent on the other side. Look left and you should be able to
see the vent on the "floor" of the duct you're in. Melee-attack the vent twice
to break in it (don't waste ammo, no need) and drop down. Turn directly around
and shoot the lock off the gate here as well, incase you need to go back for
some reason.

Now locate the blue door in the room you dropped into and cautiously go through
it. You'll hear a Replica radio tell someone to be advised, that Echo 12 isn't
responding (well no ****, you killed them). Get ready for a miniature battle.
There's plenty of walls and such in this room. Take out the four guards in here
and collect their ammo and the medkit on the table in the corner. Head to the
other side of the room, across the small walkways that are over a couple pipes
and go the only way you can, to the right and up some stairs. The room there
at the top of the stairs is pretty much worthless, so head down the hall from
it and around the corner (left). In front of you is a ton of ammo, a grenade on
the table, and some armor. Yay! Pick it all up.