Computers - http://maxpages.com/catzmm/Urban

By this time you’ll have had ample opportunity to tear around in UCPD squad cars, as well as civilian vehicles. The admirable road-killing power intoxicates you, filling your nostrils with the wonderful stench of invincibility. Be forewarned that this stench is misleading, for despite the vehicle’s comforting health bar, a good clip-worth of pistol fire or a few shotgun slugs will send it up in flames. Automotive conveyance is a thrillingly fun acquisition that should be relied upon for victory in combat only in the most dire of ammo supply circumstances—run down lone suspects of opportunity when you can, and try not to supplant your weapon skills. Preserve your vehicle by pulling over and engaging well-armed and active foes more conventionally. You can use vehicles to thin the gang-banger herds, but only if you gauge the benefit to be worth the risk to the fiberglass. It really depends on your intent for the transport—rapid locomotion or rumbling steamroller. Assault weapons reduce the life expectancy of vehicles dramatically. So go ahead and squash your foes with your bumper, but remember that even Mad Max knew when to quit. You can also use your vehicle as a mobile marker—a strategically parked vehicle can serve as an instant reminder of your current location and bearing while exploring the city.

Sneaking up to the beach house

A car will only get you so far in the Arms Breaker mission—you’ll have to (as usual) go high and look for a catwalk with which to circumvent the pair of metal gates blocking your way. Don’t use explosives on anything aside from Wildcat weapon stores or you’ll run out... your supply is finite. The arms crates that you want are emblazoned with the Wildcat logo (handy). Booger about elsewhere so you can find your fighting vitamins; at this point in time you will have noticed that your enemies are tougher and tend to pack more heat than before, so power-up items will take on more importance. Halt a mugging, and overhear a crooked cop conversation in the alleyway near Roper in the course of your extracurricular quest.

MuckyFoot has another bonus mission waiting for you after the successful completion of the Gold Driving Training mission, which can easily stymie you unless you know better. You start next to a police van, the instructor ready with his stopwatch. To complete the course you must finish two laps, each lap requiring a stop at each of the parking areas (as marked out by pylons and signs). The hard part here is discovering the location of those two parking areas and thus the correct way to travel around the course. The solution? Take D’arci out for a jog and scout the terrain, dry-running course in its entirety. The timer doesn’t start until you enter the vehicle.

When the camera perspective changes like this, search around that area for items or ways to access the heights

Going after a UCNN reporter—and keeping her in a state of "aliveness"—requires stealth as well as lawman gunnery. An M-16 is nicely tailored to the task of tackling those bad odds, but you'll have to save a hapless Mr. Shaw to get it one in good order. The precinct in this part of town is by the Dancing Fool nightclub, and there you can acquire some wheels. Amidst all the barbed wire and high fence is "crate-ville" where the Wildcats are just itching for somebody to come along and attempt to make an arrest—get a weapon ready, because you happen to be that somebody. Keep in mind the climb-ability of storefront canopies and the terminal intangibility of the tramway, which you may be unfortunate enough to discover on your own if you stop a kidnapping in progress at the rail terminal. Recognize anybody? After indulging yourself, approach the beach house. Hopefully you still have a vehicle that you can park nearby. Travel along the park gully to the perimeter fence and leap over, stealthily crawling up to the house fence when the rooftop guard isn’t looking. Then surprise them, guns blazing and body interceding on behalf of the reporter (sneaking will get you no further). Grab the power-up, hop into the parked vehicle and drive like mad to the station. When going after car bombs and the hoods who delivered them (Auto Destruct), remember to search the bins in the Wildcat hideout—they probably use them like chests-of-drawers—straightforward and packed with items. Grim Gardens is like any explosive mission—you’ll want to find your drug-busting supplies before pursuing the actual mission targets, thus eliminating the need to backtrack.

Near the "blue-blipped" narcotics stores in Grim Gardens is a health pack - just behind these vent ducts

Like every level, the Gardens have their share of secondary and tertiary mischief going on, and the local yokels can help direct you in the proper direction. Diligent community policing policy and a will to power-up demands an investigation. If you happen across sloped tin roofs in your travels, do not leap onto them. When the Wildcats start getting murderous and gutsy (Cop Killers), D’arci will be quite pumped. Break your routine and go after Johnson right away, leaving the items on the level for Roper. He’s tough but he’s slow, so he needs a good start; get used to this character’s less nimble pacing. Make your way to D’arci and Johnson in the Wildcat hideout and claim leftover items from any bodies that D’arci was unable to search upon completion of her task, then go for Beck. When Roper is carrying the battered Beck back to the safe zone, by all means drop him when you need to deal with enemies... just be sure to pick a safe place to drop him! Try not to lead your companions into complex terrain, such as Southside’s fenced-off storage yards. Your buddies can become lost in such areas. By similar token, don’t go roof-jumping with other people in tow. If you make it to Psycho Park, "you’ve got some living to do!" Despite the seriousness of the situation these are let-your-hair-down days—together with Roper you can dish out some payback to the Wildcats. You may wish to approach Roper a little later in the level so his ammo can be saved for other crimes in progress. There’s a lot to do in Union City.

These are the people in your neighborhood

No problem, Chief

It’s always important to identify your thugs. You want to pick the best armed or the toughest crony and take him or her out first. Don’t rely on the radar blip colors for this—use your eyes and the view key to get a visual of them, jacket colors and bared weapons more ably branding foes than any mere colored blip can. Use the radar to establish their presence but leave it at that—you need your attention focussed firmly in the 3D world. Assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, bats, knives, and other is the proper "wariness hierarchy," with bats outweighing knives by virtue of their knockdown effect and the barrage of foot-stomps that you’ll suffer thereafter. Just run at Grenadiers (we hope they left their Panzers behind) and take the concussing straight to them. The mysterious Men In Black are a different bag of beans. Do not try to engage them in a firefight—your arsenal is nothing compared to a minigun (or a "mini-minigun," as the case may be). Instead, charge them and wail frantically away, hoping and praying and being lucky. Who knows—keep your strong shields towards them and you just might… er, umm... well anyway, do the steel proud.

mmorphon00@yahoo.com

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Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST