Reservoir Escape Strategy

The single-player campaign in Pariah™ demands all of your best first-person shooter skills. Good aim and a quick trigger finger are essential, but you also need to be able to read a battle situation and come up with strategic decisions on the fly. The level Escape from the Reservoir offers an intense close-quarters fight that opens up into a wide, 10-on-1 exchange of fire before morphing into a vehicle-based rolling shootout. Here's how to handle everything this level throws your way.

Start things off with a bang.

A cutscene shows the scum who are looking to buy and sell Karina. Rather than trust you to protect her, Karina herself runs away. Don't take it personally; she runs away from you often in the early stages of the game, so get used to it. If you haven't upgraded your weapon of choice yet now's the time, as there are serious challenges ahead. In this first stage, you take advantage of your high ground position to thin out the enemy in the courtyard below. The more you kill now, the less you have to face later when you venture out there yourself.

A Bridge Too Far
Don't stand still for long when the level starts—the enemies in the courtyard below will begin shooting almost immediately. Get out your grenade launcher and plant one right in the middle of the group of four immediately below you (crouch for the best angle). There's an explosive barrel there, and if you can hit it, at least three of the bad guys go down. Go after the last one with your Bulldog and then move around the perimeter of the catwalk. As you approach the bridge you meet two guards with Frag Guns—take 'em out with your own Frag Gun or the Bulldog, collect what they drop, and move across the bridge. When you're roughly halfway across, switch to the Bulldog and crouch to get a bead on the other pair of sentries at the far side. Center the reticule on their heads one at a time and gun them down. Quickly cross the bridge and collect the ammo; don't linger, because you're exposed to potshots from any scavengers still alive in the courtyard.

Take the high road to victory.

Bust out your Frag Gun as you barrel down the stairs, because the real close-quarters action is upon you. As you turn left at the landing, watch for the guy hiding with his own Frag Gun around the corner. Step up and blast him before he blasts you, but leave the Ammo Pack for now ... you'll get more use out of it later. Continue on down the stairs, which will spawn a new batch of enemies in the courtyard. At least two of these will charge into the cement room you're in, so be prepared with the Frag Gun. Carefully scope out the situation outside the door—use the grenade launcher on groups of enemies behind cover, zoom in with the Bulldog, or charge out and to the left with your Frag Gun. Take advantage of available cover and watch for the enemies with grenade launchers: one at the end of the cover you're using and several others farther out. Work your way across the courtyard, eliminating each new batch of enemies as they come. Don't rush, just be deliberate and they'll come to you.

Once they're all dead, go to the Bogie (the Pariahequivalent of a Warthog assault vehicle) and hop in. This triggers a new batch of enemies to battle, and if you decide to take them down it's best to exit the Bogie to do it. Alternately, you can just drive through the chain link fence on the far side of the compound and leave them all behind. Follow the road up to the right of the next building, which is heavily guarded by soldiers with Bulldogs and grenade launchers. Don't stay in the Bogie—it's too vulnerable to grenades. Park on the platform and use your position to take care of the enemies below. Watch for those still inside the building ... they may come out to get you or they may lie in wait, but either way you have to drop them before you can go on.

That's how you swat a Wasp.

When you've cleared out the area, go inside and collect the ammo and Weapon Energy Core, then press the button that opens the gate. You can climb back in the Bogie and drive on, but it's smarter to go out and then retreat inside the structure, facing the door at ground level. A fast, three-wheeled vehicle called a Wasp comes roaring in to get you; to destroy it all you have to do is hang back and blast it with the grenade launcher before its powerful guns tear you apart. Once the Wasp is swatted, snipe or grenade the two tower sentries on either side of the gate, get back in your ride, and drive on.

Ped Xing
After driving over a short stretch of winding road you come to a small squad of enemies and another Bogie—wipe them out before proceeding. Use the Bogie's guns and its bumpers to take out as many of the bad goys as you can...one hit at moderate speed is an instant kill (and it looks especially painful). Don't worry about protecting the Bogie you're in; if it gets wrecked you can always take the one they so thoughtfully left for you. Drive your new Bogie to the fallen tree and get out. Charge up to the right toward the bridge and blast all the guards on it. As soon as the last one falls, however, another enemy Wasp will come screaming over the bridge and try to squash you. Quickly retreat back across the bridge and prepare to dodge. If the Wasp driver misses his first charge, he's vulnerable when he stops and turns around for a second attempt. Use this opportunity to hit him with a grenade or a barrage of Bulldog fire until his three-wheeler explodes.

Almost there ...

Continue across the bridge on foot and make your way along the path. At the top of the hill another Wasp comes buzzing around, but repeat your strategy: dodge, and then get him while he turns around. A large squad of enemy troops emerges from the building below, just outside the final gate, and they're the only thing standing between you and the end of the level. Gun down the aggressive ones who come to you as quickly as possible so you can deal with the rest while they're still inside. Use the zoomed Bulldog or the grenade launcher to kill all the guards outside—there are at least three. Once you don't see any more motion, move cautiously into the structure at ground level and immediately blast the sneaky devil hiding to your left. He's got a Frag Gun and he needs to be taken down fast.

Once he's dead, find the gate controls and open 'em up. Karina drives her Bogie through and you hop aboard. Level complete. Now you're off onto the next stage, Hot Pursuit, a great vehicle chase that lets you be the gunner as Karina drives like a mad thing across the open road!

By Pete Hutter