Halo 3: ODST Campaign Walkthrough

This walk through will provide you with the easiest, fastest route from beginning to the end of the campaign. Please note, this guide will most likely contain some spoilers but I have done my utmost to keep things as vague as possible.

Prepare To Drop

You will gain control of your character sitting in his crashed pod above the city streets. You will be prompted to look around the pod to set up your inverted/un-inverted controller settings. When you are happy with your settings, when prompted use the RB button whilst looking at each of the four lights to open the pod and drop down to the street.

This mission acts as a bit of a tutorial, you will be in a small segment of New Mombasa, after this mission the rest of the city will become accessible. You will need to kill all the enemies in the area, so have a good look around and eliminate everything you see. Once this is complete, you will be encouraged to get a copy of the city map. Press up or down on the d-pad to place waypoints to your destination. Use the console to connect to the superintendent.

Complete your VISR training, and then follow the waypoint to the first point of interest in Tayari Plaza. Enter the building here and head upstairs to find an ODST helmet stuck in a television. Use it to complete the training and start the Tayari Plaza mission

Mombassa Streets

Occupied City Center

Rookie,

6 hours after drop

At the beginning of the game and in between missions, players take up the role of the Rookie. The Rookie's task is to cruise around New Mombasa and try to locate his scattered squad mates. This level is essentially a free-roam mode in which you can wander around the city to explore, locate the various mission starting objectives and pick up the audio logs. After completing the game, you will unloack the replay mission option from the campaign menu. From here you will be able to choose the New Mombasa Streets level.

To find the mission start points, you will need to look at your map. From the map you will see six small circular beacons constantly pulsing away. The game will list the various locations of the ODST beacons for you on the left of the screen. Pressing up or down on the D-pad will move your targeted location between beacons and update your compass accordingly. After selecting the beacon you are interested in, return to the game and follow the waypoint to the location. When you arrive, you will have to search around the area for an ODST relic.

If you have your VISR on, the mission-starting objects will be outlined with bright yellow. Simply walk up to them and use the interact button to start the mission. Here's a map I made up quickly and a list of the Rookie's objectives and where to find each of them.

A map showing the mission locations

Objective 1: Search Tayari Plaza for ODST squadmate

Make your way to the Tayari Plaza beacon and find the large pit. From the pit, turn completely around and look at the building directly across from it with the glowing red doors. Make your way to the left hand door, find the stairs leading upwards and follow the hallways until you arrive at a room on the top floor. You will see an ODST helmet embedded in a television monitor on the left wall. Use it to start the Tayari Plaza mission.

Objective 2: Search Uplift Reserve for ODST squadmate

Make your way to the Uplift Reserve beacon and find the large roundabout in the open square here. From the center of the area, turn your compass to face directly South West. Turn on your VISR and you should see the mission staring item - "Drone Fighter optics "at the right hand side of the foot of the stairs leading up to the building with the space elevator logo above the door. Inspect the object to begin the Uplift Reserve level.

Objective 3: Search Kizingo Boulevard for ODST squadmate

Make your way to the Kizingo Boulevard beacon and find the large roundabout in the open square here. Look directly to the North West and walk towards the building with the stairs facing you on the corner of the street. Look up to the second level of the building to see a yellow outlined turret. We need to inspect this to start the mission, enter the building and work your way through the various rooms, up the stairs and out onto the balcony. Use the turret to start the Kizingo Boulevard mission.

Objective 4: Search ONI Alpha Site for ODST squadmate

Activate the ONI Alpha Site beacon and follow the waypoint, through the long tunnel to reach it. You will exit into a small square area overlooking a body of water below, across the other side of the water is a flaming building.  Follow the road out of the tunnel towards the water, you will see the mission starting object slightly to your right as you approach. Inspect the object to start the ONI Alpha site mission.

Objective 5: Search NMPD HQ for ODST squadmate

Make your way to the NMPD HQ beacon and move to the large statue in the centre of the square. From the statue, look towards the West and upwards. You will find the ODST item hanging from powerlines above the square. Inspect it to start the NMPD HQ level.

Objective 6: Search Kikowani Station for ODST squadmate

Activate the Kikowani Station beacon and follow the waypoint until you reach the surrounding area. Look for the large sign that reads Kikowani Station. The object you will need to investigate is under the awning with the sign upon it. Once you find it, check it out to start the Kikowani Station mission.

Buck,

Immediately after drop

Objective 1: Find Dare's Crash Site

As you gain control of buck, you will see a phantom dropping off troops directly in front of you.  It will drop quite a few grunts and a brute. Slowly make your way around the sandbags to the right and pick off the grunts as they run up towards your location. Make your way down the ramp and eliminate the brute still prowling around.

Head past the covenant barricade and continue down the street, shortly thereafter you will encounter a small covenant patrol consisting of a brute and a few more grunts, floor them and continue to follow the road around to the left. You will encounter a group of UNSC marines. They will give you a hint about heading indoors to flank the covenant in the next area. Find the nearby alley and step inside the red door.

Head through the building and ascend any stairs you encounter until you exit out onto a second floor balcony. From here, assist the marines below in eliminating the group of 4-5 brutes below.  The fighting will alert another group of grunts a little further up the road, kill as many as you can before hitting the bend in the road. At the curve, take cover as there is a covenant turret on a raised platform in the distance to the right. If possible take out the gunner before mopping up the rest of the grunts in the area and one final brute.

Once the area is clear, continue up the road and make your way to the right hand side of the next area behind the set of stairs, turn left to see a patrol of grunts and jackals in the distance. Using your weapon of choice, try to pick off as many of the baddies in this group as possible before they get into cover, attacking them will warn the next patrol of your presence. Just around the next corner are a covenant sniper tower and another large group of jackals and grunts. Try to stay in cover as you move towards the hover platform as there is a pair of jackal snipers hanging out on the ground behind it who will do a good deal of damage if they get you in their line of sight.

When everything is dead or dying make your way through the door at the back of the area. In the open area here you will join a small skirmish between a group of marines and a good number of covenant troops. There is a patrol of grunts, a pair of brutes and some jackals running around at street level, and another couple of brutes and several jackal snipers sitting on a raised crosswalk in the middle of the area.  You are able to enter the buildings on either side of the crosswalk and the large building on the opposite side of the area from where you enter.

Use the buildings to your advantage, surprising bad guys where you can whilst your UNSC buddies keep them occupied. Once the majority of the covenant in the area have been killed, a few of them will try to retreat up the ramp to the exit leading to the next area, as they do, the doors will open and a pair of hunters will come through. Again, use the buildings to your advantage to make your way behind the hunters and exploit the weak spot on their backs, or avoid fighting them all together and continue up the ramp and onwards to the next area.

Objective 2: Open the crashed drop pod

As you enter the area, a phantom will deposit a few more bad guys into the open, sunken plaza-like area to your right. The drop pod is sitting at the back end of this area, so jump down into the area, eliminate the covenant forces shooting at it, and then move in to open the pod to complete the objective and the mission.

Dutch,

30 minutes after drop

Objective: Link up with friendly forces

After regaining control, continue along the beach and follow the path upwards into a large open area. As you enter some marines will ask for some assistance in reclaiming a warthog nearby. Approach it and flip it over, and hop in the driver's seat. Make sure to wait for a marine or two to jump in with you and man the turret. This area has several patrols usually consisting of a group of grunts with a brute or two. There is also a pair of brute choppers and a ghost or two getting around to look out for. On the far end of the area, blocking the path leading out is a wraith that will shoot at you constantly.

Objective: Find marine second platoon

Try to stay away from the wraith, whilst splattering all the covenant infantry you can. Let your marines destroy the choppers with the mounted turret, just make sure that they don't ram you head on, likewise eliminate the ghosts. A good tactic is to cut large laps around the central rock structures, swerving to hit any infantry that gets in the way, whilst letting the marines do their thing.

When everything is dead bar the wraith, focus your attention on it. To destroy it, either get behind it and let your UNSC team mates go to town on its weak spot, or jump out, board it and plant a grenade (not recommended on higher difficulties!). Keep an eye on the dirt path behind the wraith as by now there will likely be another wraith within striking distance and it is not uncommon for an additional vehicle or two to come and give you a little grief.

Once the first wraith is down, the second will proceed forward into the open area and a phantom will come to drop of some fresh ghosts and some more covies to crush. Repeat the process and once the second tank is down, continue along the dirt path until you reach the next area. As you reach a tunnel, there is a free unoccupied ghost sitting nearby, so switch if you feel the need.

Continue through the tunnel into another open area. As you enter there is a large group of covenant and a sniper tower on a ridge to the right, eliminate them if you would like or you can skip them by following the beach and cutting inland when required. There will be a couple of ghosts and brutes rolling around the area and some banshees flying overhead, which you should eliminate before proceeding too far. Approaching the far wall from where you entered, you will see the covenant have fortified a road running the length of the wall in front of you.

As you approach it, several covenant turrets will fire on you and any remaining vehicles in the vicinity will start heading your way. Take out the turrets and the covenant patrols, to make this easier you can boost or drive past everything and follow the road into a shack at the end containing some additional ammunition for your Spartan laser. A fully charged shot from this will destroy any vehicle or turret it touches so use it wisely!

Once the area has been cleared, follow the road to the left until it ends. Find the dirt path leading up into the rocks on the left. Follow the path until you reach another open area.

Objective: Find Colonel across bridge

This place is similar to the previous open are with a few ghosts and choppers trying to get up close and personal whilst a pair of wraiths in the background rain explosive plasma down on your head.  There is a structure in the centre of the zone opposite a covenant sniper tower flanked by turrets. Try to eliminate the vehicles and covenant ground troops first before taking the wraith head on.

To make things a little easier, make your way into the large central structure. Here you will find a rocket launcher, Spartan lasers and a sniper rifle with an abundance of ammo. The lengthy raised balcony provides ample opportunities to snipe the ground enemies and turret jockeys opposite, and use the rockets or Spartan laser to blow up any vehicles that get too close.

Once again, eliminate the wraiths last and continue on up the path. Drive through the structure and across the bridge into the next area.

Objective: Drive up and out of park

Continue along the dirt path until you reach a covenant sniper position, eliminate the ground forces hear and continue up the ramp, destroying the covenant turrets as you go. Follow the road until you reach a large purple covenant staging platform. There is a large contingent of covenant infantry here, which should be no match for our vehicle of choice and another wraith to eliminate. Once clear, continue along the path and up the mountain.

Splatter any baddies getting in your way as you climb the hill and stop when you reach the covenant barricades, make a sexy left turn and head down the path towards the wraith in the distance. If you destroyed the previous five wraiths, you can eliminate this one for an achievement. If not, simply drive your vehicle over the cliff facing the city in the back right hand corner of the area to complete the mission.

Mickey,

90 minutes after drop

Objective 1: Save Marines and scorpion tank

To start the mission, your objective is to help fend off the covenant from killing the nearby UNSC troops and their pet scorpion tank.  Starting the level you are faced head-on with a wraith. This is bad! Turn around and see the marines have holed up on a small traffic island. Make your way to them, the wraith is only one of the dangers you will have to face.

The scorpion will retreat to the far side of the square, and several covenant patrols will emerge from the tunnels to the left of the traffic island.  There is a good assortment of grunts, jackals and brutes, so sort them out as you see fit after killing a good number of them, one of the other marines will tell you to get in the scorpion tank before the wraith blows it up.

Quickly run across the square towards the scorpion tank, making sure to kill any bad guys that come in between you and your destination.  Enter the tank and quickly take out the wraith from the start of the level. A second wraith will approach from down the street to your left. Using the scorpion kill it and the ground forces nearby.

Objective 2: Drive tank to rally point

Follow the road past the dead wraith and kill anything and everything that gets in your way. After a couple of corners you will encounter your first couple of ghosts, smash them and as you continue along the road, keep an eye on the rooftops for brutes with brute shots which will put a quick dent in your health and jackal snipers willing to take pot shots at you as you continue to the next large area.

The next open area contains a group of marines pinned down and waiting for assistance. There is a group covenant infantry on street level to the left as you enter, with a covenant turret on the wall above them. To the right there is a sniper tower, with a second group of infantry behind it and another turret on the wall above them. Try to take out the tower and the infantry first as they both contain brutes toting brute shots.  Next focus on destroying the turrets to pacify the area.

Once the area is clear, providing they are still alive, the marines will come and join your push into the next area. You can either continue along the same road as you entered, or make your way down the ramp to the right of the entrance and take a different road to the next area. Both play out essentially the same and are fairly uneventful.

The next open area is set around a heavily fortified roundabout; grunts are manning three turrets placed around its circumference, ghosts patrol around the outside and a covenant infantry unit is in the centre. On the right side of the area, another covenant patrol will run down the road into the area when they hear a commotion going on and another turret will fire up from the window of an overpass.

During this fire fight several fuel rod cannon wielding covenant troopers and snipers will appear on various rooftops around the square and they will need to be taken out of action ASAP. A phantom will also appear to drop ghost reinforcements at some point.  Once the zone has fallen silent, you are able to trade in your scorpion for a fresh one if you like and when ready, roll on through the door to the next area.

Objective 3: Rescue Duch

Continue down the road towards the small objective triangle representing Duch. As you do several banshees will attack, blow them out of the sky and continue down the street, eliminating any covenant forces that come into your line of sight.  Entering the next roundabout, will force an encounter with another pair of wraiths, these are so much easier to kill with scorpions! Let them have a couple of rounds each and ignoring the phantoms, cruise over to reunite with Duch.

Unfortunately it is now time to say goodbye to the scorpion tank. Follow the road up the ramp to join Duch. As you do, the blast door behind him will open and a group of grunts and jackals will pour out with a brute or two. Use the crates here for cover and eliminate the threat before heading into the next area. Make your way along the road eliminating any enemy resistance as you go. Continue straight along the road and up the ramp to regroup with a good-sized contingent of UNSC troops.

Objective 4: Help Duch defend rally point

Once you have met up with the marines, you will have a few seconds to look around, restock your ammo and grab a health pack if needed. In this section, the covenant will continue to roll on in with phantoms periodically dropping 10-15 covenant troops at a time and the occasional wraith. The good news is you have the high ground and have a good deal of space up here to move around in, the tactic here? Let the covenant come to you, you can easily take out half of the grunts and jackals before they get close, then take out the brutes and mop up  any stragglers.

The covenant are not stupid and will attempt to flank you at every opportunity, so stay vigilant and make sure you don't forget to occasionally scan the balconies to the left and right for covenant troops trying to pull off a sneak attack.

Once you have eliminated three phantom loads worth of covenant forces, the objective and the mission will be complete.

ONI Alpha Site

2 hours after drop

Objective 1: Arm all charges on bridge

You will start the mission about halfway across a bridge, with some friendly faces on one side and a huge number of covenant with a pair of wraiths on the other. Your task is to activate the three remaining charges on the bridge on your way to rendezvous with the UNSC forces waiting at the close end of the bridge. As soon as the mission starts the covenant forces will start to pour onto the bridge. IF you are quick, you can hit the three switches without having to fight any covenant. When they are ready to go, make your way to the marines.

Objective 2: Use detonator in watch tower

After crossing the bridge, climb the ladder into the watchtower on the left and activate the console at the back of the room. Keep your eyes on the bridge for a pretty cool scene.  There is a sniper rifle in the tower if you fancy taking it and it might come in handy in the next area if you have exhausted your Spartan laser ammo. Exit the tower and mop up any covenant forces that managed to reach your side of the area before proceeding down the ramp, under the wall into a large open zone at the foot of the ONI building.

Objective 3: Defend inner courtyard

As you enter the area a phantom will have just dropped off a fresh batch of troops in a clearing at the foot of several flights of stairs heading up to the building in the distance. Amongst their numbers will be a pair of hunters, a couple of brutes and a small army of grunts and jackals. As you enter, the bad guys should be facing in the opposite direction, this is a perfect opportunity to pull out your sniper rifle or Spartan laser and hit the pair of hunters in the weak spots on their backs. Once they are down, proceed to eliminate the remaining covenant forces in the area.

Ascend the first flight of stairs, as you reach the level ground, a pair of phantoms will zoom in and deliver a large number of grunts 5-6 brutes and a pair of wraiths to the small courtyard at the bottom of the stairs.  Try to put a dent in their numbers as they run up the stairs to meet you. As the numbers start to become a little overwhelming, begin to slowly retreat backwards up the hill whilst facing the hostiles and eliminating as many of them as you can.

When you hear the marine yelling to fall back to the ONI building, most of the UNSC forces will retreat further up the next flight of stairs to the area directly below the ONI building.  Quickly run up the stairs and join them. Defend the top of the stairs from any attackers, being sure to watch your flanks as the covenant forces will try to get the drop on you by heading up the ramps either side as well as the stairs leading up the centre of the area.

After a third phantom arrives to drop off even more enemy troops, continue to defend the courtyard and listen out for Dutch telling everyone to run inside the building.  As he does, continue inside the building and make your way to the central platform within.

Objective 4: Retreat, defend ONI building interior

From the middle of this platform you should see four sets of stairs leading to the circular room surrounding the platform. Behind two of the sets of stairs are the doors from which you can enter the building from the previous area, the other two lead outside.  The game is about to become a survival mode for the next few minutes, and enemies will be coming in from all four directions.

The covenant will first appear from the doors used to enter the area and will come in waves alternating between the right and left hand sides. Ensure that you continue to check on the status of the enemies at both doors and eliminate the easier threats (jackals and grunts). You will also need to keep an eye out for suicide grunts who will charge at you with active plasma grenades, they appear frequently in the starting portion of this section of the level. To eliminate the brutes easier, try to pick up a plasma pistol and use its overcharge function to completely remove a brutes armour, then quickly switch weapons and take them out quickly - this tactic is invaluable in this section as you will have to face large numbers of brutes at a time and you will need every little advantage you can to survive.

To start the event, covenant will bust on through the right-hand door, with a force of grunts and jackals. Try to take them down ASAP as another group of grunts, jackals and a brute or two will emerge from the left hand door shortly after you engage the first group. As you turn to fight these foes, another group of brutes will enter through the right hand door and shortly thereafter a small group of jackals will join them. The game will now stop spawning enemies until you have eliminated everything in the room, so take your time and leave one or two baddies alive and well whilst stocking up on some ammo and weapons before taking them out.

You will enjoy a few moments of peace before you hear the drone of a phantom coming in.  The next section is essentially the same as the previous segment at the doors. This time, you will need to focus on the two doors leading outside. As a phantom will be flying in and dropping reinforcements on the balconies here. Same tactics as above apply, keep an eye out for flankers, eliminate the smaller threats first, and use explosives or the plasma pistol combo to eliminate brutes in a hurry.

Looking from the centre of the room, the first load of covenant will be dropped on the left hand balcony. This group will consist of around 4-5 brutes, supplemented by a small number of jackals and grunts. The phantom will then head around to the right hand balcony and drop off the remaining covenant, another 4-5 brutes and some more jackals and grunts.

Because of the large number of enemies, try not to stray too far from the central area, eliminate what you can and if the numbers get too great, fall back to the central platform. Eventually they will come down to get you and will be forced into a narrow corridor where a couple of well placed grenades can take out several enemies at once. When their numbers dwindle, cruise on into the next area and mop up any stragglers.

Objective 5: Take elevator to roof for evac

When the ordeal is over, Mickey will tell you to return to the central platform. Restock on plasma pistol ammo, grenades and something else that takes your fancy and then return to the centre. Upon reaching Mickey's position an elevator should conveniently appear and open, get inside and hit the console to activate it.  As the elevator rises you will be attacked by a swarm of buggers, try to used the raised section of wall where the door was as cover and kill them all.

At the top of the building, the elevator will stop and let you out onto the roof, unfortunately a phantom has just dropped off a load of 5-6 brutes (including some jet-pack troopers), some grunts and a few jackals to deal with you. After the previous section, this encounter should hardly prove a challenge.

Once everything is dead or dying a pelican will appear. Simply walk up and use it to complete the level.

NMPD HQ

Romeo

Objective 1: Find Mickey and Dutch's Pelican

From the start, get off the helipad and enter the building at the end, make your way upstairs and out of the exit on the upper level. As you leave the building look to the right, you will see a number of covenant oblivious to your presence for the moment. There is a brute and several grunts on the balcony on the right and a similar make up of bad guys in the lower area on the left. Watch out for the covenant turret located at the far, back corner of the area.

Whilst you are undetected, try to snipe the grunt out of the turret and one of the brutes if you can, as the other covenant are alerted to your presence, eliminate them accordingly. As you clear the area, sometimes a pelican will arrive and deliver a brute and a few grunts on a landing pad below, they will come up a ramp and exit into the area via a small tunnel to the right of the turret. If they arrive, take them out before proceeding through the door to the left.

The next room is essentially the same as the previous one. This time you will need to head up to the back left corner of the room to proceed onwards. As you enter, take out the grunt on the turret on the raised platform to the right, watch out as there are several jackal snipers up on the highest segment of the room to the left so try and stay in cover as you kill any jackals/grunts in the courtyard directly in front of you. Once the ground level is clear, pick off the jackals up top and mop up any remaining enemies in the area.

Head through the door on the top tier of the area into the next building, restock on any ammo you may need or switch weapons if you wish. When ready to continue proceed through the door on the opposite side of the room.

Once again, this area is very similar to the previous two outdoor zones. As you exit the door immediately look up and slightly to the right to see two jackal snipers on balconies overlooking the area. Pop them, and then turn further to your right to see another two snipers on a sky bridge above the area, in the far left corner, similarly to the first outdoor area you will see a covenant turret, kill the occupant if possible.

As this is going on, in the distance, you will see a phantom dropping off some fresh troops onto the helipad below, this group of covenant is made up primarily of jetpack brutes, which can be eliminated in the same way as normal brutes, keep in mind that shooting their jetpacks is another way to bring them down pretty quickly. As they jump everywhere, it can be pretty hard to track all of them at once, so make it a habit to look around a little bit whilst fighting them to make sure none of them have managed to sneak behind you and that you are not getting flanked.

Enter the door next to the turret, continue through the indoor section and out the other side into the next helipad area. Directly to the left of the exit on the top tier of the area is another covenant turret, just to the left of it on a balcony is a jackal sniper. It is a little difficult to focus on these two dangers now as there is a large population of grunts in the small courtyard in front of the exit and a couple of brutes to boot, back yourself into the indoor section and lure the nearby enemies into coming to you. You should try to eliminate most of these enemies from the relative safety of the indoor area to minimise the risk of added turret and sniper damage.

Once the bottom area is clear, pick off the sniper on the balcony and the grunt on the turret to your left, now that the two major hazards have been removed, you can enter the room and finish off any remaining covenant forces in the zone. As you approach the top level, a few more brutes will come through the door, including a particularly nasty one carrying a hand-held turret, take cover and use whatever you have at your disposal to take them down. Restock on ammo and head for the exit on the top level of the room on the left.

Once inside, take the ramp down and kill the pair of grunts. Continue through two sets of doors until you reach the outside area again. Head down the ramp onto the helipad and eliminate the jackal snipers and fuel-rod grunts attacking your buddies on a nearby rooftop. When they have taken a few rounds and have bitten the dust, jump down onto the nearby girder and run across the gap, ignoring the banshees for now. Jump down onto the rooftop and fight your way up the stairs to the pelican crash site to rendezvous with Dutch and Mickey.

Objective 2: Defend pelican crash site

Like the previous two levels, this section of the level becomes a survival mode of sorts. There will be lots of banshees flying around the area taking pot shots at you where they can and several phantoms will fly into the area and drop various collections of brutes, grunts and jackals who will endeavor to assault your position.  The trick here is to try and eliminate the turrets on the underside of the phantoms to minimize damage, shoot down banshees when the opportunities arise and deal with the ground troops accordingly.

There are plenty of rocket pods lying around, a Spartan laser at the back of the area and several rocket launchers in weapon racks around the crash site. Grab your weapon of choice and try to eliminate a couple of the banshees flying around before the first phantom arrives. If you can, acquire a rocket pod and destroy the turrets on the phantoms as they arrive, they will do major damage to you and your team as there is next to no cover on the rooftop. During any break in the fighting aim to explodify a banshee or two to make things a bit easier.

There will be six phantoms, some of them will drop troops, others will just hover and shoot. After ridding yourself of the first five drop ships and killing off all of the ground forces, the final phantom should arrive and deliver a pack of jetpack brutes. Eliminate these guys and regroup with Mickey and Dutch up top to complete the objective and finish the mission.

Buck,

5 hours after Drop

Objective 1: Capture Phantom drop-ship

Descend the staircase and head to the left. You will see a pair of phantoms hanging out at the far end of the large raised platform here. Follow the path down the stairs in front of you and lay the smackdown on the group of grunts who are patrolling the area.  Continue straight ahead, past the train and up onto a small ledge for a sniper rifle.

Look over the railing towards the phantoms, there are two tiers to the platform. On the top is a group of grunts and a brute or two and the lower tier to the right has a brute on a turret, an engineer (the floating squid like creatures) and some jackals. If you can get a shot, try killing the engineer, these will explode and break into explosive shrapnel that will fall below and explode, killing or damaging any enemies in the immediate area. Then take out the turret gunner on the right.

As fighting breaks out, the drop ship on the upper tier will deploy another group of infantry consisting of a few brutes and grunts before bailing. Use your sniper rifle to pick off as many brutes as you can, they will attack you, but with no real accuracy and they will not be able to reach you on this platform. To help you out, Mickey will usually keep them occupied on the stairs to the right leading onto the phantom platform.

Once the area is relatively clear, follow the train tracks nearby down into the area with the phantom and kill any remaining covenant forces. Wait for Mickey to hijack the phantom, then requisition yourself one of the banshees up the stairs to the left.

Objective 2: Escort Phantom in a banshee

You will now need to escort the phantom through a horde of covenant forces to safety. Just remember the banshee has the primary fire plasma gun and a secondary fire (press B) banshee bomb you can use to take out larger groups of enemies.

Fly to the centre of the room and eliminate the turret on the small island here, continue towards the back of the room towards the large circular platform. As you approach, you will have to fly between two large pillar-like structures each constructed complete with some conveniently located balconies. Enemies will pour out of doors onto the balconies and fire at you, on the left-hand tower there are three grunts carrying fuel-rod cannons here which should be taken out as soon as possible. On the right tower is a lone jackal, pop him when you get the opportunity.

Once the balcony forces are down, turn your focus to the circular platform. On the left hand side are a pair of unmanned covenant turrets, if you are quick you can eliminate the covenant forces below before they reach them. IF you weren't so lucky, prioritize taking out the turrets before eliminating the remaining covenant ground forces situated on the same platform.

When the platform is clear a small squadron of 2-3 banshees will emerge from the door to the left of the circular area. Smash them up and then continue through the now open doorway. Drop a banshee bomb on the covenant sniper tower and cruise around to the right. Continue through the area destroying ground forces as you see fit and proceed out the doorway to the left at the end.

On entering the next open area, you will see a phantom hovering over a building ahead and slightly to the left of the entry point.  Moving in closer you will see it is sitting on top of a refueling platform of sorts and if you can blow it up, it will explode and take the phantom down with it. This will cause a couple of banshees and some engineers to attack you, try to keep your distance as their explosions tend to have dire consequences if you get too close. Once the room is enemy-free, fly to the far side of the area to find that the door is locked.

Objective 3: Open all blocking doors

Jump out of the banshee and use the panel on the door to open it. Return to the banshee and use it to take care of the enemy infantry in front of you. Follow the tunnel to the left and destroy the refueling platform, which will destroy the phantom and any covenant unlucky enough to be in close proximity to it. The nearby door will now automatically open for you.

This open area is almost identical to the first one; there are a few nearby and central structures and a large circular platform at the back of the room which is flanked by a pair of towers with balcony access for covenant forces. There are several AA wraiths in the area and a number of refueling platforms to destroy for good measure.

As you enter the room, turn immediately to your right to see the first wraith, kill it before heading past the closest structure and destroying the re-fuelling rig below the phantom.  This will alert more covenant forces in the area to converge on your position. In the middle of the circular area ahead is a second AA wraith, a couple of engineers will appear and proceed to attack you and the balcony on the right hand tower will start to fill up with covenant infantry.

Retreat a little so you are out of range of all the AA fire and take down the engineers. Next you should focus on exterminating the forces on the balcony to the right before turning your attention to the AA wraith waiting on the platform below. Finally mop up the brute shot brutes chilling out on the left hand structure's balcony. Fly down to inspect the door.

This time you will have to abandon your banshee and proceed through the smaller door at ground level on foot. You will need to make your way to the opposite site of the tunnel on the right and deactivate the locked door manually. Unfortunately there is a large number of brutes, grunts and jackals eager to get a piece of you without the relative safety of your banshee. Fortunately, there are several covenant weapon crates in the clearing in front of you as you enter, pick up one of the sniper rifles and proceed to eliminate the covenant a little further down the tunnel.

The first group you see will consist of a pair of brutes, a turret and a small collection of grunts and jackals. As you begin to snipe them off, another group of brutes and an engineer will come to investigate. Try to pop the engineer over your other covenant opponents if possible and then wipe out the rest of the brutes. When their numbers are dwindling, a brute chieftain will appear and come at you with a gravity hammer. He is pretty light on his feet and will reach you if you stay put for too long. You will need to keep moving as you attack. Avoid coming into close proximity with him at all costs as one swing from that hammer means a journey back to the previous checkpoint. Utilise everything - grenades, ammo and weapons to put him to sleep.

When the leader is down, proceed into the small control room on the left of the door leading into the new area. Hit the switch here to let your buddies through, exit the tunnel into the next open area and immediately turn left. Follow the pathway into the tunnel ahead and take the first left onto a small landing pad protected by a group of jackals and a brute. Kill them all and take the banshee here.

Objective 4: Evade or destroy scarab

Fly towards the centre of the room and you will see the Scarab situated on a platform in the middle of the area against the far wall. It will shoot its beams at you and the various turrets and covenant mounted on it will shoot you if you come too close. The trick to beating the scarab is essentially the same as Halo 3. You will need to take out its legs so it lowers to the ground, then mount it and destroy its power core at the back before making a quick exit.

It is possible to just bail out of the banshee and land on top of the scarab, fight your way through the covenant here and destroy the power core, but there are a few less explosions this way. Alternately you can destroy the set of re-fuelling platforms close to the scarab to weaken its legs, if that isn't quite enough, finish the legs off with a few banshee bombs and it will collapse. Either way, get aboard and destroy the power core to continue.

Objective 5: Escape through final tunnel

Make your way to the door on the platform to the left of the scarab and use the console to open it. Enter the door and climb the stairs to your immediate right. Enter the banshee here continue a short ways down the tunnel and shoot one of the refuelling stations on the walls ahead to complete the mission.

Rookie

Objective 1: Find Dare on sub-level 9

You will start on top of an elevator on sub level 7. Hop down into the room below and continue through the door on the opposite side of the room with the green lights. You will enter a long U-shaped tunnel; to start with things will be a little quiet. Proceed forward until you hear some grunt chatter. Cautiously move forward and eliminate the pair in front of you. This will alert another patrol of grunts who will pop out of a door on the left a little further ahead. Kill them all and enter the left hand tunnel.

You will now enter a second, identical U-shaped tunnel follow this one to the end and you should encounter two separate covenant patrols. The first group consists of jackals, the second will consist of grunts. Kill them all and continue to the end of the hallway. Enter the open door at the end. You will enter a square room with four exits, take the open door and continue onward to the next room.

As you make your way into the room, so too will a brute and a small group of jackals. Eliminate them and follow the hallway they came from. In the next room head through the open door to the left and kill the brutes and grunts that occupy the next room. Once again take the open door through to the next area. Here you will run into a UNSC marine who will help you out for a little while. After a short spiel, the console next to the circular platform in the centre of the room will become usable. Hit it and jump back into cover.

When the stack in the centre of the room rises, a swarm of buggers will emerge from the hole below. Take them out from behind cover and when it's safe to do so, jump down the hole into the room below.

Find the unlocked door and continue into a long tunnel occupied by another swarm of buggers. Fight them off and continue forwards, a short time later a group of 4-5 cloaked brutes will attack you, they are difficult to spot, so turn your VISR on and you will be able to see their outlines in grey. Exterminate the group and follow the hallway to the very end. Enter the door and follow the tunnel into another series of square-shaped rooms.

In the first room you will have to fight off several buggers, do so and then continue through the open door to the right. Continue straight through the next room and follow the tunnel into an encounter with a brute and some jackals, once they have been killed another brute and a group of grunts will enter the room from the left hand door, destroy them and then continue down the tunnel they emerged from.  Defeat three brutes who come to get you in this room and continue to the next area. Follow the tunnel until you reach yet another room containing grunts and a brute. Take them out and continue into the right hand tunnel. Fight off one final set of grunts and brutes as you make your way into the final room. Hit the console next to the centre platform and jump down to sub-level 9.

As soon as you land you will be attacked by a small group of buggers, defend yourself and then proceed through the unlocked door. Yet another long tunnel, reminiscent of the U-shaped rooms we traversed earlier. Follow the room down and around the corner eliminating a patrols of grunts and 8-9 brutes as you go, thrown into the mix here is a particularly nasty brute wielding around a turret, he will smash through your health bar pretty quickly so stay in cover and eliminate him when able.

When you get to the crossroad-type area, head straight through to a locked door. Look to your right to see a health pack if you need it and the flamethrower. Pick this up if you want to get the "I like Fire" achievement (10 flamethrower kills on Data Hive).  Return to the crossroad and take the ramp down to the left and through the unlocked door at the end. Continue through the small uninhabited room here and exit the door out into another tunnel.

This tunnel can be a bit tough; it is full of jackals and buggers with a brute or two to shake things up a bit. Try to take out the buggers first as they are the most annoying and hardest to hit, then focus on the brutes and finish up with the jackals. Once the room has been completely cleared, the door on the back wall will open, granting you access. Cruise through the tunnel and use the door at the end for a short story sequence and the completion of the first objective.

Objective 2: Fight through hive to data-center

Follow Dare out of the room and through the tunnel behind, like the previous tunnels, continue through until you reach the end. As you do you will encounter several groups of covenant infantry.  Fight through a group of grunts and a brute, up next you will come across a brute with several grunts and a group of buggers. The third group is made up of a brute, some jackals and a group of buggers. Destroy all resistance in the tunnel, then follow Dare into a side passage to the right of the final locked door.

Jump down the hole in here and fight your way through the next three rooms, killing a good number of brutes, jackals and grunts in the process. At the end you will reach a locked door, look to the right to see the entrance to the next area. You will now have an opportunity to stock up on weapons as there are a good number of covenant weapon crates lying around, when you are ready to continue, follow Dare up the ramp and through the door on the left of the room. Take the elevator up to the next level.

Objective 3: Rescue the Superintendent

The next room can be a little confusing. It consists of a large series of catwalks your main goal is to reach the open doors on the wall at the very far end of the room from the elevators. Follow Dare forward until you can go no further, turn to the left and follow the catwalk until you can take a right. You will be attacked by a large group of buggers and from this point on you will be attacked periodically by groups of buggers as you move along the catwalk. Take them out and continue down the right hand path fighting off buggers until you reach a dead end. Turn left and follow this catwalk until you reach the end, turn right and on the next platform take a another quick right and continue along the set path and take the first left. When you reach a dead end, turn right at the next opportunity turn left and continue along the platforms until you reach the walls with the door leading to the next area. The buggers should finally cease spawning as you continue through the door.

Follow Dare through the tunnel and drop down to the floor below when required. Open the door and look down, in the distance, in the centre of the room you should be able to make out a door. This is our next goal. There is a group of 2-3 brutes standing guard outside of it and a brute chieftain with a gravity hammer keeping them company. Drop down the various outcroppings below the balcony until you are on the main platform. Make your way towards the door and attempt to kill the normal brutes first whilst avoiding the chieftain.  Once the chieftan has been subdued, open the door, make your way down the ramp and open the door for a story scene.

Objective 4: Escort Engineer to safety

You will now have to escort your new friend to safety, if it takes too much damage, the mission will be over so it is important that you do not abandon it. Buck is at the opposite end of this room so you will need to make your way to him. As you exit back into the main area, a group of three brutes will attack you and a pair of phantoms will fly in to drop off some additional grunts, jackals and a brute or two for you to contend with. As you reach Buck, you will notice that there are a two open doors here. Enter either one and drop down the hole to reach the next area.

The room here has a large group of buggers that are asleep and hanging from the roof. You will need to kill them all and then proceed through the door on the side of the area. Follow the tunnel to the end and your new friend will open the locked door for you.  The next room is the same kind of tunnel, so simply follow it to the end, whilst exterminating all of the buggers that get in the way.

Upon exiting the tunnel you will find yourself in an elevator room. Run up the ramp and into the elevator  to complete the mission.

Coastal highway

Rookie,

Objective 1: Find elevator to highway

You will start this mission where you left off the previous one and yet again you will be escorting the superintendent. Get out of the elevator and exit into the street. Turn left and follow the road until you reach a large area with a large traffic island in the middle. On top of the island is a covenant sniper tower with several turrets. As you approach a phantom will be dropping off additional reinforcements.

As you head towards the square, take a left into the building when you get the chance. In the far left corner is a door, enter and climb the stairs, continue through the building until you exit out onto the balcony. Pick up the sniper rifle off the dead marine here and eliminate the gunners in the tower.  Pick off some additional brutes in the area below before proceeding forward into the building and back out onto the street. Turn to the left. In the distance you will see some brutes and grunts hanging out near a truck.

Stay put and if you have your sniper rifle still handy, snipe as many brutes as you can, there are quite a few and doing this will make taking down the remaining covenant much easier. When you are out of ammo, replace your weapon and move forward cautiously. Exterminate the remaining brutes and grunts and continue up the road behind them. Follow it all the way until you reach a dead end. Look around for an unlocked door and enter, make your way through the building until you reach the elevator. Once your friend has activated it, step on through for a short story sequence.

Objective 2: Escort and protect Dare's vehicle

As soon as you regain control, grab the driver's seat of the warthog nearby and take off. In this next sequence of the level you will need to keep enemies from attacking the APC containing Dare. This can be difficult, so be sure to not fall too far behind her, or leave it unattended for too long or it will take too much damage and incur you with a visit to the previous checkpoint.

As you continue along the highway you will complete a stretch, and then stop to open the door and do another stretch, stop and open the door and so on and so forth.  Each section of the highway is pretty much identical to the last and each successive area will have more difficult enemies to contend with. You do not need to eliminate all of them, so long as Dare's vehicle reaches the tunnel at the end of the segment in one piece.

Starting the first section of highway, you will encounter a huge number of grunts, they will do little to no damage to Dare's vehicle so you can take your time to eliminate them if you wish by running them down, letting Buck shoot them with the hog turret or getting out to deal with them in person. Either way, once Dare is at the end, jump in the hog and join her to see the door open to the next stretch of highway.

The second highway areas beginning area is filled with jackals. They will not do much to the APC so try and crush a few if you can, but  for the most part, ignore them and continue on to attack the group of grunts with a couple of brutes a little further along the road who are much more of a threat to Dare as they will throw grenades. Again simply attack the enemies until Dare reaches the tunnel then disengage and regroup to enter the next area.

The next section of highway has five sniper towers set up in it. Fortunately on most occasions only two of them are occupied. They are however occupied by groups of three grunts all equipped with fuel rod cannons which will destroy the APC in a matter of seconds if not attended to in a hasty manner.  You can identify the active towers by the streams of green fuel rod shells being fire in your direction.

When you know where the groups of enemies are, jump out of the hog and take the gravlift up into the tower, the grunts will cease firing and pretty much stand there while you kill them. Repeat for the other active towers and get to the tunnel at the end as fast as you can. A large group of buggers will arrive as Dare gets there and they can take down the vehicle with their numbers o you want to be there to assist. Park the car and let buck use the turret, you should pull out any weapon you have and try to take them down before the APC takes too much damage. When the buggers are dead, the next door will open.

The fourth length of highway is fairly straight forward and consists of a couple of groups of grunts and jackals being dropped in via phantoms. Again the grunts are the biggest threat, so wipe them out as you see fit and continue with Dare into the tunnel at the end.

The fifth stretch of highway is loaded with 5-6 ghosts. These can put a significant dent in the vehicles vitality quite quickly, so it is important to keep them away from Dare if possible. Again try to get ahead of the APC and keep them occupied whilst letting Buck take a few of those bad boys down with his epic turret skills. Don't be afraid to ram them to grab their attention if they persist in attacking the carrier. Once Dare reaches the end, regroup.

In the tunnel here, you would be wise to switch up your warthog and upgrade to the shiny new gauss warthog inside. Continue through the door into the sixth segment of the highway. Along this area you will encounter a bunch more ghosts (which are much, much easier with Buck on the gauss cannon), the occasional banshee and some sniper rifles. With the gauss hog, all you need to do is keep it on its wheels and Buck will do the rest. Continue through the tunnel at the end into the next area.

This section of highway (number eight) is deserted outside of a few banshees. Buck will take care of those for you, so just head to the door at the end of the area. There is a wraith just before the tunnel you will need to eliminate, either by getting buck an angle on the weak spot on its back or by boarding it. As you approach the tunnel a scarab will climb over the top of it, ignore it for the moment and head inside.

Time to upgrade again! Grab the scorpion tank inside the tunnel here and get ready for the ninth stretch of the highway. A few turrets, a wraith and a few banshees are what you will encounter in this section and they will not hold up for long against the firepower of the scorpion and you will quite easily be able to make it to the tunnel into the next area in no time.

The tenth section of highway is a little longer than the previous ones and in this area you will be keeping phantoms off of Dare's vehicle. The phantoms will fly parallel with the road and unload into the APC. You will need to shoot their turrets off to force them into retreating. You should reach the tunnel just after the fourth phantom has been dealt with.

The eleventh segment of the highway, is similar to the previous one, but without the phantoms. Instead you will have to eliminate a series of turret placements sitting at regular intervals atop the median strip in the middle of the road. In addition to the turrets are 5 -6 ghosts to explodify with the scorpion. When the road has been cleared, head through the door into the next zone.

The twelfth piece of highway is inhabited by a large force of covenant infantry. A couple of well placed shots towards a group can exterminate the lot fairly quickly. Make your way through the various covenant troops until you reach the door at the end.

Part thirteen of the highway, and we are almost done. Simply shoot the different covenant sniper towers along the road here with the scorpion to destroy them. As you approach the exit, a scarab will appear atop the tunnel and attack the APC, disabling it. The scarab will then depart, allowing you to continue through to the next area.

After passing through the final door, take the first off ramp in the middle of the highway and follow the road around to the right. Abandon the wraith and make your way to the building in the distance.

Objective 3: Defend Engineer until friendly Phantom arrives

The final section of the game, and once again we will be entering "survival mode". You will have to eliminate several phantom loads worth of enemies whilst keeping the superintendent out of harm's way. It will stay inside the structure for the duration, Dare and Buck will stand guard either just inside or just outside the ground level doorways.

There isn't much in the way of ammo or weapons inside the building, but if you head up the stairs to the left or right and climb up to the platform above the door you will be able to pick up a sniper rifle, shot gun or an SMG if you feel the need. The balcony overlooks the courtyard and the two car park areas below giving a perfect sniping position. The open door behind the snipers ledge leads to the main room where our friend is hiding out. So if it starts to take damage, you can quickly jump over the balcony to the ground floor and assist it.

The first three phantoms will deliver the fairly standard covenant formation makeup of a couple of brutes, a few jackals and a tonne of grunts. If you have taken up the sniper position, take out the brutes first, then to conserve your ammo, make your way downstairs and eliminate the smaller threats personally. After the third phantom, a fourth will arrive to drop a pair of hunters and shortly thereafter, a pair of wraiths will appear on the highway and start volleying shots in the general direction of the building. At this point you should also watch out for jackal snipers in the car parks.

One final phantom will arrive and deliver 4-5 standard brutes, 4-5 jetpack brutes and a brute chieftain. You will need to eliminate the entire group to continue. If you still have some sniper ammo left, I would advise heading for the roof. The chieftain will usually wait back in the courtyard below and rush in when the number of brutes starts to dwindle. Rather than waiting, open up on him with the sniper rifle when he is dead, focus on eliminating the standard brutes and finally mop up the jet packers.

As the final brute falls, the friendly phantom will appear and come to rest hovering above the car park on the right side of the area. Run across to it to finish the objective, the level and the game.