Mountain Surfing

Looking to dominate Halo Multiplayer? This short guide will show you how to overpower other players on two of Halo's multiplayer maps. Take your Halo play to the next level and shutout those Master Chief wannabes.

Infinity

Infinity is a gargantuan, figure-eight-shaped map where vehicles dominate. You'll be spending a lot of time in transit to the enemy base and there isn't much to see and do along the way, so the key to owning Infinity is knowing your own base.

Taking the ramps all the way to the top level will lead you to two Banshees and a sniper rifle. These craft are the quickest and easiest way to capture the enemy flag.

On the main level of your base, note the health pack in the rear (i.e., farthest from the flag). In front is a Shade for base defense, a flamethrower, and a couple of grenades. Directly beneath the Shade on the ground is a pair of Warthogs, one of each type. The flag is on a pad adjacent to the base, and a room accessible from the side closest to the canyon wall contains a valuable health pack and shotgun.

When making a flag run, you can do it solo using a Banshee if you're good enough. When traveling by Warthog, use the buddy system. Well-coordinated teams will use multiple Warthogs with air support.

The alternate way to reach the flag is walking via teleporters at the back of the enemy base. You may be able to sneak in, but you'll need to do so much walking back that your odds of survival plummet.

Timberland

Small and square, Timberland is simple. There are no backdoors into either base here. Each team's HQ has two levels, the second of which holds extra grenades and a sniper rifle. Be careful: a zoomed-in sniper rifle can shoot into the second level of the opposing base. If you're up there, be quick about it and keep moving.

In front of your base is a pair of Ghosts and two Warthogs, one of each type. Take a buddy if you go via Warthog, but it's actually pretty easy to make solo runs with the Ghost. The key there is to avoid the temptation of the open middle area and the over shield located there, and stick to the outside edges instead.

Cruise out of your base to the left and stop at the first corner you come to. Pick up the fuel-rod gun and plasma grenades. That gun is your key to stomping any troops you run into at the enemy base. Hop back on the speeder and hug the outermost path. There's an optional second stop just before the path forks where you can grab an invisibility. When you're equipped to your satisfaction, keep to the outside edge, zoom up to the enemy-base entrance, deal some major pain, then return home with the flag via the same outside route for an easy score.

And there you have some very successful tips to use to dominate two of the maps in Halo multiplayer.

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Kevin Krebs is the author of many articles describing strategies and tactics to be used in playing many of today's popular games.

AP - Archaeologists have discovered a new pyramid under the sands of Saqqara, an ancient burial site that has yielded a string of unearthed pyramids in recent years but remains largely unexplored.

I have played through the game on both normal and hard difficulty and I can say that it makes for great fun.

The game begins with your introduction into the squad, the scene shown in the demo. The player then goes on to fight enemies referred to by the AI squad as 'Russians!'. What war is being fought remains unclear to the player throughout. But that is irrelevant, because the player and his squad are interested in getting the gold off of the mercenaries that they encounter. This makes for an interesting story, that no war games/shooters have.

I found the first few levels of the game quite dull and monotonous on normal difficulty. The destructible environment was a novelty at first but that soon wore off. However at a turning point, the game becomes far more enjoyable, and I'm not entirely sure why - the novelty factor of the destructible environment comes back too. I worked out that it was at the point that I picked up a sniper rifle for the first time. But I believe the gameplay and other aspects became more involving because it was slightly better paced. I soon got to drive tanks and other vehicles too which could only have helped. The latter 3 quarters of the story are thoroughly enjoyable, and I was constantly surprised by the huge sandbox environment, which was fully accessible to the player, and all the previously destroyed areas were exactly as I left them when I revisited.

The gameplay is very good. The aiming of guns is exactly how it would be done in real life, so it gives a realistic feel. The game is very forgiving in the respect that whenever you die you merely respawn at the last save point. Everything that you killed before your death remains dead. This is pretty useful, and keeps the game flowing really well. But at times you feel it is a little unrealistic for the enemy to have the same squad of men that they just killed run back up the hill. The other thing is the unlimited use of the health injector. That meant that staying alive was a lot easier. But saying that, I must have died about 20 times due to enemy tank shells or RPGs. The members of your squad are indestructible, which does help - if they died it would get annoying.

The graphics are really quite amazing. The fact that the entire environment is destructible makes it really fun to play through. I destroyed many trees because it was fun - at many points blowing a hole in a wall was easier than walking a few steps to the left through the door, again, just because it was fun. As I said above, the player can go pretty much anywhere on the map if they can get there. This means they can swim through rivers etc. Although if you go into the red area on the map then you get shot by artillery after a 5 second warning.

There are loads of different guns that the player can use, just picking them off the ground, or in collectable locations. Each gun has obviously been painstakingly detailed, each having it's own reload animation and sound. The player gets the main weapon, an attachment - normally a grenade launcher or pistol. Then they also get a secondary weapon such as a drill or an air strike designator.

The game has many vehicles. Boats, Jeeps, Tanks and Helicopters are the main types. Each of them are immaculately detailed and have their own benefits. They are also easy to drive. You can repair any broken vehicle using the drill, which is again quite handy - especially when you decide to use it for cover.

The sound in the game is unbelievable. I don't have surround sound, and I was blown away. Each time the wall you were taking cover behind gets destroyed by a shell or grenade, all your senses get dulled, your hearing goes in the way you'd expect after a loud explosion. Gunfire becomes muffled, as do explosions. It adds to the atmosphere a huge amount at those such points. The sound of walls or fences falling down is again very realistic. The mood is often lightened by your squad members banter, and you often get to hear what your enemies are saying. When they shout: 'Sniper! Get down!' because you sniped someone it is very satisfying.

It makes for a brilliant single player experience, with room for a sequel at the end. If you do get it, don't be put off with the slightly boring beginning. I was thinking about trading it in after completion at that point. But since then I have played through the campaign on hard, and the multiplayer is an addictive bundle of fun. So well worth buying.

Score:

Story: 8.0
Graphics: 9.5
Sound:10.0
Gameplay:9.0
Attention to Detail: 9.5

Singleplayer Overall Score: 8.7

Let down by the few stages at the beginning which I felt were a little monotonous, however when played through on hard they are much more of a challenge. Overall, a fun and immersive experience.

This article was written by Daniel Hinchliffe. For more information check out my blog http://x360talk.blogspot.com

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