Assault on the Control Room (Level)

Assault on the Control Room is the fifth and longest campaign level in Halo: Combat Evolved.

The level follows John-117 on a mission to reach the Control Room of Installation 04. The Covenant are deployed in greater numbers and in a superior force than previously seen in the game, using Wraiths, Ghosts and Banshees. The majority of the level is set in a snowy, outdoor environment. Although the level seems to be natural, there are networks of tunnels and elevators built by the Forerunners that connect sections of the constructs into the Control Room.

The level is known for its variety and well roundness. It allows the player to use every weapon and vehicle in the game (except the Shotgun and Fuel Rod Gun), and is the only stage in Halo: Combat Evolved that allows Master Chief to use a Scorpion tank. Although the level is famous for its snowy outdoor battles and large bridges, there are also a variety of indoor skirmishes, including standoffs with Zealot Elites. There is a mix of vehicle, long-range, and close quarters combat. The player is assisted by a handful of Marines after their Pelican crashes, but the level is mostly a solitary experience.

At the end, Master Chief reaches the control room and Cortana interfaces with the computers. She is horrified to learn that Halo houses the Flood, and the weapons cache that Captain Keyes is looking for will lead him straight to the parasite. Cortana elects to stay behind, while Chief rushes off to find Captain Jacob Keyes.

Allies

 * Marines
 * Fire Team Zulu
 * Echo 419
 * AI
 * Cortana

Weapons

 * Pistol
 * Assault Rifle
 * Sniper Rifle
 * Rocket Launcher
 * Fragmentation Grenade
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Needler
 * Plasma Grenade
 * Shade
 * Energy Sword (non-usable)

Vehicles

 * Warthog
 * Scorpion Tank
 * Ghost
 * Banshee
 * Pelican (non-drivable)
 * Spirit (non-drivable)
 * Wraith (drivable with mod only)

Equipment

 * Active Camouflage
 * Health Pack

Part 01: I Would Have Been Your Daddy...
{Cutscene}

{Fade in to the interior of a large Forerunner dome, pan down to a long shaft, a Grunt paces on an open platform}

{Close up of the walking Grunt, other Grunts around him are asleep, he stops as he hears jets, he sniffs the air, and yelps as a Pelican rises up from the chasm in front of him, screams and runs towards the door}

{Gameplay}

Foehammer (O.S.): "This is as far as I can go."

Cortana (O.S.): "Roger that, we can find our way to the Control Center from here."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Good luck, Foehammer out."

{the Pelican hovers at the edge of the platform, the Chief gets out}

{Once you clear the first of the circular rooms}

Cortana: "The Covenant presence here is stronger than I anticipated. They seem to have the entire region secured."

{Once you reach the first bridge}

Cortana: "Interesting... the weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather. "

''{a Pelican Dropship flies over the bridge. The Covenant forces on the bridge open fire}''

Unnamed Sergeant (O.S.): "This is Fire Team Zulu requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces. Does anyone copy?"

Cortana: "I didn't think there were any human forces left on this part of the ring.... (O.S.) Cortana to Fire Team Zulu, I read you. Fire Team Zulu, this is Cortana. Hold position. We're on our way."

Unnamed Sergeant (O.S.): "Roger that. Make it quick."

{The Pelican descends to an area below the bridge}

{When you reach the bottom of the chasm and meet up with Fire Team Zulu}

{''A large number of Covenant have three Marines with an overturned Warthog cornered. A Covenant Wraith tank fires plasma mortars as Shade turrets and Ghost vehicles strafe the Marines.''}

Marine 1: "Glad you could join the party, Sir!"

or

Marine 1: "Master Chief, Sir! Good to see you!"

{After enemies in the area are eliminated}

Marine 1: "They never gave it their best shot, but they didn't count on running into the biggest squad of Marine bad-asses in the Corps!"

or

Marine 3: "That's all of them. The area's secure."

{When you reach the second group of Marines fighting near the Scorpion and clear the area}

Marine 1: "Enemy forces eliminated. The area's secure."

Marine 2: "Aw, crap. Let's get the hell outta here, man! Somebody call the dropship!"



Unnamed Sergeant: "You stow that garbage right now, mister. You're a Marine, so act like it, dammit! We've got a job to do here."

or

Marine 3: "Shut up! Show some backbone, amigo!"

Cortana (O.S.): "Negative, team. No evac available at this time. But the Chief and I could use some assistance."

Sergeant: "Okay, Marines. Time to pay back the Chief for pulling your sorry tails out of the fire. Prepare to move out!"

(As you reach the second large open area, where one Wraith hovers on the ice and another lurks on top of the cliff at the far end of the canyon)

Marine 1: "Bloody hell! Enemy forces have armour support...it's time to earn our pay."

or

Marine 1: "Enemy mortar tanks sighted at my position...it's gonna be a busy day."

or

Marine:"Dang, they got armour support! Watch out for those tanks!"

Cortana:"The Covenant placed their tanks to defend the entrance to the tunnel."

{When you've destroyed the first Covenant tank.}

Marine 1:"Looks like that armour wasn't so tough after all! Let's mop up the rest of 'em!"

{When you reach the large interior cavern and engage the Covenant inside.}

Marine 1:"More Covenant sighted!"

Marine 2:"Man, these guys are like cockroaches!"

{As you reach the long rock tunnel leading up from the cave system back to the surface.}

Part 02: Rolling Thunder
{As you clear the area containing the fourth Wraith of the level.}

Unnamed Sergeant: "You monkeys almost look like golden boys!"

Marine 1: "Damn straight!"

{As you come across two Hunters chasing after a squad of Marines, where the path switches back and goes down to a frozen river leading to the cave to the last area of the second chasm.}

Cortana: "I thought the Covenant had eliminated all the Marine forces in this area."

{As a Covenant dropship appears from behind the cliffs and drops in on the ridge you just descended from.}

Marine 3: "Anybody else hear that? Aw, man...Covenant dropship inbound, take cover!"

Marine 2: "The Covenant are dropping in behind us! We're trapped!"

{As you near the switchbacks leading up to final area of the second chasm.}

Marine 2: "Master Chief, the Covenant have stationary guns dug up in those rocks!"

or

Marine 3: "Whoa, Sir! The Covenant are dug up in those rocks! They've got us pinned down here!"

Cortana: {to Master Chief} "We need to get up this ridge." (O.S.) "Marines, hold your positions. We'll handle those guns." (to Master Chief) "Master Chief, we should scale the ridge and get below those stationary guns."

Marine 2: "Roger that. Marines, stay here and cover the Master Chief."

or

Marine 3: "I'm in no hurry for a heroic charge on those guns, Cortana. Holding position."



{As you reach the door leading into the cliff face, eliminating all enemies.}

Cortana: "Cortana to Fire Team Zulu. I've sent a distress signal tagged with your current position. Hold your position and await evac. The Master Chief and I are going to continue on ahead."

Unnamed Sergeant or Marine 1: "That's affirmative! Fire Team Zulu out!"

or

Marine 1: "Affirmative! Okay people, evac bird's on the way!"

or

Marine 2: "Give 'em hell, sir! Fire Team Zulu out!"

{As you clear the final area before the third chasm.}

Cortana: "Resistance appears to be increasing. We must be close to the Control Center."

{As you reach the door to the third chasm.}

03: If I Had a Super Weapon...
Cortana: "Analyzing. This must be the Control Room. Subtle. The entrance to the Control Room is at the top of that pyramid structure. Bring me up there and I should be able to get us inside."

{As you reach the bottom of the pyramid structure.}

Cortana: "The entrance to the Control Room is at the top of the pyramid. Let's get up there. We should commandeer one of those Ghosts, we're going to need the firepower."

{As you open the door to the last leg of hallway leading to the Control Center.}

Cortana: "Scanning. Covenant forces in the vicinity have been eliminated. Let's move on to Halo's Control Room."

{As you open the door for the final cinematic}

{Cutscene}

Cortana: "This is it. Halo's Control Center."

{''The Master Chief walks through the door and to a control panel at the centre of a circular glass walkway projecting into the middle of a massive open chamber. A holographic map of Halo surrounds a smaller holographic map of the system, which shows Basis and Threshold, and Halo itself between them. Also noticeable are the red areas shown on the lands of Halo, possible indicating where the Flood is currently spreading.''}

Cortana: "That terminal, try there."

{''The Master Chief unplugs Cortana's chip from his helmet and places her chip in the terminal. A moment later, she appears above the display. Data streams out from her in all directions. Her eyes are now red.''}

Master Chief: "You all right?"

Cortana: (smiles) "Never been better! You can't imagine the wealth of information. Knowledge...so much...so fast. It's glorious!"

Master Chief: "So...what sort of weapon is it?"

Cortana: "What are you talking about?"

Master Chief: "Let's stay focused. Halo...how do we use it against the Covenant?"

Cortana: "This ring isn't a cudgel you barbarian, it's something else...something much more important. The Covenant were right...this ring...it's Forerunner. Give me a second to access...yes, the Forerunners built this place, what they called a "fortress world," in order to...no, that can't be. Oh, those Covenant fools...they must have known, there must have been signs!"

Master Chief: "Slow down. You're losing me."

Cortana: "The Covenant found something, buried in this ring, something horrible, and now...they're afraid."

Master Chief: "Something buried? Where?"

Cortana: (looks horrified) "The Captain, we've got to stop the Captain!"

Master Chief: "Keyes? What do we—"

Cortana: "The weapons cache he's looking for. It's not really— We can't let him get inside!"

Master Chief: "I don't understand."

Cortana: "There's no time. Get out of here, find Keyes, stop him! Before it's too late!"

{The Master Chief turns and runs from the Control Room}

Glitches

 * It is possible that you can save up to 10-12 marines. You can do this by NOT getting in the Scorpion. As soon as you move to the next area, the marines will follow. This only starts at the second marine area. Also, if you keep them alive until the 3rd hunter area you'll have 15-17 marines.
 * At the very beginning of the level, "Press (X) to enter side seat of Pelican" will appear. The player will be placed back on the Pelican and can get off at any time. However, if you don't get out the Pelican will crash and you will die.
 * Sometimes you can find small splotches of Flood "blood." Sometimes you can find it near the third dead Hunter below.
 * When you’re passing the bridge driving a Scorpion, you can hear the sound of cracking glass, despite the bridge windowpanes are not being broken.
 * This is the only level in which Sergeant Johnson and Sergeant Stacker are present at the exact same time. However, Stacker will not have his usual voice actor unless he is obtained by a glitch. But, on rare occasions, on The Pillar of Autumn, they may be seen together as well.
 * It is possible to climb the narrow spire ascending the front of the pyramid. This is especially useful if you have a sniper rifle, as the headshot opportunities are numerous. It is interesting to note that the Covenant will not return fire when shot at, and that any sleeping Grunts will not awake while the player is on the spire.
 * If you use one of the tricks to get to the valley floor early, you can find Sergeant Stacker among the Marines, the crashed Pelican, and the Scorpion tank as well as the Ghosts. Also only two of the Marines will hop in your Warthog, and they will not get out of it when you jump out, like they normally do.
 * If you manage to jump off the first bridge without going through the tunnel and live, you are able to go through the whole level without the Covenant attacking you. Although, eventually you will come upon a locked door and will need to restart the level or backtrack using the Banshee found at the end of the last open area prior to the final open area to fully complete it. The Banshee is necessary because you need a way back to the bridge. It is possible to take the Banshee and land on top of the bridge with enough momentum to throw the Banshee off causing it to be waiting for you once you have taken the long interior route down.
 * At the part when you get the Banshee, if you fly upwards at a 90 degree angle and fire either your plasma cannons or fuel rod cannon, they will go at another 90 degree angle behind you.
 * When flying a Banshee on easy near the control room, there are frozen Jackals on the energy tower.
 * If you lure a piloted Banshee into the Control Room, the cutscene then shows the Banshee soon splattering Master Chief but the dialog continues as if Master Chief were alive.
 * The Three Dead Grunts Easter egg is found on this level however it may be exclusive to the PC version of the game.
 * It is possible to get an Early Banshee before the bridge. Through this cheat, if you fly it high enough past certain points of the level, the enemies won't respawn for the rest of the level leaving empty vehicles and thus can be a good lifesaver on high difficulties. However bodies and ammo won't spawn either.
 * At the last part of the level, if you use a Ghost and time it correctly, you can have it ram you through the first door of the control room and the enemies there will not respond to anything the player does (killing one of them will not alert the others, they will not notice a plasma grenade stuck to their head, etc.). This can also be done with a Banshee although a bit more difficult.
 * The driver of the fourth Wraith can be killed before he enters the vehicle, although you still cannot drive the Wraith. At Rolling Thunder, get one of the Ghosts and drive all the way to the area with the Wraith, while ignoring the enemies. An Elite can be seen making a run for the Wraith. You can use the guns on the Ghost or snipe him from a distance. A similar trick can be done on Two Betrayals.
 * If you spare some Grunts and Elites in the tunnel where you get the Scorpion, and you come back after getting to the big room with the Shades, the Grunts will be sleeping and the Elite will run to the crashed Pelican, get stuck on the top and keep on running into the wall.
 * If you use the Active Camouflage to run through the room, and through the tunnel before the last chapter is activated, and you avoid the Grunts, you can go back through the tunnel once the last chapter is activated and the Grunts will be frozen for a limited amount of time.
 * If you take a Banshee inside the control room and activate the control to open the last door, quickly hop back in and fly towards the door, when the cutscene starts there is a small chance that the Master Chief will be run over by the Banshee and the grenades and guns will roll to where the Chief would normally walk, the Master Chief will still speak though.
 * If your playing on Co-op, at the last part of the level before you open the last door to the control room, if you kill your friend you can see his dead body in the background during the final cutscene.
 * It's possible to leap off of the chasm overlooking the pyramid to the Control Room and survive. (Helpful on Legendary)
 * If you get a Ghost in the ending cut scene there is always an explosion of some kind in the background.
 * If you get a Warthog into the structures with marines still in the vehicle, they will not respond to anything, and will be completely frozen.
 * There is a way to get a Ghost on one of the elevators. If you make the elevator go up with you on the ghost, then you (and the Ghost) will go through the ground sending you to the bottom of the elevator.
 * Sometimes, when all your marines are dead, you may find them or Sgt. Johnson frozen in the walls. They will only be 2-D and will bleed and speak when shot. When they die, their bodies stay upright. This may be a mistake by Bungie. This can also happen in the cavern just before "Rolling Thunder". When they lag behind and the text "Rolling Thunder" appears on the screen, go back and they will either have disappeared or will be frozen. They will not speak when shot, but when they die, their corpses will fall down after a few seconds. Try sticking them while they are frozen. Even if you love them, you will laugh at the results.

Miscellaneous

 * This is the only level in Halo: CE to have three Hunters in one battle at a time. When you get the tank and fight the Wraith when you get to the cavern drive to the right and go past the downed bridge and there is a weapons cache with Marine corpse and a lone Hunter, plus the live ones on the other side.
 * When you leave Fire Team Zulu at that strange looking "building" if you go down in between the two sections and look either left or right you'll see Elites hiding in the doors.
 * There are two weapon caches in this level. The first can be found if you go right after you enter the room with the two bridges, and the other is if you drop into the area where the spire leading up to the control room goes into the ground.
 * This level is the very first in which you can drive a Ghost.
 * This level has the highest number of Marines you will get to support you at the same time. It is possible to save 12 marines on this level with a mixture of Assault Rifles, Plasma Rifles, Sniper Rifles and Needlers.
 * There are Marines that wield Needlers. They and Keyes are the only known soldier AI's in Halo: Combat Evolved to be armed with one. There are also several Marines with Plasma Rifles, and both Sergeants have sniper rifles that they use extremely effectively on lower difficulty levels.
 * This level has the most Mgalekgolo (Hunters), with 12 in the level (this varies with difficulty settings: a grand total of 20 appear on Legendary).
 * This is the only campaign level with a drivable Scorpion tank in the Halo: Combat Evolved Campaign.
 * No less than three hidden ActivCams can be discovered in this level. First, in the corridor filled with Stealth Elites, after you have killed all the Elites, go towards the end and look behind you. There, just in front of the second supporting structure to your right, there will be an Active Camouflage. This usually is only found if you already know of its location or stumbled across it by accident. If you just charge and avoid the fight with the Elites (not advisable as they will kill you), you will definitely miss it. In addition, the second active camo is found after you have come out of the enormous cave and defeated the Covenant reinforcements. There, there should be a tall building to your right, where more Covenant will come pouring out (Elites, Jackals, and Grunts). You can either kill all of them but probably lose a health, or you can get out and grenade-spam the entrance, as they will come charging out. After going into the structure, kill the two active camo Elites and snag your prize behind the pillar. Warning! If you take too long, two Elites will fire upon you from yet another entrance (there are three entrances to that structure).
 * If you use the Early Banshee Trick, or modify the map to get a Banshee you can fly into the 1st and 3rd phase pulse generators which you have to destroy in Two Betrayals.
 * This level and Two Betrayals is in which a Zealot wields a Plasma Rifle rather than an Energy Sword.
 * The "Lost Song", which was accidentally left out of the Halo: Original Soundtrack, is played on this level, in the series of rooms where you fight a group of Stealth Elites and a pair of Hunters, immediately before the rock bridge overlooking the control tower.
 * This is the only level that you can drive all vehicles (except the Wraith).
 * You will go through this level two times for different reasons.
 * This is the first level where Banshees are available, but the tutorial will appear for both this level and Two Betrayals.
 * If you're playing on Co-op, when you get to the first elevator, have one player stand on the elevator and have the other player repeatedly kill the other player over and over again until you have around 30 dead bodies laying on the elevator, then repeatedly activate the elevator as fast as you can, all the dead bodies will start bouncing, it looks like they're dancing.
 * In this level if you pause not only does the snow keep on falling but also if you are on one of the bridges you can still see the electricity move in pause too.
 * This is the only level where a Scorpion appears in Halo Combat Evolved.
 * It is possible to get an early Banshee on this level.
 * When you get the Scorpion, Sergeant Johnson will be present and will often ride on the tank, but this is impossible as he is with Keyes in the weapons cache at the time.