NMPD HQ/Walkthrough

Pelican Down. Keep your sniper rifle handy.

NMPD Building

As soon as you gain control of Romeo, reload your sniper rifle. On higher difficulties, it is recommended to use your sniper rifle and Magnum until the final stage of the mission. On lower difficulty settings, pick up the weapons you like. Simply follow Buck, who will lead you to your first encounter with the Covenant. Have your sniper rifle handy to take out de Brute standing on the right, then use your Magnum to kill the Grunts. As the Phantom delivers additional troops, make sure to kill them all. The Shade operator can be easily slain by a headshot from your sniper rifle. Proceed through the door Buck tells you, but watch for enemies coming from inside.

As you emerge, make sure to immediately snipe the turret operator on the right on the stairs or the turret will rip you to pieces. Again, use your Magnum to head-shot Grunts. Then sprint up the stairs where the turret is located and proceed to the crates, where you will find additional sniper rifle ammunition, which can be used to kill the Jackals on the ledge. When you eliminated them, walk towards the ledge and immediately retreat as Covenant reinforcements come out of the building. Use both your sniper rifle and Magnum to dispatch all Covenant, but keep your distance. On lower difficulties, you can simply kill them from up close using your grenades and melee.

In the next room, with the corpes of NMPD officers lying all around the room, stack up on sniper rifle ammunition and try to collect as many grenades as possible. Taking out the snipers outside shouldn'd be a problem as long as you keep moving and duck behind solid cover to recharge your stamina if necessary. The snipers are usually positioned on the balconies of the opposing building and on the bridge to the right. As the Phantom delivers reinforcements, hang back and snipe the Jump Pack Brutes, which will always require two shots to kill, so don't bother aiming for the head (unless you're trying to acheive a high score). Aslo, make sure the Shade operator has been taken out. In some occasions, a Brute might man the Shade after the initial gunner has been slain, so stay frosty. After this battle, backtrack to the previous area to collect more sniper rifle ammunition.

Some Magnum and Silenced SMG ammo can be found along with a health pack before the next battle. If you're feeling creative, it's possible to snipe some of the Covenant from the Shade's position. Once you head through the door, kill the Grunts waiting for you, then snipe the Plasma Turret operator on the left stairs. A Jackal marksman may sometimes take up position above the Covenant forces, make sure to take him out as soon as possible. To kill the initial Brutes in this area, you can use a mix of grenades and sinper rifle fire, but make sure not to use your Magnum for removing the power armor. You'll be wasting ammunition. As the initial Covenant force has been wiped out, reinforcements will arrive, inclusing some Brutes and a Brute Chieftain carrying a Plasma Turret. Again, you can take them out from a safe distance with your sniper rifle. If you're short on sniper rifle ammunition, it is possible to remove their power armor with one sniper rifle shot, and then kill them with a Magnum headshot. The Chieftain will be a tough nut to crack, so shoot his helmet two or three times to remove in, then finish hem with a headshot. As you won't be encountering any serious ground resistance after you've slain the Chieftain, you don't have to backtrack to previous area's to collect ammunition. Proceed through the door the Brute Chieftain came from.

You can kill the Gruns on the stairs any way you'd like, just note you can assasinate them both. I you choose not to take them out, Buck will use a frag grenade to blast them to bits. Use your magnum to kill the Grunt wielding a Fuel Rod Cannon and the two Jackals armed with Beam Rifles standing on the landing Pad.

Pelican crash site

Move onto the construction crane, and don't be alarmed by the Banshees flying overhead. They make the bridge move a bit, but they won't attack you. Yet. On the bridge, you can snipe some Covenant soldiers so you don't have to deal with them once you arrive at the crash site. When you arrive to rendezvous with Mickey and Dutch, many airborne Banshees will attack your position. Ditch your light weapons and grab some heavy weapons: a Spartan Laser and a Rocket Launcer. There are three Spartan Lasers on the pad, one lying behind the Pelican, one on the floor at the left of the Pelican, and the third can be taken from Dutch. You should let Dutch keep it, though, as he'll take down many Banshees. Rocket Launchers and ammo can be found on dispensers on both the left and right side of the Pelican. Aslo, you can take Mickey's Rocket Launcher. Missile Pods are litterd everywhere, take one when you like. This battle is pretty straightforward. ut here are a few points of interest:

• Bashees that are far away will often need the Spartan Laser to destroy them. When they are coming straight at you, however, they are surprisingly easy to destroy whith a rocket. Just aim and shoot.
• Two Loads of infantry will be deployed, one load of Grunts and Brutes, which an be tackled with a machine gun turret, and a load of Jump Pack Brutes, which you can tackle anyway you like as the battle is almost over at that point and you don't need to conserve ammo.
• Try to stay on the top floor as you'll have an advantage on Covenant infantry and you'll be able you hit aircraft better.

Enjoy the great music and final cutscene of the mission.