Mission Ten: Operation Archer

Djaskra, Algeria - August 20th, 11:30 PM

Well, at least there won't be a sniping section of this mission - Weber's been kidnapped and taken to an enemy stronghold. Despite the stern warnings of your commanders, and the fact that none of you really seemed to like Weber to begin with, you're going to risk a court martial by going in on foot and getting your man back. Luckily for you, you have the presence of mind to wait for darkness before charging into town, making it easier for you to avoid detection. You have the advantage of stealth and nightvision over the terrorists, so make the most of them. The AS9 that's given to you by default should work well here, but you'll probably want to replace your smoke and flash grenades with something with a little more...oomph. Unfortunately you're going to have to rely on all your guile to stay undetected here; as soon as you're spotted, the terrorists will kill Dieter. Well, actually, you'll have a couple seconds to kill whomever spots you before this happens, but still, do your best to stay out of sight. Also note that the distance for detecting which doors can be opened and which can't seems to have been shortened up a bit, so get right on top of doors to learn which ones work and which are just for show.

In a delightful nod to non-linearity, there are actually two paths you can take at the beginning of the level. You can either take a left and head up into the three-story building at the end of the path there (watch for the laser beam when you're about to hit the roof), or head straight and into the alleys and homes there. Both of these paths will lead you to the same place, a small square section of exterior space where you'll find the first Intel Briefcase. When you have that, make your way to the pile of rubble in the street, on the opposite side of the rubble from the car. There'll be a little alcove on one side of the passage with a pair of doors in it; these doors conceal the path leading on.

'My God, Weber! They've made you psychedelic!'

When you emerge into the next exterior area, you'll be standing across from a large, fortress-like house. Take out the guards nearby, disarm the tripwire on one of the doors, enter the basement, and find Weber! He's being interrogated when you find him, so kill the interrogator and follow Weber to the underground passages beneath the house to escape this level.

Caves

Well, now that you've got Weber back, you'll have someone else on your side, and you won't have to worry about automatically losing if you get spotted. When you reach the waterfall, stand on the jutting outcrop and snipe away at the enemies on the far side of the lake; it'll just be fewer foes for you to deal with later on. After passing around the lake, grab the second Intel Briefcase in the small room at the bottom of the next ramp up. Beyond that, this isn't an overly difficult sequence; just check for enemies before moving ahead and shoot them from a distance before encountering them. A few of them will wipe themselves and each other out with grenades, saving you the trouble.

Village

Time for you to get Weber out of Dodge, or, in this case, some other little hell-hole of a town. In order to make it to your rendezvous, you'll need to pacify the buildings between you and the chopper point. Begin by leaving the cave, then taking a hard right and heading towards the building in the corner of the valley; the third Intel Briefcase is inside. The fourth is nearby, at the top of a small ramp leading into a small cave.

Putting your squad on top of the building to the right here will keep them relatively safe from harm.

Passing through the larger cave below, you'll come to another area of the camp, which includes a makeshift prison. This is where things can get rather rough; there are numerous foes in the area, so go slowly but surely through the buildings, killing anything that you see. When you reach the extraction point, which is in the middle of the cafeteria area off to the side, you'll have to defend yourself and your team against another wave of tangos before your chopper comes in for the rescue. We found it easiest to do so if you just parked your team on top of the building near the extraction point and let them fire from there. They might not manage to actually hit anything, but they'll be safer up there than they would be on the ground. When enough of the enemies die, or you wait long enough, your ride will appear and ferry you on home for the requisite chewing-out by your commander. "Well, you disobeyed numerous direct orders to stand down, conducted an illegal military operation on foreign soil, almost got your entire squad killed...good work, Chavez!"