Waste Processing Facility

Zombie time! The Waste Processing Facility is where the Strogg dump Marines that didn’t quite make it through the Stroggification procedure; they’re much weaker than normal Strogg, but have some unique attacks, such as puking acid all over you. Still, most of these guys can be taken out with your blaster, so save your ammo for the creatures that actually carry shotguns.

Be very, very careful when you get to the section of the level with the numerous scrapers moving around on the floor. The scrapers themselves aren’t difficult to dodge, but when you climb the ladder here, you’ll face a large Strogg Marine ambush from all directions. You’ll want to duck into one of the smaller rooms here and use it as cover while you plunk your foes from long range with your hyperblaster, railgun, rocket launcher, or something else that’s suitable.

After extending the bridge and walking across, you’ll hit a trapdoor that’ll place you in the line of fire with more zombies. Take them out as best you can, then make your way past the acid trap until you meet up with Private Lanier. He says that his squad is regrouping near the entrance to the facility, so join up with him and head out. You’ll have to fight your way through a large number of Marines, most of whom are going to be packing hyperblasters, so use your own hyperblaster on them, since you’ll have a constant supply of ammo for it.

When you reach the end of this little shooting gallery, you’ll come across more Marines that are attempting to get through a laser security grid. You can head through just fine, thanks to your Strogg implants, but as soon as you head through, you’ll run up against Voss, who begs you to run before he kills you. Heh, it’s gonna be the other way around if you have anything to say about it.

Boss Fight: Voss

Which isn’t to say that Voss is going to be easy; he definitely won’t isn’t. Integrated into his little mech suit is a lightning gun, a homing rocket launcher, a Black Hole Generator, and a teleportation device that can summon in multiple Strogg to help him in this fight. He also has shields which prevent damage to his real health meter, and which he can recharge by overloading the power conduits in this room. He’s got three of these recharges, so you’ll need to finish off his shields three times before you can actually kill him. Just before each recharge, he’ll chuck a bunch of teleporters out onto the ground, so you’ll have plenty of enemies to kill instead of just him. Luckily, there are also a few health packs in the arena, so be on the lookout for them when you take damage.

Video Walk-through

It'll take a while to destroy this Stroggified version of Voss, but it can be done.

Watch It »

Anyway, the basic sequence of events here is: attack Voss until his shields drop, kill the Strogg he summons in while he regenerates his shields, attack him again until his shields drop, etc. When he has no more power conduits to recharge at, you can unload all of your ammo on him to finish him off. This is a pretty simplified checklist of actions of course, and we recommend that you check out the video on this page for a better idea of how to take him down. We will say that your lightning gun seems to be the most efficient way to punch through his shields, with your hyperblaster or rocket launcher usually best for taking out the Strogg before Voss is done recharging. Any kind of weapon will take down Voss’ health, but if you have any remaining rockets, then that’s probably what you’ll want to use, or grenades if you can launch them into his path while backing away.

So far as avoiding Voss’ attacks, the homing rockets are going to be trouble for you, since they move so much more quickly than other homing missiles have done so thus far in the game. You’re obviously going to have to strafe away from them; it helps to just try and get up next to a wall, around the corner from Voss, as soon as he starts firing them. The Black Hole Generator, though, is going to be more problematic. When it comes out, it’ll attempt to suck you towards it, and if it does so, you’ll take severe damage, with more damage incoming the closer you get to the center. A direct hit is usually an instant kill. There isn’t a lot you can do about this except try to stay as far away from Voss as possible and strafe out of its way; he doesn’t have a distinctive windup animation for this fire, or anything.

When you’re done with Voss, deactivate the security grid and start fighting your way up the stairs beyond. You’ll eventually reach a dropship that’ll take you back up to the Hannibal.

Operation: Last Hope

There are some amusing dialogues when you return to the Hannibal; although most of the Marines you’ve fought alongside after your Stroggification have miraculously not shot you on sight, no one on board the Hannibal seems to recognize you as Matthew Kane, and will treat you as if you’re a Strogg. If you wait around long enough, you’ll even hear the PA announcer say "Security report to Deck 2. A Strogg Warrior has been sighted."

Shortly after your briefing, the Strogg will launch an all-out assault on the Hannibal. You can’t stick around and fight, because you have to go after the Nexus Core. Apparently your attack on the Tetracore was unsuccessful, because the Nexus is still up and running. Since you’re the only Marine with Strogg physiology, it’s thought that you might be able to penetrate the Strogg defenses and shut down the security grid on the three towers around the Core, which might let you enter the Core and disable it for good. Personally, we say take off and nuke the site from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure. Apparently that’s not an option, though, so you’re going in and doing it manually.