Cozumel - Cruise Ship

February 27, 2008

Time to start acting like a real, grown-up terrorist! Since you're a member of the JBA, and apparently the only one that can go on location like a big boy, it's up to you to give the bomb technology the JBA has developed a dry run. Or a wet run, as the case may be; Emile's bright idea is to plant the bomb on a cruise ship and blow it to smithereens, just to see if it'll work. Brilliant! That'll certainly keep things on the down-low.

NSA Primary Objective: Place Smoke Bomb
NSA Secondary Objective: Don't Kill Civilians
JBA Secondary Objective: Reach Pool Deck Without Alerts

Before you leave your cabin, grab the sticky shockers on the desk near the television. With those stored away, hop over the railing and start sliding out to your right. From there, climb the pole upwards and slide to your right again, until you reach a small balcony where the Mexican Coast Guard is stationed. Wait for the soldiers there to move away, then creep inside the room and hide behind the small table until the checkpoint hits.

Keep in mind that the Coast Guard here aren't bad guys; they're considered civilians, in fact. Killing them will cause a large reputation drop with the NSA. They're not your enemies, so do your best to avoid taking them out. Giving them a bump on the head? That's a-ok, as far as we're concerned.

Video Walk-through

Getting through the casino without disabling anyone can be tough.

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Anyway, the casino area here is going to be the first test of your sneaking skills. Stay behind the table until Enrica hacks into the slot machines and causes a distraction. (Using your pistol's EMP device on a slot machine will recreate this effect.) When both of the nearby soldiers move to the slot machine, hug the wall to your left and move across to the shadowed area in the center of the room.

From here, try to drop down to the second half of the room, where more slot machines are located. Your goal is to get close to the small casino payout window room in the corner of this large area. It's well-lit, though, so you'll have to engage in some trickery if you want to get inside and throw a smoke grenade in the vent there. The best way to proceed is to avoid getting the attention of the guards as best you can, then watch the guard that paces by the door leading to the stairwell. He'll flash his light in your direction a few times, then turn his back and walk away. When he does, the other guard nearby should also be on the far side of the room, giving you time to get close to the door of the bank, use your pistol's EMP on the camera, then run across the room and drop a smoke grenade into the vent there.

Turning off the lights will cause all the guards to investigate this area.

Here's the tricky part. While the camera's still out of action, move to the panel on the wall next to the vent and pop it open. Hacking into the computer hidden behind it will let you access the lights for the casino; shut them off, and everything gets taken offline. This freaks the guards in the area out! Quickly move out of the teller room (ignore the safe here; all it contains is a pair of sonic grenades, and the computer is likewise ignoreable) and back to the main floor of the casino. Since you're invisible while you're in the green light, start making some noise; shoot your EMP at slot machines to divert the guard's attention away from the teller room. You need to keep them away from it long enough for you to get to the stairwell door, pick the lock, and head inside.

Unfortunately, even with the lights shut off, you'll likely have to deal with yellow light meters when you get up close to the doors. (The door furthest to the left seems to be the best one here in terms of light exposure.) The guards won't be able to spot you and identify you until they're right on top of you, though, so use your ultrasonic emitter to shuffle them off to a far corner of the room before picking the lock and moving through the door. They don't appear to be capable of following you, no matter how noisy you were heading through, so just get through the door ASAP and shut it behind you.

Off To The Bar

Time to hit the stairs and get to the bar. Go up the first flight here until you spot the two lights on the wall. A technician with a handgun will walk over and attempt to work the breakers to light up the entire area. If you want, you can knock him out, but he's not too difficult to evade. You can try using your EMP to knock out the lights if you wish.

Video Walk-through

The bar is full of guards, but with some sneaking, you’ll get past.

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When you reach the entrance to the bar, you're going to have to deal with perhaps six to eight guards in the area. (We'd probably hit the bar, too, if we had to work in the Mexican Coast Guard.) Getting through here is going to be a pain, all right. If you're playing on normal or easy mode and actually have ammo for your guns, you can create some hella diversions by shooting out the aquariums; just be sure that you're far enough away from them to have plausible cover when you do so.

If you're on hard, though, that won't be an option (unless we missed an ammo pickup earlier in the level). You'll have to glide through the room based on your intangibility and skills at avoiding enemy lines of sight. The video on this page will be your best bet for getting through unscathed. Since so much of the light here is sunlight, you won't be able to either shut it off or avoid it.

Begin by opening the door to the bar and hiding behind one of the drink islands near the two guards who are conversing about the fish. Eventually they'll break off and leave the area. When they do so, wait for the guard who appeared in the middle of the three sunlit doorways to turn around and head back out to the balcony. When he does, you should be able to sneak past the doorway and hide amongst the tables near the piano stage. If someone catches a glimpse of you in the sunlight, just keep on moving and find a shadow as quickly as possible, while still keeping an eye on the noise level.

When you're snug as a bug in a rug amongst the tables, flip on your radar and zap the camera across the way with your EMP. When your radar and visual scanning makes you think that no one's watching the sunlit stretch of carpet that separates you from the hallway across the way, dash across and hide in the right side of the hallway. (The vent for a smoke grenade is near here, although it'll be in a yellow-light area.)

Wait on the right side of the hallway for the two guards near the elevator to get done with their talk. When they do, they'll head to the bar via the left side of the hallway, letting you easily move through to the elevator and hop aboard.