Mission 11: Final Battle

Ah, time for the final ascent. The VS you're riding in has been super-modded by the disc you attached to your arm, and now you suddenly find yourself in the middle of Zone of the Enders or something - by which we mean that you can fly. If you want to fly upwards, press Y; to fly downwards, press B. To cancel your upward or downward movement, press the same button you just pressed to arrest your movement and keep you flying on an even keel.

Avoid any tiresome fights on your ascent up the tube that you start the level in. Just ascend as quickly as you can, and try not to get blown away. When you reach the exit leading to the open-air area, the final boss fight will begin.

Boss Fight: Commander Isenberg

Isenberg's a tough nut to crack. Like most of the other bosses in the game, which have patterns that can be learned and adapted to, Isenberg becomes fairly predictable in terms of his attacks as the fight progresses. Unfortunately, your own movements will have become more difficult to control in the VS that you're in, especially when you attack with your laser swords.

Wow, all of a sudden we're in a Gundam game or something....

Speaking of attacks, you have three possible attacks here. Hitting the X button will fire a very weak projectile weapon in front of you. This is basically only good for shooting target marks that you spot in the level; it will deal basically no damage at all to Isenberg. Your primary sources of damage will be the left and right triggers. The left trigger will cause an energy sword in your suit to slash forward laterally, while the right trigger will cause the sword to slash vertically. Use the left trigger if you're roughly on the same plane as Isenberg, but the right trigger will often be the easier choice, since your suit will automatically center Isenberg when you "fire" the sword. Just remember that you have to hold down the trigger for a second, then release it to actually swing the sword. As you hold down the trigger, though, your use of T-Eng will drastically increase, so be careful about keeping the triggers depressed.

Isenberg's Attacks

Video Walk-through

Isenberg will kill you numerous times before you finally take him down.

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Isenberg, as mentioned, is going to be tough to take down. He's got plenty of health and will have a number of attacks capable of quickly draining your health. The two attacks that pop out most often are a chaingun attack that will usually appear when Isenberg attempts to move from one point to another, and a pair of missiles that will attempt to track you down. The chaingun attack can be avoided by moving to one side along with Isenberg, while the missiles will quickly self-detonate five or six seconds after launch. The missiles will be most problematic when you're holding down the sword trigger, since they'll force you to keep moving until they detonate; attempting to swing at Isenberg while the missiles are in mid-air will cause you to stop, allowing them to hit you. When attempting to avoid them, be sure not to run into the invisible barrier that rings the battlefield; if you do, it'll look like you're moving, even though you're really not, and the missiles will easily hit you.

Later in the match, Isenberg will debut new attacks, including a pair of homing lasers that will fire from his shoulders. Keep your distance and let these fizzle out, just like the missiles. He'll also call up two of the laser defense cannons from the orbital elevator and use those for personal defenses. One will fire a laser up and down, while the other will fire a spread of five lasers on a horizontal plane. Both of these will deal heavy, heavy damage to you when they hit, and will temporarily freeze you. Isenberg will usually take advantage of this freezing by launching a pair of missiles and shooting you with his chaingun, so take care to avoid them! The best bet for avoidance here is to wait for Isenberg to prepare to fire (usually he'll pull his arm back and throw it forward in a "charge!" motion), then quickly hit either the ascend or descend buttons on your VS to avoid the horizontal spray of lasers. The vertical-sweeping laser can be avoided by consistently strafing away from it.

Attacking Isenberg

As mentioned, the only real way to take down Isenberg is by using the laser sword that you come packaged with at the beginning of the level. The trick here is that using the sword will immobilize you for two or three seconds. If you miss, then Isenberg will usually begin moving away and pounding you with his chaingun attacks, or fire rockets at you to take advantage of your distress.

Avoiding Isenberg's attacks while waiting for your chance to strike can be frustrating.

The key thing to keep in mind is that it's best to swipe your sword at Isenberg just after he gets done moving. He'll usually move horizontally, firing his chaingun while doing so, then pause for four or five seconds. Move along with him, holding down the right analog stick, and when he stops, unleash it to hit him over the head with the sword. Just be sure to keep your ears open for the sound of the missiles being launched; if they come out, then quickly backtrack to avoid having them hit you. You'll lose T-Eng from having to hold down the sword trigger, but that's better than losing health from getting hit by the missiles. When the missiles explode, try to cover the ground again and unleash the sword at the end of the move.

When Isenberg brings up the lasers to help him out, you'll have to spend a lot more time attempting to dodge his attacks than you did beforehand, but you can still dart inward to use the swords when you find an opening. We're probably making it sound easier than it is - you can expect to replay this fight a goodly number of times before you finally manage to swing in for the kill. If you're reading the PDF version of this guide, then you may want to check out our HTML version to watch the video there, as it shows precisely how to move and attack if you want to take down Isenberg.

The End?

After Isenberg dies, the mission - and the game - comes to an end. Feel free to watch the lengthy cutscenes detailing the ultimate fate of Wayne, then play through the game again to find all of the target marks!