Part 29: Act IV - MDK

Act IV - MDK

Ray McCoy stands at a crossroad.



With the entire L.P.D looking to bring him in on trumped up charges of murder, he has run through the bowels of the city, searching for clues that will either exonerate him or prove he’s actually a Replicant.



The guy he’s been accused of murdering – Izo – was a Replicant arms dealer. The department was suppose to have the case wrapped up. What went wrong? How did Ray get blamed for it?

To find some answers, we need to head to Izo’s den, which is fortunately accessible via the sewers.



This all pointed to an inside job. Either there was a dirty cop somewhere, or the Reps had infiltrated the police department.



We’re gonna venture out into the street.

The game has no specific time-limits, but it has multiple ways of pushing the player to go where he or she needs to. For example, the investigative portion of the game leaves many clues that point to the same place, such as Izo’s store or Kingston Kitchen. When Act 4 hits and Ray has to go underground, there are specific places he’ll need to wander over to, to continue with the game; if he doesn’t, the game starts spawning more and more cops on the streets. They’ll start shooting Ray on sight, so he has to keep running (or gun down other cops…, and it gives the player a sense of urgency.

For now, we’re relatively safe, as there are no crazy cops in sight.



There’s this store down here on Aminoid Row called Bullet Bob’s… maybe we can get some upgraded ammo in here? With all the cop-killing Ray will be doing, he’ll need all the firepower he can get.



Oh shit! Psycho TFR goon with the police scanner! Not good!







RELOAD!



Okay, let’s not head into the crazy gun store this time.

We could have gone in there earlier to buy some ammo and talk to the Bullet Bob guy. His story is that he’s some wingnut ex-vet who really loves guns and hates Reps. Under certain conditions, it was possible for Ray to try and VK him, but the results are almost always inconclusive.

This was also the one spot where Ray can be a complete dick and fuck around with the VK test’s calibration, manually setting the threshold to be really high. That way, Bullet Bob will end up being (falsely) identified as a Replicant by the VK machine, and Ray can shoot him in the face with no consequence as far as I can tell.



Over next door to Bullet Bob is where it all began. The door’s open, so Runciter must be back inside.

We’re here to follow up on a remaining clue we found, back on DNA Row – after the bombing and the death of Miraji, Ray went upstairs to check on the twins. They weren’t in, but we found this:



Is Runciter the ultimate mastermind behind all of this? Is he responsible for fucking up Ray’s perfect life with his shitty little apartment and pathetic dog? It must be Runciter’s fault in some way.



Met her. Tried to VK her. Had her run away forever. Yes.



Maybe if he cared for Lucy as much as he cared for his stupid animals, none of this would have happened.





He doesn’t want to be cooperative?

Out comes the gun.









Ray successfully intimidates an old man with a gun to the face, and all of a sudden he thinks he’s Dirty Harry.







We have two options here, obviously:

Ray is just a cop out to prove his innocence. It’s not like he’s snapped, right? He’s gotten all the info he can from this guy. Just walk away, Ray. Walk away.

Runciter is a pathetic little turd. Pretending to be all high and uppity while gleefully ripping off his customers with fake animals. Moaning about his stupid tiger while not giving a shit about what’s really important. And worse of all, he was molesting a 14 year old girl. The security cameras are down, Ray, and the crime scene’s already contaminated. They’ll just blame it on the other Reps coming back to finish the job. No one will know, Ray. Just squeeze the trigger.