Part 5: Chapter 1, Levels 6 & 7
"With humanity breeding like roaches, and over-crowding plaguing the whole planet, disease has become our second biggest business! We're proud to announce that we have a near monopoly at the Cabalco Center for Disease Management! This state-of-the-art facility has extensive research, dissection, and trauma centers. We assure you that the CDM is on the cutting-edge of disease, plague, and affliction of all types. Whether you're interested in the Ebola virus or just some plain-old, tasty syphilis. Our motto? Invest and Infest. Cabalco does the rest!"
I do find it funny that ebola became a buzzword ten or fifteen years after this game came out and made a reference to it. Anyway, things are looking up now that we're past the sewer level, as we get regular humans to fight again, and this level is the one to finally introduce us to one of the true mainstays of our arsenal.
That said, getting this video ready has been "fun" for a variety of reasons, mostly in the sense that trying to get a test run through the level was difficult. The inconsistent difficulty was only half of it, I could work with that as long as I remembered to quicksave. The problem is, even with all the patches and dgVoodoo stuff to get the game to actually run, it's still unstable. Like, entering the menu too often in one session crashes the game unstable. Including loading screens from quickloading. Not to mention as well I was kind of rushed to actually put together the video and only just recorded it yesterday... and then immediately had to rerecord it because 90% of the runtime ended up being at 10 frames per second for some reason. Even unrelated to instability on the part of the game I'm also quickly reminded why regular humans are actually kind of a real bitch to fight when they're all Fanatics.
"Gideon is headed for one of the executive airships docked at the top of the building. It is obviously time to stop pounding back so much charred flesh at the corner Beefy Queen, 'cuz you ain't in proper shape to take the stairs. Interestingly, Gideon has also been taking his fair share of meat at the BQ, and thus he's had to install express elevators in each of his skyscrapers. Not having to walk up the thousand-plus floors is a kindness if only you could figure out how to turn off that infernal music!"
I like this level for how silly and inconsequential it is. It's short, it has like five guys in it, and it pretty much exists solely as an excuse to give you the sniper rifle before immediately hopping onto the airship.
I promise we'll eventually get sequential levels that are long enough that I don't feel the need to put out two videos per update. Unfortunately, I can also promise there's going to be a long period of doing this constantly much later.
The Weapons
M16
Still exactly as you expect from a shooter, but this is the case where its role still can't be beat. Primary fire is standard shooting, faster and with more accuracy and damage than the SMG, while secondary finally becomes truly useful with the underbarrel grenade launcher firing off grenades. The grenades only detonate on impact if you hit an enemy and run on a timer otherwise, which means it's useless against more mobile targets, but just about perfect for slow-moving ones or for clearing out nuisances from around a corner, rather than turning that corner and risking something attaching itself to your face. Uses bullets as ammunition for the primary fire and Die Bug Die pesticide for the secondary; Caleb carries a max of 150 ammo for the pesticide, which at 5 used per grenade comes out to 30 grenades.
Interestingly, the manual indicates that this was another gun that can be used akimbo. You can even see it in that image I used for Caleb's bio with the first episode, which also used the version in the render above rather than what we're actually given in-game (primary differences are the removal of the muzzle brake, recoloring of the grip and stock, and the grenade launcher being taped to the gun for some reason).
TW-X59 Tesla Gun
The fourth generation of the classic Tesla Cannon, changed primarily in looks, having a lower rate of fire but still dealing appreciable damage. Primary fire launches small balls of electricity at a slow rate, zapping and stunning whoever they hit. Secondary charges the weapon up and launches an electric bolt that creates a large explosion of electricity at the point of impact. Uses batteries as ammo, which Caleb carries 500 of, using 2 units per primary shot and 50 for secondary (except for when it uses 25. This game is buggy).
Barrett
I suppose this is still bog-standard from a modern perspective, but when you're coming out only a year after GoldenEye, a sniper rifle with a scope you could actually use was still a really big fucking deal. And of course, Blood II won't settle for anything less than the biggest, baddest sniper rifle of its day. Primary fires a single bullet with perfect accuracy, dealing heavy damage especially with shots to the torso or head but having a long cooldown as the player character apparently needs to rechamber the weapon manually after every shot. Secondary fire activates the scope for enhanced accuracy but greater chance of making the skybox disappear for no apparent reason while scoped because this game is buggy. Uses BMG rounds, which Caleb can carry 100 of.