Part 1

But all this changed with the discovery of fusion power. Overnight, Atlas became obsolete, and the alliance of nations which had funded its construction went their separate ways.

Once again, war erupted - as if Atlas, spurned by its creators, had struck the world in vengance...

Now, get ready for it to be completely forgotten by the plot for basically the entire game.


Bergen, 2064


Idiots!

The game isn't giving any names, but I think you can guess that those two lines are from different speakers.


FIND him, or you won't live to REGRET failing me!

There's a villain line if I ever heard one.


The army's blockaded the airport!


(I know it's me you want. There's got to be a way to get out of this country. Would they expect me to escape by sea?!)

Yes.

Driver! Head for port Ertothal!




I'm a Wanzer pilot for Bergen's NORAD army.

Our hero. He doesn't look so ugly in-game.

I've just received urgent orders. An escort detail to Port Ertothal. Highest priority. What the hell could be going on out there?


Albert boards his Wanzer and gets on the back of the truck, which moves out. We are led to assume that the truck has a driver, but he disappears right after this scene and his existence is ignored.


Wars have become more frequent... more brutal. Some say those machines stole our hearts...

I assume he doesn't mean that in a romantic way.


He's on his way to Port Ertothal!

See?

Ha! He wont escape that easily! Think you can outwit ME, Orwen? Prepare the cruise missiles for launch!

Yes, sir!

Sorry about this. I swear it will be better when the game starts actually identifying who is speaking.

I'll take care of the rest...And then this country will be OURS!

And with that, the title screen shows, we name our character (He's staying Albert) and so on and so forth. Then we get dumped into the real game.


Naw-7?

Naw-7 here.

Albert! It's Leros. How fast can you get over here?

So the coup's already underway...

Yeah. The army's finally played its hand.

So I guess they've known about this for some time, then. Why nothing was done about it is hard to figure out.

Unbelievable! If they think they can get away with this...

No time for chit-chat, Albert! The president's en route now. We're evacuating him until this blows over. We have our orders!

Understood. On my way!

So we head off to the right.


No chit-chat means that they still talk, but you can move around while they do it. It's not chit-chat because you are getting some serious work done walking to the right.

It won't be long before they figure out what we're up to. From what I hear, Ark Hellbrand's the ringleader...

The Colonel? Unbelievable!

With a name like that, how could be NOT be?


Screw this, let's blow up some boxes. Right now, all we have is a basic vulcan gun and a punch attack. The ammo bar is right under my HP and EXP. It recharges somewhat slowly when not in use. To the right of that is the ammo for my special weapon (which is naturally infinite, since it's a punch) and above THAT is the enemy health bar. The enemy bar has two uses, but I'll cover that next time.

Oh, and whenever you kill anything mechanical, the explosion will hurt you if you happen to be next to it.


This is what happens when you try to jump into the scene and stop before the talking starts. You end up with all sorts of crazy poses.


Keep a close watch until then.

Yes, sir. Please hurry onto the-


Remember that missile attack?

Leros!


Only Orwen and Albert survive. Important people are resistant to area attacks.


Note to self: Stop jumping.

There you are, Mr. Orwen!

C-colonel Hellbrand!

Now, if you would be so kind as to come with me...

......

GET HIM!

Ark has something of a... short fuse.

Sir! There's a supply truck parked at the other end of the dock! Start running for it! I'll cover you!

O-okay!

They didn't give Orwen a lot of facial expressions.


This begins an auto-scrolling section. Ark follows, but doesn't do anything, but some other enemies will come from the right. Mostly, they just talk.

Colonel! Stop this insanity!

Why do they always say things like this? Do they think it will work?

Stop? STOP? With the majority of the NORAD army under my control? I think NOT. SURRENDER!

Forget it! You're not getting away with this!

How do you propose to stop me, exactly? HA! Just shoot yourself and save my men the trouble.

I'll take you on alone if I have to!

By this point, you're back at the truck.


I... I think I can drive it!

Let's move!

Hmph! You think THAT piece of junk will save you?

Ugh!

I guess he figured Ark would just give up when they got to the truck.


What follows is more chasing, except you don't have to move left because you can ride the truck. Ark tries to fight you himself at the end, but you just need to shoot him a few times and he'll run off.

GRAH! You stubborn pinheads! Where are my REINFORCEMENTS?...Damn! I'll deal with YOU later! Count on it!

There's a lot of static over his picture when he says that, represented nicely in my little box there.


We can't rest yet. Ark won't let us go that easily.

No worries, sir. I'll protect you.

Leros... I won't let your death be in vain!

Now never mention him again.


We'll be seeing this screen more than 100 times by the end. Let's see what swag we get!


First, the money that you are magically paid for kills by... someone.


Then the experience.


No leveling up yet.


What's your name?

Albert, sir.

"I don't have a last name."

I think we can relax a little now. I owe you my life, soldier.

Just doing my duty, sir. ...So, how are we going to get you out of Bergen?

We have to assume Ark's coup goes to the highest levels of our government... Our best chance would be the Beeg army base. I doubt the rebels have swayed them yet.

That's a lot hinging on a doubt.

Beeg's north-east of here. A pretty long haul...

Not to mention a dangerous one. I'll need your help.

Yes, sir!


Next time, I'll explain the shop and this map and some more things. But after that...

VOTE!
...should I go through Orobos(left), or take the discreet Arun Mountains(right) path?

BONUS:
Here's a video of mission 1, now with 100% more skipping of text and 340% more dicking around.

Google Video

FileFront, even though it's all weird these days.

Vimeo