Part 4: Chapter 1, Stage 3
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1.3
Enter [Templar] and ISA Soldiers
ISA SOLDIER 1
Captain Templar, the invasion hast severely compromised this area.
Thou art needed at headquarters. Onward, through the shuttle repair bays.
ISA SOLDIER 2
Inbound jetbike! Incoming Helghast!
TEMPLAR
Fie, tis never-ending.
ISA SOLDIER 1
With haste, before we're swarmed.
The ISA Soldiers and [Templar] cross the stage, fending off Helghast attackers along the way.
Enter another ISA Soldier
ISA SOLDIER 3
Sir, this way. The headquarters are yonder.
ISA SOLDIER 1
Thou shalt go on ahead, Captain. We will defend this position or lay down our lives.
TEMPLAR
Brave soul, stay strong. I tarry no longer. Away.
Exeunt
Not a long level this update, and nor is there a lot to talk about that hasn't already been touched on. This is one of the shortest levels in the game and it serves to prolong our fight through the city. In keeping with our total war concept and "greatest hits of WWI and WWII", we have gone from street-to-street combat to building-to-building and could still be in Stalingrad or any other battle bogged down in large city centres. In that way, this stage is an extension of the last. The buildings themselves are referred to as "shuttle repair bays". I assume they refer to some sort of civilian shuttle, though we don't really see any ever in Killzone. The only vehicle specifically referred to as a shuttle in-game is a space shuttle, so these may or may not be bays to repair them.
Of note, this is the first stage where we start to see dissimilarities between Helghast goons. I incorrectly referred to him as a Helghast Scout, when in fact he was a Helghast Officer:
The difference between Officers and Troopers are subtle: one wears a garrison cap, one doesn't. Ha. It's a minor difference and most people don't pick up on it, but it shows that not all Helghast are identical even if it's hard for non-Helghast to tell at first glance--is that space racist? Anyways, Officers are generally equipped with StA-52 LRs, though we'll occasionally see them with grenade launchers.
For reference, here's a closer still of a Helghast Trooper:
Today we're going to look at the "Platinum Era", wherein the Helghan Administration enters a Golden Age or prosperity with their two planets and tensions begin to rise with Earth.
It's good to see that the Helghan Administration is making use of their unique position as a hub between colonies to tax the every-loving shit out of everyone else. I'm sure that's not going to piss off anyone at all. Nope. People are just going to tighten their belts and pay because they understand that that's the nature of business.
Haha, whoops! It looks like they actually pissed Earth right off! I don't believe that Heavy Crusiers get much screen time in the Killzone universe. They're certainly an ever-present threat from the Earth-fleet, and are one of the reasons why the Helghast target the ISA SD Platforms for capture during the Vektan Invasion, but we don't really get to see them in action. By the time of the events of Killzone, the Helghast and Vektans are still only limited to standard Cruisers so that Earth can maintain its superiority.
And so we essentially have our Space American Revolution, with the Thirteen Colonies (Twelve on Vekta, and Helghan) seceding from their mother
This is quite a brief "filler" level and we don't run into a lot of new content. No new guns or vehicles, though it's the first time we've encountered jetbikes in game. They can deal a lot of damage but due to the nature of their strafing attack they're rarely a problem unless they attack in groups, which only happens a handful of times in the game. They're fragile, so sustained fire can bring them down, however they generally just leave after making two passes so it's better to conserve ammo and just duck when they appear.
Oh, and melee sucks in this game. I'm not going to pretend that Killzone ever really was the "HALO KILLER" that game magazines made it out to be, but if it were, it wouldn't be killing Master Chief with its sweet melee. There's nothing more frustrating than taking damage while running up to the enemy, taking more damage while you try to get the context sensitive melee prompt to appear, then taking even more damage/dying because the enemy had too much health and your melee attack didn't trigger his death animation. Worthless. There are melee weapons in this game that increase damage enough to make them more viable, but it's generally not worth the effort, especially since the melee weapons cannot be found in the environment, and thus can only be used with specific characters who have them for starting equipment.