Mission 05: Mountain Route 02

The Giant Moth

The Mountain Route 02 is your next destination. It's a little odd how Wayne manages to clear a level, warp back to the trailer for some cutscenes, then warp back to where he was before and continue on. Not that we're complaining.

Video Walk-through

A little laser fire will finish the moth off and earn you your achievement points.
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Anyway, your ascent here is complicated by the presence of a giant moth, which swoops across the area you start in, causing blasts of wind to drop down. The wind doesn't damage you (although it will knock you off your feet), but the rockslides which follow the wind blasts will definitely be more than a nuisance. There are numerous small rooms inset into the cliffs here, so crawl inside one when you spot a rockslide coming to get out of the way. Destroy all of the Akrid generators and explosive barrels that you see to generate some much-needed heat.

The giant moth here isn't a required kill, but like the giant worm, doing so will net you an achievement. Luckily, it's much easier to kill the moth than the worm. Grab the VS Laser Rifle weapon that's lying on one of the cliffs, about halfway to the top, and lug it all the way to the highest platform of this area, near the cave. You'll be above the rockslides at this point, and will be able to use your laser rifle to fire away at the weak spots on the underbelly of the moth as it flies over you. There are three rows of spots, each with three spots apiece. A single blast from a charged-up laser rifle will destroy an entire row in most cases, however. Timing the shot can be tricky, as you'll need to lead the animal as it flies over, but if you don't get knocked down, you should have enough time for two shots per pass.

Into The Cave

The cave beyond the climb is - guess what? - full of Akrid. Mostly Trilids, but there are also some new miniature versions of the bee boss, as well as Akrid tentacles which pop up from the ground and fling explosives at you. If you hop into the VS near the starting point (there's another one at the bottom of the shaft here), you should be able to gatling gun your way through most of the enemies. Beware the boulders that will periodically roll your way; you can hit them with your gatling gun to break them up into smaller rocks and prevent any damage to your VS when they strike you.

At the top of the circular ramp, head into the small cave, then move up and around to the little platform there. Hop out of your VS to activate the Data Post nearby; you'll need the energy for the upcoming boss fight. From there, drop down to the platform to your right and keep dropping until you reach an ice shard. There's a jumping VS in one of the side rooms, so grab it and equip it with dual gatling guns.

Boss Fight: Mega Chryatis

You haven't seen a chryatis in a little while, so it may come as a surprise to find that the boss for this level is, in fact, a giant version of that specific brand of Akrid. It's big, it's bad, and it's got a nasty temperament to boot. Luckily, it's immobile, but that won't stop it from laying the hurt down on you.

Attacks

Most of the chryatis's attacks revolve around the use of its arms, although it does have some breath attacks which cause ice to spurt from its mouth. This can either take the form of an ice-laser that heads from the ground to the ceiling, or a lateral spurt of ice that causes crystals to form all around you. Either way, try to jump up and to the side to avoid these attacks.

Apart from that, the usual suite of arm attacks are on call here. The Akrid can repeatedly hit the ceiling with one arm, which indicates that a shower of rocks is about to fall; avoiding these are difficult, so if you're attempting to keep your VS healthy, you may want to simply hop out of it when they start falling, then hop back in when they're done. In addition, the arms can attack you directly, either by pounding at you, or by sweeping across a large surface area. You can jump over the latter attack if you see the Akrid rearing up for a sweep, but it can be difficult to see the attack coming.

Killing The Akrid

Video Walk-through

The megachryatis is difficult to kill, but if you're lucky you'll avoid its most powerful attacks.
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As with normal chryatis's, the mega version here has weak spots on both of its arms, near where they pop out of the body. If you hit these spots enough, they'll gradually redden, then explode, flinging the arm away from the chryatis. These arms can be regrown, however, and that will usually happen fairly rapidly, so if you want to take advantage of the color-coded weakness meter, by weakening one arm almost to the point where it'll be shorn off, then switch to the other arm and work on that one as well.

When both arms are blasted off the chryatis, it will flop down on the ground and lay its head near your feet. Take the opportunity to blast away at the weak spot on the top of its head with whatever weapons you happen to have equipped, with more powerful weapons being preferable, as you'll only have a few seconds of unfettered access to this weak spot. Shotguns or rocket launchers will work well here, but if all you have are dual gatling guns, then those will at least deal a good amount of damage; just be sure to reload them just after you shoot off the second leg, as that will let you reload while the beast falls down and will ensure that you don't have to reload in the middle of firing.

Dual gatling guns are probably going to wind up being the preferable weapon selection for your VS here, in point of fact, mostly because they're going to let you shoot off the arms of the creature much more easily than would any other weapon selection. The arm stalks move quickly, and thus your shots from the rocket launcher or anything else will most likely miss. A grenade launcher can sometimes get lucky shells in, as can a laser rifle (which has unlimited ammo, to boot), but dual gatlings will likely be the best choice, especially if your aiming assistance is turned off.

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