Alpha Squad FAQ/Walkthrough Version 1.1 (Ending requirements updated. Some names confirmed. Side scene in New Seattle added.) Written by Mark Kramer, otherwise known as ThePyreThatBurns Table of Contents _________________ I. Introduction II. Area Outline III. Item and Weapon Description IV. Areas a. "New Seattle" [NESE] b. Overgrowth [OVG] c. The Scourge [THSC] d. Secluded [SECD] e. Undertow [UNOW] f. Lost Hope [LOHO] g. River Crossing [RICR] h. The Amazon [THAM] i. Goin' Coastal [GOCO] i. Sand Trap [SATR] j. Heat Stroke [HEST] k. Crossover [CRER] l. Coldsnap [COAP] m. Winter Wasteland [WIWA] n: Bloodstone Creek [BLEK] n. Station 12 [ST12] o. Neo Tokyo [NETO] p. Urban [KEUR] q. Catherine's Pub [CAUB] r. Metropolis [MEIS] s. Headquarters[HEQR] V. E-mail and suggestions VI. Copyright VII. Acknowledgments I. Introduction ________________ Welcome to my FAQ for Alpha Squad. While it is rare to have an FAQ for an Xbox Live Indie game, Alpha Squad is one of the games on XBLIG that stand as a shining example of what Indie developers can do when they invest more than a few hours into a game. II. Area Outline ________________ For the purposes of this FAQ, I will be limiting this FAQ to where the items of interest are. The description for each area will be: Name of area: Exits: How many, what type, and where they are. Object: Any object of interest in the stage. Babe: The babe of this level, where she is, as well as how to get her to join you at your safehouse. Boss: Boss plus some general tips. Other notes: Anything else that I feel should be said. III. Item and weapon description. _________________________________ Items: These are used with the B button. Health Pack-This restores some health. Good for early levels. Survival Pack-This restores more health. Good for the later levels when enemy weaponry has advanced beyond the basics. Blade Shield-This causes damage to any enemy touching it as well as providing partial protection from bullets and melee. Nuke-Clears the entire screen of enemies. Damage Amp-Amplifies weapon damage. Revival pack-This allows you to revive one member of a multiplayer group. It will not revive your character. Weapons: The game plays like Smash TV with the left analog stick being used for movement and the right analog stick for firing. Shotgun: Standard shotgun. Has a good spread up close. Almost useless at long range. Flame Thrower: Fires a continuous burst of flame ahead of you. Good for crowd control of weaker enemies. Zeus Rod: This fires a bolt of electricity that arcs from opponent to opponent. Good for clearing out multiple strong enemies. Plasma Rifle: Fires a small circle of energy. Overall strong weapon. Wave Generator: This one turns enemies to stone which will crumble when hit with any weapon. Short range. Rocket Launcher: Good stopping power but, due to ammo constraints as well as a small projectile, only really useful against bosses. IV. Areas: __________ For the purpose of this FAQ, I tried to stay with the default gun as much as possible. If I feel that the area truly needs a more powerful weapon, I will say so in Other Notes. "New" Seattle [NESE]: Exits: 2. One in the West which leads to Overgrowth. One in the Northeast which leads to The Scourge. Object: None Babe: Jessica. Three screens straight up from where you start in the left building. To get her, you will need to find her wallet in Overgrowth. Boss: There's a boss in the Northeast door but he's not terribly hard. By the time you get here, you'll be experienced enough to kill him without any extra items or weapons. His attacks include him slowly moving to face you and firing an easily dodgeable bolt. Also, smaller melee enemies come in three every so often. Best strategy is just to fire into him while occasionally eliminating the smaller enemies but, if you get a blade barrier, then activate it and move up next to him. Either way, he'll be dead in less than a minute. Other notes: One screen straight down from where you start has an enemy that drops a flamethrower. If you come back to this stage after getting Yana Ivanova, the house at the bottom right of the map has a trunk on the second floor. Open it to find her student loan. This triggers a cute scene and is worth 2000 gold. In Lost Hope, you will be able to get a key that will unlock the doors. Most of the doors lead to amusing conversations, gold, and/or shotguns. However, the door that is right above the exit to Overgrowth contains exits to all endings that are in the game. Three endings should already be here (four if you got the ending that is in the room with Vance and the key.). The other endings will be unlocked as you find them. Overgrowth [OVG]: Exits: 1. One in the Northeast which opens up Secluded. Object: Jessica's wallet. The wallet is three screens up and one to the right. Those indentations in the ground are what you should move your character over. Boss: None Other notes: This is a map where you will get swarmed. Use the terrain to your advantage as the enemies will slow up while moving around trees and bushes. The patterns are more manageable when you enter the screen from the bottom. When entering a screen from the top or the side, the spawn locations make it difficult to handle without a different weapon/blade barrier. First aid kits are helpful but, if you get surrounded, they will kill you faster than you can bang out health. The Scourge [THSC]: Exits: 1 This one is right after the boss and it opens up Undertow. Boss: This guy is basically a larger version of melee enemies. He is accompanied by waves of three normal melee enemies. The strategy here is to just shoot him or blade barrier him. As an aside, if you kill him quick, that won't stop the waves immediately. Just cap the final waves until the door and dialogue appear. Other notes: The melee enemies have a disease which brings pain in small amounts and death in large amounts. However, each screen has a narrow street so it should be easy to keep them at bay. Secluded [SECD]: Exits: 1. Up top. Scoured the map this time and didn't see anything open up. Object: Data crystal. It's located in the house. Boss: None Other notes: Short Two-screen map. Undertow [UNOW]: Exits: 2. When you come to the sewer intersection, both branches lead to an exit. The one to the right leads to a boss fight. The door after that leads to River Crossing. The one to the left leads to Lost Hope. If you are on one of the ledges when you get to the door, you find out that Amanda does the shopping and Jessica can't be trusted to handle Clint's......Well, never mind. If you're in the water, you find out a little more about Lynx before you go in the door. Object: Phone book. After the first battle, you will have a choice of the upper, middle, and lower path. If you follow the lower path past the sewer intersection, you will come to a pile of garbage which has the phone book in it about two screens before the boss. Boss: "Alien" Well, it looks like one to me. The Alien is accompanied by three slimes. If it gets close either because you get cornered or slimed, hit the blade barrier. This Boss will actually take more than one blade barrier. Other notes: You're introduced to slimes here. Slimes spit slime bullets at you. Aside from taking a hit, they also slow you down. This can lead to the losing situation where you get hit once and then start getting multiple hits because you're too slow to dodge. When you make your decision on which trail to follow, the lower path seems easiest but you will get very little treasure and items. The upper path often sets you right next to melee enemies. plus there is still little treasure so it would be the hardest. The middle path does set you down with the slimes but you pick up most of the treasure and items. Slimes seem to be the only thing to drop items. Lost Hope [LOHO]: Exits: 2 exit. 1 is a red exit. Being a small map, the normal exit shows up at the end of the map two screens to the right. There is also an entrance to a building. Go into the building and to the second floor to meet Vance and hear story stuff. Once the story part is done, a red door will show up at the top. If you exit through the red door, the game ends. Object: Key to unlock doors. I imagine that this will work if you just talk to Vance twice. However, I met him again after getting the ending and loading the save game so I'm not sure. Either way, if you talk to Vance a second time, you will get a key to unlock doors. River Crossing [RICR]: Exits: 1 exit. Object: None Boss: None other notes: Short run-to-the right map. 4 screens. The Amazon [THAM]: Exits: 1 Exit. To get to this exit, go right as far as you can. You will then go down a screen then keep going right until the path starts going up. Take the second right to the beach and the exit. Babe: Maya. She will not show up the first time as you need the necklace from Heat Stroke to open her secret passage. Once you have the necklace, you take the same path as you did to the exit. On the screen where you take the second right to the beach, an exit will now appear. This exit will take you to Maya. Object: None Boss: Big Monkey. To get to the boss, take the first right when you start going up on the path to the exit. Big Monkey is armed with a gasthrower. (Flamethrower that shoots green gas). To beat him, take out his two henchmen first. Then just circle him until he dies. Keep clear of the gasthrower (as it quickly whittles health down) and he'll go down shortly. other notes: If you take the first path up, the bush at the top screen in the top right holds a flamethrower. Ignore the blade shield and just make sure you always have a health pack. As a sidenote, I used a health pack on just about every screen and I still ended up 12-13K up in money so don't be afraid to try new weapons. Shotgun drops are fairly common from the apes. Goin' Coastal [GOCO]: Exits: 1 exit. Object: None Boss: None other notes: Short map. 4 screens. Sand Trap [SATR]: Exits: 1 exit. Object: None Boss: None other notes: Arena map. 1 screen. Just kill everyone until the exit appears. Heat Stroke [HEST]: Exits: 1 exit. This exit is three screens to the right. Object: Necklace: Two screens to the right of where you started. This necklace will open the secret path to Maya back in The Amazon. Babe: Imani She is in the upper right of the map. This map is basically a square so you can go up and to the right or right and then up. You must bring her the necklace for her to join you. Boss: None other notes: There are a lot of suicide troops when you go to the right. Crossover [CRER]: Exits: 1 exit. Just move four screens to the right. Object: None Boss: None other notes: Short map. The monkeys in this map are carrying rocket launchers so always have a health or survival kit on hand. Coldsnap [COAP]: Exits: 1 exit. Object: Mug. This mug will only appear after you talk to Catherine. It is located inside the building on the third shelf from the entrance exit. Babe: Yan Ivanova Use the phonebook that you got from Undertow at the phone booth. Boss: None other notes: None Winter Wasteland [WIWA]: Exits: 2 exits. The Exit to Bloodstone Creek is two screens to the right. The exit to Station 12 is 4 screens up, 4 to the right, and 1 screen up. Object: None Babe: None Boss: None other notes: This is a 5X5 map with two extra screens above the second and fifth screens on the top. There are also quite a few tough screens where you will emerge next to a bunch of suicide troops or a group of three with shotguns. When that happens, if you do not already have a blade shield or a survival pack ready, you are dead. Given that you will spend more on extra weapons, blade shields, and health than you will get by exploring, it is better to just see the story sequence in the cave 4 screens up and hit the two exits. Bloodstone Creek [BLEK]: Exits: 2 exits. One is a red exit. Because of the red tint to the stage, I will specify that the one in the middle is the red ending exit door. The one on the right just goes back to the overworld. Object: None Babe: None Boss: None other notes: Short three map screen. Station 12 [ST12]: Exits: 3 exits. 1 Red. The first exit is by the train. This one leads to Neo Tokyo. To get to the second screen, you have to go all the way to the bottom left of the first screen that has the computer center entrance. Within the computer center, you will see a yellow exit immediately. I believe that one leads to Urban but I'm not sure. I did Neo Tokyo before I found the second screen. If you go to the far left computer within the computer center and you have the data crystal, you can interact with the computer to unlock the red ending door. Object: None Babe: None Boss: None other notes: The enemies are packing plasma rifles and wave generators. I had to break my rule of doing this with the default gun just so I could get past them. Neo Tokyo [NETO]: Exits: 2 exit. 1 red. The normal exit leads to Urban. Object: None Babe: Kiri. You just get her at the beginning of the game. Boss: None other notes: This is a diabolically evil stage. The A.L.I.C.E. schoolgirl bots all have plasma rifles and they're fairly accurate with them. My recommendation is to get a Zeus Rod and have a nuke on standby. You will almost certainly have to use the nuke. They drop a lot of health and some plasma weapons. Hopefully, they will have dropped one by the time your Zeus Rod runs out. After the initial wave, they come in at a more manageable pace. Urban [KEUR]: Exits: 2 exits. The first is three screens over where you can choose to go inside a train station or to the exit. This exit leads to Bridge. The second exit is inside the train station. After you enter the train station, enter the first train and the next screen will have an exit to Catherine's Pub. Object: None Babe: None Boss: None other notes: The sewer grate at the very front will have a plasma rifle everytime you enter this screen. Catherine's Pub [CAUB]: Exits: None (other than walking out the door you came in.) Object: None Babe: Catherine. She wants her mug. The mug is in Coldsnap but it only appears after you speak to her. Boss: None other notes: None Metropolis [MEIS]: Exits: 1. Five screens to the right. Object: None Babe: None Boss: None other notes: 6 map stage. Mostly a warm-up although you'll want to have a slightly better weapon like a flamethrower to deal with enemies Headquarters[HEQR]: Exits: 1 Red: Appears after you beat Victor Von Flagge Object: None Babe: None Boss: Victor Von Flagge. He is in a mech that fires a rocket launcher and has a blade shield. During the fight, basic unarmed soldiers will swarm you. There are two ways to do this. The hard way is to keep a supply of blade shields and health packs while you whittle away at Victor Von Flagge. Your weapons are doing damage to him but the damage is decreased by the blade shield so you'll want something better than the default weapon but nothing too costly as he takes a fair amount of damage. Your blade shield is there to keep the other soldiers off you as it is difficult to fight off both the soldiers and Flagge. He has above average aim with the rocket launcher which means you'll need help. Don't let him corner you or his blade shield, while not an insta-kill, is pretty close to one. The easy way is 2 nukes and he's done. Then you just mop up the soldiers until they stop spawning. other notes: And that's the end of the game. Bro fists for all! After the game is over, you can still play through the other stages again. The ending room would seem to indicate 8 endings but I only found 7. I searched the easy stages (Catherine's pub, Coldsnap, etc) as well as Overgrowth and part of The Amazon but never found an eighth ending. V. Endings and where to get them. _________________________________ Thanks to Gundamx3 for the E-mails clarifying how to get the 6th and 7th ending. It's been suggested that it would be helpful to list the endings so, without spoilers: 1) Beat Victor Ending: Beat Victor Flagge. 2) Clint Ending: Interact with the far left computer in Station 12. Need data crystal. 3) Jin Ending: Beat Neo Tokyo. 4) Lynx ending: Beat Lost Hope. Listen to Vance on the second floor. 5) Lackey ending: New Seattle. Building with all the endings. 6) Bloodstone Ending: Bloodstone creek. One of the East Buildings in New Seattle has a code note for the rebels. It will not show up in your inventory but you still need to find it to be able to trigger this ending. 7) Underwear ending. New Seattle. Building with all the endings. Get all the girls and 100K to open the ending. VI. E-mail and suggestions _________________________ Well, that about wraps this FAQ. However, if you have any suggestions, things I missed or just want to comment, I can be reached at thepyrethatburns@hotmail.com . All E-mails should have "Alpha Squad" in the subject line or I'll probably not answer them. VII. Copyright ___________________________________________________________________________ This work is copyright 2013 Mark Kramer AKA ThePyreThatBurns, and is provided for personal enjoyment only. Any use of this guide in whole or in part for financial profit is strictly prohibited. This guide may only be posted publicly with all original indications of authorship intact. This guide was produced for GameFAQS.com and only GameFAQS.com. If you wish to post this guide on your side, contact me as per the guidelines above. VIII. Acknowledgments ___________________ CjayC for creating Gamefaqs.com without which I would beat far fewer games than I do. SBAllen for stepping up when CjayC stepped down. Dragon Divide for making one of the games that stands head and shoulders above the usual XBLIG game. GundamX3 for helping me clarify 2 of the ending requirements. God.