by: The Button Man | March 7, 2003
[Jump to: St. Petersburg Revisited | Redemption At Gontranno]
It all ends far too soon really. Over the past nineteen levels we have seen
rolling hills, harsh mountains, towering castles, bustling eastern towns,
rotten sewers, underground military installations, desert ruins and frozen
cities. We have travelled all over the world with our favorite bald-headed
assassin, forced out of retirement to unwittingly aid the acquisition of a
nuclear weapon by a Russian terrorist, and to neatly cover his tracks for
him. All of this can be traced back to the day that a priest was kidnapped
by the mafia from a quiet Sicilian church, and his pupil's subsequent search
for answers.
And as if the recent brotherly reunion and double crossing were not enough,
Sergei really has 47 by the balls now. Sergei has got Father Vittorio, and in
a pleasant twist of fate, has him held right where the mafia found him in
the first place. We have returned to Gontranno for what will certainly be an
explosive conclusion to this current chapter of 47's life.
Load-Out
As if it were that easy. Life on the wire is always good (yet again)!
Walkthrough
The beginning of this level is hard. Very hard indeed! In fact, the whole
level is hard, as you have to deal with 21 well armoured, alert guards; but
the beginning is really tricky. You start out with just your trusty fiber
wire in the courtyard of the church, with two guards patrolling, covering
virtually every possible hiding place in the area. Not only that, but you
need to find time to get up close to one of them with enough time to wire them.
There are a lot of different ways of doing this beginning, all of them nerve
wracking, all of them hard, and all of them requiring a certain amount of
luck. The advantage of this method is that if it goes wrong, it goes wrong
within 30 seconds, meaning that if you are unlucky, at least you don't have
to backtrack too much.
From the start, ready your fiber wire, and look right. You should see the
two guards approaching the southeastern corner of the courtyard. One will
pause slightly as he heads north, but the second he begins his walk, run
directly towards the south eastern pillar, keeping it between you and your
targets. You will have to run in a slight arc towards the pillar, but it
should be fairly easy. When you arrive, you will see them both facing you
from just around the corner. However, they will quickly lose interest, and
start walking northwards.
Ignore the fast moving one for now - we're going to deal with the slow one.
As they head north, enter sneak mode, and start following them, heading
diagonally across the pathway towards the eastern wall of the courtyard.
This way, when the fast guard reaches the top of his path and turns left,
you should be to his "right," and out of his field of vision. Keep following
the slow guard; he will walk past the door into the gardens, and pause just
under the next archway, before heading back down south.
Although your progress is slow, you should be getting close to him when he is
about to make his turn. However, you will not be close enough to wire him,
so you need to have the fiber wire prepared. It's easy to tell the point
to catch him. You will be 5-10 yards behind him, and he will suddenly
stand up straight - this is the point where he is about to turn, and is
momentarily pausing at his current point. Immediately dash at him,
releasing the fiber wire, and bring him to the ground.
Because of the timing (you made both guards pause when you did the running
at the start), the fast guard should be just out of hearing range for your
running, but not too far around the path for the next section. Quickly change
into the guards clothes, picking up the 9mm pistol he drops. Head back the
way you came, under the covered path, towards the southwestern corner of
the courtyard. The fast guard should be walking south down the western
side at this point. Ready your pistol, and as he rounds the corner, put a
bullet in his head. This is out of range of the garden and church guards,
and will go unnoticed. You must do this here, since alerting other guards
will cause you to be swarmed, and if he gets round and sees the dead body, he
will go to get other guards himself.
[Save Game]
That's the hardest bit of the level for a while, so you can relax a bit.
Move the slow guard's body into the northern passage, and approach the double
doors into the garden. Checking your map (or looking through the keyhole),
let the guard patrolling the steps move north of the door, then open it, walk
through, turn right and walk off the end of the upper level. Since you are
wearing a body guard's disguise, you might raise a little alarm, but should
be well out of the way fast enough.
You can now make your way, carefully, to the weapons shed, but it is probably
a good idea to get rid of the lower patrolling guard. Wait by the corner of
the stairs in sneak mode, and when the guard turns his back, make a move on
him. You must do this fairly quickly, and use the "run-and-wire" technique,
since if he gets too far north, the sniper in the area will see you.
Drag his body quickly back to your hiding place, then make your way directly east,
and around the back of the weapons shed. When you enter, close the door, and
breathe a sigh of relief! Sergei probably wasn't thinking when he decided
that not checking the grounds of a professional assassin's residence for
extra weapons, and at this point, you should have pretty much everything
available.
For the moment, grab the crossbow and a silenced pistol, making sure that you
also pick up plenty of ammo for them from the tables. Leave the shed, and
head back behind it. Facing west, slowly edge your way down the wall so
that you have a view across the garden to the steps; it's very well concealed
by the trees and general foliage, but you should be able to make it out.
Be careful; the guard up there is eagle eyed, and will spot you the second you
appear with the crossbow, so try to wait for him to go past you, then pop out
and put a bolt in him. However, often he will see you, and will start firing
(though he never actually seems to hit). Simply wait where you are, ready
your pistol, and when he comes for you, fill him with lead.
Doing it this a slightly more risky way gives you an absolutely perfect shot of
the sniper, since he still shouldn't know exactly where you are. From the
southern side of the weapons shed, crouch down and edge out behind the nearest
tree. Edge out so that you can make a shot with the crossbow, ready the
weapon, and looking through the sights, aim (fairly high) through the well
structure. You will see the sniper standing there, plain in view, with a
very easy shot to his head. If you find this a little dirty, then you can deal
with them the other way round. From the shed, you can shoot through the
window of the weapons shed at the guard, then return to the guard at the
steps, and fill him with lead from a suppressed pistol.
Go back into the weapons shed, and tool up. I suggest taking everything you
can easily carry in your clothes - Ballers (especially the silenced variety),
9mm SD, .22 SD, Desert Eagle (good backup) combat
knife and Uzi (allowing you to keep the crossbow "offhand"). Head over to the
garden entrance to the church, and enter sneak mode. Open the door, enter
and head up the steps, checking your map. There is a single patrolling guard
in the dungeon, but be wary of making any noise, since there is a direct
pathway into this area from the heavily guarded area above. Much easier
than knifing the guard is to get out behind him the second he turns his back,
ready the crossbow and put a bolt in his head. This is completely silent, so
there are no worries about alerting those above.
Still in sneak mode, head across the corridor (keeping to the southern wall),
and pick the lock of the northern door. Here you will find the church key.
Silently, return to the garden, but rather than heading for the front door
of the church, go round the back of 47's "computer" shed. Here, there is a
hidden door into the church. Sneak up the stairs, up to the level with
two doors. Ready your knife, and then take the door on the left, cutting
the throat of the guard ahead. Move to the wall, and you will see another
guard facing away from you. Edge around the wall to get behind him, and then
knife him.
[Save Game]
Now for the next tricky part of the level - clearing the main church. You need
to be careful at this point, because of the alert level of the guards (not
even a disguise will work), and the strength of their weapons. The custom
sniper rifle is an extremely dangerous weapon and can, given the right
circumstances, down you with a single shot. Still in sneak mode, return
to the stairwell on the eastern side of the church. Climb the stairs,
readying a silenced weapon, and prepare to open the door on the left.
This door opens out onto the lower balcony of the church, and there are two
guards facing away from you (check through the keyhole). Staying crouched,
open the door, and shoot both of these men.
Return to the stairwell, and prepare yourself on the left hand side of the
other door frame. Check through the keyhole, and you will see one guard facing
away from you, and a sniper facing generally down the corridor towards you
(from the northern end of the church). Open the door, and staying well back,
and away from the door itself, put a bullet in the head of the nearest guard.
Good advice at this point is to always check your map after shooting someone.
Occasionally, you'll prompt them into action, at which point these guards are
extremely adept at tracking you down, and it's never good to be blown away
just as you're lining up your next shot. You now need to get rid of that
sniper. It is possible to do this with the crossbow if you are fast, but
I would highly recommend the silenced hard ballers. These make very short
work of this guy, even at a distance, and since there is a spread of fire
within a contained area, you are far more likely to hit them.
When he is down, edge onto the upper balcony. Look west (left) as soon as
you hit the wood, and you will see a sniper facing north on the opposite
balcony. Deal with him (crossbow), then edge down the balcony, crouched
down and away from the edge at all times. Keep looking diagonally across
the gap at the other balcony - in 3rd (final) 'segment' on that side is
another sniper. Deal with him (with the crossbow again). Back up down
the balcony, and look at ground level. Behind the first pillar is another
sniper - shoot him from here (popping up to make the shot). Be warned - he
isn't always here, but he will appear here eventually.
Go down to the far end of this balcony (still crouched), grab the SVD
sniper rifle, pick the lock, and head round to the other side. Edge along,
through the door at the other end. Arm a silenced pistol, go into first-person
mode, and sneak down the stairs. When you are about two-thirds way down the first
flight, look through the gap between the stairs and the railing, and you
will see a guard facing away. Put a bullet in his head.
Now, return to the northern end of the balcony. The remaining guards should
all be visible from this side. There is one sniper who tends to move around
the ground floor eastern side, two by the pillars who face south (and are
easy because of that), and one who faces north near the confessional. Try
to keep him behind a pillar at all times when you pop up to make your shot,
but if he does see you, he is easily persuaded to leave his position and
come and hunt you down. Remember to keep checking your map for guards who have
decided to make it personal, and come to find you. The Ballers will
make very short work of them at close range.
[Save Game]
When all of the guards are dead, Father Vittorio will talk to you. At this
point, you need to shoot through the glass heart in the confessional. Do
not do this from inside the box, since that will leave you trapped. Choose
a vantage point (the upper balcony can be good, but ground floor works well),
and pop a bullet through this window. You will get a short cutscene, after
which you need to kill Sergei. A couple of body shots with the sniper rifle
will do it (he's pretty damn quick, and very edgy, using cover quite well),
but if you don't have the distance, just mow him down with the Uzi you should
be carrying.
Recommended Saves: 3
Rating: N/A
Time: N/A
Items Available For Collection
Points Of Interest
Be careful - occasionally, the guards who are carrying 9mm pistols will go a
bit "mental" after you start killing people, and will start running all over
the place. Don't worry about this, just keep a suppressed pistol to hand,
and be generous with the lead. Snipers will stay approximately in place.
The Altar. At the northern end... doh!
