-------------------------------------------------------------------- TimeSplitters 2 In-depth FAQ ***Top Shot Platinum Strategy*** by: 'Kairi' -------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************* 'Kairi' e-mail: griever_fx AT ignmail DOT COM Date - 11/07/02 Version - 1.0 ******************************* ***Legal Disclaimer*** This FAQ will not be permitted anywhere else besides GameFAQs as of right now. This may or may not change later in the future. This FAQ is copyrighted 2002. If you're a TS2 vet from the forums or have a recommendation from one of them, I'll probably let you post it on your website. Mainly, I don't want any other major site(s) to get it unless they give me free stuff. For "real" gamers, I'll let them post it without much restrictions. I'm doing this because I want more smaller websites, made from actual players, to benefit from it. I made this FAQ for players of TS2, not for the big websites that want it only to get more hits. (Of course I'm not talking about www.gamefaqs.com, after all, I wouldn't be writing this FAQ if it wasn't for this website and it's forums that have helped me no other site will ever) ==================== I. Table of Contents: ==================== I. Table of Contents II. Skill requirements III. Map IV. Start/spawn points V. Strategy VI. Aids (not the disease, okay) VII. Firearms VIII. Start Point Breakdown VIII-A Brief Overview IX. Time Problems X. Final Comments XI. Contact Info XII. Thanks to Please use the 'Find' command to jump straight to whatever you're looking for. 'Ctrl + F' I tried to make this FAQ as user-friendly as possible. For example, if you were looking for help with Start Point Breakdowns, you would type "VIII" in the box after pressing 'Crtl + F'. ------------ Purpose of this FAQ: To aid in obtaining the platinum on the Arcade League - Amateur - Beginner Series - Top Shot challenge in the game Time Splitters 2. Known to be one of the most difficult platinums to obtain(actually, many of the challenges are tough, don't get me wrong). Why is it so tough to get? It's difficult to obtain not because of the skill involved, but because of the luck involved. In short, you need to be lucky for enemies to spawn near you, so that you can kill them quickly. Seems like many of these challenges pit you against random chance, while others make you face the cheapness of bots/CPU. Requirement for Platinum: To kill all other enemies in a time of 1:10 or under. Seeing that Gold is 3:00, we can see 1:10 is quite a feat to achieve. Goal: What I hope to accomplish is to inform you, on what most alternatives are available for you to try and what not to try. The strategy that worked for me, I will describe as I go along with the FAQ. ======================= II. Skills requirements: ======================= 1) Knowledge of the Map 2) Start/Spawn Positions 3) Lightning quick relexes (obtained through practice, not here) Not required, but extremely helpful: 4) Peripheral vision - you will be looking mainly at the radar, and only glancing at the main screen when you are taking out targets(enemies). ======== III. Map: ======== First off, we need to know the map/area. If you don't already know the area, then you'd better get to it. Here is a crude map in ASCII. (I hope it comes out okay...) The Hangar Map (1st floor) O=========================================O || (stairs)| | || || | | || || (1) (3) || || | | _ || ||===== |_| / / || || | | / / / || || | | /```` `````/ || ||= =============== \--- -----\ || || | | \ \ \ || || |_ \ \ || || (2) | | -- || || || || | | | || || | | | || O=========================================O (not to scale) No need to memorize or even know about the second floor. You won't go up there at any time, plus it's a really small area. Also, I've left out the boxes/crates since there are quite a few, but it's not really that important to know where the box positions are. :) Note that I have labeled the major areas with numbers (1), (2), and (3). Keep these in mind when I make references to them. ====================== IV. Start/Spawn points: ====================== These are the points where you and the enemies will return to after dying. It's important to know these because then you will have to hunt them all down, and knowing the quickest way to get to them will save you time. O=========================================O ||A E |G| || || | | || || || || | | || ||===== |_| L || || | | || ||B | | || ||= =============== I K || || | D | || ||C |_ || || |H| M || ||X || || | | | || || | F | | J || O=========================================O (not to scale) There are also 2 spawn points on the second floor, but if you have the unlucky chance of starting up there, you'd better restart the challenge. =========== V. Firearms: =========== What to use, what to use. You need something that kills them(enemies) as quick as possible. Nothing does that better than the mini-gun. Accept no substitutions. Mini-gun: Fires an unbelieveable amount of rounds in a short period of time. All you need to do is point it at the "target", and tap the primary fire button. You will be able to kill any of the 4 enemies on this hangar challenge with just a tap of the mini-gun, with the exception of Capt. Snow. He has a higher stamina, so you'll have to hold the p. fire button down until he goes down. Keep this firearm rolling by tapping the secondary fire button. Another plus is it's amazing accuracy. Location: Near start point B behind the box, and near start point I, in front of the front wheel of the airplane. Rocket/Missile Launcher: Unless you have 5 guys clustered together in one room, which is unlikely, this weapon is useless. Don't bother with it. Flame Thrower: Takes too long to kill someone. Don't bother with this either. If you are set on fire, the enemies will ignore you like you're dead or not even there. Soviet: You begin with this gun, but the primary fire is weak compared to the mini-gun. Try to go for head shots if you can't get the mini. The secondary fire is a more valuable asset. Try to bounce the grenade on someone's chest, let it drop to at their feet, and shoot them with the primary fire. The primary fire stuns them, so they can't do anything but stagger there, and take the grenade. The grenade bounces, so don't hestitate to bounce it off walls! And don't be afraid to toss them everywhere you think enemies might be, because you'll soon be getting the mini anyway, right? Right. Shotgun: Always use secondary fire simply because it shoots twice instead of once on the prim. fire. Aim for the head with this gun, but don't spend too much(if any) time with it. You're main goal is for the mini. The Shotgun can't drill 10+ bullets into a target on the other side of the map like the mini can. ======== VI. Aids: ======== Don't bother getting any armor, shrink powerup, max damage powerup, or health packs. You won't need them unless you take a grenade. But even then, it's best to go on because every second is precious. ============= VII. Strategy: ============= Okay, now that you have the skills down and got to know the maps and start points, what are you going to do? Sure, you COULD go out and try to kill the closest enemy and then after that proceed to the next closest. But chances are, you won't make it to Platinum. Why? Two words: Capt. Snow. Yes that's right, with enough practice you'll soon find that this guy straight from MGS doesn't seem to want you to get Plat. Recognize his face - he has a white ski mask. After you've killed all the other enemies, he'll still have at least 3 (maybe more or less) lives left. This is my strategy that I've decided to go on, and this strategy has worked for me. Why? Why should you go for Capt. Snow... well first of all, he has the most health out of all the other targets. He always goes for armor when he has a chance(many times he gets the armor between the two wheels of the plane, which will require you to hold the fire button down longer, wasting time!). Plainly speaking, he is not created equal as the other targets. He's "special" in his own unique way. For me, this isn't "Top Shot". It should be called, "Take down Capt. Snow". And that's the mentality you should take with you. It would be different if all the targets would go down with a simple tap of the fire button. That way, you could just use the simple strategy of going after the closest target, but the developers had to throw in this guy... Many others may say, that since Capt. Snow has more health, and is smart enough to go for the armor, and often times the shrink and the mini-gun, he can be a good asset for kiling off the other targets. This may be true, but he HAS to have the mini-gun to do any real benefit to you(time-wise). Otherwise he'll just take too long. And if you plan on leaving him alive to help you get rid of the rest, when exactly are you going to take him out? That's right, when it's only down to you and him, he'll probably still have 6 lives, and you WON'T have enough time to dispose of him. So the to make clear, the basic strategy is to kill Capt. Snow as your primary objective. Your secondary objective is to kill any enemies on your way TO Capt. Snow. If you're equipped with peripheral vision, you will need this after you kill Snow once. The method is to wait approximately one full second, and see where he ends up on the radar. Before you know it, you're already heading there, eliminating anyone in your way. =========================== VIII. Start Point Breakdown: =========================== Below I will list the Start points and their respective strengths and weaknesses. I determine strengths and weakness on how close you are to Capt. Snow, and if applicable, how many targets will be in the area when you are first starting off. (I can lead you only when you are first starting off, because after you start killing them(enemies), they will randomly appear in a different start point each time, so it's luck after that...) Please refer to the start/spawn map below to know where and what start points I'm talking about. O=========================================O ||A E |G| || || | | || || || || | | || ||===== |_| L || || | | || ||B | | || ||= =============== I K || || | D | || ||C |_ || || |H| M || ||X || || | | | || || | F | | J || O=========================================O (not to scale) Start point A: Immediately fire two grenades(secondary fire) while running forward. This kills the guy coming toward you from under the stairs(start point E). The shrink won't help him there. :) Head right for the mini... Now, two things can happen here. Either a guy with come towards you from area 2/start point B, or he'll still be chillin' in that area 2. Just in case, you'd better launch a grenade when you turn and head right, or start firing and aiming for a headshot. If you don't take him out, continue for the mini and launch a grenade in his direction. If the grenade didn't kill him, get him with the mini! Shoot as many grenades at you can between the two walls of area B, and possibly in area 2, while heading for the mini. Once you have it, hit the secondary fire(this won't be said anymore through out the FAQ, it will be assumed), and then look at your radar, which you should be doing 90% of the time. Capt. Snow is definitely in this area 2, close to the back sometimes, by the corner. Get him, and any other any targets in your way. After he's gone and everyone else in the area is dead, stop and wait for him to come up on radar. I try not to kill too many guys in a row, because you can get lost as to where Snow might be on radar. But as long as you keep tabs on the sequence of kills, then you're okay. The good thing about this area/start point, is that after you kill Snow here, he usually pops up again in this area (area 2). If not, it's up to you to find him. Start point B: Go forward a bit, and turn left so you're looking into area 2. Two things can happen here. 1) A target will be running away from you, toward the corner of the room. You can launch a grenade in front of him(launch it at the wall where he would be, since he will be running between the wall and the boxes), and you will be able to kill him. You have to be quick though. Then, proceed to the mini. 2) The other chance encounter, is you will see a target running towards you. You will want to head for the mini, but facing the start point you just came from (point B). So you're backtracking with your view towards Start Point B. Launch a grenade or two at this point, because he'll be coming after you. If you do it right, you'll hit him and he'll die. If not, take him out with your mini. After that, go in area 2, and maybe head towards area 1. Captain Snow should be in the hangar and he should be heading towards area 2. If not, go get him. Start Point C: You can either: 1)Leave area 2 and proceed to area 1. When you're doing this, launch a few grenades directly above you on the second floor. You might take out someone up there. Head for the mini. or 2)Go straight to the hangar and take out Capt. Snow. Start Point D: There will be a target spawn at point F if you happen to start at point D. He'll neglect you for now (although he'll try to shoot you a bit), but he'll head on his way to spawn point C for some reason(I think there is another target there). What you can do is, bounce a grenade off a box in front of you. It should bounce off the box and come back in your general direction, but at an angle. /\ The trajectory of the grenade should look like that upside down V, where you shoot it at the box (the box should be a bit to your right, so move keep moving left from when you start until it is), and it should bounce back toward you but to the right. The target will neglect you, and run past you and if you aim it correctly, he should be hit by the grenade. If he runs too quickly, use the prim. fire to stun him. Capt. Snow is in area 1, but you won't have the mini- yet, so drop a few grenades when he is close to point B/about to enter your area(2). After that, get the mini- and clear out the guys in area 2. There should be a lot of them in there. Start Point E: If I end up on this start point, I usually restart. There are no enemies in the currently area, and getting to the mini gun takes a while. The shrink doesn't really help you out in any way, since these guys can't shoot for beans. The Capt. Snow is out in the area 3, airplane hangar taking care of some guys, but you'll meet up with him before the mini-. So you'll have take him out with the Soviet if you like this point for some reason. Start Point F: Probably the best starting point. If I were you, I would restart until I got to this one. Look directly to your left, and at spawn point B. Capt. Snow is there, so head that direction and shoot as many grenades as possible. The other target(a girl) will spawn at point C will be heading towards Capt. Snow/point B also, so when the grenade hits, it kills both girl target as well at the Capt. Snow. If you can stay in this area, the Capt. Snow might respawn here if you're lucky enough. A very good spot because you can kill Snow within a few seconds of the battle and that way he'll respawn much earlier in the challenge. Start Point G: A good starting point, because there is a chance to kill a lot of enemies quickly. Head towards area 1 and you will see a target around point A. When you first see him, shoot as many grenades as you possibly can(aim up). You need to kill this guy. Make sure you don't pick up the shotgun, but if you're following the path to the shotgun, then you're pretty lined up to kill the target. Just don't pick it up, because the Soviet will switch to the Shotgun if you have "New and Best" selected in the options/preferences. After this, go for the mini gun and get ready because there are quite a few guys in area 2 including Capt. Snow. Head there and take them out. Start Point H: When I end up in this one, I usually head to area 2. Why? Well because the mini-gun in the hangar is quite a bit away, and I can start killing guys right away when you head in this area 2. You can kill them much quicker because it's a tighter area, which means you can launch a few grenades and kill at least two guys already. Two of them will be fighting each other at around point X, and another will come from area 1/point B. That's 3 guys right there. You also have another choice though. If you were to head out to the hangar, you'll find Capt. Snow is the only one out there. Stand just a bit outside the door way leading the the hangar, and aim up and launch as many grenades as you can. You'll hit him as he's going for some weapon. Start Point I: Probably the closest start point you could possibly be to get close enough to the mini-gun, you can get this in about 3 seconds and start killing right away. I personally don't really like this area 3, however, since there is so much space. But if you're cool with big open spaces, then go ahead and do it. There is a theory that if you stay in the hangar, then all the targets will come to you, since area 1 and area 2 are connected to area 3(hangar), then you'll just have to play "defend the hangar/airplane" and kill whoever comes through the openings, but I don't particularly like this method, because somehow Capt. Snow is always alive when it the time ticks down. I'd much prefer the hunt down Capt. Snow method. But it's not my decision to tell you what you can or cannot do. Choose whatever works best for you. But I digress... Capt. Snow is between area 1 and 2. He probably starts at point B. I would probably go through area 2 if that was the only starting point, but better yet I would restart. Start point J: Another bad start point in my opinion. If I end up here, I just restart. You need to be killing enemies from the the get-go, and with the Soviet, you can't really do it out in the hangar. Like I said before, not all start points are created equal. Capt. Snow is in area 1 on the second floor. You'll see him if you head to area 2, just look up. If head through area 2, there will be one guy standing in your way, and another guy at spawn point X if someone else died already(probably killed by Capt. Snow). Start point K: A target will be running towards you if you start at this point, and I would try to shoot her in the head/body while passing through the wheels and going for the mini-. A grenade is very tough to be effective here, since the target can run away and the blast probably won't hit. So it's just best to shoot with the primary fire of the Soviet. But I'll say it again, starting out in the hangar isn't the best way for me to start out, compared to the other start points. Capt. Snow is quite a ways away, he starts somewhere in area 2(depending on which target he is going after). Start point L: Capt. Snow is in area 1, and has the shrink on himself. You probably won't have the mini- when you see him, since you'd have to go out of your way to get one, and by the time you do, he'll probably be elsewhere. Choose another start point. Start point M: There will be two guys with you when you start out in the hangar over here. Capt. Snow is in area 2. I would go directly for him, while trying to launch grenades in the direction of the two targets in the hangar area. There is one guy that starts from point I, and he'll chase after you. Don't worry about him, just head for the door on the left to go to area 2. Just when you're about to enter/pass the door, aim a bit up and to the right, and fire a grenade at the door. It should bounce back and kill the guy that was chasing after you. You should use the grenades like this every chance you get. Start point X: Capt. Snow is out in the hangar. You either go after him now, or go to get the mini- gun near point B. He'll been in a firefight when you get there, unless he kills the guy already. This starting point is pretty far away from him, so I'd restart. -------------------- VIII-A Brief review: -------------------- I favor the area 2 over area 1 and 3. It's a tight small area because of all the boxes, and the Soviet is best used here. The mini- works everywhere, so there's no reason why it shouldn't do well in this area 2 either. Area 2 is one of the best starting points to take out Capt. Snow's first life very quickly. Reason: I'd rather be in this area 2 over area 1 mainly because of the stairs in area 1. It messes up my flow when I have to move the aim upwards just to tag the guy on second floor,and it also takes a while for a target to come down from the stairs. However, if you were in area 2, the guy would be forced to come after you, and the best way for him to do that is to jump from the second level to the first level. There is a missing railing because of the crane moving that metal block(whatever it is). This is the same block that if you were to ride, it would count as 'surf time' in the player statistics screen. And I prefer area 2 over area 3 because of the small area. If you prefer the big area, then you could hang out there instead. But consider this, if you were to cut the map in half, directly down the middle, which side with have more start points? The left half with areas 1 and 2, or the right half with just area 3(hangar)? (don't forget the 2 spawn points on the second floor) As you can see, it's the left half by far. So that way, you can transverse between area 1 and 2 pretty quickly if need be, but area 2 as your primary residence. Also note that the map is longer horizontally, meaning if you were to go from point B to point K, it would take you longer than going from point A to point X. Of course, all of this only applies in the beginning of the match. Once you've killed Capt. Snow once, you'll be all over the area where he'll be, no matter what. Summing up, you want to start in points: F, G, D, or A. If you start in any of these areas, you have a pretty good chance to get a nice time. ================= IX. Time Problems: ================= 1) DYING - If you so happen to die, by your bouncing grenade or whatever, restart because getting Plat is probably now out of your reach. This happens a lot with the grenades in area 2 because it's really a tight area, and when a targets start out here, they immediately launch a grenade every which a way. 2) RESPAWNING - If you get lucky enough for someone to spawn in your area, don't start shooting them right away. Just circle them for a moment, and then shoot them. They are invulnerable for that brief period of time when they are first "born", although they can still shoot you. 3) AMMO - You don't have infinite ammo on this mini gun, and you probably won't have another chance to get more ammo. If you run out of mini-gun ammo, you probably should start over(unless you think you can finish it, you should go ahead and try, don't give up so easily) because you've wasted too much ammo already and need to re-adjust how long you shoot. You should just barely tap the prim. fire button to be able to kill most enemies, and for the white ski mask guy Capt. Snow, hold it until he goes down. You should be able to get Plat without using all your mini- gun ammo. 4) CAPT. SNOW - Not holding the aim on him until he goes down is probably the most common time waster. Hear me now, and hear me forever, hold the fire button down on him until you are for sure he died! And don't forget to keep moving and searching out for Capt. Snow. Take heed and try not to let these time problems happen to you. There are 5 other guys besides you, each with 6 lives, which makes a total of 30 lives. Let's pretend they're all monkeys that can't do anything but run around. Since you have 70 seconds to kill 30 lives, you have only 2.33 seconds to make each kill. Not much time to be messin' around. Good thing is that they aren't monkeys, and some of them will get into fights with each other. Another tip: If you find Capt. Snow with a crowd, go after him first, then take the crowd out. If you take out the crowd first, they'll likely spawn somewhere away from you. Then when you finish Capt. Snow, he'll probably spawn in an area that you're not in, and probably end up fighting with the guys you just killed. So this is how it goes. Kill Capt. Snow first, then go after the other targets. Because after you kill Snow, you'll be busy disposing of the other targets, while Capt. Snow has to go find you out again, because there won't be any other targets to get in his way(because you're dealing with all of them). ================= X. Final comments: ================= The strategy I've put together if from many restarts and hours upon days of playing over this challenge. Every comment I make has some sort of logic behind it, so as to back it up. If you can find a better strategy, and back it up with some good reasons, let me know. There are many ways to get Platinum on this challenge, and different methods may help some other people in ways my strategy, in a rare chance, cannot. If you follow my method and know all the spawn points and where Capt. Snow is, and have immpecable aim, along with the help of peripheral vision, you should be getting a time around 1:20-1:30. Be prepared to restart many times. With practice you will be able to get it eventually. Just don't lose hope. SCORES 1) Sgt Shock--------- 6 2) Sgt Shivers------- 1:07.7 3) Trooper White----- 1:05.5 4) Capt Snow--------- 1:03.8 5) Nikolai----------- 1:00.7 6) Lt Frost---------- 0:55.3 ================ XI. Contact Info: ================ Here is my e-mail address: griever_fx AT ignmail DOT COM I don't check it that often; actually I check it once a month to tell you the truth. Basically because I get tons of junk mail there, so it can filter it out. If you really need to contact me, check the forums(GCN mostly, since I owe the GCN version) because I go there quite a while. E-mail me if you: 1) See an error in my FAQ 2) Yhink I should add something else to complete my FAQ 3) See this FAQ on a website other than the ones listed below 4) Are asking permission to post this FAQ on your site 5) Have a strategy/method that you want to share(must have a good reason why it's a good strategy, and plus don't make it too long-winded, since I don't know how many people will have their own strategies, I don't want this FAQ much longer than it already is) Again, I don't check it often, so don't expect a reply the next day. Websites that currently hold my FAQ: -www.gamefaqs.com FAQs I currently have made: -'Money Guide FAQ' for Harvest Moon 3 GBC -'Mini-Games FAQ' for Shenmue I DC ========= XII. Thanks to: ========= -Gamefaqs/CJayC -All the help people have given me in the Gamefaq TS2 FORUMs especially with the: Infiltration - Silent but Deadly Platinum challenge, Siberia - Hard, and when I first came to the board, helping me figure out there was an advanced custom controller menu. I couldn't have done it without you guys, you know who you all are. -All the people that need to be thanked but I forget at the moment... This is the end of the FAQ. I hope you got something worthwhile from it. See you Space Cowboy... END