Descent into the substation abyss
Posted April 2nd 2006
Just past the control area in the security substation, you can walk out onto a balcony and peer down for miles into the abyss. You can also get down a long way by performing ten big jumps!
Getting down
You'll need perfect health and an overshield to survive the first jump, down onto one of the 'prongs' that stick out of the side. As with all the jumps here, just walk off the edge; don't hit the jump button. Your health should remain intact throughout, even if you don't crouch to soften landings; but this first jump wipes your overshield. From the prong, you can jump down onto an alcove around the edge. Keep alternating between prongs and alcoves, letting your shield recover each time. After nine jumps you're on your fifth prong. One final jump takes you down onto a holed surface (with a greenish tint), which seems to be as far as you can go without dying.
Way down below there's another surface, and if you throw a plasma grenade down and peer after it with a zoomed pistol, you can see it bounce and explode. You can jump off for a closer look, but frustratingly the game seems to revert to the last checkpoint before you hit. I've never seen myself land on it.
Warthog escapades
It's possible to drive a Warthog off the balcony and manage to land on one of the prongs. Perhaps it's also possible to drive off again and land on another, and so on; but I've not persevered with that. It's also possible to hit successive prongs and eventually come to rest a long way down. I once found myself ejected from the hog, onto an alcove below the third prong level.
When playing about with a Warthog here, have Marines along for the ride. They do a lot of amusing yelling. You can also send the hog and occupants off the edge, just as in Warthog mishap. Watch them fall and bounce off surfaces using a zoomed pistol. Whoops, sorry guys!