Carrington Institute: Defense

Carrington Institute: Defense is the fifteenth mission in Perfect Dark. With their plans scuppered by the Carrington Institute, the Skedar, and the remaining of dataDyne's forces launch a full-scale attack on CI's HQ, catching much of the staff is caught off-guard, and interrupting their plans of meeting with the White House and the Maians' Delegation. Joanna elects on driving back the invaders whilst evacuating the staff. Much to the disdain on her employer.

This the only level where you can get friendly AI, in the form of Carrington Institute soldiers. While they make use of AR34s, they won't last very long against Datadyne's troops armed with K7 Avengers alongside their Skedar allies. Joanna starts with a 'borrowed' AR34, granting you a good chance against the enemy. Because of the endlessly respawning aggressive Shielded enemies however, all of which wielding lethal K7 Avengers, as well as a brutal par time, to unlocking cheats. This is generally considered to be the hardest mission in Perfect Dark, as it is very difficult stay alive on Perfect Agent.

Briefing

In revenge for the foiling of their grand plan, the Skedar have attacked the source of their troubles, the Carrington Institute. With an organized response out of the question, it falls to Joanna to save what she can of the Institute from total destruction.

Carrington

They've caught us completely off guard, Jo! Save who and what you can, then get out yourself. After all, the institute is the people, not the building.

Objectives

Reactivate automatic defenses (SA/PA)

This objective might be confusing to those who haven't taken the time to explore the Carrington Institute's lower levels. Essentially, you're back tracking into the underground complex, to complete the first objective. Reactivate the sentry guns promptly because if you fail to do this, the enemy will overwhelm the guards, protecting Daniel Carrington, and kill him. Making this an organic time limit.

The easiest way to take care of this objective is to go in this order: immediately when the cut scene ends, walk back down the ramp and enter the double doors to the hangar. Proceed across the upper walkway and past the explosive barrels until you hit another set of double doors. The first panel will be on the right near the doors on the other end of the room. Once this is done, make your way out of the room and immediately turn left. Shoot out the glass, jump down, and head into the tunnel where you should see a drone gun, followed by a control panel. After activating it, you have two choices: go through the tunnels, which is the fastest, or go back through the outdoor hangars, which is the safest. Taking the first option requires the player to take the door to the immediate right of the panel. After walking for a short while, you must again take the first door on your right. You should be able to see the drone gun across from you, and the activation panel will be in a small nook by a door off to the left. For the second option, you must go back out of the tunnel and out the door that resides up by the walkway. Go down past where the Hoverbike would be, and continue forward until you head into a small hallway with the drone gun on your right. The panel will be in a nook by a door down the hallway.

While it might seem like a good idea to use the drone guns to farm the Datadyne troops for their weapons, they will eventually overwhelm the auto defenses and inevitably kill you.

Release hostages (A/SA/PA)

Training veterans will have an advantage here, as the hostages are held in the rooms where Joanna previously did her training. Simply use your Combat Boosts and aim for the head of the dataDyne attackers. If you manage to save all seven hostages, Grimshaw will reward you with a Devastator. The weapon hangar technicians will almost always die as the endless attackers swarm the institute.

• Firing Range: 2 hostages
• Simulant Training Center: 1 hostage
• Upstairs Offices: 4 hostages

Retrieve experimental weapon (A/SA/PA)

This is found in the firing range and is protected by unbreakable glass. However, to get it, you'll need to interact with the terminal next to it which is only active once you've completed the previous objective. The glass shatters, and then you can collect the RC-P120.

Destroy sensitive information (PA)

In Carrington's office, there is a safe on the wall containing sensitive info to be destroyed. The easy way is it take the Devastator that Grimshaw gave you and blow it up from the outside.  If he didn't drop it for you, whip out your wrist laser and use the short-range beam to open the cover. You don't have to cut it James Bond style a la the Train, all you have to do is laser it and it will pop off.  Finish it off with the beam and Objective Completed. Watch you back however, because dataDyne troops will often converge on your location at an alarmingly fast speed if you become complacent.    

• Tip: Completing Area 51: Escape, and letting Jonathan escape with Elvis, will cause him to appear outside of Carrington's office to help keep dataDyne's finest off your back. This will more often than not buy you the precious few seconds you need to destroy the info, but note that even Jonathan himself will become overwhelmed after a short while, if you are not fast enough, although his death will not affect the outcome of the mission.    

Deactivate bomb (A/SA/PA)

Realising the weight of resistance, the Skedar attempt to rig their Dropship, with a bomb, in the courtyard. If you know where the HoverBike was, then this shouldn't be hard. What makes this tricky is that the Skedar (disguised as Mr. Blondes) line the walkway, along the way, and a visible timer will display; Failure to do so will cause the explosion and a mission failure.

Use your RCP-120 to chew through the aliens and navigate to one side of the spacecraft then use your Data Uplink. The ship will then lift-off and fly out of range, before exploding.

Escape (A/SA/PA)

Complete the mission by making your way back into the Hangar, where the last ship awaits. Enemies will keep spawning however, so move quickly, or else you will be killed. Quickly run back up the walkway and past the ramp, leading up to the ground floor, and into the hangar.

Gallery

Bloodsoaked entrance N64

Prototype weapon N64

Conflict in the courtyard N64

Cheese

Like in the free range of Carrington Institute and the bonus mission The Duel. the cheese is located on the balcony. But sadly you can't open the door to the balcony. But there is a way to find it it's kinda tricky but here is what you do.

First off this is what you need. (You need access to the slayer in the firing range before you can do this)

1.Hover Crate

2.Firing Range

3.Slayer

Ok so this is what you do. First you make your way down to the hanger and collect the Hover Crate then make your way up to the main floor. Go to the Firing Range open the door and let go of the Hover Crate right at the door so it blocks it from shutting. Make your way to the transparent door back up slowly so you can block that door from shutting (make sure you are in the room enough to access the weapon menu). now for the fun part use the Slayer (on Bronze so you have more time) switch the mode to Fly-By-Wire  guide the missile outside the Firing range (hold A during the process of Fly-By-Wire or this won't work) you then should see windows to the outside were the hoverbike is located. Go out a window and then guide the missile down and you should see the Cheese.

Cheese

Cheese spotted again

Leaderboard Crown

"Run & Gun" - To earn this Crown, you must complete Objective 1 (Reactivate automatic defenses) and Objective 2 (Rescue hostages) in under 90 seconds (1:30), then finish the level without using the RC-P120's Cloak on Perfect Agent difficulty. Note however that you ARE allowed to use the Combat Boost item during this mission. This Crown, along with the Crowns for WAR! and 201% Completion, are the hardest Crowns to unlock in Perfect Dark.

This Crown cannot be unlocked in Solo missions, and even if you have 2 controllers, it is virtually impossible to complete both objectives in under 90 seconds by yourself, meaning that this is the only mission where you need another human player to play with you (be it through Split-Screen, System Link or Xbox Live) to unlock the Crown.

When in the mission, the best guide is as follows (DO NOT USE THE CLOAK AT ANY TIME DURING THIS MISSION):

Player 1: When the mission begins, make a mad dash down the ramp to complete Objective 1 (Reactivate automatic defenses). See the walkthrough above for a detailed explanation on how to go about this objective. Keep in mind that it will help to walk diagonally while moving, as speedrunners do this to increase their movement speed. While tackling the objectives, watch out for enemy guards, as they all posses K7 Avengers and can kill you unreasonably fast if they can hit you. After finishing the objective, you can return to the main lobby to complete Objective 3 (Retrieve experimental weapon) or stay near the landing pads to complete Objective 5 (Deactivate bomb). keep in mind that if you choose to go for Objective 3, Player 2 must have rescued all other rooms of hostages before the door to the experimental weapon unlocks.

Player 2: When the mission begins, make a mad dash forward to complete Objective 2 (Rescue hostages). Keep in mind that Foster's Lab (the target range where you receive the RC-P120) will be locked until you've cleared out all other training rooms. Your Boost item will be imperative here. First, move towards the Combat Training room. Use a Combat Boost, enter the room, and quickly kill the guards. Keep in mind that any boosts you use will also effect Player 1 in a similar fashion, and vice-versa. If you are fast enough, the elevator closest to the training room will be open and ready to pick you up. Board the elevator and ride it to the top, your Boost should be either very low or gone by this point. If so, use your second boost to clear both the Gadget Training room and Hacker Central in one go. After this, the target range should be unlocked. You can either wait for Player 1 to finish, and (s)he can clear the room while you wait upstairs to complete Objective 4 (Destroy sensitive information), or you can clear the room yourself.

Either way, both players should be finished at this point and if both objectives were completed in under 90 seconds (1:30), you're both good to go and can finish the mission at your leisure. One player must get to the target range to possibly save Foster and his assistant, as well as retrieve the RC-P120. One player must also go upstairs to destroy the sensitive information in Carrington's office (See Walkthrough). Both of these are easier said than done however, and lots of practice may be necessary.

After this, Carrington will inform you that a bomb has been delivered to the institute, which prompts another time limit to achieve. This is the hardest part of the mission, not only because the bomb disposer needs several seconds uninterrupted with the Data Uplink, but also because enemy guards spawn very close to the bomb's location. As a result, teamwork, trial-and-error, and a lot of luck is needed to overcome this. Once the bomb is disarmed, run like mad towards the Jumpship parked in the hangar to complete the mission. Keep in mind that only one player needs to reach the Jumpship to complete the mission.

(NOTE: While it's not required, before you start the mission it is highly advisable that you beat Area 51: Escape in the manner which has Jonathan show up and protect you while you destroy the sensitive information for Objective 4, as the precious seconds he will buy you can mean the difference between success and failure in completing this mission.)

Strategies

• There is a trick to cause enemies from appearing when trying to complete the mission. This can be done when Grimshaw hands Joanna a Devastator. There are specific spawn points around the Institute where enemies will spawn. One of them is located at the square corner area at the top of the ramp where Joanna starts her mission, and the other is at the front door to Joanna's office. If Joanna fires the Devastator at the center of one of these areas, a random guard will appear and die immediately. This trick will prevent guards from spawning and gives the player less difficulty to complete the mission, especially on Perfect Agent.

Glitches

This glitch can only be done when playing Counter Co-Operative mode with Joanna and the second player as the Enemy. At the beginning of the mission, in the room where Foster and Potts are in, there is a glitch where the player controlling Joanna open the door to the firing range and must run a certain distance away (as the player controlling the enemy cannot open doors that have the hostages in). The second player, as the enemy, can now enter the room (this only works if the enemy player enters the room). Once the enemy player is in, they can witness Foster and Potts fighting against the two dataDyne brutes and that neither side can hurt each other. The windowed glass has also not been shattered, and the player controlling the enemy cannot harm either side. However, they can still shoot both the dataDyne brute's shield off. After a certain time has passed, the glass will shatter and both sides can take damage from there on. Though, the enemy player can only friendly fire their allies, and not the hostages.

Weapons

• K7 Avenger
• AR34
• Devastator
• Laser
• Data Uplink
• RC-P120
• Falcon 2
  • Dropped by Institute employees (if fallen)
  • Dropped by enemies (if their K7 Avenger was disarmed)

Trivia

• This is the only mission to show a white briefing screen with the mission status of "Unknown" and an agent status of "Missing" when successfully completed; as opposed to completing any other mission, where a green briefing screen shows the mission status and agent status as "Completed" and "Active" respectively. In 2 player co-op mode, these screens show up as the standard green upon victory.
  • The music that plays during this is also unique, not appearing anywhere else in the game, except for the warning screen that shows when a Controller Pak is not detected or being checked. It can also be heard in beta versions of the game.
• This mission is impossible to complete on Special Agent or higher difficulties if the "Enemy Rockets" cheat is activated because a rocket from a dataDyne Shock Trooper or CI Soldier will end up destroying a sentry gun and/or one of the terminals used to reactivate them, causing the player to fail the "Reactivate automatic defenses" objective.