Avalon (preface)

Avalon is the first map of Unreal 2: The Awakening single player. It is a set of tutorial levels. The file names of these maps are TutA.un2 and TutB.un2. There will be only one real opponent to fight in this set of levels. The B section of the tutorial can be skipped. Before starting the game, you are allowed to choose the difficulty setting. It will affect the weapon fire and defence of your opponents, but nothing else. When the level is loaded, a cutscene is shown.

Cutscene
The first cutscene displays the Odyssey IV planet and TCA Atlantis floating in space near the panet. The ship flies past the camera, and the following logo is displayed:

"Unreal 2: The Awakening"

- The first words of the single player campaign

Soon after the logo fades out, the docking bay doors of TCA Atlantis opens and a dropship flies out of the main ship. The main engines start, and the dropship flies down to the earth-like surface of Odyssey IV (the Terran Colonial Authority headquarters appear to be in a place that looks very familiar to Earth's Turkey). The cutscene ends, a new map is loaded, and another cutscene starts.

This cutscene now allows you to pause the game. The action now takes place on the surface of Odyssey IV. The camera is first centered on one of the oceans of the planet. The dropship seen earlier appears from the sky and flies towards the mainland. The camera follows the ship, and the following information appears on the screen:

"Oddysey IV, Terran Colonial HQ"

- Place description

The camera now centers on one of the towers of the building the dropship was flying to. Sector Commander Hawkins can be seen working on the other side of the window. Seconds later, John Dalton walks in the room. A dialog starts. "Dalton: Commander Hawkins! Sir! Hawkins: Good to see you, Dalton. I'll get right to the point. Your request for reinstatement in the marines has been denied... again. I know you're disappointed, but we can try again in six months. Dalton: Can't I buck it up the line? Hawkins: I've spoken with General Drexler personally... It was no-go. Dalton: Damn. Hawkins: When you return to your ship, you'll have a new pilot. He's a Hex-Core alien named Ne'Ban. We got him in an officer exchange program. He's some kind of muckety-muck on his home planet and the brass want him kept away out of harm's way. You've got the quietest patrol, so you're it. Dalton: I'm getting mighty tired of babysitting the ass-end of nowhere! Hawkins: The Colonial Authority isn't so bad, John. We don't see as much action as the Marines, but our tradition of service is just as strong. Dalton: Save it for the recruits, Sir! I know the score. Hawkins: Stow it, Dalton. We've got a new refresher course set up in the basement. Either give it a run or get back to your ship. Dismissed."

- The first dialogue

The dialogue ends here, and you get the control of John Dalton. From here, you get the ability to save the game.

Terran Colonial Authority HQ
Sector Commander Hawkins asks you a question:

You now have two options of sentences to say: 1 - Tutorial or 2 - Return to ship. It is suggested that you answer to take the tutorial or you will skip a training level. You answer:

Commander Hawkins say:

Either way, you will get the following message two times: "F4 - New Objective"

- HUD

If you open your objective log, you will see that you have these objectives: "[Incomplete] Go to the elevator (1) [Incomplete] Run through the TCA training program (2) [Incomplete] Return to the ship"

- Objective log

Close the log and look around. You are in the tower of the TCA headquarters, with 3 more creatures in the room. One of them is Sector Commander Hawkins you just talked to. If you talk to him again, he just drops the same line you would get if you answered to go to the ship to his first question. Another human here is a Heavy marine. If you talk to him, he will salute you and say: "Glad you could drop by, Marshal."

- Marine

The last creature here is a technician Kai. If you try to talk to it, you will only hear some hissing, probably in Kai language. You can take a look at the middle screen in the control room. It is displaying the Planetary Cannon that protects Odyssey IV from enemy attacks.

You have no other way to take than through the door you saw yourself coming in in the first place. Walk through and down the stairs, where you will meet two more marines, this time light, patroling the area. You can look around the area. You will see that you are on an open platform with a good view of the surface. If you went to the back of the platform, you would see the Planetary Cannon you saw a few moments ago on the screen, as well as your own dropship. You might consider throughly looking at the landscape while you're here so you would be prepared when you get back to Avalon after your journeys. After you're done admiring the view, go down the stairs and try not to fall off as it means a certain death. You will soon reach another light marine equipped with a Combat Assault Rifle and the elevator. Walk in and you will get the following message: "F4 - Objective Complete"

- HUD

Now press the button inside the elevator to activate it. You are taken down, and seconds later another level loads. If you chose to take the tutorial, read on. If not, go to the second level.

Terran Colonial Authority HQ, Tutorial
You start the level in the elevator. It is still going down. A few seconds later, it stops and the door opens. Walk through to a corridor with doors to the left. There is nothing interesting up ahead than a few crates that you can mantle on, and a few windows to see the area you are going to. Go through the door, and Raff will greet you:

Raff will enter something to the terminal on his desk and start the tutorial.

While talking, Raff will open the door behind the desk for you. Walk in. In the cage in the otherwise empty room a hologram of Raff will appear.

A scanner at the top will be activated and will do a scan of your inventory. You will be surprised with one of those in a level later on. After the scan is done, Raff will continue talking.

Now Raff's hologram will change to something that looks like you, but acts like Raff. He will continue speaking.

Do as Raff said you to do. A small message will appear, telling you your current use key. Raff will continue talking.

You will get a list of options to say, just like when talking to Sector Commander Hawkins: 1 - Uh, can you hear me?, 2 - Let's get a move on. and 3 - Why am I talking to a hologram? Pick any number, it doesn't matter which. You will say:

You will get an answer:

Raff's hologram will disappear. You can see three doors in this room - one set of doors leads back to the control room, the second one is the ones you need to open, and you will use the third ones to get back after you passed the training. Use the small blue keypad on the wall to open the door and go in. You will receive a radio transmission.

You will get another message displaying your jump key. Jump over the blocks.

Simply stand next to the block and jump up. You will hear Raff again.

Another message displays your crouch button. But before crouching, look around. You'll see that there's an open area to the right of where you are standing. Go there and notice that one box is near a set of windows you could use to go in a fenced area. Jump on the crate, then mantle jump on the windows, walk in the fenced area and look inside a crate. You will see a some kind of a head in an open box, jump into it and take the head. You now unlocked a secret weapon course! Jump back through the fence or the window and continue. Crouch through the obstacle.

Use a blue keypad again and the big doors will open. Raff apears at another cage, but this time the cage open and Raff's hologram steps out. He says:

Now a panel containing a Dispersion Pistol opens, allowing you to take your first gun. As soon as you take it, the wall in front of you moves, revealing two 2D models of Krall, enemies seen in Unreal. Raff explains:

In this statement you might find a link with the release time of Unreal 2: it was a long time between the announce of Unreal 2 to the actual release, and the creators are Epic Games.

You might want to jump over the low fence and look around the empty area there. If you get close to the Krall, some kind of a force stops you from moving further. This collision hull is quite strange - if you keep going forward while looking upwards, you'll eventually reach the top, and then fall down. Notice that there are four more walls, all of which have these collision hulls.

Shoot at a Krall with your primary fire. A green light above their heads will light up, and Raff will say:

Use the alternative fire. Raff now says:

The same scene occurs, only now you get the Combat Assault Rifle. Near the fence you can snag an Assault Rifle clip which respawns - the only respawning piece of ammo you will see in the single player mission. Shoot at the model of a Brute with the primary fire. You will see that your Dispersion Pistol doesn't work here. Raff now says:

Do as Raff said, and he will say:

Take out the Grenade Launcher and shoot the Predators, which were originally created by Legend for Unreal - Return to Na Pali. Raff continues his speech:

Shoot with the Incendiary grenades. Using the timed grenades makes it a lot harder task, so use the tap fire. Raff now tells you:

Raff opens the doors and walks inside. But wait - you saw 4 target doors! And only 3 were opened. What lies beyond the last door? If you picked up the head from a box earlier, you will see that the last doors opened, but Raff didn't notice that. There is a pair of Nali standing there. When shot, they will say something like "Habouji!" or "Oboudah!". Each nali has it's own 2 sounds, but the sounds appear to be odd, and one sound was not in Unreal.

When you're done, follow Raff and your weapons will be taken. You are now about to start a deathmatch! Take the items you see in front of you, including a Combat Assault Rifle, Dispersion Pistol, Grenade Launcher, a pack of Incendiary grenades, four Assault Rifle clips and a pack of Fragmentation grenades, and go through the doors, while Raff tells you more about it:

Take your Combat Assault Rifle and get ready for an Unreal Tournament-styled Deathmatch action, with Unreal 2 addition of armor pickups. The fight shouldn't be too hard. Raff can even kill himself with Incendiary grenades. The arena itself is simple, including some pickups for all the weapons you have and some health and energy pickups. Crates and columns enable you to hide, but it's not too useful overall. The arena here could be compared to UT2004's DM-TrainingDay. Once you get five frags, Raff will congratulate you and will offer another match. You can try it if you wish. If you want to move on, decline.

Raff will reply:

Your weapons will be removed and you can go out. You will see a blue Shield station and a yellow Health station, which you should step on to recharge. You will also see another fenced area here, with a few crates that look close enough to jump through. It's not true, as you can't mantle on the fence nor the wire. After you've recharged (the shield station is quite short on power, so it might not give you all of your shield back), go through the exit to the first room and back to the control room. Raff greets you there:

Raff refers to the Liandri Grand Tournament, the main object of all the Unreal Tournament series. No Capture the Flag maps on Avalon have ever been officially created though.

With these words the level ends. You automatically return to your ship. A cutscene follows.

Cutscene 2
In this cutscene, the track PD_AVALO.ogg is played. A dropship rises off the planet's surface, and flies to TCA Atlantis. When it reaches the docking bay, John Dalton turns off the main engine and enters the spaceship. TCA Antlantis flies away from Odyssey IV.

Next (Sanctuary)