Tips for Beating Specialist Cross in Prototype

In Mission Eight: Errand Boy, you're lured into a trap by Karen Parker. She sends you to the hive to collect genetic material and, shortly after you arrive, your Specialist Cross - the hunter that Blackwatch has sent after you - drops in. Oh, don't worry, there's no way to avoid it. You just need to man up and fight him.

Low Down on the Fight

If you haven't finished the mission before, here's what you can expect.

The fight develops through three phases. In the first phase, it's just you and Cross. No one else to get in the way, or to give you the life you might need.

After Cross loses about a third of his health, he'll retreat a bit and a horde of infected will burst out of the walls. Once you kill most of them, Cross will jump back into the action and the infected will slowly spawn as well. This is a great chance to regenerate any lost help, and the few straggling infected can be consumed for life as the fight goes on.

After Cross loses another third of his life, he calls for reinforcements. Several groups of soldiers drop in and start shooting at you. After the initial wave, they get distracted by the remaining infected, but they'll occassionally turn to shoot at you.

Once you get Cross down to almost no life, the fight comes to an end and he retreats out of the hive.

Now the trick is to figure out how to drain his life that far...

Avoid the Blue Wand of Doom

The most important thing to remember is avoid the big blue wand of doom. Whenever Cross is holding this mysterious blue tazer, he'll be able to unleash a lot of damage on you. If you get too close and he engages you in hand to hand, you're gonna be hurtin. Or, if you simply try to attack him with a flying kick or grab him in a grapple, you're gonna be hurtin.

When you see the blue wand, keep at a safe distance.

Attack When the Wand Goes Away

Captain Cross will go through a little routine, where he shoots some grenades at you and then stops to reload. If he's not shooting at you and you get too close, he pulls out the wand of doom.

The best time to attack him is after he's fired off a round of rockets, while he's reloading for the next batch. You'll generally have time for a flying kick or some other ranged attack. However, if you try to close in and fight hand-to-hand, he'll quickly pull out his blue laser weapon and beat the piss out of you.

Keep Your Distance - Use the Whipfists

I've found that the whipfist is best suited for this fight. Both claws and hammerfists require that you close on Cross and engage him in hand to hand - where he can quickly pull out his tazer.

With the whipfist, you can attack him but still be at a comfortable, safe range. If you time it right, you can get in a nice rhythm. You hit him, he stops shooting and pulls out his wand. He puts the wand away, you hit him, he falls and pulls out his wand. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It helps if you can keep at a medium distance, so that you're out of range of his melee attacks but quick enough to attack with a whipfist as soon as he puts away his tazer.

Be Patient, Use Your Surroundings

The key is to be patient. If you die, you start from the beginning. No fun.

So pull out your whipfist and shield, and avoid Cross' attacks. If you start getting low on health, run around and consume some of the extra baddies that are lying around.

The Cross fight can be really tricky at first, but once you get the timing down on when to attack him you'll find he's a lot easier to deal with.