Zero Dark Thirty is the 11th level in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It takes place in a bombed out city, and involves a lot of close quarters fighting. The Scalar Weapon also makes its second appearance in this level, wiping out most of a US Army Task Force and the Russian forces defending the weapon and all electronics in the area.
Synopsis
This section contains spoilers for
Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
The level starts in a jungle, near an unnamed city. Bravo-Two Charlie moves out towards a city after discovering from a Russian patrol that Kirilenko was in the harbor, passing a supply crate on the right when the Scalar Weapon begins its detonation sequence, making the same noise heard earlier in Operation Aurora. The squad comes up on a group of Militia defending the area, with a shielded KORD emplacement. They engage the enemy soldiers and once they are down, the squad advances through the city, but are ambushed by another shielded HMG and an RPG soldier on a cream-colored building to the left of the HMG, along with a couple of soldiers on the ground. Marlowe kills them off, and detonates an explosive barrel near the HMG's house to bring it down.
The squad then advance into a marketplace, where multiple hostiles attack them. An M95 is available on the ground at the entrance to the market, and proves very useful against the soldiers on far away buildings. Once the hostiles are eliminated, the squad descend a steep set of stairs, seeing a few Militia retreating towards the canals as Haggard tells them off. However, this is just a trick, as the enemy begin shelling the squad with mortars. As the mortars rain in, the squad rushes from embankment to embankment to stay out of the mortar's line of sight. They reach the canal and the mortar gives up, ceasing fire.
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As the squad advance through the canals, they are attacked by enemy snipers and riflemen in an unfinished building over the canal. Once the squad advances past the building, a large force of Russians will attack them, including 2 Vodniks and several soldiers armed with AN-94s and T194 shotguns. Once most of the soldiers are down, Preston grabs the nearby RPG to take out the Vodniks. One shot to the side armor kills each of them. The squad then advances under a bridge, where an ammo box is available to resupply with ammunition.
As the squad advance from under the bridge, two Mi-24 Hinds fly over the squad and deploy four elite soldiers from each helicopter. These soldiers are dangerous compared to the normal "grunt", but are very useful, as they use more advanced weaponry that the squad can use, such as SCAR-Ls with scopes and F2000s with a Red Dot Sight. However, two abandoned buses create a choke point, and so the soldiers can be easily killed with a USAS-12 or a 40mm Grenade. The visibility after this point degrades, until Preston reaches a sewer tunnel, where a second set of Russians breach the door at the opposite end and throw in a Flashbang. After they are killed, Bravo-Two moves through.
Once they exit the tunnel, they find a squad of Russian soldiers waiting to ambush the squad on the other side of a canal with rushing water. Once they are taken out, the squad crosses the rushing water over the debris cluttering it and advances into the final part of the canal. Once Marlowe runs over a ramp of debris, a glowing M939 Truck smashes through the road barriers at the far end of the canal, and Marlowe must take it out quickly or hide under it by shooting the grate out in the middle of the canal. Once the truck is destroyed, the squad advance up out of the canal, and up to the side of a river. After this, a cutscene will play where the Scalar Weapon detonates, obliterating the US and Russian forces as it destroys all electronics in the area through its EMP it sets off. Haggard and Sweetwater nearly give up after seeing the power of the weapon, but Preston convinces them with the help of Redford to finish the job as they are the last people available to save their country before Kirilenko detonates the Scalar Weapon over the US, obliterating the power grid and all forms of communications.
M-COM Locations
| Image | Information |
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After passing the first ammo resupply crate and dealing with the first attackers of the level, there will be two small wooden huts in front, just to the left of these, hidden in the bushes at the base of the rock face, is the first M-COM. |
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Survive the mortar fire and head toward the canal. Once there turn left and face down the canal, the second M-COM on the right hand side of the canal floor. |
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After heading further down the canal and defeating the snipers in the building, head under it to see a yellow bus. Fend off the wave of enemies, and go under it. The M-COM is again on the right side of the canal floor, just past the bus. |
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After going through the hole in the wall and being blinded, exit and the final M-COM station will be on the left |
Related Achievements and Trophies
The following achievements/trophies can be completed on this mission.
| Image | Name | Criteria | Gamerscore | Trophy type |
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Save me some cheerleaders | Campaign: finish Zero Dark Thirty | 15 G | Bronze |
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Complete Blackout | Campaign: destroy all satellite uplinks | 50 G | Silver |
Trivia
- This level is one of the most action-packed levels in the game, featuring mortar strikes, helicopter drops, and huge levels of fighting.
- When the Scalar weapon was detonated in the game's opening level, it created a huge tsunami that ultimately killed the American commando force. However, no wave is created when the weapon is test fired at the end of this level, despite the fact it is detonated near a large harbour.
- Zero dark-thirty (usually pronounced "oh-dark-thirty") is a term used mostly by military personnel to describe a non-specific early morning hour (typically still dark outside), usually in reference to having to wake up or do something at an unreasonably early hour of the morning. Taken literally, it means half-past midnight (00:30).
- During the mortar strikes, if you just run down, Sarge will still shout Go! even though the mortars are bombarding the place.
- Before proceeding down the walkway, there are three paramilitary, one on the building, while the other one down the road. The other one, on the high building to the left. It is possible to kill them before the bombardment starts, but if ignored, they will simply run away.
- When player approaches to the outskirts of the city (when meeting the first group of enemies) he can find two militiamen smoking and listening to radio. The music played by radio is Profecia by MC Magico.
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