Mission 8:
Universal Constructor
The Versalife building is crawling with policemen and augmented MJ12 agents, forcing JC to use a back entrance located at a nearby underground passage with a code given by Tong.
JC emerges in Versalife's Level 3 Labs, and disables several security robots and personnel before prepping the Universal Constructor for overload. He also discovers that Versalife has filled a superfreighter with a shipment of Grey Death, and is planning to spray it over populated zones in America. Daedalus informs him that a secondary exit will open up once he destroys the machine.
When JC arrives at the bottom floor, he is confronted by Chow, who rails at him for disrupting her plans. She rushes at him with a Dragon Tooth's Sword, but JC easily takes her down and overloads the Constructor. A massive explosion goes off and Daedalus informs him that production of the virus has ceased. JC swims out through a series of maintenance tunnels, and Tong tells him about a reference in the virus encoding to the Illuminati.
JC stops by the temple in the Wan Chai Market to cement the alliance between the Red Arrow and Luminous Path. He presents the sword to Gordon Quick and Max Chen, who say a pact of unity and thank the agent for his work cementing the peace.
Back at Tong's office, JC finds out that Paul has arrived. Paul tells him that people are starting to be fired from UNATCO en masse, and Gunther is in the field hunting for JC. Jaime has also arrived and gives JC an augmentation upgrade canister as a gift from the old office.
Tong tells JC that the superfreighter is already on its way to the U.S. He also says that the Illuminati are real and in hiding. He offers to help JC find two of the former leaders, Morgan Everett and Beth DuClare, through an intermediary named Stanton Dowd. They also discuss the identity of Daedalus - Tong believes that it's either an artificial intelligence or a hacker posing as one.
Jock lands his helicopter in the courtyard, and Tong tells JC to head to New York and meet Dowd. Before he leaves, JC talks with Alex about creating a cure and hopes they will be able to manufacture enough for the population.
JC gets onboard Jock's helicopter and they head back to New York...
Tropes:
- Arbitrary Skepticism:
- JC has learned that the UN is a front for MJ12 (who have a base in the sewers and kidnap people), encountered Grays, learned of the existence of a machine that can just make just about anything desired and just been attacked by mutant monsters. After all this, he thinks Tong is making a poorly-timed joke when the latter says The Illuminati are real.
- The drunk patron in the Old China Hand bar will respond with extreme skepticism (outright stating that it's "impossible") when JC informs him that peace between the Triads has been made official.
- Chekhov's Gunman: If Jaime was told to join the resistance in Hong Kong, he will finally appear in Tong's base after the Constructor is destroyed and give JC an augmentation upgrade canister (similar to the ultimately-bugged out Ford Schick example in New York, which would have occurred in the mission after this).
- Dare to Be Badass: Of the two ways to re-enter Versalife, carving a path through the front door of the building (and taking on multiple MJ12 troops that have been specifically installed to impede your progress), as JC and Tong discuss beforehand, is the only way to earn skill points in the runup to visiting the Level 2 labs, and is only awarded once you reach the elevator going down to said area.
- Deus Exit Machina: The killswitch mainly serves to remove Paul (if he wasn't killed in the hotel assault) from the plot, as he tells JC that he will be out of commission for several months while he rests up.
- Developer's Foresight:
- Tong actually has unique lines telling JC to get back in line with the plot if the player chooses to visit him instead of going to the temple to cement the alliance between Chen and Quick.
- In the event that you try to re-access the Level 2 labs via the "front door" access after destroying the Universal Constructor (at the point where you've already escaped and have no reason to get back there), the game will block your passage off by permanently closing a "lockdown door" located near the Level 1 computer where the Dragon's Tooth Sword schematics were accessed. That said, you can still access Level 3 through the "back door" entrance on Canal Road, in case you missed any of the loot within.
- Did Not Think This Through: In the event that she's still alive, and knowing that she is the only thing standing between JC and the destruction of the Universal Constructor, Chow elects to wait for him alone at the bottom of a room where there's only one entrance in or out (the ladder, not counting the affluent pipes that unseal when the Constructor is destroyed), wielding only a single melee weapon. Even worse, she chooses to antagonize him first by running up to him and stating hostilities, and doesn't even bother to use the two Spider-Bots that appear to have been installed specifically to act as security for the Constructor. No points for guessing what happens next.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Tong comments on how empty the Level 3 Labs are when the player finally gets to a computer that will let him access the UC schematics.
- Matter Replicator: The Universal Constructor, which can be used to synthesize or create whatever is programmed into the system.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Maggie Chow will show up at the MJ12 lab, scorn you and then state hostilities, nanosword in hand. You will likely get to shoot first. Some Women in Black are also seen with the nanosword as a weapon of choice, but since they are augmented they can soak up more damage and thus are much more dangerous.
- Overly Long Gag: Visiting Quick and Chen at the Lucky Money will lead to a very long gag, when alternating between questioning each of them, where they respond with thanks by offering bottles of wine one after the other, each with a more elaborate description.
- Permanently Missable Content: The rare Power Recirculator / Synthetic Heart augmentation (which either allows the player to significantly cut down on Bioelectric Cell usage, or boosts all installed Augmentations by a single upgrade level) can only be found in the Level 2 Labs, and if you pass it up while travelling through the lab (right before the ladder down to the UC controls) and leave Hong Kong afterwards, it's lost for good.
- Shout-Out: Tong's speech about the meaning of the number 17/23 and their relation to Adam Weinhaupt in the sewers is lifted almost word for word from Illuminatus!.
- The Stoic: JC half-heartedly points out the flaws in Chow's Xanatos Gambit when she confronts him in front of the Constructor.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: After JC unravels her schemes, Maggie Chow (if she's not already dead) will try to kill him in the UC building. While the character in question is supposed to be good in unarmed and weapon martial arts (and wielding a nano-tech sword), JC (her target) is a highly trained government Super-Soldier, and is (most likely) armed to the teeth with various high tech weapons.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Paul (if he's still alive) tells JC that Simons has taken control of UNATCO and begun firing senior employees (including Sgt's Kaplan and Berry) while replacing them with his own hand-picked men.
