Same SETTINGS as before: I change the GAME SETTINGS under the main title options to the following: Bullet Cam = no Then, when you start a new game, I change CONTROLLER SETTINGS to Turn Speed = Max, Motion Center = no

So here it is, my favorite chapter in the game! Why is it my favorite chapter? Is it because story, characters, and set pieces are so expertly refined? No, it's because we're going to go very fast through a chapter that is meant to be kind of slow.

CHAPTER 6.1

Now, the intended path for this section is as follows: we are supposed to shoot open a locked gate, make our way to the far right side of the film lot, talk to some officers pinned down by sniper fire, receive a key to open a door back on the other side of the map, head back there, fight our way through a set, cross a raised walkway to arrive behind the sniper, and shoot him.

Yeah, we'll do SOME of that....

YIPPEE KI-YAY SKIP So here's what we're going to do: we are going to use the low-poly curve of the center of the barrier to get to an inaccessible ledge, then we are going to use that to jump across to another inaccessible ledge, and then we will jump from that ledge to the raised walkway mentioned above. In order to do most of that, however, we'll need to discuss two exploits in a little more detail. The first exploit, encountered as you jump from inaccessible ledge A to inaccessible ledge B, is the elusive MASH JUMP.

MASH JUMP Here's where marathon runs go to die. This exploit only appears a few times in the run, but it is without a doubt the most difficult trick in the game. The reason it is so difficult is because the exploit is frame perfect: basically, when McClane's jump is almost-but-not-quite high enough to clear an obstacle, his movement will "stutter" as he contacts the obstacle. You can imagine the edge of his hit box just grazing the edge of the object, but not quite overcoming it. Well, by pushing jump at the exact frame of his grazing the edge, you can force a jump -- and that's what we do here. The video above is the result of about twenty attempts at the exploit, where during that time I successfully pulled off the exploit only two times. Obviously marathon runners will need to practice. My main advice for pulling off this trick is to use your muscle memory from and your technique in old NES wrestling games that required the player to mash a button faster than their opponent; for me, I grip the controller with my left hand and vibrate my right hand on the jump button. You might have some other trick that you use. Regardless, if done correctly, you will be atop inaccessible ledge B and ready to attempt the next exploit, EDGE STICKING.

EDGE STICKING Now that you've arrived on inaccessible ledge B, you'll note that you are still not able to access the raised walkway due to a vertical ledge that bisects the horizontal ledge. However, not all hope is lost. Here we are going to exploit a quirk in McClane's auto-jump to leap past the vertical ledge while still sticking to the general area of the horizontal ledge. This is done by pointing the reticle so that McClane is never facing away from the ledge, but we use the movement stick to sort of lean out enough for the auto-jump to trigger. Do this correctly and McClane will seemingly cling to the vertical ledge as he jumps around it. Pretty cool, right?

Whew. Now that you've made it to the raised walkway -- and saved about a minute and a half from the intended path -- it's time to finish the level. Though we are supposed to make our way through the offices to walk up beside the sniper, we instead use a crouch-jump to land in the first window we come to, then shoot the sniper from there. You'll note that I holster my weapon and walk backwards as I fall from the window -- this is to ensure that McClane doesn't auto-jump into the air and kill himself. Instead, we fall from the window to one of those irregular objects below, which safely lets us continue on. Notice that I un-holster mid-air, too; by doing this we can be ready to move as soon as we touch down.

From here, the strategy is simply to find the best way to kill enemies. The route I take seems to work pretty well -- but you may find your own path. Regardless, once we have saved the officers, we make our way toward the section's exit.

CHAPTER 6.2

Pay attention during the loading screen here. Notice the image of the section we are entering? Well, take a good look, because we aren't going to be seeing ANY of that. Like 6.1, the developers intended us to take a particular path: we are supposed to attempt to cross a movie set, be forced to down a fake tree, cross that tree, shoot some enemies, deal with a hostage situation, and then exit the set to arrive at a back lot.

Only this time all we're going to do is turn around and walk back out the door into a section you'll recall from 6.1.

You see, back before you ended 6.1, you entered a door beside a fence that showed the hint of a trailer. In fact, had we crossed that fence in 6.1 we would have found that the back area is blocked with a building; however, that is NOT so in section 6.2. You see, if we cross the fence now, we actually arrive in the location the game deposits us once we've exited the above-mentioned movie set. The only difference is: we save about twenty-five seconds doing it! Cool!

The rest of the stage is simply enemy routing. Here you'll note that I pick up an assault rifle prior to killing all of the enemies. I wish I wouldn't have. I think it would be best to shoot all of the enemies using the handgun, then pick up assault rifles while the boss, Nitro, is appearing. That way during the animation of readying the weapon you can be making your way to him. Regardless of route: shooty-shooty, pardner.