Call of Duty 4: How I beat "One Shot Kill" on Veteran

Call of Duty 4 on Veteran is getting insane! Three bullets and you are reading an obscure quote on the nature of war.

My most recent conquered nemesis in this game was the "One Shot Kill" level. Making the actual kill is fun, but after that, it gets incredibly hard. Here's my experience with the end of this whacked-out level.

First off you find yourself in a parking lot near some apartment buildings. You have a sniper rifle and a pistol. There are high-radiation zones on all sides, and there are dudes pouring out of buildings and helicopters coming from all sides to kill you.

It took me around 30 tries (no, seriously, 30 tries) to figure out that my best bet was to run to the right through some bushes to find some school buses, wait for three guys to come running between a gap between the buses and a building and pop 'em. Then run toward an apartment building marked by your compass, taking your chances at no-scoping a couple of guys as you sprint for the doorway.

Checkpoint. (*whew*!)

You run through the ground floor of the apartment building to emerge in a courtyard. An event happens (awesome, but I don't want to spoil it) and your partner is now left without the use of his legs. You now have to work your way toward the rendezvous site by carrying him a little ways, dropping him strategically, fighting some baddies and moving on. This part isn't too bad -- you go through an outdoor area and then through another apartment building with a couple of checkpoints in-between.

Then it gets really ugly.

You exit a building into an area where a travelling amusement park has been abandoned. You set your partner down as indicated on your compass and run about setting claymores to prepare for an onslaught.

You may have an automatic weapon now, but you really only need a sniper rifle and pistol for this part. It is extremely difficult. I found that placing a line of claymores CLOSE to your sniping position on the Ferris wheel (within the line of abandonded cars) helps immensely. (Thanks to The Evil Dad for this tip!) Take out as many baddies as you can at a distance, letting the claymores take out any that get close. You may have to revert to a pistol if anyone gets through the line of claymores, but if you are a fast shot and take out as many people in the distance as possible, you can do it.

And seriously -- having the claymores close in makes all the difference. When I first tried this part of the level, I had them out at the fence (about 50' out) and was getting killed all the time.

You kill the last guy and *Checkpoint*.

As you wipe your brow, your lame (in more ways than one) partner shouts out "Choppers comin'! Get ready."

Four or five helicopters fly in dropping four soldiers each and another 8-10 soldiers come running out of the apartment buildings. You can try to pick off some of the soldiers in the air as they drop down their rope lines, but you'll get eight of them at most due to the way the helicopters enter the area. In the main battle area, there is no safe place to hide. Most, if not all, of your Claymores have detonated. This is where it gets ugly.

I discovered that the only way I could finish this part and survive was to take the chicken's way out. Here's what I did:

From the checkpoint, I ignored the incoming helicopters, ran out into the middle of the battle area and exchanged my pistol for a sub-machine gun. I then ran to the white picket fence and laid a line of C4 satchels all along it. Then I ran to the apartment building on the right (as you face away from the Ferris Wheel) and hid in an L-shaped corner where I could peek back at the fence.

As the helos arrived, I used my sniper rifle to pick off anyone I could seen from around the corner. (This is important -- you need to get rid of as many of these guys as you can.) I was really just waiting for the rescue chopper to come in, but this was the only place on the map I could find where I could get some decent cover and still take out some bad guys. You end up sniping about 15 guys in and around the fence and bumper car arena. They will occasionally barrage you with grenades, but you are almost completely safe from them if you stay tucked around the corner when you see the grenade icon.

As soon as the rescue helo dropped, I switched to my C4 detonator and blasted everyone hanging out near the fence. (Remember those satchel charges?) I switched to my SMG and made a run for the helicopter, taking out any remaining bad guys between me and the helo that the Marines might have missed. After taking a brief, healing rest, I ran to my partner, picked him up for the last time and made a bloody, blind run for the helo.

*Checkpoint* and end of the chapter.

So far this has been the hardest level I think I have ever played in any videogame. I was so frustrated with the first wave of enemies (where you set the claymores) that I took a 20 day sabbatical from the game's Campaign! I was dumbfounded when I hit the checkpoint for it last night and realized the battle wasn't over.