The original complete guide to mastering Alien Breed 3D II - The Killing Grounds was written by Dan Saeden. Note that Dan's E-mail address is of course subject to change. He has told me that he intends for his web site address to remain constant even though he may change ISP's, although it would seem that it has in fact changed.

This guide is all you'll ever need to conquer Alien Breed 3D II - The Killing Grounds! Read it and become a master at blasting aliens. Much of the information here is also accurate when playing the first game, Alien Breed 3D, the brilliant precursor to this exellent game!

Tactics
Weapons
Enemies
Stages
Final Words

1. Move a lot! The enemies will not be able to hit you if you run around the stage like a lunatic. Hold down the 'Shift' key to run, as much as possible. It is important that you master the strafe technique! Preferably use the "real" strafe keys (i.e. '.' and '/'. You could also use the "force strafe" technique ('Right Amiga'), but then you will have to keep up the finger work! Anyway, what's important is for you to take the corners, without loosing the view forward, and to always be prepared shold an enemy turn up and ruin you day. It's possible if you use the "strafe" keys to navigate a 90° corner without losing your front view if you do it in the right way (e.g., to take a 90° corner to the left in a small corridor, when turning press 'Left arrow' and '/' at the same time, and you will slide around the corner like never before and the front-view was clear all the time! Remebmer that practice makes perfect; don't give up!
2. Configure the control so that it fits you perfectly! I for example don't like jumping with '0', so I use '/' instead, since I think you get much better control in the air that way! Furthermore I use 'Del' and 'Help' to look up or down! It is very personal matter as to how one wants the controls configured. Experiment! The reward is perfect control over the game, and maximum playability!
3. If the ammo or energy should run out, play a couple of stages behind you again, or restart from scratch! You will notice that you have gained experince, and you will have fun playing stages with ease that you thought before were impossible. The result is more ammo and health!
4. You must learn every stage by heart. Where are the enemies hiding and how many are there? One tip is to start every new stage with running and fooling around as far as possible (i.e. until you die) the first several times to get a picture of the stage before taking on the task of completing it. Be sure you know were the "big and bad" enemies are, so that you don't get surprised and loose control over the situation.
5. Use the map! Let the map be your eyes when you cannot see whats in front of you. The map can also reveal secret rooms (i.e. walls that can be opened)! If you can't find a way of opening such a room, it's probably not a bonus room, but a room filled with horrible enemies that will open when you least expect it to (never forget such a room)!!!
6. If you thinketh game is to hard on you, you can play the 2 meg version! Ok, it might not be quite as good looking as the 4 meg, but it's easier. First of all, the cool lightning effects dissapear and the floors turn into one color and everything gets lighter. All this makes it easier to see what's in front of you! The best thing though, is that the gray and the green robots gets exchanged with the blue (easy) robots, which are all that is left! This will make playing the game a lot easier! The red robots with the assualt rifles are still there though. If you still can't complete a stage, then download AB3DII-Ed from Aminet. With this you can edit your saved games, and for example give yourself 10,000(!) in health.
7. Secure the areas you have been to. You have to be 100% sure that there are no enemies left behind! There is nothing worse than a red rodent from behind when trying to fight a priest! Avoid fighting against many enemies at once in a big open space. The best thing is to fight one enemy in a small area, where you are in full charge of the situation!
8. The enemies can't shoot you though walls, which may sound obvious, but it gives us the best technique when slaughering aliens, which is around corners! Use your strafe knowledge and take a peek around the corner, shoot and then back again! Ensure you're using the correct weapon, and be prepared to back up if the alien should come too close! Use the same technique with doors that are automaticaly closed! Often when you get hit by an enemy bullet, you are turned around a random number of degrees. It is important to be able to quickly straighten up and continue fighting in such a situation.!
9. The degree of difficulty seems infinite at the beginning, and is increasing (hmmm... bigger than infinity?!) until stage 8, to lower quite a bit, and then increase again until stage 15, where it is reallydifficult. When playing stage 15 you'll think that stage 3, which is very difficult the first time, is simple!
10. When opening a door or entering an unknown territory in any other way, you should back out of it right away. Many aliens seem to hear you and are standing there waiting for you! Back out quickly and be ready to squeeze the trigger! If you come out of a teleporter you can, when entering it, turn so that you come out of it at the best possible angle!
11. The jetpack can take you to places you've never seen before. Experiment and use the map (e.g. to find bonus rooms!). When flying, you may look up or down to get a better view.
12. For maximum effect, play the game on a dark autumn night with the wind blowing outside your window, in a completely black room. Turn down the brightness on your 28 inch tv and turn up the volume. Enjoy!!! You will loose the grip on the keyboard every time you bump in to an enemy! Oooky Spoooky...

Shotgun
Plasma/Tripple Plasma
Grenade
Assault rifle
Blaster
Rocket launcher
Laser/Mega Laser
Mines

A very good weapon. Make sure you always have ammo for the shotgun, since it's needed everywhere in the game. Use the fact that the bullets hit their targets immediately, and that the weapon aims automatically. Good "acute-weapon", i.e. have it ready when you don't know what's in front of you.

Quite slow, but very powerful! Most efficient in close up situations. It mashes your opponent fast! Use the triple plasma in emergencies, when hords of enemies are attacking. This too is a weapon you should always have ammunition for.

Together with the rocket launcher this is the most powerful weapon. Try to gather many aliens at one place then launch a grenade towards them for maximum destruction. Beware of the explosion as it will hurt you as well. If you look up or down you can control the grenade's flight in a better way. E.g. look up and the grenade will fly further away.

It's similar to the shotgun, only much faster. The best place to use the assault rifle is in small and narrow corridors where enemies rush towards you.

A weak, slow weapon. Fits best when you can hit the baddies and they can't hit you. Since you often have a lot of ammo for this gun, it is recommended to use it when you need to save your other ammo, or as a long distance weapon when it's hard to get a clean hit!

Powerful and fast! Goes in a straight line until it hits a wall or an enemy. Use it on the big and bad enemies. Be careful so that you do not launch a round straight into the wall in front of you in a stressful situation!

Mmmmm, you enjoy using this weapon. It kills most things in its way, and it does it quickly. Play Eraser and use the mega laser; nothing survives! Unless the ammo runs out... save up and only use in emergencies! The laser bounces on walls, which makes it a "tactics weapon". You can perform funny things with it. Observe that the Mega laser is very fast, but the standard laser is not. This really makes them two different weapons that are to be used differently!

A powerful explosive with a delay. Best tactic is to run in front of a door that is automatically opened when you pass and has hords of enemies behind it, and put a mine there. Hopefully you will kill every single baddie when it runs out the door chasing you! Beware of the explosion!

Arnie
Triclaws
Blue robots
Grey robots
Green robots
Red robots
Blue Insects
Yellow Insects
Red Insects
Floating ball of jelly with arms
Killer Bees
Inca priest
Spiders
The Boss

Cute little rodent... or...? Arnies favorite occupation is to gnaw and to howl! Give him a mine to gnaw and he will stop howling... hehe. Seriously, Arnie howls when he sees you. If you can hear him, but not see him, turn around quickly! Shoot him at long distances with the shotgun (one shot) or with the assault rifle (two shots)! Don't let him come near you. Sometimes he is impossible to hit when he is gnawing your leg...

This modest little creature can be a real pain in the rear. Use the shotgun to blow it away. But even though the shotgun aims pretty well, it can be really hard to hit. If it comes too close to you it will eat up your energy quickly... it has got three mouths. Beware of leaving one of these behind you... eventually it will find you!

There is not much to say about the blue aliens. Use as weak a weapon as possible (e.g. the blaster), to save up ammunition. Two shots from the shotgun is enough to kill the suckers. Use the strafe technique to avoid their shots.

They have shotguns and are very dangerous, as they can hurt you the moment they see you! Kill them fast. Use a powerful weapon if needed.

They aren't as dangerous as the greys, but quick! They shoot plasma shots, and many at a time! Use e.g. the shotgun from a far distance, and avoid their shots by strafing sideways, or by using a corner.

Red robots with headlights: Shit! Not good... One of these can kill even the most skilled player! If you see the corridor in front of you being lit up (not in the 2 meg verion), I suggest you RUN. The robots have automatic weapons that will hit you at once. And they shoot a lot too! If you use the strafe technique around a corner together with a weak weapon, it is almost impossible to avoid beeing hit! A well thrown grenade, or maybe a bazooka shot, and you will come home for dinner alive! If you stand in front of them, or try to strafe in front of them, you will be a red spot on the floor in a matter of seconds!

Like the blue aliens, only faster and they shoot more! At a very close distance they can be really annoying, so make sure you shoot them before they reach you! If you blow them full of lead they may sometimes have difficulties shooting back at you!

Whoops, you will wet you pants the first time you get blown away by one of these. They shoot very quickly, their shots take a great deal of your energy, and they spin you around 5¼ turns as well. Therefore you will have to shoot them before they can manage to throw a couple of rounds at you. Best put to death using a well aimed bazooka shot!

Shoot plasmaballs, and lots of em' if it sees you! Can only be found on two stages - D & O (I suppose that's good!).

This one shoots plasmaballs at you, and you should do the same thing against it. It will quickly float towards you, so be prepared for a closeup fight with lots of strafing. Watch out when you can't see the one you were just chasing... it might be just above you!

Can take a great deal of damage! Quick too. Try to throw grenades toward them (look up a bit) and get a rhythm. Plasma also works. If you get the right rhythm, the bee cannot shoot back. If not it will shoot cascades of plasmaballs toward you that may be hard to avoid (although strafing mostly works).

Dangerous fellows... They can shoot directly at you with no visible bullets, and their shots take a temendous amount of your life! Best way to avoid their shots is to stand in a narrow corridor, with the priest outside in an open area. He may then have difficulties aiming at you. He will hit the wall instead. If he sees you, he will shoot directly! Take him out with the rocket launcher, or with grenades if possible. Best though, is to avoid him completely and take another way (although this is not possible most of the time.

Like the yellow insects, but more agressive and shoot cascades of the powerful shots at you! There are only three of them in the entire game, but that's enough for me. The first one is quite simple to take out, but the next two are a bit more difficult! My technique was run, pull 20 mines (i.e. all I had at the time) out of my pocket and put them on the ground after me, run, bazooka a little here and a little there, waste all of my laser... in short: find out new things to do until they are dead (or more likely: you are dead.

Not Springsteen, but the grean mean bastard in the end of the game. He will throw hordes of bazooka shots at you when he sees you! Read more about him on the last stage.

Level A
Level B
Level C
Level D
Level E
Level F
Level G
Level H
Level I
Level J
Level K
Level L
Level M
Level N
Level O
Level P

This level shouldn't be too hard to manage. A good practice stage before the real stages. If you can't complete this one, you should go back to Tetris, level one ;).

Now the degree of difficulty increases strikingly! I have heard of many not making it beyond this stage. You must first take cover somewhere. Run to the left at once, after killing the first robots. You should come to a room in which you will find a robot and a rodent. Kill them (what else :) and wait for the enemies, then carefully go back to clean out the corridor. The next problem is the red robot. It can't go very far, so if you are a bit lucky you can quickly strafe in front of it and then back out again to the "entrance", where he can't see you. If you stand in front of it, it will splatter you, so don't do so! You might want to use the map for orientation on this stage. Remember that aliens like attacking from behind on stages designed like this one, so be on you guard!

Beware of the green jellyblobs that lurk behind the door! Open it and run like hell. They will probably come after you, so back off and shoot when they are approaching. Strafe to avoid their plasma balls. Insects are pouring out from the blue room! I think that it's best to stand in the corridor before the room and blast every son of a bitch that comes out of it. When no more come out, you just walk into the room until you see some more, and run back to your hideout! Then we have the priest left... You better avoid him completely. Stand in the corridor, so he can't shoot you. When you see him walking around the pedestal (he will stop attacking you!), wait a bit and then follow him. If you keep to the opposite side of the pedestal, he can't see you and thus does not shoot you. When you are at the back of it, jump up and grab the key and RUN towards the exit! Don't forget that there is a hidden door, and behind it loads of goodies. It is to the right of the little staircase inside the "maze".

The best technique is to try to gather every alien in a lump beneath your ledge and give then a grenade to chew on. It is almost impossible to not get hit by the fire from the robots. When Mr. Red appears, you may either stay upon the ledge, and try to shoot it when it pops up in front of you (it takes time; watch out for its bullets - it shoots quite a few), or run into the room and directly left (watch out for the teleports), where a door has opened. Grab the rocket launcher and blow it into small red slimy alien parts, hee hee =:).

Good, you made it here! Now things get harder. First of all, don't wait for the red robots. Instead quickly jump over the ravine. Get rid of all the trash and grab the first key. Now go stand next to the door that is farthest away from the starting point, with the yellow insects behind. Open the door and step aside. Be ready with the bazooka; fire if you should see an enemy. You don't have any time to think, so don't stand still too long, or you'll be barbeque! Don't waste your ammo, especially not on one of the triclaws, which are also in the room. Repeat the "side stepping" procedure until all three insects are dead. You'll now get the next key. In the next room you will find a door that is automatically opened when you pass in front of it. Loads of enemies are behind it and'll pour out of it (I bet you'll find it :). You should run in front of this door and place a mine outside. With any luck you'll kill all of the enemies in one big blam! After this, shoot the yellow insects with the bazooka, and locate the switch. Just beside it is a secret room filled with goodies! Pull the switch and seek cover in the secret room. From here you can fairly simply kill the two priests with grenades!

After the first teleporter, run to the "room". Stay here and try to kill your enemies, which will come to you! When finished, go to the next teleporter, but continue straight on, and then up the wall using the jet pack, and you'll find a nice place... You should use the assault rifle in the labyrinth. Learn to orient yourself and use the map. There are two red ones that may cause trouble, and an extra one in one of the rooms!

When you've shot the first robot, his buddies come to the rescue, and they're red with anger... Make sure you quickly run to the ventilator systems (duck to get through), don't worry about the buddies. Go shoot the generators, but don't get down in the lava, as you won't get up again! You can then relatively easily kill a lot of aliens from the tunnels. In the "last" room, shoot the green jelly things before you open their doors when pulling the switch! The last key is located on a ledge in the room closest to the switch; fly up there!

Look out to freedom for one nanosecond, and then await the enemies. Kill them all from the "start room". The bees have a lot of stamina; use the grenades and try to paralyse them! If you are very short of ammo, you could start the stage by running out and gathering as much as possible from the middle of the yard, and then returning home to the "base". There is a lot to pick up in this stage, so search carefully!

Now thing get a bit easier! Start off by walking straight forward as much as possible; there are no enemies in the first part of the stage. There are a lot of rodents here, so use the shotgun or assault rifle and make sure to kill every sucker before advancing! Don't just walk into a big room. Instead stand at a distance and try to blow the enemies to hell, also, let them come to you! Carefully search for small, and maybe hidden paths as there are quite a few of them (e.g. at the end of the stage, where you are about to jump over some walls, you can pull down a BIG wall, and in that way avoiding confrontation with some real bad guys! This is a stage where you should try to avoid as much as possible!

Take out the red robots with a grenade or the bazooka, otherwise you may get into trouble. When you take the green key, a door very close by opens and a red one gets out. Put a mine in front of the door before you quickly take the key! Kill the insect in the "elevator room", with a bazooka shot and aim carefully. There's also a "jelly" there, that seems to be stuck behind an elevator. Either you will have to wait it out, which may take a while, or just ignore it! With a little luck it won't see you! In the second part of the stage, the plasma gun is preferred. Don't forget the hidden room with the medipac, nor the water, as it's a sight you won't see everyday!

This is one of the hardest levels in the game! The stage is too symetrical, and thus it's very hard finding your way around it! Draw a map with all the rooms, keys and the way of doing everything, or have a look at Dan's below! Be careful, as soon as you take a key, new doors open and enemies ooze out. Be extra careful when you teleport somewere... the green key in the oval in the middle can be tricky the first time. Run around the big square in the middle once and the key will appear! You can kill the three priests with a lot of bazooka shots. You should stay and await the enemies in most rooms after taking a key. You will loose a lot of energy on this stage, but don't give up. You can complete it with a bit of practice and some luck! Just make sure you always know where all the bad guys are.

This is a battle arena! Start with collecting the ammunition and medipacs (of course), and then go try to shoot as many slimy aliens as possible from your ledge. Beware of bullets from far, far away. When you think you've mashed enough enemies, jump down and run around shooting everything that's moving. Now go for the tough bit. Place yourself on one of the platforms that are right next to the big one in the middle. You should now be halfway up compared to the one in the middle. Up there are two red robots and one spider! They can hardly ever see you where you stand right now! Quickly jump up into the slime. If you think you see an enemy right in front of you, fire a bazooka and something towards it! With any luck you'll hit the sucker. Time for a quick retreat! Stay down until the shots fired at you have all passed, and then repeat the procedure again until all three are dead. Never stay in the slime! You'll get badly hurt either by the enemies, or by the slime! The exit is in a tunnel in the middle of the slime. It will not open until all enemies are dead.

You can avoid a large part of this stage by doing it in this way: Start with going into the slime, straight ahead to the right (yes, I know, it stinks! =:). There are two important things here.

1. a teleporter
2. a key.

The key might be hard to find. Look up for a tunnel into the wall above you when walking around. When you've got the green key, teleport back and go into one of the tunnels right after the slime. You'll get a yellow key. Now head back to the start position and go straight ahead to the left. Here are two doors with yellow insects behind, that open by pressure sensitive buttons in the floor. If you sneak right next to the left wall, you can always avoid opening these doors! Take the red key, and walk back to the room before the slime. Here is the "exclamation mark" key to the right. Now you can open the door that is straight to the right from the start position. Beware of the priest! Never bother going to the left from the start, there's only trouble in there. By the way, charge up the jetpack before you exit the level as you'll need it soon!

Pretty tough stage, but there is a way of cheating. If you have a fully charged jet pack, you can avoid big parts of the stage! You shall fly up to the to ledges in the "silo". Otherwise you would have had to activate the elevator in the silo, and that requires more rooms to visit. With a little training, I don't think this stage should cause any trouble. You should do the stage this way (in order to "cheat").
  Start with cleaning out the enemies that are rushing from the tunnel in front of you. Then go down into the silo. Kill the baddies and teleport up again. Now fly to the higher ledge of the two in the silo. Take everything. Go down into the silo again and take everything here as well. Now fly up to the lower of the ledges, and once again grab all that you see. Now go straight ahead from the start, detroy the communication center, and wander onto the next level!

A very hard stage! Just as in the first Alien Breed 3D, stage 15 is very difficult to conquer. But only "almost". You can do it if you put your heart into it! There are four directions to choose from at the starting point:

1. "Two Spiders":  No tactics here, just run and waste all of your power weapons. You'll loose a lot of energy here, and most often die. That's why you should take this one first!
2. "Two killer bees":  The bees are a bit tricky. Run around a lot like a lunatic until they are both down at your level, otherwise they will hurt you a lot. Try to concentrate on one at a time, and paralyse it. With one dead, there should not be too much fuss about destroying the other one.
3. "Two killer insects":  In this room you'll bump in to two red insects, like the one at stage four. This means that they are really quick and they shoot a lot. Run to the left or right and in to a teleporter. You'll appear at the teleporter on the other side. Stay and wait until you see an insect, fire a couple bullets and then quickly into the teleporter again, otherwise you'll get hurt. Repeat this until the two are blown away. Go down into the slime and destroy the communication center to get out of the unpleasant place!
4. "Lots of rodents":  This is the easiest one of the four. To get to the ending you will have to choose the right teleporter, otherwise you'll teleport to the beginning again :(. This is the right way:

• "Forward - Left - Right"
• "Forward - Left - Left"
• "Forward"
• "Forward - Left"
• "Forward - Right"
• "Forward - Left"

Not too hard when you know how... You should do the stage in this order. After every part you'll recieve a key in the middle of the stage! You are ready for the final stage after you have the four keys!

This stage is "square circular" :) Keep to the outer limits. Try to get our green friend's attention, and make him follow you round, round... Walk backwards, and always be "one length" in front of him. If you do the right thing, you will always be at a corner and you will see him coming around the corner "over there". He will fire at you, and you at him. Use the bazooka and fire one or two times. Back around your corner and run to the next one. Await him and repeat it all over again, until he is space garbage! Then you kill the four priests that like to hang around in the middle of the stage. Use every signle piece or heavy weaponry you've got. After all, these are the last enemies you are to eliminate! When they are gone, walk into the newly opened door. CONRATULATIONS, you have just finished one of the hardest and most enjoyable games ever made for your beloved Amiga! Now, just lean back and enjoy the final words (if the lines go by faster than you can read them, don't worry, the text will loop when finished!).

If you follow this adivice you may be as good as Dan was at this wonderful game :Þ. Good luck! If there should still be any problems with Alien Breed 3D II, or Alien Breed 3D part one, then email Dan Saeden!