Micky Begins is a large optional story mission of Episode 3 of the AMC Squad.
Mission Summary[]
Micky talks to James about a story where he saved Adelaide University from a Cycloid invasion and his former colleague Dumas.
Note: This is an optional mission, and is not required for completing the episode.
Gameplay[]
James
Hit the switch in the kitchen to leave the apartment. Hop down the elevator shaft, swim and hit the switch.
Micky's Labs
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Go out and right and run to the teleporter. Proceed right into the vent to get a pistol. Head back on, notice the switch and sticky note. Use the switch and shoot the Bunsen burner near the Pigcops. Go in the office and get the green swipe card. There are 2 different doors you can use it one. Head to the left side of the teleporter you used earlier. Hit the switch on the right to active security guns. In side the shrinker gun room, hit one of the fans to find a vent tunnel. Go up and hit the switch to unlock. Grab the shrinker and head to the other green door (on the right after using the teleporter).
Next will be several puzzle areas involving the shrinker. You will have infinite shrinker ammo here. Shoot the mirror to shrink yourself and run through the small opening. Inside the trooper's cage are 45 degrees mirrors. Use that to shrink yourself but standing on the X and using the mirrors. Maybe you will need to jump. Head through. Shoot the target to continue. Shrink yourself to fit through the vent below. Hit the switch and continue. This next one will be challenging. Angle your shrink shot to hit the target to make stairs. The stairs are timed and you need to shrink yourself too. Room #6 is tricky. Use the shrink ray to bounce off and hit the red switch on the wall to make a bridge. After the fat commander, shrink your yourself but watch out for the crusher in the next area. There is a hole in the crusher where you can stay safe. After this get the purple key. Shrink yourself and go into the tunnel in the water tube. Hit the switch, shrink yourself again and run out the door and you're done here.
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Now go to the purple door "S.M.A.R.T. Suit storage". Suit up, get your weapons and the C4. Head through the large room and hit the switches and jump up through the hole in the wall. Head to the virus labs. Use the C4 on the door. Inside, deactivate the forcefield and get The Virus. Head to the security room and hit the switch. You can see the exit from here.
Above Ground...
Head downstairs and look through the wire framed windows into the computer lab. Shoot the fire extinguisher to make a hole in the wall. Grab the key and head up to the first floor. There's a single door on next to the staircase, but on the opposite side. Go up to the roof and notice there are 2 ziplines. For this walkthrough we will use the left zipline, but wait for the explosion to happen first. The right zipline will take you directly to the library skipping over parts of the mission and getting a toolbox for a security room secret.
Main Area Assault
Head through and go upstairs through a lecture room. In a computer lab front desk, you'll find Slot 0 weapon, Riot Shield and a toolbox. On the second floor, the lecture room at the very end has a red swipe card. Use the card on level 3. Make you way through the very large room with lots of enemies until you find stairs. Go to the 5th floor podium to get the yellow key. Backtrack to the 3rd floor and use the yellow key to open the library.
Library
Head down the stairs and towards the science department. There's a blue keycard close to the blue carpet but on the desk surrounded by "arranged" bookshelves. Go down 1 floor, move through the arts department and use the blue key to open a forcefield. Head to the end and open the shutter. Time for the boss fight with the Heavy Powersuit. Go inside the large safe room, grab the key and hit the switch. Head upstairs, then proceed through the reading room and out the door.
Above Ground...
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Use the card to go inside the white building. Head to the garage and get the jump boots. Use the hovercraft to help you with enemies. However you cannot move it. Head back to the library area. A Cyber Enforcer will greet you. You can kill it or ignore it. Use the jump boots to jump over the organic wall.
Secrets[]
Main Area Assault:
- Between the computer lab and the cafeteria on the third floor, slide through the partially opened garage door. Inside there is a first aid kit.
- After collecting the yellow key, look for a large hole in the wall, and jump in for the secret.
- Continuing from the previous secret, keep following the path, and jump onto a narrow ledge along the wall for a slot 8 weapon.
Library:
- Behind a bulletin board on the wall in the triangle-shaped room, after passing through a hallway on floor 2 labeled "Through to Science". Inside is another Slot 8 weapon.
Weapons & Artifacts[]
- TEC-SMG (Weapon, Micky): There is a security room in "Above Ground". You can find a briefcase with the weapon and some supplies in that room. However, switch that opens the room is broken, but can be fixed with the toolbox that can be found in the "Main Area Assault".
Evidence / Lore[]
- Substance 34 (Pages 1-2 and photo): after you blow up the Pigcops with the Bunsen burners, on the table in the office near the green swipe card.
- Shrinker Theory: not far away, on one of the computer desks.
- S.M.A.R.T. Suit Information: just before the S.M.A.R.T. Suit storage, near the lockers.
Other Items of interest[]
- At the entreance of the shrinker testing program, look behind the large TV for a switch. This switch will lower the bookshelf underneath it to reveal a Chibi of Micky in the test outfit. However, you will need the shrinker, and shrink yourself at the first mirror in the program to get the chibi.
- If you replay this mission, you can skip the labs and go straight to suiting up if you use the teleporter.
- Not far from the place where you fight Dumas' Heavy Powersuit, you can find a Missile Launcher and a Nailgun.
Trivia[]
- James' short segment is a reference to first level of the Imagination World mod.
- Large parts of Micky Begins were completed prior to the release of Episode 2, albeit unpolished.
- The college campus is loosely inspired by a real world location, with more or less accurate layouts.
- Shrinker section is inspired by the game Portal. Although there have been small maps released in the past (never really finished) that used the shrinker as a puzzle tool in the same way.
- This is one of two missions in the game that act as character backstory, rather than being part of the ongoing plot (the other being The Revolution).
- The Micky labs were originally planned to contain a DNF-inspired shrunken segment, not unlike the one in City Under Siege before that map was built. However, the idea was scrapped after Episode 2's release, since the CUS shrunken segment had already explored the idea's potential.
- The mission title (Micky Begins) is an homage to the Batman origin movie, Batman Begins.
- The prototype smart suits shown resemble Robocop (1987).
- A few of Micky's weapons (Auto 9, Pulsegun, AP-AR , Auto-pulsegun) have a grey finish indicating a more prototype look to the weapons.