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It’s time to take a break from the war against the Prodeans and Chaos to be extremely irresponsible with high explosives. It’s been a while since we saw a Trials stage in Prodeus‘s first official campaign, but now it’s time to learn the finer points of rocket science.
Here’s how and where to find all the extra Ore Fragments and other loot in Trial: Rockets.
Prodeus Secrets & Ore Guides:
Sacrum | Research | Fuel | Wretch | Genesis, Part 1 | Genesis, Part 2 | Excavation | Chaos Generator | Memoriam | Marksman | Descent | Hazard | Meltdown
Trials: Shotgun | Shredders | Rockets
Finding All the Secrets and Ore on Meltdown
As noted in the last two Trials writeups for Prodeus, these are bonus stages that effectively combine two challenges in one. The first is the 70-second time attack run, where you clear the stage as quickly as possible in order to get access to the 3 Ore Fragments stashed near the exit.
The second is a more leisurely run where you’re out to collect the stage’s secrets, max its kill count, and scoop up the 4 other chunks of Ore that are barely hidden throughout the stage. This guide is primarily concerned with the latter.
Secrets: 2
#1: About halfway through the stage, you’ll enter a long hallway with a shotgun zombie ahead of you and several force fields to your left.
If you destroy the target over the zombie, it shuts down the force fields, which lets you grab the level’s Automap, below.
The “secret” here is that on your first couple of visits, you’re probably moving too fast and/or waiting too long to destroy the target, so you won’t notice when the fields go down.
#2: Before you take the lift up to the stage’s final stretch (below), bypass it and jump down to the girders on the near side of the lava canal to the left of the door.
Look for the large pack of rockets (circled below) and go through the doorway next to it.
This causes two zombies to spawn, so you can wrap up this stage’s kill count, and lets you into the chamber with the armor pickup that you probably spotted through a window in the first room. The nearby lift platform automatically connects to the elevator above you, so you can ride it all the way up to the top floor to continue the level.
Ore Fragments: 7
#1-#3: Complete the stage while destroying all targets in 70 seconds or less.
If Trial: Shredders was about reloading, Trial: Rockets is about short-term planning and anticipation. The stage is set up to give you a long runway leading up to each target, and none of them are moving. You can lob a rocket, race after it, and preemptively react to whatever that rocket’s set to trigger.
This does require you to know the map fairly well, but Trial: Rockets’s timed run is arguably the easiest of the four Trial stages in “The Kingdom Between.”
#4: As you emerge into the big cavern at the start of the level, this Ore Fragment is on your right, on a notch in the wall. It requires at least the double-jump to reach.
#5: In the room with the third target, this Ore Fragment can be found in an alcove on its far side, well out of your way.
The jump to get it is a little tricky. Like reaching the secret exit in Meltdown, it requires you to time both your second jump and air-dash very precisely, or you’ll fall into the instant-kill acid below it.
#6: After you blow open the cavern wall, go through the hole and hang a sharp left. There’s a hard-to-spot walkway along the wall that will let you reach the Ore Fragment in the distant window.
There is not an identical walkway on the right wall, however, so you’ll have to go back the way you came. Don’t do what I did the first time and just assume there’s another hidden ledge for you to run down.
#7: This is obnoxious. When you extend the bridge near the end of the level, there’s an easy-to-miss gap on its left side that lets you jump onto the edge of the building you just left.
With the double-jump and air dash, leap around the building’s cornerstone to the next windowsill.
From here, you can spot the last hidden Ore Fragment on top of one of the nearby support struts. Grab it, then go back the way you came.
The irritating part here is that if you miss any jump, you’ll end up having to restart the stage. It’s not difficult to recover in time to make a safe landing, but since the elevator to the third floor locks itself down after use, you have no way of returning to the level’s top floor. Be careful here, resist the urge to hurry, and get it done right so you don’t have to do it again.
