Slaughterhouse
Plot Summary
As Zero is approaching his psychiatrist's office, he gets a call from an unknown person.
This person tells him the name and location of a person of interest, Leon Von Alvensleben.
As Zero proceeds to the Slaughterhouse to seek out Leon, he is greeted with a multi-screen interface that Leon supposedly uses to communicate with visitors. It is revealed through Leon that the Slaughterhouse was once a testing ground for the NULL Project. After a short period of time into the conversation, he is seen with a high power sniper rifle in the view screens. He takes roughly 2 to 3 seconds to aim and fire at Zero (which Zero can easily dodge).
After a long period of fighting his way through the Slaughterhouse, Zero is forced to endure a brief and rigorous trial by Leon to determine his status as a NULL soldier.
After Zero's trial is finished, he is officially designated as a Gamma NULL.
Leon congratulates him, then he allows him to proceed. Once Zero nears Leon's actual position, it is revealed that Leon has a stash of Chronos he has been holding on to- but then it is soon destroyed. Citing the fact that New Mecca had ultimately lost the Cromag war despite the effectiveness of NULL Soldiers; also making a note that he would rather start from the beginning.
Leon continues chiding Zero as he travels ever closer to where he is. When he finally reaches the final room however, he finds that it is actually mostly empty and filled with computer equipment with a cryotank. As Zero opens the tank, it is revealed that Alvensleben is the one inside of it. Upon the tank opening, Leon immediately ages rapidly and disintegrates on the spot.
Gameplay
Normal Mode
This level can be somewhat challenging due to its layout and the added threat of Leon's sniper rifle.
It is best to approach each enemy with a plan already in mind, as alerting two or more in this already architecturally hostile level can lead to a player being quickly overwhelmed.
It is actually possible and even advisable to pass "Leon's Trial" without slowing time once all the enemies have been cleared from the screen. Zero will have to roll under extremely fast moving lasers multiple times while also avoiding semi-automatic sniper fire, which can subject a player to multiple deaths if the time slowdown mechanic is overused.
All of Leon's appearances can be skipped by dodging through the cameras that look from the ceiling in some levels. This first requires the player to kill the first Strong Terry away from the camera's line of sight, otherwise the door will close and the rest of Leon's actions will trigger. Skipping these segments also bypasses Leon's Trial. The player will receive a unique message at the end of the level stating that they missed a vital opportunity to learn about NULL should they completely skip Leon's appearances.
Hard Mode
On the Hard Mode setting, the layout of the level remains the same, but multiple elements are changed. Leon's sniper rifle shot is replaced with a small explosion which can detonate oil barrels. These shots are much more difficult to dodge, but also is capable of killing enemies if timed correctly.
It is meant to be impossible to skip Leon's appearances (and therefore his trial) as the first camera is immediately rushed through by a Karate Ricky as soon as the player enters, however, it is still possible.
Leon's trial no longer has the crusher trap portion, and replaces the laser traps used with shotgun traps. The wave-after-wave section retains these shotgun traps, and also adds Karate Rickies and Machinegunners to the mix.
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