Halo 2 in MCC: Metropolis achievements, the Scarab Gun and doing it without a vehicle

Halo 2 in MCC: Metropolis achievements, the Scarab Gun and doing it without a vehicle Metropolis encounter and hidden-item spoilers. Halo 2: Anniversary in The Master Chief Collection. Johnson gives you a tank, the bridge is full of things to shoot with it, and one of the achievements asks you to leave it behind. That's Metropolis. It also has a weapon hidden far above the normal route, a giant soccer ball and a sign that's easier to miss than either of them. Don't try to squeeze every target into one run. A rooftop sightseeing trip and a clean finish under fifteen minutes are two very different plans. **The nine mission-focused targets** - **Metropolis:** complete the mission. MCC allows any difficulty. - **Speeding Ticket:** beat the **15-minute** par time. - **Ripple Fire:** beat the **9,000-point** par score. - **Examiner:** activate terminal 3 inside the Marine command post. - **Skulltaker Halo 2: Catch:** collect Catch; use Legendary for its achievement route. - **Scarab Lord:** acquire the hidden Scarab Gun. - **GOOOAAAAALLLL!:** shoot the hidden soccer ball. - **E E E:** view both versions of the Citizen Alert sign. - **Commuter:** complete Metropolis on **Heroic or Legendary without entering a vehicle**. This is the MCC list. The older Halo 2 Vista achievement for the gun was called **King of the Scarab**, not Scarab Lord. Following a guide for the right location doesn't mean its achievement names or conditions belong to your edition. **Commuter: leave every vehicle seat alone** Heroic is the sensible starting point unless you specifically want the Legendary challenge. Start from the beginning and stay out of the Scorpion, Warthogs, Ghosts and other usable vehicles for the whole mission. That includes taking a passenger or gunner seat, not just driving. For a straightforward attempt, avoid hijacking enemy vehicles too. Destroy them from outside rather than trying to find the exact point where a boarding animation counts. Don't combine this with a Banshee-based Scarab Gun route. The opening bridge is the main adjustment. Keep hard cover between yourself and enemy vehicles, use the battle rifle for exposed infantry, and preserve your heavier ammunition for threats your ordinary weapons aren't handling. Move after enemy fire passes rather than standing in the road trading damage. The tunnel still needs to be crossed on foot; accepting a convenient lift undermines the entire purpose of the run. The final Scarab is different from climbing into a controllable vehicle seat. You still follow the mission's normal objective: reach its deck from the elevated route, fight your way inside and clear the defending Covenant. Boarding that walking mission environment is how the level ends, not a reason to abandon the achievement. There is a documented easier setup. MCC achievement guides use **Scarab and Envy**, and Halo Completionist's updated Commuter guide also uses **Acrophobia and Bandanna**. These are optional aids for this specific challenge. With Scarab enabled, keep your shots well away from nearby walls, your feet and friendly troops: enormous explosions are still enormous explosions when you're the one caught in them. Acrophobia can remove much of the travel, but flying straight past every encounter can also leave you ahead of the mission's progression. Follow the normal sequence and let required encounters load. This isn't a promise that every possible combination of modifiers works for every achievement. I'd keep Commuter separate from score and time records. There is no need to rely on an old save-and-resume loophole to erase vehicle use: just meet the condition from the start. **Scarab Lord: pick up the actual weapon** The **Scarab skull** and the **Scarab Gun** are not interchangeable. Turning on the modifier makes your weapons fire differently; Scarab Lord wants the hidden weapon itself. On updated MCC, **Acrophobia is available in Halo 2: Anniversary**. That means old guides describing a carefully preserved Banshee as your only practical way up are no longer the whole story. A dedicated Easy-difficulty collection run with Acrophobia is documented for this egg. Progress through the mission until you reach the final city/Scarab section. Look high above the playable streets for the enormous elevated connections between skyscrapers. The hidden gun sits above a traffic cone on one of those high bridges, not on the Scarab's own deck. Fly up, land on the bridge and approach the cone. The weapon resembles a plasma rifle. **Pick it up** rather than simply looking at it. If you test it, fire toward distant empty space, not down at the cone or nearby floor; the blast can kill you at close range. The old Banshee-through-the-tunnel method remains part of the game's history, but it depends on controlling an enemy aircraft and its behavior around a loading boundary. You do not need to perform that trick just to follow this updated MCC collection plan. I wouldn't mix a delicate vehicle manipulation with your no-vehicle or par-time attempt. **GOOOAAAAALLLL!: find the ball, then shoot it** The giant soccer ball is tucked into the ruined upper part of a building in the city area, around the section beyond the outdoor amphitheater. Look for the damaged building with a large opening in its side. The ball is up in that broken structure, not sitting on the normal street route. Acrophobia also provides a documented route to this egg. Fly up to the opening, locate the ball and shoot it. Some reports describe the unlock arriving on approach, but the achievement's stated action is shooting it, so do that rather than assuming proximity was enough. You do **not** have to roll it across the city or score a goal. You also don't have to use the Scarab Gun. An ordinary firearm avoids turning a close-range inspection into an explosion. These two rooftop eggs fit naturally into the same relaxed collection session. They do not require Legendary. **E E E: one changing sign, not two distant locations** Outside the Marine command post is the city encounter with three Wraiths. Before entering the building to regroup with the Marines, follow the street around to the left. Look near the small building/closed doorway for the Citizen Alert display. Switch to **Anniversary graphics**, face the sign and let it cycle through both versions. Classic graphics leave it on a single version, which is why looking at it briefly in classic mode can fail to satisfy the requirement. Don't shoot it while searching. It is destructible. Clear nearby threats first, then give the display a moment to change. There is no need to scour the rest of Metropolis for a second matching sign. **Catch and Examiner** Catch is above the outdoor plaza after the highway tunnel, reached by the curved beam and the high ledge. Use Legendary, make the climb and actually pick it up. If combining it with Commuter, don't use the optional Warthog positioning method from collectible guides. Examiner is much simpler: after Perez meets you inside the command post, stay on the entry floor and inspect the incoming-message screen near the stairs, behind the crates on the left. Use Anniversary graphics and interact. You don't need to climb onto a roof for this terminal. **Keep the record attempts clean** For **Speeding Ticket**, aim comfortably below fifteen minutes. Leave the rooftop eggs, sign inspection and skull climb for another visit. Easy is an available choice for a dedicated time attempt; this is not the same requirement as Commuter's Heroic-or-Legendary condition. For **Ripple Fire**, enable scoring and finish above 9,000. The vehicle fighting gives you opportunities for points, but friendly-fire penalties, deaths and a slow finish can undo progress. Don't stop watching the total just because it crossed the target halfway through. Turn off zero-multiplier/helper modifiers for these record attempts, check the game's warnings, and finish each attempt in one session. Acrophobia working for the gun or ball does not make a flying run eligible for par-time or scoring credit. Check the recorded result, then replay only the target you're actually missing.