Red Pyramid Thing 1

Location: Stairwell after using the Apartment Stairway Key, 2nd Floor, Blue Creek Apartments.

Attack Method: Pyramid Head has two main attack methods, with his Great Knife and without. The weak side-to-side swings from the knife won't cause too much damage, but beware of the overhead blow - it's fatal and will finish you off in one shot. Keep your distance too - if you should wander too close to PH, he will use his free hand to strangle you. If that happens, hit X or L1/R1 as quick as you can to escape.

Weakness: He's slow and reasonably easy to avoid.

Best Tactics: This first encounter should be over with relative ease, and hopefully without any damage, either. But the first thing you need to know is that this Enemy is impossible to kill. So just make sure to enter the room with a fully loaded handgun, and then fire off those shots as quickly as you can. It may be helpful to count the shots as you're firing and reload using the Inventory Screen after ten rounds have been fired - this way you're not left vulnerable when, after ten shots, James has to stop to reload.

Our best strategy is this: fire three or four rounds, stop, reload using the inventory screen, then run to the next corner and fire again, repeating this pattern.

Believe it or not, it doesn't matter if your shots hit PH or not - as long as you fire off 10-50 shots (depending upon your Level), he'll disappear after a set time has elapsed. But one final word of warning - when you hear the siren, stop firing and DO NOT follow him! Your enemy is retreating, and if you continue to fire at him or follow, he'll think you're up for another battle and attack you once more! .

Flesh Lips

Location: Examination Room 2, 1st Floor, Brookhaven Hospital.

Attack Method: Ganging up against you, these monsters will follow set routes around the ceiling in order to grab James and choke him.

Weakness: Again, their slowness can be used to your advantage.

Best Tactics: Your shotgun is the recommended weapon for this. Keeping your distance, run into one corner of the room, turn, and pump two or three rounds into the nearest enemy before turning and running into the next corner. Again, we recommend that you count how many rounds you fire to avoid being caught out when James stops to reload.

When you've dispatched both Enemies, don't be surprised when a third one drops from the ceiling. Finished it off in the same way.

If a monster should grab you, press X, R1/L1 as quickly as possible in order to be released. The longer they keep you in their grasp, the further James' health deteriorates.

Red Pyramid Thing 2

Location: Brookhaven Hospital Basement.

Attack Method: Using his spear, Pyramid Head wants you and your lady friend dead. And, unfortunately, if she dies, you die - and it only takes five stabs from PH to finish poor Maria off.

Weakness: None, but shooting at him will temporarily slow him down.

Best Tactics: This depends upon your supplies and what difficulty you're playing on:

Beginner/Easy/Normal: If you're playing on these levels, this shouldn't be difficult. Just run run run. You'll find that James will slam into walls, and while this does slow him down, it shouldn't stop you from reaching the elevator doors in time. If it does and you're not successful the first time, try and memorise the layout so that you can turn before you reach the corners and hit the walls.

Hard: It's slightly trickier now. You're probably going to have to memorise the layout in order to anticipate and make those corners without slowing down. However, if you've got plenty of Health Items and ammo, you could try and intercept the attacks on Maria by getting between her and PH and taking the hits yourself, all the while moving towards the exit. Although you're not able to kill PH, firing at him should slow him down.

Abstract Daddy

Location: End of Labyrinth Maze.

Attack Method: While the monster is slow, the attacks aren't - get too close and it will pounce on James and, apparently, try to devour his head.

Weakness: It's slow to move and quite predictable.

Best Tactics: Use your Shotgun here - while the Rifle may do more damage, it's much slower to fire and only holds four rounds.

To free yourself from it's grasp, once again hit X or R1/L1 repeatedly to get away. Copy the method you used the first time you met Pyramid Head by firing off a couple of shots and then running to the opposite corner and then firing again. Repeat this as many times as necessary and, with a bit of luck, you'll escape this battle unharmed.

Eddie Dombrowski

Location: You'll meet Eddie after jumping down the graves in the Prison Catacombs.

Attack Method: Eddie's sanity has departed and all he's left with is a Magnum firearm - this is not a good combination. Use any firearm and he'll have no hesitation in shooting you right back - which can be tricky to avoid in such a confined space.

Weakness: Get close to Eddie and it seems he'd rather pummel you with his fists than use that oh-so-powerful handgun. In this particular instance, it's the lesser of two evils and will inflict less damage on James.

Best Tactics: Equip your Steel Pipe before entering the room. When the sequence finishes, press down and hold R2 and X simultaneously. Instead of shooting at you, Eddie will run forward to punch you instead - and being the big loony that he is, he'll run straight into the overhead blow from the Pipe. 6-12 hits from the Pipe will see Eddie retreat - hopefully, without inflicting any damage or using any ammo at all.

Location 2: As soon as you exit the room above, you'll move straight into Round Two with poor Eddie.

Attack Method: It's that handgun again . . .

Weaknesses: He's not overly quick, so you can sidestep shots using R1/L1 and taking cover behind the hanging animals.

Best tactics: It's probably best to use your Rifle, for only a couple of shots should see him off. Use the cover that's available and remember to reload after three shots so that you're not caught out reloading.
It may help you know that, in some instances, changing the camera angle (L2) will help you keep an eye on Eddie even when you're hiding behind the bodies.

Red Pyramid Thing 3

Location: Lobby, Alternate Lakeview Hotel.

Attack Method: Yep, he's back - and this time he's brought a friend. As if one of them isn't bad enough, this time there are two of them after you. Armed with spears, they'll stalk the room and try to trap you in a corner.

Weakness: They're both slow, predictable and - providing you're careful - not too hard to avoid.

Best Tactics: Arm your Rifle or the Great Knife for this battle - they're the weapons to which the PHs are most susceptible, but once again don't forget that these monstrosities cannot be killed. It's also useful to know that there's no need to balance your hits between the two of them - since they both seem to run off the same life-force, it doesn't matter which one you hit or how often.

If you continuously move around the room in one direction, you'll notice that they separate in order to try and trap you and block your way. Be smart and keep varying your direction in order to avoid entrapment. Also remember to load manually via the Inventory Screen, otherwise the PH's will have James Sunderland shish-kebabed.

Using the tried and tested method you should know well by now, move around the room, pull off a couple of shots and then run to another corner again to repeat the process. Eventually, the PH's will turn and walk away and the battle is over.

Maria / Mary Demon

Location: Unknown.

Attack Method: Mary/Maria is not a happy bunny. Using a variety of methods, she will do all she can to stab and/or strangle James to death using her deadly tentacles.

Weakness: There's a lot of space on that platform, so it's easy to avoid her direct attacks.

Best Tactics: Although she's particularly susceptible to close-range weapons like the Pipe and Great Knife (manage to hit her only a few times and she should succumb), it's best to keep your distance as her stabbing and strangulation techniques are difficult to avoid. Fire once or twice using the Rifle, and then run away from the approaching cage into the next corner. Although the moths are irritating, they don't inflict too much damage and are certainly less harmful than the tentacles dangling from the cage (and if you have the Hyper Spray, you can repel them entirely).

Follow this pattern and, depending upon your Difficulty Level, you should dispatch of her with 3-40 rifle shots. Once the cage falls to the floor, don't be scared to approach her and finish her off with a carefully placed shot from the weapon of your choice.

If all that sounds like much too much hard work for you, you might like to know that you can defeat this creature without firing a single shot. Check out the Secrets Section for more information.