Mass Effect - help needed!

[Peekay]

I can't the first play thread for this 360 classic... anyway, I need help. The ugly munter security chief on Noveria keeps destroying me (when you break into the locked Insight lab). She has some sort of rocket launcher which keeps taking everyone down in a ridiculously short amount of time... also, can you not heal when in combat? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... and how do you equip/use the sniper rifle? Whatever I arm my team with, they seem to just use assault rifles. (I live in Korea, so the manual isn't much help.) Thanks!

[Wools]

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=81247&highlight=Mass+Effect

[El Leone]

anyway, I need help. The ugly munter security chief on Noveria keeps destroying me (when you break into the locked Insight lab). She has some sort of rocket launcher which keeps taking everyone down in a ridiculously short amount of time...

There are many possible strategies to take down that guard down. However, for me to give a better answer I need to know what kind of character you have:

• What is your character class? (Soldier, Biotic, Engineer etc).
• What have you used your skill points in?
• Who’s in your squad?

If its seriously a big problem for you, just go into your options and change the game setting to easy, and then after you've killed her you can change it back to normal. It won't affect your achievements.

I can answer your other questions though:

also, can you not heal when in combat? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...

You heal by pressing Y. And each time you heal, you consume one medi-gel. This is
Indicated by the medi-gel symbol in the bottom left corner of the screen next to your
health and shield status. Anyway, once you have used the medi-gel, it is unavailable
for sometime. The little bar does refill up giving you a indication of how long its
going to take to be usable.

For some classes such as the Engineers and Sentinels, they have a talent called ‘Medicine’. Investing skill points into this decreases the cool down period allow you to use medi-gel more often.

and how do you equip/use the sniper rifle? Whatever I arm my team with, they seem to just use assault rifles. (I live in Korea, so the manual isn't much help.) Thanks!

Hold down the left bumper and it’ll bring up circular grid showing you all the weapon classes for your team-mates and you. Just click on the weapon you want and it’ll change over. Be warned it may take a second or two for your team-mates to swap. Also, a useful tip is that tapping the left bumper will swap your weapon to your previously used weapon.

[Peekay]

Okay - I've got Garus and Ashley in my squad. My background is "grew up with the gangs on Earth", and my character class is Vanguard. I've actually beaten the security guard now (I retreated down the corridor back to Qu'in's office and picked her off as she came at me). Now, though, I'm stuck on Matriarch Benezia! Her sexy Asari commandos are too fast - they just run up to me and shoot me in the face. Any ideas? Also, something strange seems to have happened with the assault rifle. Before I could hold down the left trigger to zoom in - now it won't zoom in, and seems muc, much less accurate. Cheers for the tip on swapping weapons.

Thanks for the help!

[El Leone]

so, something strange seems to have happened with the assault rifle. Before I could hold down the left trigger to zoom in - now it won't zoom in, and seems muc, much less accurate.

This is very strange indeed. There are three possible causes of this from what I can think of:

• A glitch. Although if it persists once you've turned the game on ond off again then its something else.
• Close to death. When you're very low on health and the screen turns red, you're unable to zoom in.
• You've invested points into the assault rifle skill and you haven't saved it.

You probably know this, but because youve mentioned youve can't read the manual and Mass Effect is well known for throwing you into the deep end of the pool without any guidance, that I'm just going to say this anyway. Are you leveling your character up? If you go into the menu and go into Squad you can invest points into skills that improve things such as your health and biotic talents. Its a common trap, even Dean Takahashi got caught by it.

From there, you can access you and your team mates talents by holding down the right bumper, targeting the enemy you want to attack and then click the talent.

Now, though, I'm stuck on Matriarch Benezia! Her sexy Asari commandos are too fast - they just run up to me and shoot me in the face. Any ideas?

She can be pretty difficult on your first playthrough. To help you through it, I've written a guide which pretty much resembles how I tackle the situation:

its rough I know but it does the job. Anyway, the numbered points resemble the enemy waves and enemy placements that Benezia sends after you. May not be exactly accurate but its pretty much there.

1. The first wave can be pretty tough because they pretty much charge at you. Considering that you're a Vanguard, What I would do is activate Barrier. This will give your character some extra damage protection. Then I would use either Throw or Lift to disable them and take care of them. If that isn't enough, use both lift and throw...And if that still isn't enough, use Warp. It increases the damage the enemy takes.
2. Then a bunch of Geth spawns at 2 and 3. I always go for 2 first. They shouldn't be that much of a issue to take down compared to the Asari commandos. At this point, your biotic talents will still be recharging so if they're a issue use a grenade on them.
3. The Geth at 3 can be tricky. If my memory is working clearly there will be a sniper there can be a potential hazard. Stay in cover becuase of this. Anyway, if your biotic talents have reset use them, other use your grenades on them.
4. Then go back to 4. Theres a few geth there, including a sniper. You'll have the highground advantage so it shouldn't be so bad. Although if they deal out some damage, just step back into cover because they won't chase after you.
5. Once you have dealt with the enemie waves a cutscene should trigger. At this point, you'll have Matriarch Benezia to deal with. Basically, disable her as soon as you can with lift and throw and use warp so that you weaken her damage protection. Get your team mates to target her (right on the dpad) and get ashly to use her shotgun and Carnage (a abillity for the shotgun available for soldiers). to deal out some extra damage.
6. These commandos come at the same time as you fight Benezia. They can be pretty annoying but generally I take out Benezia first. Generally they come at the bottom quickly and the ones at the top take slightly longer to appear, giving you more time.

Just some extra tips:

• Never try to attack Benezia untill the actual boss fight. You won't do any damage to her.
• You said your other team mate is Garrus. He has abillitys that will be helpful.These talents are: Sabotage (stops enemies firing at you). Damping (stops enemies from using their biotic or tech abillities). Overload (damages the enemies shields. Always best to use this at the beginning of a battle to give you a edge).
• If you still find it tough, change the difficulty to easy and you should be able to deal with it.

[Peekay]

You, sir, are an officer and a gentleman! I've been levelling up my characters, yeah - I'm level 15 at the moment, is that about right? There aren't really any level grinding opportunities as such... thanks for the guide to Benezia. I always forget to use my abilities. She's going down!

[Peekay]

Took her down with your guide. Awesome. A couple of times I killed her off only for the remaining bodyguards to shoot my tits in, but I got there in the end. Worst part was having to sit through her "Saren's controlling my mind" cutscene six times! Now I've completed almost all of the side missions - gonna tackle the Geth attack on Feros with a powered-up squad. Wrex is unstoppable!

[Wild_Cat]

I don't remember whether it's with X, Start or Back but I'm pretty certain you can skip most cutscenes. Comes in handy when there's a tough boss fight (although to tell the truth, Benezia's probably the only one in the whole game that's tough to take down).

[Peekay]

Ah, okay. It must be start or back, because I always hammer X like an ADHD gibbon during the cutscenes (even though I know it has no effect).

In other news, managed to make the beast of two backs with Lesley Ash-lipped space marine Williams yesterday. Next on my list: Liara!