The Needle's Eye - Malta Interlude
Navigate the maze-like construction site of a historic tower in Malta, combining vertical platforming with close-quarters stealth. This mission bridges the London debriefing with your return to the Mediterranean.
Contents
Mission Overview
The Needle's Eye transports you to a covert training facility located within a historic tower construction site on the Maltese coastline. This mission serves as a comprehensive skill-building exercise where you must prove your competence across multiple disciplines before being cleared for full 00 operational status. The mission runs approximately 30-35 minutes and combines vertical platforming, close-quarters combat training, driving exercises, and climbing challenges into a cohesive testing ground that evaluates every ability a field agent might need.
The setting is a partially constructed medieval-style tower that has been repurposed by MI6 as an off-the-books training facility. The unfinished structure provides a perfect environment for teaching varied infiltration techniques — exposed scaffolding for climbing practice, multiple floor levels for vertical navigation drills, confined interior spaces for combat training, and surrounding coastal terrain for vehicle handling exercises. Your instructor for this mission is a veteran 00 agent who will evaluate your performance across all tested disciplines.
Malta training tower exterior
Key Objectives
Training objectives:
- Complete the combat training gauntlet in the tower basement — Face waves of simulated enemies in increasingly difficult configurations. You must demonstrate proficiency with both lethal and non-lethal takedowns, cover usage, and weapon handling under time pressure.
- Pass the driving evaluation on the coastal road circuit — Pilot a series of vehicles through timed courses that test acceleration, cornering, evasive maneuvering, and pursuit/escape scenarios. Vehicle types include sports cars, motorcycles, and a tactical van.
- Complete the climbing and parkour assessment on the tower exterior — Scale the full height of the construction using approved techniques including wall runs, grapple swings, ledge shimmying, and precision jumps. Time and efficiency are scored.
- Demonstrate stealth capabilities in the infiltration simulation — Navigate a mock compound populated by training dummies that simulate real guard behavior. Detection count and completion time determine your score.
- Retrieve the evaluation data from the supervisor's office — After completing all training exercises, collect your scores and official clearance certification from the secure office on level 4 of the tower.
Combat Training — Basement Gauntlet
The combat training section takes place in the tower basement, which has been converted into a multi-room combat arena with movable cover positions, environmental hazards, and simulated enemy targets. This is not merely a tutorial — your actual performance metrics are recorded and will affect your starting equipment loadout in future missions. Higher scores unlock weapon attachments, ammunition capacity upgrades, and combat ability enhancements.
The gauntlet consists of five waves of increasing difficulty. Wave 1 features 3 stationary targets requiring basic shooting accuracy. Wave 2 adds 4 moving targets that use cover and require flanking tactics. Wave 3 introduces melee-only combat against 5 opponents where you must demonstrate takedown variety. Wave 4 combines ranged and melee threats with 8 total enemies including one "elite" target with enhanced durability. Wave 5 is a free-form survival challenge where you face continuous spawns for 90 seconds while protecting a VIP dummy from harm.
Scoring criteria include accuracy percentage, average time-to-kill, damage taken, takedown variety (using different methods earns bonus points), and VIP protection success rate. Achieving gold rating in all categories unlocks the Combat Specialist perk which provides +15% damage with all weapons for the remainder of the campaign. Silver rating provides +8% damage, and bronze provides no combat bonus but still grants completion credit.
Combat training gauntlet
Driving Evaluation — Coastal Circuit
The driving portion of training occurs on a purpose-built coastal circuit winding along Malta's dramatic cliffside roads. This section teaches vehicle mechanics that differ significantly from walking movement, and mastery here directly impacts your performance in later missions featuring chase sequences. The circuit includes three distinct vehicle segments, each testing different skills.
Vehicle segments:
- Sports Car Sprint — A high-performance Aston Martin variant through a technical course featuring hairpin turns, elevation changes, and narrow bridge crossings. Target time is 2:45 for gold, 3:15 for silver. Focus on braking before corners rather than during them, and use the handbrake (Square/X) for tight drifts around sharp turns.
- Motorcycle Slalom — A nimble motorcycle course through traffic cones and obstacle gates. Tests acceleration control, lean angle management, and precise steering at speed. Target time is 1:20 for gold. The key is smooth throttle application rather than aggressive acceleration.
- Tactical Van Escape — A heavier vehicle pursuit scenario where you must evade drone targets while navigating civilian traffic. Tests defensive driving, ramming tactics, and route optimization under pressure. Survival for 3 minutes without catastrophic damage earns gold rating.
Coastal driving evaluation
Climbing Assessment — Tower Exterior
The climbing and parkour assessment requires scaling the full exterior of the construction tower from ground level to the upper observation deck approximately 80 meters above. This section tests every traversal mechanic available in the game and introduces advanced techniques not covered in earlier tutorials. The climb is timed, but reckless speed leads to falls that reset progress from the last checkpoint.
Key techniques required include: wall-running along inclined surfaces to cross gaps too wide for standing jumps, grapple hook usage to swing between distant anchor points, ledge-shimmying along narrow horizontal surfaces, pipe-traversing using hanging movements, and controlled descent using sliding mechanics to drop quickly without taking fall damage. Each technique has specific button combinations demonstrated during the initial briefing — pay attention as missing these inputs causes failed attempts that add to your total time.
The optimal path follows the eastern face of the tower which offers more grip surfaces and shorter gaps between anchor points. The western face appears faster but contains two sections where falling is nearly guaranteed without pixel-perfect input timing. Recommended approach: study the entire route from ground level before beginning your ascent, memorizing each checkpoint position so you can recover quickly if mistakes occur.
Tower climbing assessment
Stealth Infiltration Simulation
The final practical examination is a stealth infiltration through a mock compound occupying levels 2-4 of the tower interior. Training mannequins programmed with realistic patrol AI populate the space, and your objective is to reach the supervisor's office on level 4 without triggering more than 2 detection events. The simulation uses the same detection algorithms as real missions, making this excellent practice for upcoming operations.
The mock compound layout mimics a typical enemy facility with guard stations, security cameras, patrol corridors, and restricted zones. Key differences from real missions include unlimited restart capability (you can retry the simulation as many times as needed) and visual indicators showing current detection level at all times. Use this opportunity to experiment with approaches you would hesitate to try in live operations — the lessons learned here translate directly to better mission performance.
Combat Tips
During combat training, prioritize headshots over body shots as they provide instant takedowns regardless of enemy health pools. The basement arena features several explosive barrels positioned near common enemy spawn points — learning their locations allows you to chain multi-kills efficiently. For melee waves, remember that counter-attacks (press Circle/B when an enemy attack indicator flashes) deal double damage and cannot be blocked by any enemy type.
In the VIP protection wave, positioning is everything. Keep the VIP dummy between yourself and incoming fire whenever possible, and use the arena pillars to break enemy line-of-sight. The VIP can survive approximately 10 seconds of sustained fire before failing the exercise, so eliminate high-threat targets (enemies aiming at the VIP) before engaging peripheral opponents.
Collectibles Locations
This mission contains 3 collectibles hidden throughout the training facility:
Collectible locations:
- Intel Document — Located in the basement armory, inside a locked cabinet that opens with the key found near wave 3 spawn point. Contains notes about Phoenix operative training methods that foreshadow enemy capabilities in later missions.
- Playing Card (Two of Hearts) — Hidden on a high scaffold platform halfway up the tower exterior climb. Requires slight deviation from the optimal climbing route to reach. Easy to miss if focusing purely on speed.
- Memento (Training Instructor's Watch) — Found in the supervisor's office after completing all training exercises. Only accessible once evaluation is complete. Contains an engraved message from a previous 00 agent who trained at this same facility decades ago.
Challenge Tips
This mission features 11 challenges spanning all training disciplines:
Available challenges:
- Combat Gold — Achieve gold rating in all combat gauntlet waves
- Driving Master — Achieve gold rating in all three vehicle segments
- Speed Climber — Complete the tower ascent in under 3 minutes
- Ghost Trainee — Complete the stealth simulation with zero detections
- Perfect Score — Achieve gold ratings in every training category
- Variety Show — Use at least 8 different takedown methods during combat training
- No Damage — Complete the combat gauntlet without taking any damage
- Clean Driver — Complete all driving segments without hitting any obstacles or other vehicles
- Efficient Route — Find the fastest possible path through the stealth simulation
- Completionist — Find all collectibles and complete all training exercises
- Unconventional — Complete the climbing section using only non-obvious routes
The driving evaluation allows practice runs before the scored attempt. Use this feature extensively to learn each course layout. The game does not penalize restarts during practice mode, so treat it as an unlimited rehearsal opportunity before committing to your official run.
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