Sadik in the Sewers
After Guzza dies during the sewer confrontation, Sadik makes a mad dash from the lower right to the bottom of the screen. I've tried shooting him while he's exposed, but I just can't seem to kill him. I've tried sneaky tactics like blocking Sadik's path with McCoy to make him waste time sidestepping. Even then, I can't land a single shot. Now, at the Moonbus, Sadik can be stun-locked if you fire really fast, but here he doesn't seem to have a "getting hit" animation at all.
Has anyone managed to kill Sadik during this encounter?
I ask, because in Westwood's Secrets article, they mention that during this sequence, "We will allow [McCoy] to return fire, and if he's really good, he can retire Sadik."
Do you think Sadik is flagged as invulnerable here? It's not impossible; maybe Westwood had to scrap any ending(s) that acknowledges Sadik's early death due to time constraints. Plus, we know that plenty of things didn't make it into the game. For example: all the unused voiceovers, or the ability to arrest Crazy Legs Larry (which cannot be done AFAIK but is mentioned in that article.) Maybe making Sadik invincible was a quick hack to simplify the ending variables a bit.
The only argument against this is that Sadik can be killed at the Bradbury (with a lot of luck), leading to a dead end for the player. For that reason, it seems "hard coded" invulnerability is contrary to the design of the game. Do you think this is an exception or not?
Cheers!