The Reborn are augmented super soldiers developed by the US Government in order to avoid a military draft which already has cost the Government for its controversy.
Overview
The Reborn are US Soldiers considered MIA by the Army. The soldiers come from many branches of the US Military, ranging from regular Army to Special Forces. There are also "enemy combatants" in the Reborn ranks who have been taken prisoner, together with a small number of convicted criminals, illegal immigrants and homeless. The homeless subjects were the first to be tested with the new augmentations which were developed from alien technology; if the homeless subjects survived testing it was then moved to further stages.
The Reborn also sport the latest in experimental weaponry, including plasma rifles and a shotgun-like weapon with greatly increased stopping power. Dossiers recovered in the game show that some Reborn were trained in the use of experimental weaponry. Somers voices his dislike of the plasma rifle for its high level of complexity.
Many Reborn soldiers have received a varying range of cybernetic implants to the face and body. These may serve a number of purposes from increased speed, strength and durability to sensory acuity or possible a built-in intercom system.
The Reborn scouts in particular have the heaviest concentration of cybernetics. In fact, half of their body is a machine with large guns located on the shoulders; only the head, arms and torso remain. Their facial features (which can be seen after their goggles are shot off) indicate that Reborn scouts were made from female subjects. Sometimes, if a scout's legs are damaged to the point of being inoperable, the scout will detach itself from its legs and go an a vengeful dash-crawl after whoever shot its legs off. If it reaches its target, or if the body takes any more damage, the disembodied scout will detonate in a white-hot EMP blast.
Although the Reborn are highly disciplined and augmented super soldiers, it seems that their individual personalities remain; they can often be heard shouting obscenities at the player and other soldiers and some speak with their native accents. They have a deep-seated hatred of the United States government and the military. Many of them feel betrayed by the powers that be, former soldiers in particular, and it's hinted that some of them may have ended up in the Reborn program by means of extraordinary rendition and kidnapping, particularly the homeless and criminal subjects.
The Reborn display a highly adaptive range of combat tactics though many do not involve subtlety. They can be observed hurling mobile homes at the player and other soldiers and setting elaborate traps. They show no mercy to captured soldiers and will often resort to high levels of violence.
Somers, a former member of Echo Squad, is the leader of the Reborn. After being drafted into the Reborn Project, he allowed himself to be re-trained and augmented with alien material, all the while he plotted against his captors before finally leading the Reborn in a full scale rebellion. After being sealed inside the dome, Somers studied the alien technology and the advanced weaponry. By the time the research team arrived to re-open the facility, the Reborn were fully equipped and ready to launch a full scale assault. They began by using the alien ship to burn a hole in the concrete dome over the facility and unleashing the Xeno creatures on the surrounding populations.
Reborn'
The Reborn are super-soldiers created by an underground military-industrial complex program. At the core of each Reborn is a human host, grafted with Gray technology and genetically mutated with alien DNA. The scientists who designed this class did so through a series of experiments that often resulted in the subject's prolonged death, a death which usually resulted in further grisly experimentation upon the corpse. Those who actually survived the experiments were left deformed in both body and mind, and now seek retribution upon those who spawned them.
The Soldier, the most common reborn type, is largely human in nature. These are the foot soldiers for the Reborn.
The Reborn Scout' is a highly advanced Reborn unit. Scouts were designed not only to possess greater physical strength than Reborn Soldiers, but greater mental acuity as well. As a result, Scouts make better use of cover and put up a more challenging fight. When the Scout receives too much damage, its mechanical body shuts down, and the still-human upper body jettisons off and crawls toward the nearest threat, attempting to suicide bomb.
The Reborn Leader''s design specs were outlined in a White Paper drafted by an ambitious team of chemical biologists at Detachment 03. Upon submitting the paper to Superior Review, the proposal was immediately scuttled due to "breaches in ethical protocol". Naturally dubious of a claimed adherence to "ethical protocol" by an organization with a penchant for conducting gruesome experiments on the near-dead, the renegade chemists regarded the rejection of their proposal as a political maneuver by jealous superiors. As a result, they worked in secret to create a Super-Scout model that improved in every way upon all previous Reborn iterations. Unfortunately for the upstart scientists, this new model had a level of self-awareness and decision making ability that proved difficult to contain. Shortly after its creation the prototype escaped, slaughtered its creators, and gave rise to the Reborn Insurgency.
Xeno'
The Xenos are mutations produced when mundane Earth biology comes into contact with the odd energies and gases exuded from fragments of an alien artifact that fell into the atmosphere in the late '40s. Although they come in various shapes and sizes, all Xenos share two primary traits. They are organic. And they are violent.
Drudge' referred to by your squad mates, who call these abominations as "Octopus-Dogs." With their sand-crab like appendages and swollen head-pieces, the Drudge travel in packs and take on their prey with a lethal lunge, gnashing and clawing, reducing their victims to piles of shredded flesh and clumps of bone.
Exploding Scrabs are relatively small and primitive Xenos. They scurry in groups, attacking in a flurry by flying into the faces of their victims to deliver a kamikaze-like death-swarm.
Fire-Brutes are the most massive enemies in the game. With a highly destructive beam that focuses on perceived threats, it is capable of destroying any object or cover point in its path. The Fire-Brute also provides a favourable host environment for Exploding Scrabs which it carries in its sacs as an additional means of defense.
Xeno Flatheads are worm-like tubules that defend themselves by spewing corrosive plasma as they flail wildly to avoid damage. There are three types of Flathead - small, large, and jumbo. Small Flathead is bigger than a human yet, unlike its Large counterpart which is taller, it is still short enough to fit in rooms and hallways. Jumbo Flathead, however, is a behemoth with far-reaching and massively powerful tentacles.
Spore-Towers are pillars of peril that ride the wind and take root wherever they land, spawning Xeno abominations as active defense.
Bug-Ridden are humans that have been infected by a virus originating from the alien Xeno ecology. The virus quickly spreads through the body, robbing the human of all but the most basic motor skills and thought processes. Bug Ridden can often be heard babbling to themselves as they relentlessly pursue their targets.