BCM115 - Freakiness and fun, assorted clips

(5:30) Various levels and difficulties. My seventh 'freakiness and fun' compilation shows 20 freaky or amusing incidents, most of which occurred while recording footage for my usual movies - so you may recognize some of the situations.

Released September 18th 2014, gameplay recorded 2011-2014.

Commentary

00:02 (Hotshot Wraith) After stealing this Banshee from the platform, I start laying waste to the covies, but just as I arc around, a Wraith shot blows me out of the sky. It looks like the Wraith pilot was quite a hotshot and anticipated where I was going to go; but that's not really what happened of course. He was firing towards where I'd been a few moments ago, and I foolishly flew back that way, right into the path of his shot. Completely my fault really. March 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM98 (but for that movie I eventually decided against doing any killing in this area as it wasn't important, as long as the Banshee was kept safe). Level 5, Heroic.

00:20 (Long shunt) Attempting some Banshee assisted Warthog stunting, a blast sends the hog spinning and I pop out. The back of the hog then gives me quite a kick, causing me to sail quite a long way and hit a tree, which almost kills me. February 2013 footage from when I was recording for BCM66. Level 2, Legendary.

00:33 (Missing bang) After circling a Jackal to frustrate his attempts to shoot me, I move clear and tag him. He runs in panic for a while then does a roll, which seems to do something to the grenade. He gets killed by a phantom explosion with no bang. At the end his plasma pistol settles amusingly in front of me, which is why I let the clip run a bit longer. May 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM105. Level 4, Legendary.

00:55 (Hunter help) In this solo twin bridges megabattle, I leave my Banshee to one side of the start of the trough, then head down. A Grunt follows and takes an amusing direct hit from a Hunter who was aiming at where I'd just been. January 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM90. Level 5, Normal.

01:11 (Keep on shooting) In this a cliff path defence in a dustbowl megabattle, a blue Elite dives off the edge to avoid my frag, and I end up joining him. Guess I misjudged where the edge was, trying to shield my back with a rock. I'm a gonner for sure - so I may as well keep on shooting! January 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM94. Level 3, Normal.

01:25 (Hunters strike again) More help from the Hunters in a twin bridges megabattle! Two blue Elites are closing in on me, and after rocketing the first, I aim a rocket to try and simultaneously take out the second plus a panicking Jackal. It doesn't quite kill the Elite, but a Hunter blast finishes the job very nicely! January 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM90. Level 5, Normal.

01:36 (Tag, you're it) Banshee assisted Warthog stunting again. A blast comes in and ejects both myself and the passenger, and I take the opportunity to perform a tag on the second Banshee. Even after some AR fire the bang doesn't quite destroy it; but one more AR burst seals the deal. February 2013 footage from when I was recording for BCM66. Level 2, Legendary.

01:51 (Frustrated spore) After prevailing in a Flood onslaught challenge, a spore is behind the stationary shield, trying in vain to head my way. Stoopid little bubble. I go over and taunt him for a while. He wants a nibble but it ain't gonna happen. He's partly sticking through the shield, so eventually I pop him. June 2014 footage from when I was checking out something in the Flood onslaught challenge, the day after recording for BCM107 (I was trying to count how many combat forms spawned). Level 9, Easy.

02:06 (BLAAAM!) In this rockslide megabattle a frag from Johnson sets off some loose grenades and a red Elite goes flying - much to Johnson's satisfaction. The red gets the benefit of my needles too. The frag was thrown just before this clip starts. Johnson's "Fire in the hole!" cry is actually for a second frag thrown quickly afterwards, though I see no sign of that one in the footage, so I don't know where it went. October 2013 footage from when I was recording for BCM86. Level 2, Heroic.

02:15 (Spinning hog jump) In this spot of Warthog joyriding around the tower, a red Elite gets agreeably splattered with a tap from the hog's rear, and then I do quite a nice spinning jump off the Shade ramp. For good measure I manage to clip a Hunter afterwards. November 2012 footage from when I was recording for BCM58. Level 5, Legendary.

02:28 (Another dud plasma) Here we've got something similar to the earlier clip. Something happens to a plasma grenade when the Jackal clips into the wall, and he dies from a phantom explosion. As I recall, this happened several times when I was recording for this particular tag method. Of course, it's also of interest that the Jackal is able to clip into the wall so deeply. At one point he's totally hidden! May 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM105. Level 4, Legendary.

02:39 (Grunty fools) What a rabble eh? These crack troopers do manage to hit me with a couple of shots, but mostly they're too busy panicking or shooting each other. I end the clip on a comedy high, when an orange Grunt reels into my view due to friendly fire then takes an AR round, sending him off the bridge to his death. October 2012 footage from when I was recording for BCM55. Level 3, Normal.

03:04 (Right behind you) In this bridge descent via patrolling Elite, I get a glancing blow off the Elite to stop me on the ledge, then I dodge a swipe and throw a plasma. I'm not sure if I was trying to tag him or if I was deliberately going for the ground, but anyway it lands behind him and he seems oblivious to it, he's so focused on frying me with plasma fire. I let him shoot, as I know what's coming. BLAM! February 2011 footage from when I was recording for BCM29. Level 5, Heroic.

03:16 (Onslaught aftermath) After a Flood onslaught challenge on Easy in which I was killing in a controlled way to try and count how many combat forms spawned, these bodies were impressively lined up at the end, in the spawning area around the corner. This actually follows on from the 'Frozen spores' footage in BCM109; you can briefly see this line of bodies there. June 2014 footage from the day after recording for BCM107. Level 9, Easy.

03:32 (Hunter bomb) After needling a Hunter, I let him chase me so I can then tag him and sidestep, to see him sail over the edge and go bang. It doesn't quite go as planned (I got a bit pressured after perhaps getting distracted by the flying Elite), but it turns out nicely nevertheless. He becomes a Hunter bomb, taking out two Grunts who've retreated down the ramp. June 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM106. Level 4, Legendary.

03:48 (Aerial barrage) Trying to get a detached dropship turret, I get propelled high around the cliff face. On the way down I unleash a grenade barrage to try and take out an Elite at the far end, to make things safer in the event that I survive the landing. I do survive, taking only a bit of shield damage, and meanwhile the Elite spots me and foolishly backs into the blast from my first plasma. I then quickly snipe the rideless Banshee pilot. Right after this (unseen), I got attacked by a Ghost and a blue Elite, and I messed up quite a bit in trying to handle them, but prevailed. Afterwards though, I found that the turret hadn't detached. Looking at the footage, I see that I never even got a flip prompt for the ship. December 2013 footage from a few days after releasing BCM88. Level 5, Heroic.

04:08 (Grenade bluff) In this far area defence in a rockslide megabattle, a Grunt cries "Down in front!" yet fails to actually throw. Bluffing eh? If he thought I was gonna dive for no reason, he's got another think coming! I've let this clip continue a few seconds to include a grunty panic cry and a second headshot. April 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM101. Level 2, Heroic.

04:25 (Miscalculation) Attacked by advancing Jackals in the main facility, I take down the lead Jackal's shield then pile in some needles as I jump a gap. I also throw a frag intended for the Jackal behind, but it bounces off the first guy who's running around in needled agony. Ok then, no worries; a second frag will do it. But I step out from cover too soon and get smacked down by a plasma ball. That was quite a shock. I overestimated my resilience there, and I think I was expecting the Jackal to've been trying to dive clear, as they normally do. June 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM106. Level 4, Legendary.

04:39 (Wrong hole) When a Banshee or two comes in for an attack, a couple of Marines throw frags, but the first is fumbled - likely due to friendly fire I think. It lands close to me - you can hear it - but at least I survive, unlike half the squad. January 2011 footage from when I was recording for BCM26. Level 2, Legendary.

04:48 (Victory dance) After a twin bridges megabattle fought in the trough, I drew the Marines out of the trough in order to easily count them, and at some point shortly after, I noticed this guy doing a bit of a shuffle. He was doing it at least 20 minutes until I finally shot him to snap him out of it. I've linked some clips together to try and make a nice sequence showing his funky moves. Nice rhythm eh? His animation cycle takes 32 frames on my 25 fps PAL version of the game, and I've linked the clips in such a way as to maintain the cycle exactly. September 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM113. Level 5, Heroic.

Closing remarks It's only been five movies since the last 'freakiness and fun' movie BCM109 two months ago, but I had so much candidate material building up - over 20 minutes worth - I wanted to get some of it used up so it didn't feel like such a mountain. The most recent item here is the 'Victory dance' in connection with my recent twin bridges megabattling in the trough. I knew I wanted that included. Then it was an enjoyable task to pick out the rest and try to get things sequenced in a pleasing way.

The oldest item here is the 'Wrong hole' clip, from way back when I was recording for my first Banshee battling movie BCM26 in 2011. The 'Right behind you' clip relating to BCM29 is almost as old though, and actually I still have several more clips regarding that Elite, so I expect you'll be seeing him again later.