Let the good times roll! For my first movie here's some plateau fun in the rockslide megabattle, with extra Marines thrown in for good measure…

(3:06) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. This shows a rockslide megabattle against 34 covies, using the plateau front defence plan, and restricting myself to AR and frags to make things tougher. I've ferried in 5 extra Marines; 3 out front, plus 2 at the back of the plateau with a lone rockslide survivor. I'm driving in with Stacker and an armoured Aussie, both from the hillside survivor area.

Released September 20th 2009, gameplay recorded June 19th 2009.

00:06 In we go, heading straight across to the nearest gap to do an S-drive through part of the rockslide. A Grunt in the plain is looking the wrong way and I enjoy giving him a shock, heh heh. Give him credit though, he is pretty good at diving clear. Meanwhile my Aussie passenger briefs us with a hasty tactical analysis of the situation: "Dammit they're everywhere!". Don't worry men; it's all in a day's work for a cyborg! Stacker winces from a bit of plasma but then we're through the gap, encountering an Elite in the rockslide. You can often squash things on the way through here but this guy's not quite in the right place. Catch ya later squid-face! Swerving right to complete the 'S', we pass a Jackal too, then glide smoothly through the narrow gap I call the top pass.

00:28 Ok here we are at the plateau, and I've left three extra Marines in position ready to help out against the forthcoming attack, including Sergeant Johnson from way back in the first part of the level. One of the guys is armoured, making him extra resilient. He's gonna need it! I slide to a stop against the cliff - my standard parking spot - and make my buddies dismount as usual. Don't want chain-gun support; it would make things too easy. Stacker is keen to get started: "Let's kick some ass!". Righto Stacker, that's pretty much the plan.

00:36 There are also three guys at the back of the plateau, and I briefly take a look their way just to show you the scene for the sake of the movie. I wouldn't normally be taking a look at them, I'd be focused on the approaching covies. Actually only one of those three guys is a rockslide survivor. The other two are extras I ferried in. That means I added five extras in total, when doing my set-up work. Not easy - took multiple attempts. I wanted these extra two in my save to help out my lone rockslide survivor, in times when the covies break through my front defence. Off in the distance, dropship 4 is rising to depart.

00:39 Here they come boys! As usual an Elite arrives first - this time a nasty red. He gets a bit of peppering but soon hides down the side of the plateau to recharge. I try to bounce a frag off the 'covie cover rock' so it'll blast him but it's not one of my better throws. It bounces off to the right, too close to the top of the approach rather than going properly down the side, and it sounds like all I do this time is kill a Grunt. Bit of a waste, and not a great start. When you're limiting yourself to only AR and frags, you really want to make every frag count!

00:54 Things heat up rapidly! A Grunt whips out an early plasma but goes down, dropping it and causing a red Elite to jump clear, ha ha. He takes quite a beating from multiple assault rifles and has to back off. But a load more covies have pushed forward and I quickly throw another frag just before ducking back behind my cover rock. BLAM! I really get my money's worth with that one. It does some serious damage and also causes a Grunt to throw his plasma short, just in the nick of time. Moments later a Marine follows my example - "Fire in the hole!" - causing mass carnage. Nice work buddy! Two Elites growl - they're in rage mode. One I can already see - a red - and I quickly zero in on him, bringing him down. Not sure what happens to the other.

01:15 A couple of plasma balls sail in from unseen Jackals and "Ahhhhhh…" - oh dear, that was my first Marine casualty by the sound of it. Confirmed moments later when I walk over a dropped AR, picking up a bit more ammo. Meanwhile an isolated blue Elite takes a nice crossfire peppering. Marines are pretty useless at finishing off weakened Elites though, so I charge the blue, drilling aggressively. This does expose my side but there weren't any other Elites attacking so I figured I'd be safe enough for a few seconds. Stacker shouts encouragement: "Keep it up people!".

01:22 Moving back toward my cover rock I see two Jackals getting close enough together to be taken out with one grenade, so I throw a quick frag. BLAM! Nice. I even get the seal of approval from Johnson: "Oh yeah!". Actually, for a few moments before throwing the frag I seem to be shooting the rock. I don't know what the heck I was doing there. Wasting ammo isn't like me at all, and shooting up the scenery is best left to the real experts, i.e. the Marines! All I can say is, I'm sorry and I won't do it again. I take the chance to reload after throwing the frag; that's usually a good time for it. Right after the bang a couple of Grunts toddle out from mid distance, but decide to go back the other way when I give 'em a light peppering, ha ha. That can be a useful tactic, just peppering enemies enough to make them retreat for a while. Ok you didn't kill them, but it helps keep the pressure down.

01:31 With more Elites arriving, the Marines choose a good moment to dish out some frags. Some guy off to the right yells "Grenade!" then Johnson lets fly, nicely seen just in front of me as I dodge about. "Catch!". Stacker wants a bit of the action too: "You are a statistic boy!". Good bangs, and Johnson is pleased: "Hah! Cancel Christmas!". A Jackal gets blasted forward and I finish him off in mid-air, ha ha. Stacker throws another frag for good measure but meanwhile we've got a Jackal coming up behind us. In all the carnage I failed to notice his approach on my motion tracker - a mistake - but luckily I'm close enough to be able to just swivel around to deal with him. A burst with the AR doesn't quite bring him down and I decide to just do a 'throw and forget' move with a frag instead, so I can get back to focussing on the left. Actually that was probably a bit of a waste as I could've finished him with just a few more rounds, but I was worried about the covies potentially pushing forward from the left. Your Marines can get quickly massacred that way, so you can't afford to shift your attention from that side for long. Pity I couldn't hang around to see the Jackal get fragged though; I do love to see those beaky freaks fly.

01:43 Heading back to my cover rock, things are still hot. Two grunty devils come into view and one of them lobs a grenade just as I'm reaching the rock and reloading. What a nerve. Do they really think they can get away with it? I move out to see the grenade coming and let it sail past as I move forward to get clear of the blast radius; no need to panic. Even before it's gone off, the Grunts have gone airborne from a Marine frag thrown moments before. Hah, look at 'em fly! More grenades head the covies' way and I see a red Elite growling. I bring him down before he can charge forth to do damage. Another red takes a peppering and backs off to recharge.

01:54 With shield bleeping and Grunts running off in panic, there's a brief lull in the battle and I take a moment to do a bit of recharging myself, then I take a look around. Nothing in sight, but I hear a Grunt getting ready for another go: "Back me up!" A bird call (02:04) seems to artfully highlight the temporary spell of peacefulness, but then the plucky little Grunt toddles out from medium distance. What, he's gonna take us on all by himself? A spot of staccato fire puts him straight, much to the approval of Sergeant Johnson: "Heh hey!".

02:10 Not much left now. The final attacking Elite shows his ugly face and I bring down a few Grunts before they can whip out any plasmas. I sneak over to the side and get a Jackal from behind - and another Grunt with more staccato fire. Now to polish off the red. I wait for him to emerge, then I charge him, drilling with the AR. I'm pretty sure he's already weakened and in no fit state to fend off a cyborg. His shield is down quick, and then he's got nothin' left to do but growl and die.

02:43 Now it's time to seek out the dropship 4 Elite. But hey, who's this toddling along to the plateau? You're a bit late aren't you grunty? Got delayed at the food nipple or something? Oh well, here's a taste of the fun you missed! A light burst gives him a rapid change of mind about tackling a cyborg on his own, and he comically about-faces to run for it. But there's no escape. I give him a burst in the back, just toying with him. Well, I am a bad cyborg aren't I? But all good grunty things must come to an end, and I klonk him on the nut to put him out of his misery.

02:53 Bit of an aerial assault now, as I come in from above on an unsuspecting blue drilling him with the AR. Big fella tries a swipe but I see it coming and dodge, then finish him off with a smack in the face. Ha ha! Course, I was never in any danger from a blue - they're way softer than reds and he's only got a needler anyway. I prefer it when the last Elite is a red so there's a bit more bite to finishing things off, but never mind. And in case you're wondering whether I'm sure this was the last covie, yes I am because I got an intercom message just after the gameplay fades out. I won't always bother to include any 'end of battle' intercom chatter in my rockslide movies.

Closing remarks This defence went pretty well. The covies never managed to push forward onto the plateau much, but I did have quite a lot of Marine support. Even limiting myself to AR and frags, having three extra Marines to help out tends to make things a shade easy to be honest. Usually I like to have a tougher time of things and wouldn't have more than two. In fact with AR and frags, two extras seems just about the right balance for me. I'll probably release another play of this defence sometime, in which the fighting becomes more desperate. When the covies break through and force you to retreat, that's when additional tactics come into play. For my very first movie though, I thought it would be nice to have plenty of Marines around for fun, and to show the covies getting a thorough pasting. Hope you enjoyed it!

© 2004-2020 by Rockslider