That tower Wraith pilot is having a real bad day…

(5:32) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Legendary. Just past the tower there's an Elite who runs to man a Wraith, but with a Warthog you can have fun thwarting him in various ways, as seen in this clip montage, which also features lots of Ghost rocketing. This relates to my Warthog joyriding article, although in many cases I end up dismounting. I'm using the same save as in BCM58, featuring a sniping Johnson and an Aussie chain-gunner.

Released July 3rd 2014, gameplay recorded December 15th 2012 and June 26th-28th 2014.

00:02 (Clip 1 - Wraith flip) This clip seemed a good one to start with. I drive at the Wraith from the left and hit the nose to flip it, and the thwarted pilot later gets killed by Hunter blasts, ha ha. He goes flying across the screen very nicely.

00:26 (Clip 2 - Rear wheel splatter) The majority of my clips involve approaching from the right, partly because the snow lasts longer on that side hence I get more time to reach the Wraith. But also, as you see here, there's the possibility of splattering the pilot. This clips is one of my old ones from 2012. I think I'd been trying to flip the Wraith, and the splattering was just a happy accident.

00:39 (Clip 3 - Tag) This pilot gets tagged on the foot just as he's about to get in, and he subsequently launches out of his Wraith. Poor fella didn't get to play with it long; that's a pity eh? As with many of my clips, there's some Ghost rocketing afterwards. I love rocketing those things - but who wouldn't?

00:55 (Clip 4 - Hog flip) This the other of my old clips from 2012. I'm not sure if I was trying to flip the Wraith or deliberately going for a hog flip, but anyway, the hog does a bit of corkscrew and the gunner queries my driving credentials - which was amusing enough to merit inclusion.

01:02 (Clip 5 - Wraith flip with pilot ejection) The pilot manages to get aboard, but only briefly. The Wraith teeters on its edge and he pops back out again. It almost falls on him, but instead he gets a bit of cyborg treatment. I then miss a rocket shot on a Hunter who kills Johnson; maybe my aim slipped at the last moment. A pistol shot does the job instead.

01:23 (Clip 6 - Tag) Heading along the side of the tower, we barge the corner Ghost out of the way and I tag the pilot just before he gets in. You'll notice that the grenade seems to get somewhat left outside though. He gets blasted out (in a manner consistent with the grenade still being attached to his leg, despite appearances to the contrary), and I rocket a few Ghosts.

01:44 (Clip 7 - Back flip splatter) A very nice splatter this. The hog does a back flip and the pilot gets comically smeared into the ice.

01:55 (Clip 8 - Failed Wraith flip with late pilot boarding) I'm betting you laughed when you saw this clip. The pilot starts to dive clear of the hog, and the Wraith starts to flip, but then the pilot gets almost magnetically pulled aboard, and the Wraith eventually settles.

02:03 (Clip 9 - Tag after hog jump) Thwarting the pilot after doing a jump off the Shade slope is difficult, because unless the pilot happens to stop in mid run, he's likely to be aboard before you reach the Wraith. The jump slows you considerably and there's not much snow on which to increase speed afterwards. However, if you dismount in time, you can attempt a tag from distance - such as seen here. Looks like I get him on the foot at the very last moment.

02:20 (Clip 10 - Tag with Wraith destruction) I miss my first tag attempt but get him with the second, just in time. Looks like it stuck to his waist. At first the grenade goes down into the Wraith with him, but then it seems to pop back up, above the Wraith's nose. When it goes off he gets blasted down and out; and also his loose plasmas get set off, destroying the Wraith.

02:32 (Clip 11 - Wraith flip then hog blasted) The Wraith gets decisively flipped, but a hazard of flipping is that the hog tends to be left with very little speed, leaving it rather vulnerable on the ice for a while. In this case I get away too slowly and wander into a broadside from the Hunters. Johnson is killed and the hog does a somersault. Unseen in the movie (because it was a bit slow), the hog eventually settled on its wheels and we managed to get away.

02:45 (Clip 12 - Tag) This pilot tag doesn't produce an especially spectacular bang, but I liked the comedy of the gunner querying my ability to through my visor, after the hog bounced off the Wraith.

02:59 (Clip 13 - Hog spin) This Wraith flip attempt doesn't quite go according to plan. The hog takes an odd bounce, sending it into an excellent spin on the ice.

03:07 (Clip 14 - Wraith flip and pilot sniped) The Wraith gets flipped, and beyond it the pilot dives clear of the hog's path. Then Johnson scores two or three hits with his rifle, killing the pilot. "Can't run."

03:16 (Clip 15 - Corkscrew splatter) I dismount as the hog bounces off the front of the Wraith, and it flies on to smash into the pilot, doing a bit of a corkscrew on the way. Nice! I miss a rocket shot at an arriving Ghost, but make sure of things with my other tube.

03:28 (Clip 16 - Tags missed, Ghost blasted) I miss two tag attempts here, but there's an amusing consolation prize when an incoming Ghost gets blasted by the first grenade.

03:38 (Clip 17 - Splatter via Wraith) Instead of splattering the pilot with the hog, you can instead barge the Wraith and maybe that will do the job - such as seen here.

03:44 (Clip 18 - Flying hog spin and 3-Ghost rocket blast) On this attempt at making the pilot dive, I do something a bit different with the hog, arriving sideways. It flies off at a spin, and the Elite narrowly misses getting hit by the back wheels. He escapes by executing a quick second dive. Instead of tagging him, which I think was my original plan, I just rocket him. Then when three Ghosts arrive, I notice them starting to come together and realise I could pull off something special. I time things carefully, and BLAM! - I get all three with one rocket. So I simply had to include that in the movie.

04:00 (Clip 19 - Non-killing tag) Here's something interesting. After a spinny impact with the Wraith, I tag the pilot on the head and it goes off before he's inside, yet it doesn't kill him! Looks like there may be a brief period during which he gets protected, owing to his boarding. I may return to this phenomenon at a later date.

04:14 (Clip 20 - Tag with high-flying pilot) After making the pilot dive to give me more time, I tag him on the rear end just before he drops through the hatch. He's blasted up, then his loose grenades go off too, boosting him further. I rocket a Ghost just after he hits the ice, but my Marines are gonners. Sorry Sarge, I got a bit preoccupied there.

04:32 (Clip 21 - Pilot loses interest) I fail to flip the Wraith here, but it's unboardable long enough for him to lose interest permanently - so I've still stopped him boarding. It doesn't take long for the behavioural change to occur, as you can see. After he runs off I try to follow in the hog, but the gunner is focused on the Ghost and almost gets us all killed when it explodes right next to us.

04:45 (Clip 22 - Tag with bonus Ghost launch) I'm sure you can see why I included this clip. After tagging the pilot, the explosion sends a Ghost flying high and far. "BOOM!", as Johnson said.

04:56 (Clip 23 - Rear wheel splatter) One last splatter for you. The hog starts to do a back flip, and quickly collects the pilot with the back wheels.

05:04 (Clip 24 - Wraith flip and rockety carnage) I dismount just before letting the hog flip the Wraith. After dishing out some gratuitously over-the-top treatment to the pilot, I start rocketing other targets. Unfortunately the second is a Ghost hovering near Johnson. Whoops, sorry Sarge, but you should've got clear of that thing! Then I hear a growling Elite and try to rocket him, but in the heat of the moment my aim jiggles downwards. The rocket sets off some loose plasmas, and I go flying. You briefly hear the Banshee swooping along at the end - a latecomer to the party.

Closing remarks Around a month after making BCM58, I was doing some more joyriding around the tower and got a few amusing clips in which I tried to stop the Wraith pilot reaching his machine. I decided I could either use some of those in a 'Freakiness and fun' movie, or maybe do some more gameplay and make a dedicated movie on the theme. Evidently I've gone for the later; there was enough variation to make a whole movie viable. Only two of the clips are from 2012 though; the rest are from the extra gameplay I've done. In particular, all the tagging clips are recent; I didn't cotton on to the tagging option before.

One of the things you got to see in the movie (notably in clip 10 but also clip 6) was an odd phenomenon whereby a plasma grenade attached to the pilot could subsequently pop up to a position above the Wraith's nose after he got in. During my play I saw particularly striking examples of this when tagging him on the head. That's when the grenade can pop back up highest, it seems. It looks like the eventual height of the grenade bears relation to how high up on his body he got tagged.

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