I just hope the UNSC doesn't get wind of my final action, or I could be receiving a reprimand!

(6:56) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. Completing a trio of movies based on a cavern megabattle save featuring four Shades on the bridge and two perched Ghosts beyond, here are three more bridge assaults, with three more weapon combos. No rocket assistance this time. Play 2 features the sniper rifle which I don't normally use in bridge assaults, but it allowed a relatively fast victory which helped offset the length of the final play.

Released January 31st 2017, gameplay recorded January 30th-31st 2017.

00:02 (Play 1 - Plasma combo) To start with, I head into battle with plasma weapons. That's a lot of power and the early Hunters get a good dose of it - along with a plasma grenade each.

00:34 I've already zapped the first Shade gunner, and now I take out the second with a plasma ball. When I throw a plasma towards the covies, it's short and only blasts the second Shade off the bridge, but my next throw does better, killing two Elites and hurting a third, who's then quickly finished with a plasma ball.

00:52 After a bit of advancing I back off when a Grunt throws a plasma, but it's not long before I advance again and deal with two blue Elites at close quarters, finishing the second with a few whacks.

01:22 From the cover of a stanchion I notice that there are a lot of plasmas on the ground, so I take the opportunity of hoovering them up while launching a barrage at the forces ahead, including tagging the first Ghost. I get hit with a plasma ball but there's quite a wipeout at the end of the bridge, so I advance regardless and pull off a nice long tag of the second Ghost. By the time it goes boom, I'm already slaying my way through four Jackals, after which I bring down a distant fleeing Grunt.

01:50 After starting to zap the nearest Hunter, I move to the edge of the chasm hoping to lead him over the edge, but he switches focus to the Marines instead, so I resume zapping and he's quickly killed. As for the other Hunter, I kill him with a whack, just as he does the same to a Marine. I arrived a fraction too late.

02:06 Almost done now. After zapping a Jackal I start to head into the darkness on the left, but then I hear a Shade firing on the bridge. A Grunt has nipped past the Marines to man it. I quickly kill him with a plasma rifle, before finding a Grunt to slay on the left.

02:23 (Play 2 - Sniper rifle and pistol) In this play I'm aiming to work my way through the covies relatively fast, initially with the sniper rifle. I'm off to a good start with four shots and four kills. A couple of plasmas take a few Elites by surprise, then I move in for further work, eventually hopping up onto a stanchion for a higher view.

03:20 With no more Elites advancing, I switch to the pistol for an aggressive advance involving plenty of grenades, and at the far side I bring down a Hunter fast with a pistol shot in the back. The other goes the same way before long, and then I tag the Ghosts. Finally there's a Grunt on the left, whose panicking form I line up in the sights of the sniper rifle, bringing things back to how I started.

04:03 (Play 3 - Needler and AR) Needler and AR is quite a fun combo, so let's give it a go! After tagging the first Hunter twice, I dish out some hot lead and he's soon down. I tag the first Shade then get the second Hunter chasing me, and drill him good.

04:23 Prior to moving onto the bridge I lob a plasma to take out the second Shade, then I get busy with the needler. There are multiple spare needlers along the bridge (placed there in advance), so it's ok for me to deliver generous streams. For starters an Elite on the right gets a full clip, and a needle bang sets off some loose plasmas, killing a second Elite into the bargain. Further carnage follows, and around 4:57 I use two of the spare needlers to top up. Incidentally, at 4:54 a Marine is heard dying to my left. What happened there was, I hit X to reload my needler, but it also caused the Shade to flip - fatally.

05:04 When I move out from behind the stanchion where I topped up my needler, I get a shock to see a Ghost heading almost straight for me. Luckily it just misses. I quickly try to tag it but fail, so instead I needle the pilot. Unfortunately I'm standing a bit close when the bang comes, but happily no health is lost. The Marines don't fare so well; I think I killed three of them. Oops! As for how the Ghost got free in the first place, a Marine threw a frag around 4:39 ("Fire in the hole!") but it got deflected and bounced off a distant pipe, settling near the base of the block on which the Ghost was perched.

05:15 I resume the advance with needles and grenades, but around 5:40 a couple of blue Elites advance, and when I needle the front one heavily a minor cataclysm results, taking out three more Marines. Oops again! Technically this is bad combat of course, but I was only playing for fun, so I don't mind a cataclysm or two - as long as I'm not in them myself!

05:45 Reaching the far side at last, I drill a few Jackals then get one of the Hunters chasing me. Leading him to the edge as I reload, I dodge his swipe and over he goes. The other Hunter gets similar treatment after I blow the Ghost.

06:25 I hear a Grunt, then spot him heading for a Shade on the bridge, so I follow, musing on how to kill him. But as he boards I suddenly notice Sergeant Johnson on the bridge rim, and he steals my kill. Perched precariously as he is, I can't resist a bit of mischief. I fire a needle at him, and comedy ensues. In my combat movies I generally don't include captions, but in this rare case I added the caption "Stole my kill!" to set things up as being comic retaliation. At the time though, it was just a case of not being able to resist making him fall, because I knew it would be pretty funny.

Closing remarks The plasma combo was the first one I worked with, and eventually I got a play in which both Ghosts were nicely taken out with longish tags, so I settled for that. Next I worked with needler and AR. When I got that play with the Johnson incident at the end (and also with a few other memorable bits, including dealing with the loose Ghost), it was an obvious candidate for ending the movie with. However, it was relatively long, so that's what made me try out a sniper rifle combo, hoping I could get a relatively short play to keep the movie under seven minutes long. Worked out ok in the end. I don't normally use a sniper rifle in bridge assaults, because I prefer closer and more visceral mobile action, but actually it was quite good fun trying to use it to speed through.

This finishes my binge of cavern megabattling for now, but definitely watch out for other novel set-ups in the future. Next time maybe you'll see a Wraith on the bridge!

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