I'm on the tail of that grunty Shade gunner again, this time having fun with grenades, needle dodging, and lots and lots of panicking…

(4:45) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. This shows another play of the situation described in my article Right behind you. This time I show some fun with grenades and a bit of needle dodging, and follow the Grunt on a panic marathon - all with the music allowed to continue.

Released March 15th 2011, gameplay recorded March 9th 2011.

00:02 I'm using the same save as for BCM31, and once more I fly in from the cavern. This time I'm going to let the music continue however. I suspect a lot of folk will prefer things that way, and perhaps it gives things an extra tinge of excitement. There's no need for me to go past the loading point, and the Grunt is blasted out of his Shade before even getting a shot off. He's quickly on the move, and I get a delayed checkpoint as he approaches. It was the checkpoint I triggered just before rounding the corner. As he comes past the Banshee, I circle around it and latch on behind him - an alternative method to that shown in BCM31. Just as I get to the corner, he's looking left at such an angle that I think I might get spotted, and I go as far right as I can. Fortunately I remain unseen.

00:32 At the top of the hump I start my grenade fun, throwing a grenade past him to try to elicit a grunty alert while remaining undetected. I'm rewarded with one of my favourite two cries: "Wha… Grenade!". This early on, I find that he often turns around when you throw a grenade past him. But I'm ok this time. He pauses then resumes his course. My second grenade brings my other favourite grenade alert: "What the? Grenade!". He diverts just a little, and as he continues on, I take the opportunity to pick up a few spare plasmas.

00:54 On the bridge I make my next throw but it lands too far away for him to feel the need for an alert, though it does cause him to move right in somewhat glitchy fashion, something I've seen occasionally when doing this grenade business. I try again with a frag which sends the dead Hunter flying, and this time there's a cry of "Grenade!". At the end of the bridge, another plasma gets a cry of "Look out!" and I remain undetected. Not too bright this grunty trooper. Five grenades have sailed past his ears and he still hasn't put two and two together yet!

01:22 Into the tunnel, and I throw a frag over his head as I near the top of the first hump. But then I clumsily run into the back of him when he stops - sillly me - and now he knows I'm there: "Need help!". Now I've been rumbled, I might as well put the flashlight on. It also gives me the opportunity to show a bit of slalom-style needle dodging, which makes a nice chanllenge. The first needle hits but then I'm in the swing of things and the rest miss. He backs off as he fires, and he's quickly on his way once he's lost sight of me.

01:45 Yep, there is up ahead doing a spot of creeping, still a bit wary. He starts running again, but with my superior cyborg speed I quickly close the gap. I try to panic him with a shot, but it's hard to get that to work when he's still this far from the snow. The attempt fails, but it was good to see him jump eh? I do a bit more needle dodging, though one of them catches me.

02:04 As I reach the top of the hump, he's doing a spot of creeping again. Silly fool! Doesn't he realize I'm back this way? I move in and try another close shot to spook him. This time I get a "Yipe!" and he's off on a panic. Yay! These things generally last all the way to his destination. The shock also tends to make him switch destinations, and that's what happens here. Once we're on the snow, I see him running up the right and that tells me he's not heading for the windy tunnel, which he otherwise would have (in this particular save). Aside from a brief backtrack to give a dead Jackal a good thump (it had to be done), I hold my position close behind, enjoying the Grunt's animation and cries. He's sure got the heebie-jeebies!

03:46 He finally pulls himself together and gets busy with his needler. I let him have a nice go on it as I dodge around a bit. Real considerate eh? My idea is to lure him him deeper into the Pelican area but things are going a bit slow and I take a few needles, so I decide it's time to give him something back. A spot of plasma makes him head into the windy tunnel in another panic. I start to give chase, then change my mind. I've got another idea.

04:20 Yep, it's time for 'Grunt vs Tank'. Oooh, that's a toughie. Who's gonna win? I trundle over to the tunnel entrance and out he comes. Seems like he's not worried about taking on a tank at all! Little fella's got a bit of courage then - or else he's just plain stupid. He moves around to the left and starts sticking needles into the side, crying "Shoot you!". What a hooligan! Ok that's enough; now let me have a shot. BOOM! - "Waahhhhhh". Tank 1, Grunt 0. I would ask him for a rematch, but he seems to be sleeping.

Closing remarks That play didn't go completely to plan. It was a clumsy mistake when I bumped into the back of the Grunt, but it did give me an opportunity to show a bit of slalom-style needle dodging, which is another aspect of the fun you can have with this guy. I got a good long panic marathon too, spooking him relatively early - just a matter of luck. I produced several candidate runs for this movie but especially liked the ending of this one, with the Grunt standing there trying to needle the tank. Bad idea!

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