Repeat after me: there is no such thing as using too many needles…

(5:25) Level 2 ('Halo') on Legendary. Yet more explosive carnage in the arc of death, but this time without music (which is what I prefer), and the plays are mostly quite short and intense. The first play uses the save seen created at the end of BCM318, while the rest use three other saves.

Released November 18th 2018, gameplay recorded November 15th 2018.

00:02 (Play 1) There's some nice decimation at the start, and then I throw some grenades into the middle area. At least two of those targeted the Jackal but he escapes death - until I get closer and frag him.

00:38 (Play 2) This play uses a 2005 save featuring 13 covies, which I think are just the guys from the last two dropships. It's a save in which I got the checkpoint away from the cover rock, and the covies don't know where I am. I soon let them know. At one point I get hit by a plasma ball which I only see a bit late (it was initially obscured by a plasma explosion), but aside from that, things go well, and there's a nice ending with a Grunt going flying.

01:15 (Play 3) A barrage of six grenades gets things off to an explosive start, and the final Elite gets killed by needles. At the end, I've run out of grenades but I deviate to pick up a plasma with which to tag the Jackal. I make him roll, and he becomes an easy target.

01:58 (Play 4) This play uses a 2005 save in which the Elites have been eliminated, leaving ten Grunts and two Jackals. At the start I kill some Grunts to get more loose plasmas, then… BLAM! Nice tag to launch a Grunt at the end.

02:32 (Play 5) I open with a high bombardment which mainly targets covies at the right and left of the arc, but I add a frag for the middle area, partly in anticipation of covies running into that area in panic. It took a bit of practice to sort out the appropriate throw aims for such a bombardment, but I got quite used to it. Note that I raised my elevation a little for the second two plasmas, because the left is a bit closer than the right. The bombardment turns out pretty well, and there are only five minor covies left after the bangs.

Incidentally, you may've noticed that the blast from my third plasma was silent. I assume that was because the game had too much audio to process. It was a common occurrence when I was doing plays such as this.

03:08 (Play 6) Nice big bang at the start, sending a Grunt body overhead.

03:49 (Play 7) Here's another play of the 2005 save used in play 2. This time though, I start with some frags before getting busy with the needles. Extra-high Grunt launch at the end!

04:23 (Play 8) This play goes on a bit longer than the others, partly because I have a spell of trying to needle some Grunts on the left, and not getting much reward. With health diminishing I charge over to the rock on the right, but end up on one health bar before I get the covies on the run. Mopping up the last few, I almost prevail, but a Grunt scores a posthumous victory with his last few needles. Curses!

Closing remarks Although covies were potentially able to vanish when out of sight (as mentioned in my article), I didn't notice any vanishing in these particular plays, except for play 5 in which one of two Jackals had vanished by the time I emerged from launching my high bombardment. He always seemed to vanish when I started like that.

Plays 3, 5, 6 and 8 used a modification of the 2005 save used in some of BCM319 (a save which has two Jackals). The modification was simply to get rid of the music.

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