Lots of gratuitous needling, to round out my glasshouse battling trilogy.

(7:43) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Legendary. For the third dose of carnage using my 38-covie boosted glasshouse battle set-up, I switch to using a needler and plasma pistol, another of my favourite combos. Lots of lovely long needle streams here!

Released July 16th 2023, gameplay recorded May 17th-18th 2023.

00:02 (Play 1 - Going right) Heading down the right, I opt for my 2-frag Grunt clearance method like in play 2 of my previous movie, and it goes very nicely, with the Grunts fountaining up in appealing fashion. After stunning the blue Elite with a plasma ball I then unleash my first stream of needles, causing a good deal of carnage.

00:22 Two red Elites come to the fore, but after stunning and tagging the first they get explosively killed while I shelter behind a pillar.

00:29 While needling a Jackal I get caught by a plasma ball, and there's a moment of concern as another Jackal advances. But from my position behind cover I bounce a frag to take care of him without exposing myself. At the last moment though, I back off from the blast area for safety. As it turns out, an Elite dies from the detonation of a loose plasma or two. So that's four Elites down now, leaving only the glasshouse trio.

00:43 Still some Grunts and Jackals approaching me though, and I deal with them while also taking the time to send streams of needles through a side opening into the glasshouse, killing two of the Elites.

01:50 Finally I advance into the inner area, hopping through a window hole. A couple of ceiling throws kill the last Elite, and I charge up the ramp to clear the panicking Grunts.

02:06 Jumping back down, there's a very enjoyable spell of play where I send gratuitously long streams of needles into three Grunts one by one, before taking care of a last Grunt who emerges from the glasshouse. Not his best decision.

02:37 (Play 2 - Going left) After an amusing episode with a Jackal seemingly getting warned "Right behind you!" by a Grunt, thing heat up fast, with three red Elites quickly being killed, one of whom gets hit from behind by a Jackal's plasma ball. When the blue Elite turns up I finally get out my needler to start dishing out the pink pain. At the same time a Jackal is attacking me from behind, but I take him out with a fast-acting frag, making sure to be clear of the bang. There were two loose plasmas in front of him, which I knew would go off.

03:11 With the four ground Elites eliminated, things are a good deal safer and I get to work on the multitude of Grunts and Jackals remaining around the outside.

04:11 There are still some left, but at this point I take the opportunity to hop up onto the siding to send some needles up into the glasshouse. A plasma grenade too; and then I charge forth, drilling needles into a blue Elite at the bottom of the ramp. Moments later I hop through a window and kill the last outer Grunt.

04:31 After a ceiling throw into the glasshouse, I venture up the ramp, going after an Elite I've spotted, but I take blast damage from my own grenade. Ouch! I knew that was a danger. While backing off however, I throw another plasma and a few seconds later it kills what was probably the same Elite.

04:43 Freshly topped up with needles, I surprise a creeping Grunt from behind, then do another ceiling throw from outside, which kills a Grunt. Then venturing up the ramp with a plasma pistol in hand, I see that there's just a red Elite left. After stunning him, he gets a plasma in the face along with a whack, and while he's busy growling I jump out the window to get clear. Quite an amusing end I thought.

05:04 (Play 3 - Start zone) Tackling the covies in the start zone was relatively hard with this weapon combo, and I needed to hone a few tactics to try and get through the early rush of enemies - notably the four ground Elites. To begin with I boldly attract the enemy's attention by needling a Grunt in inner area, then deposit a plasma grenade near the entrance before backing off and around to lob a plasma through the side window, tagging a Grunt.

05:21 A Jackal bomb kills one red Elite outright and also shunts another into my line of sight, where I finish him with a plasma ball. Not long after, I nail the blue Elite with a plasma ball and needles. Then I get the final ground Elite, stunning him with a plasma ball then doing a 'tag and hop' move before he knows what's what. By the time he's done growling, I'm well clear of the blast zone.

06:01 Moving out of cover, I stun a Grunt and then manage to tag a red Elite on the ramp. That was a tricky throw (what with the Grunt in the way), and I remember being pleased that it came off.

06:13 Hopping onto the siding, I have some fun sending needles into the glasshouse, successfully killing an Elite. I also chuck a plasma grenade in, and get rewarded by seeing a Grunt flying out of the window.

06:30 More needling into the glasshouse, killing the final Elite. Entering, I needle a Grunt down the ramp, and now the place is mine.

06:48 Rather than attacking the Jackals from above however, I go back down to undertake a long-range Jackal duel, something I specifically wanted to demonstrate in the movie as I haven't quite done so before. The idea is to take down shields with plasma balls and do the killing with streams of needles. Actually I did show a version of this in BCM394 around 4:18, but it wasn't as concerted and long-range as here.

07:18 All we've got left now is a mass of Grunts around the side, and needless to say, they meet a fairly explosive end. Nice bit of comedy just after 7:21 when a red Grunt gets shunted my way by a frag blast, and gets smacked in the face.

Closing remarks That trio of battles was a good minute longer than the other two movies, but needles do tend to take a bit longer to do their killing. Very enjoyable though!

I may well return to this set-up later, to do some battling with yet more weapon combos. Ones I don't use so much. Some sniper rifle use for example - and also I'll polish up my pistol.

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