Definitely not recommended for vertigo sufferers.

(7:35) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. Back in BCM478 I enjoyed some 'pipe perch fun' with the rear mob, but now we take the novel attack work even higher, to the top of the pipe assembly. As well as which, I perform various descents to finish off the mob!

Released May 6th 2024, gameplay recorded April 30th - May 4th 2024.

00:02 (Perch intro) I fly up to the top of the pipes and easily drop myself off there. The plasma rifle has sufficient range for peppering the covies and even killing some if you persevere. But sending down a barrage of grenades is more fun, so that's what I focus on here, also taking care to avoid incoming plasma balls. My second plasma throw actually tags an Elite. Of course, you can take as long as you like with this stuff. Here I kept things quite brief, as there was so much to fit into the movie.

With many covies now dead, I move to phase two which is to descend and tackle what's left. The rock nearest the door cushions my fall, although I must say, it was a tricky cushion to nail. Some of the covies went for the balcony (you can see their path on my motion tracker earlier in the play), and a nice little skirmish ensues inside the tower.

02:09 (Approaching from the right) This time I approach from the direction of the plateau channel, having first picked up the rocket launcher (and righted the Ghost for enemy use). Notice how the mob flocks differently, predominantly heading for the channel.

I initially try my hand at tagging the Ghost pilot, but he gets himself killed by idiotically driving over a fizzing plasma. I manage to tag his replacement though, squarely on the head I think, and that makes for a nice bang. After a few rockets and grenades I descend for the ground assault, using the tree and the side of the low plateau for excellent cushioning.

At the end of the fight I'm almost finished by some needles, which were hard to dodge because I'd suddenly come up against the wall. Moving forward hoping to avoid them, I remember wondering whether I was about to die, wrecking the play. But luckily I made it.

04:08 (Now from the left) Approaching from the other side now, notice that the covies again behave differently, many heading towards and past the bottleneck I passed over. In dropping myself off, I make an effort to send the Banshee their way, and one Grunt is splattered when the Banshee slides.

My subsequent barrage does some good damage, and soon I descend, heading for a nice cushioning slope. As I near the ground, a couple of Elites die from a plasma grenade I threw in advance, which actually tagged one of them (you can just spot it in the footage). I also throw a plasma as I approach, and it neatly kills two Elites and a Jackal, leaving me to about-face to deal with the rest.

05:33 (4-grenade descent blitz) The challenge here was to bombard the mob with only four grenades, then immediately descend to try and finish the mob. I get an excellent landing (just a small bit of shield damage), and although all seven Elites are still present, it's not long before the job is done.

06:27 (Banshee landing plus descent blitz) I could've ended the movie there, but I thought it important to mention that you can actually land the Banshee on the perch, though it's a delicate job. So I started working on a clip for that, at the expense of having the movie go past the seven minute mark.

Originally, I had a clip where, after knocking the Banshee off (with the caption "But where's the fun in that?"), I descended immediately for a heavy fight. But although it was good stuff, that was essentially just a plateau channel battle with an unusual entry, i.e. dropping in from above. Later I thought I should at least throw some grenades first, partly so that I was doing some attacking from the perch, but also to add novelty. It would also relate to the 'descent blitz' idea just illustrated. So I started pursuing that modification, and it gave me the clip you see.

For the descent I take a running jump. That gives me extra distance so that I slide along past the tree. That's what I wanted, because it looks amusing and gets me past the main glut of covies. One of the plasmas I threw from the perch actually tags a Grunt (you hear his cry), and once I'm down, I throw a quick plasma at the nearest covies. Thereafter I get busy with rockets and more, and it works out well, with the battle being over fast.

Closing remarks Just to mention, the descents used here aren't the only ones you can do, and in particular it's possible to cushion your fall with the Banshee if it settles upright. But for the movie I settled on just using the methods seen here. The one with the slope at the bottleneck may be the easiest, but the one in the channel is also quite easy, although I found it a bit fickle when using a running jump to end up sliding along the snow like in that final play.

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