Watch out covies - Johnson's got himself a chain-gun and he's itching to use it…

(5:00) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. This shows two plays of the cavern megabattle which was set up in BCM48. Both times I do a bridge assault with a pistol and plasma rifle, plus chain-gun support (though it doesn't last long in the second play).

Released June 10th 2012, gameplay recorded June 6th-7th 2012.

00:02 (Play 1) Straight into the action this time; no waiting around for Marines to catch up. I park the hog taking care not to get bumped out into the chasm (been there, done that), and get the seated passenger dismounted. I'm late with an attempted tag on a pointing Jackal, and the grenade bounces off his shield. After an opening spot of pistol fire and a bit of hiding, the Marines are soon arriving.

00:30 I emerge from cover with my plasma rifle and get zappy with a few Elites. I throw a long-range plasma as I back off, and it makes an Elite dive to the right. When I get up on a bridge stanchion a few seconds later (after bringing down a different Elite with the pistol), I see him on the rim and decide to have some fun, going for a tag. The grenade bounces off the stanchion behind him and sticks to his back, hee hee. But while I was enjoying that, the Marines have been taking some nasty fire. With pistol still zoomed I bring down a blue Elite. Unzooming, I get another further away.

01:10 That Shade is pestering the Marines and I could stop it quick with the pistol, but I'm just having fun today so I use a plasma grenade. I see it falling short - I was still getting my range - so I try a second and it amusingly tags the gunner. See the little fella hopping out? When I shoot at one of the Jackals he sends a plasma ball my way but I jump to avoid it - and then likewise with a second one after killing him.

01:31 Jumping down now, the bridge is quiet so I figure I'd better go look for some action. It can be painfully hard driving the hog away without running over some idiot standing around or even diving in front of it, but today I get away clean - with a new passenger. I go left to try and avoid the Hunter shot I can see being lined up, then curve around and dismount for action (I get the new passenger out too). Some slightly chaotic mopping up ensues, during which I accidentally zoom my pistol. Should've had my plasma rifle out at that point, and bashed the red Elite when he was backing towards me; that would've been nice.

02:14 For a moment it seems like it's all over, but in fact there are still two Grunts on the other side. One of them obligingly dives towards me to escape my poorly aimed grenade, and gets bashed on the head. Should've dived the other way grunty! Not that it would've kept you alive much longer. Things end with Johnson holding his AR in my face. Maybe still a bit peeved after my grenading him in BCM49.

02:37 (Play 2) To vary things from the first play, I take a different route in and park on the right of the bridge. A dozy Grunt gets tagged and Johnson gets busy on the chain-gun.

03:02 With the Marines arriving I switch to the plasma rifle and bring down an Elite, then take a running jump onto a stanchion. An Elite goes down under heavy fire and my frag puts paid to another not far behind him. While I'm neutralizing the Shade Johnson yells "I'm on fire!", but moments later I discern his vanishing scream. After taking down the Hunter I turn to find the hog gone. Evidently it went over the edge after the Hunter shot at 3:14 (and you can see a departing yellow dot on my tracker). I get another Elite with pistol fire, and there's one further back who gets finished by a frag, which I think was from a Marine - mine falls short. A panicking Jackals gets my plasma fire in the back, and then the bridge is clear.

03:45 Time to advance. I quickly run into an advancing red but he goes down fast. A Hunter shot or friendly fire kills a Marine and I see a spilled frag. Just what I could do with. From cover I throw a plasma to bounce off the pipe on the right and maybe settle among enemies, then I back up to get the frag. My subsequent throw is a bit short but at least it gets a Jackal. Unfortunately it also sets off a plasma quite near me which I only spot late. Something also sets off a plasma which takes out the two Elites. I'm not sure exactly what, but it certainly wasn't the plasma I'd thrown. That only goes off afterwards - a bit of a failure.

04:08 Things are clear to the left; one Grunt is dead on the ground and the other guy toddled off to man the Shade. With Marines getting slaughtered by Hunter shots, I decide to do some bashing with the plasma rifle, just for the hell of it. My grenading of the Jackal is rather careless, also killing the Marine who didn't have enough sense to get clear. The other Jackal I try to tag but it doesn't quite connect. He's toast anyway. That just leaves me versus the grunty Shade gunner. Guess who wins.

Closing remarks I'm not generally much of a one for fighting with hog support, but after going to the trouble of getting it manned with Pelican Marines invisible to the enemy, I thought people might be keen to see it in action. Plus it makes for more of a difference from what I did in BCM49. As in that movie though, my fighting here wasn't terribly serious and I just had fun - at the partial expense of Marine lives.

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