Whoa! It's getting pretty crowded on that ice patch!

(8:07) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Legendary. This shows how you can get three Wraiths together on the ice patch in the two-Wraith area, with battle music playing at the start of your eventual save. I use Legendary so the Wraiths will fire as much as possible in the subsequent fun (of which you can have plenty). Other covies are eliminated, partly for simplicity and partly for safety in moving the high Wraith.

Released September 3rd 2013, gameplay recorded August 31st 2013.

00:02 To open the movie I'm just flying around a bit, as a quick 'teaser' for the situation I'll be creating. This footage is actually from a couple of seconds after the point at which the movie ends.

00:38 Having saved a checkpoint in the passage, I head into the first ground battle to pick up the launcher and sniper rifle, and eliminate the Ghost (else it would pursue, which is trouble I can do without). I let the Marines die, and speed off after rocketing a couple of Jackals and topping up with sniper rounds. Could've killed more covies, but there's no great point. I squash a few Jackals on the way though, hee hee!

01:31 In the Pelican area I try to let the Marines get killed, but one survives and I do the job myself after clearing the initial covies. After checking that the Wraith has come over the step (else I'd restart from the saved passage checkpoint), I advance and eliminate two Ghost pilots. You might be wondering why other enemies didn't spawn in the tunnel and down the path. That can happen when you leave a lot of enemies alive in first battlefield. Quite handy!

02:24 After saving a Banshee stealing checkpoint in case anything goes wrong with later work, I blast the Banshee down. Got it first try. Then I do lots of killing, leaving just the two Wraiths. Initially I do a bit of sniping at ground level, and in particular I check for a possible Shade gunner at the back left because you can't get a line of fire at him from up on the Banshee platform. But I soon head up to the platform. One sniped Jackal dies rather amusingly against a rock near the ice patch. I mess up a shot at a Hunter, causing him to turn around, so I use rockets instead. You could also kill those guys with lots of sniper rounds though.

04:40 With the ice patch Wraith still sending shots at where it last saw me, I freefall down close to the high Wraith while it's over on the right, and push it off. A checkpoint got triggered (the one associated with spawning the Banshee pilot), but is delayed by enemy threat. In due course I get underneath the Wraith and manage to 'carry' it along towards the ice patch quite fast. The other Wraith eventually notices, but happily neither myself nor my cargo gets blasted. Mission accomplished!

05:43 Now the final Wraith, and I continue the checkpoint delay with Banshee fire for a while. I spot a few covies who could damage my Banshee, so I eliminate them from a safe distance. Usually the Wraith stays right by the step, but this time it goes walkabout somewhat. That took me by surprise because I'd never seen it happen before. Doesn't matter though; it actually saves me a few seconds of pushing. Approaching is a tricky business on Legendary however. I get close and wait for a shot while flying a slight curve (retaining some speed), then whizz in before another shot gets fired. But I may've been within half a second of being blasted there.

06:21 The pushing goes pretty well but there was a bit of a slow period along the way, which I've cut out. I'm careful to stay near the Banshee as it goes down the slope (where it can pick up speed, backing away from you), else it could open fire of course. After getting it past the rock on the right, I fly clear and let it continue to the ice patch on its own.

07:06 Now to finish off. Keeping the checkpoint delay going - including with a high grenade so I don't need to do jumping - I top up with rockets and also sniper ammo (didn't really need that but it was there), and replace the thrown frag. I end the delay at the tunnel exit, and I subsequently saved the checkpoint. The footage ends a couple of seconds before where the movie started. I'm just about to bank right (around the tree), and that's the banking which the movie starts with.

Closing remarks Normally I prefer to eliminate music from my set-ups if possible, but with this one I thought it would add quite nicely to the ambience, and it's probably also the option most people would favour. To set things up with no music playing, I could've done just the same as here except briefly boarding the Scorpion to eliminate the battle music early (it starts up when you board, then oddly fades out).

I didn't cut much footage here. The total set-up time from entering the first ground battle was about nine minutes. Coming up next, I'll show some fun with my save!

© 2004-2020 by Rockslider