Buckle up for some fancy flying - it's time to pry those pesky pilots out of their rides!

(7:25) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Legendary. Using the save seen created in BCM80 I have some fun with the 'ejection challenge', in which you have to get all the pilots ejected and killed - and survive. There's an introductory play, then I start playing against the clock, getting faster and faster. Times are measured from when a first Wraith starts coming into view to when the last pilot is dead, rounded up to the nearest second.

Released September 6th 2013, gameplay recorded September 2nd-4th 2013.

00:02 (Introductory play) In this early play I was being very cautious and trying to get through without heavy Banshee damage. It was done near the start of my ejection challenge and I was still getting into the swing of things. A couple of times I'm on the verge of charging in for an ejection attempt, but cancel it when I sense that there might not be quite enough time (maybe I didn't have enough speed), or that the threat from another Wraith is too great. In later plays I got much faster.

00:07 My first ejection goes fine. Basic technique: ram low, push high. I fly on and curve around to take out the pilot at leisure, safe from the other Wraiths. I especially like killing a pilot by smacking into him, and find it extra satisfying when I've weakened him first so he's not even moving; such as done with this first pilot.

00:57 My second ejection is rather laboured but I eventually manage it, going between the trees in the process. The pilot is so close to the Ghost that I expect him to run to it right away, and he does - which saves me some damage from his plasma rifle. I subsequently blast the Ghost with a nice long-range shot, then give him the splat treatment.

02:12 After having second thoughts about approaching, I arc left and cruise in, determined to do the deed. A brief rotation from the Wraith causes me to miss the nose a little, so things don't go as smoothly as planned, but in the end the pilot pops out and gets immediately splatted against the side of the Shade hill. Nice! As I fly around at the end, you can see what a mess all those Wraith shots have made of the scenery.

02:29 (Speed play, 58 seconds) Now some speed plays. These were selected from many I did, based on a combination of entertainment value and pleasing technique (not just the ejections and kills but also the flying). They're nearly in chronological order as I get progressively faster. The only exception being, the 40 second play was later than the 34 second play. With each play, I'll pick out any comment-worthy aspects.

03:02 I charge in for an ejection attempt, but when I ram the Wraith it bounces off the other one and causes my high push to go awry. On my second approach I see the danger from the other Wraith and edge towards the left a little, which may have saved me from destruction. The near miss puts the Banshee on the brink of destruction so I clear off to try and avoid damage from the ejected pilot.

03:25 My subsequent blast shakes him up a little and I'm able to splat him on the way to the final Wraith. I'm probably a bit lucky that it doesn't fire. The ejected pilot is initially hidden but then emerges into my plasma fire and gets very satisfyingly squashed against the side of the Shade hill - which is part of why I included this relatively long play. I got much quicker in later plays.

03:46 (Speed play, 45 seconds) Going left then heading for the far right Wraith gave me an almost totally reliable ejection with relatively little danger from the other Wraiths, so it's a route I used quite a lot in my plays, such as here. I subsequently kill the pilot by curving around the overturned Wraith and clipping him with a Banshee leg. He had nowhere to go, ha ha.

04:20 After curving sharply left over the Shade hill, I sink down, waiting for a Wraith shot to be fired - which gives me my window of opportunity for charging in, eventually splatting the pilot from behind.

04:39 (Speed play, 40 seconds) I don't quite hit the first Wraith in the middle of the nose, so things get a bit skewed, but eventually the pilot is out. I try to kill him right away, which by this time I'd realized was much more efficient than flying off and getting him later, but I fail. He starts running off but I blast him again.

04:57 After a sharp pause in my flight, I charge in, narrowly avoiding two plasma balls to eject the nearest pilot. The upturned Wraith briefly shields me from the one behind, then I curve around and sink, letting a shot sail just overhead as I take care of finishing the pilot.

05:13 I jink to avoid an incoming shot, then I get the last pilot out. He gives a satisfyingly extreme death cry when I splat him. Silly fella should never have stood around pointing like that.

05:25 (Speed play, 34 seconds) My first ejection goes well; I kill the pilot immediately on the other side. If you're wondering why I bothered to blast him, that's partly to try and stop him leaping clear of my splat attempt. But also, even if he does get clear, at least he'd hopefully be damaged.

05:37 With the other Wraith so close, I don't care to hang around trying to get the ejected pilot. I curve away, then back to get him with a rather pleasing Banshee blast, followed by plasma fire and splatting.

05:50 Curving around without delay and dodging a plasma ball as I charge the last Wraith, I eject the pilot and scythe him down with a Banshee leg.

06:04 (Speed play, 30 seconds) This time I start with the nearest Wraith on the left. It's a bit harder to approach well, but I manage it and the ejected pilot dies - either getting squashed by his Wraith or knocked by the other one.

06:13 I line myself up quickly for the second but the ejected pilot doesn't immediately die. When I see him moving behind the final Wraith, I decide to leave him for now and get the last pilot out. That last one obligingly dies quick against the side of the Shade hill, and I've soon got the earlier guy killed off. Cracking the 30-second mark was something I was pushing at for a good few hours of play, so I was pleased to finally manage it.

06:42 (Speed play, 27 seconds) After that, I felt I could go a touch faster if I stuck at it. So I did, and eventually got this 27-second play. To get that low, I knew I only had time for three quick attacks, preferably with each pilot dying promptly so as not to cause a delay. That's what happened here.

Closing remarks For a while I tried to beat my 27-second time, but eventually my thumbs had had enough (left thumb especially), so I left it at that. If everything were to go really well however, a time of 25 seconds would certainly be possible. There was one time when a pilot got freakily ejected after his Wraith got blasted from behind by another (I didn't see it fully but I think he was backing his Wraith up at the time). If something like that happens, it might be possible to fluke a time close to 20 seconds, but I don't think you'd be able to take a lot of pride in that.

As I soon realized, all my Wraith pilots were red, so they were all very dangerous when ejected. Their plasma rifle fire was murderous and quite aggravating! But don't worry, I squashed plenty.

© 2004-2020 by Rockslider