Chopper shoot from up high
Posted November 16th 2008
Just past the rally point alpha area where Marines were under siege and where Pelicans eventually deposit a few Warthogs, you'll meet a load of Brutes cruising around in Choppers, guarding a short tunnel. In the middle of that area is a huge rock - the one just past the first sniper platform - and it's easy to clamber to the top once you know the route. Get up there and have fun picking off the riders with a battle rifle or whatever, or perhaps trying to blast the Choppers with a fuel rod gun. They can still target you with their cannons, but not very well. You can potentially also have Brute snipers to contend with. However, on Normal or higher you'd be well advised to eliminate them before trying to reach the top of the rock, else you're liable to be picked off.
Getting up the rock
If you're having trouble reaching the top of the rock, here's some guidance. As you approach the rock from rally point alpha, notice how it has some low outcropping ramping up on the left. Hop onto that and run up along it until just past a small tree. Angling slightly to the right, hop across onto the main rock, into a bush at the end. About-face, and you can now run up the short remaining distance to the peak. Note: a grav lift can enable you to reach the peak some other ways - explore! You can also deploy it when at the top, to float up and down in it for a bit of fun, though it makes targeting enemies harder.
Marine considerations
You may want to have killed all Marines beforehand, so you can have all the fun to yourself. The Wraith is the best thing to have for doing that, so try to keep it operational (board the nose and bash it to kill occupants - yeah I know, it doesn't make much sense!). You'll then be able to blast the Marines while the hogs are getting dropped.
However, another plan is to leave the Marines alive to simply watch them try and tackle the Choppers, from up on your perch. They'll head into battle in any hogs you left them. If you destroyed the dropped hogs however (easily done with grenades for example), they'll remain near the drop point and won't advance until you've wiped out the Brute opposition. When they do advance they can make a spectacular sight, bearing in mind you can have fifteen or so - though you'd probably need to be playing on Easy or Normal to keep that many alive. It can be fun trying to kill the running Marines before they reach the tunnel. Alternatively, let them reach the tunnel and then do some long-distance killing from your perch.
Setting up and replaying
For playing about with this scenario, a good checkpoint to save is one you'll get before the Pelicans come in with the hogs. At this point you should ideally have your preferred weaponry and be fully loaded with grenades. It's good to have lots of Marines in case you want to include them in any fun. But also have an operational Wraith, for when you want to kill them off before going into action. It would be nice to also have alternate weaponry nearby, so you can conveniently pick and choose what you want before going into battle. For example you could be carrying a fully loaded battle rifle and sniper rifle, yet also have a well stocked fuel rod gun nearby. If you fancy a full fuel rod gun, see Checkpoint bypass by highwire. All this would make your save very convenient and flexible.
After the 'drop checkpoint', the next one should come as you advance into the Chopper area. Fortunately there won't be a checkpoint after wiping out the Brute opposition. As such, you'll be free to either revert to the 'entry checkpoint', or get back to the drop checkpoint by using suicide reversion or by exiting to the dashboard then reloading.