Sometimes playing with your food can be a good thing…

(5:40) Level 4 ('The Silent Cartographer') on Legendary. This Jackal is out of his usual territory. He'd been guarding the active camo near the bottom of the main facility, but had dived off that small raised area due to a grenade I threw from below. Later on I got a checkpoint nearby, making it convenient to play about with amusing ways of killing him, to then blend into a movie. Watch out for some fun with rockets especially - I worked hard on some tricks!

Released May 29th 2014, gameplay recorded May 15th-27th 2014.

00:02 (Discovery) By way of introduction I simulate discovering the Jackal. After giving him a nasty shock, I take out his shield then let loose with the needler. Twenty-eight more Jackal deaths to go, alternating with approaches from the rear and from the walkway direction.

00:25 (Double tag) Approaching over the walkway, I take down his shield with a plasma ball just as he comes into view, then give him a few plasma grenades. The result is a nice sequence of three bangs. The last is close to me, but with my overshield I can take it with no trouble.

00:34 (Frontal whack) A plasma shot makes the Jackal spin around in shock, and meanwhile I jump over him. He rolls as expected, and I deliver a nice whack to the face as he gets up.

00:41 (Tag and needles super-bang) I take down his shield with a plasma ball and instantly switch to my needler, then quickly tag him and drive in some needles, getting an excellent bang. At the end, his plasma pistol bounces along and settles beside him, which I think looks amusing (I let the clip go on long enough to include that). This rapid combination of attacks took quite a bit of practice. Note also that if I'd thrown the grenade before switching to the needler, it would've been longer before I could start firing needles (although, that can still work to get a big bang).

00:49 (Ceiling tag) I tag him on the head via a grenade bounce off the ceiling, and enjoy his reaction. Of course, I could've simply tagged him on the head directly, but this way seems funnier and there's a slight 'trick' element to it.

01:01 (Rear whack) After a distraction throw to make him turn (a tactic I used quite a bit), I charge in and whack him hard from behind. His plasma ball hits the ground just in front of him and adds some sparks to the death scene. That was an element I liked.

01:08 (Synchronized circling) After surprising the Jackal and getting behind him, he rolls in a predictable way, during which time I move to a new position. As he gets to his feet I start circling in synchronization with his rotation, keeping out of his line of fire. Eventually I break off with a little counter-rotation, and tag him.

01:27 (Rocket and whack) Here's the first and simplest of four clips in which I use a rocket to launch him over the walkway. The rocket needs to hit in a particular area to get him flying off at the right sort of angle; not too close to him or he'll hit the ceiling, and not too far from him or he'll hit the walkway. My opening plasma ball stuns him, making things safer for my shot. After the launch, I whack him as he passes.

01:34 (Frag bounce) By carefully bouncing it off the floor, I get a frag grenade to settle on a shallow shelf near the Jackal's face, causing him to get blown across the floor. This kill method arose by accident. Originally I'd bounced a frag intending for it to end up on the ground in front of the Jackal, but it actually settled on the shelf. I thought the result was amusing, and later did some more takes, partly to speed things along a bit because I'd dawdled with my original bounce. This clip is one of those takes.

01:44 (Pistol headshot while he's pointing) After dodging his plasma ball I drop down off the walkway and into cover. I stay out of sight for several seconds, then emerge. He points as expected (because of how long I'd been out of his sight - very close to the minimum required), and I've got a pistol ready to deliver an amusing headshot at the end.

01:58 (Tag and mid-air rocket strike) After tagging the Jackal low down, he launches up and I use him for target practice with my rocket launcher. He flies off towards the area from whence he came. Up that ramp is the small raised area with the active camo.

02:05 (Rear whack with launcher) There's something especially amusing about clunking a covie on the head with a rocket launcher. In this example I make the Jackal turn by using a grenade, and then when I get close, I pause a while before administering the sleep treatment.

02:18 (Needle surprise) Time to enjoy some more needling. Taking him by surprise, I pile them in as I circle around, and he ends up flying down the hallway, thanks to the loose plasma going off.

02:29 (Tag and jump) Approaching from the walkway, I take down his shield then tag him and jump over to wait for the bang. And as a bonus I give him a whack as he comes down. Simple but funny.

02:40 (Point-blank rocket) After picking up the loose plasma grenade so I don't end up killed (I threw away one of my four plasmas as preparation before approaching), I take down the Jackal's shield then rocket him at point-blank range. I do like a bit of overkill. If I'd left the grenade there, it would've gone off after the rocket blast had wiped my shield, and then I would've been cooked.

02:51 (Jumping whack) A close plasma ball causes the Jackal to roll (he wouldn't have rolled if I'd fired much earlier), and I take a running jump off the walkway to deliver a satisfying whack. Part of why I like this clip is his death animation and death cry.

02:59 (Circle-tag 1) The Jackal turns in shock as I fire my plasma pistol, and I match my movement to stay behind him. When he then predictably rolls, I again synchronize with his movement and end up behind, to tag his rear end.

03:08 (Plasma grenade and mid-air rocket strike) Approaching under the walkway, I take out his shield with a plasma ball while dodging his. Actually our shots were released at practically the same time, which you might notice from the unusual combined release sound. He then rolls to his left in predictable manner, and in the meanwhile I've bounced a plasma grenade off the far wall. He doesn't notice it as he shoots at me; and then it launches him and I blast him back with a rocket. Good for comedy I think.

03:19 (Zoomed pistol headshot) This was one of my earliest clips. Nothing special here of course; just pleasure in lining up a gratuitously zoomed headshot. It's something of a humour clip, like the last.

03:30 (Tag and needles super-bang) A few early plasma shots make the Jackal release his plasma ball, so it's safe for me as I head over the walkway. I tag him then pile in some needles, and BLAM! - he shoots off at high speed, ending up on a small shelf at the end of the hallway. That was a nice big bang - and actually it didn't even involve the loose plasma, which went off later. It seems I was standing a bit close too; only one health bar left, despite my overshield!

03:40 (Plasma grenade and rocket launch) I found that the Jackal can behave quite oddly when a grenade settles near his feet. In this example he appears to be rocking his head from side to side. I add a rocket for good measure, and he shoots off.

03:47 (Running ceiling tag) Here's a little tagging trick. After getting him with a plasma ball as I near the top of the ramp, I continue on. As he predictably rolls, I throw a plasma grenade to bounce off the ceiling and fall on him. I pass close, and you can hear it stick.

03:56 (Circle-tag 2) After making the Jackal turn in shock, I tag him on his back. Just as he gets up from a roll, it goes off and shoots him along the hallway. Good comedy.

04:04 (Rocket yo-yo) At some point while rocketing the Jackal so he'd sail over the walkway, I got the idea of trying to bounce him back the other way with a second rocket. I figured that would look amusing. It wasn't easy though. Both of the rockets needed to be fairly well placed to get him on a suitable trajectory each way, and the second blast needed to occur at just the right time; not too early or too late. This clip shows a nice example. My grenade throw was meant to distract him so I wouldn't get a plasma ball in the face, but on this occasion he didn't turn. That didn't matter though, as he harmlessly pointed when he spotted me.

04:15 (Jump-trick whack) Here's an amusing little trick I cooked up. Approaching from behind, I jump over him just as he turns to see where my distraction grenade exploded. After that, I deliver a crisp whack to the back of the head.

04:28 (Rocket yo-yo with whack) This is a more refined version of my earlier rocket yo-yo trick. Instead of firing my second rocket at fairly close range from the bounce wall, I fire from further away and greet the Jackal with a whack on his return. This is the trick I spent the most time trying by far, and this clip shows what I thought was my best success. On this occasion the Jackal flies relatively far on his return journey, giving me a little extra reloading time compared to other occasions; so the whack looks a bit better (the reloading animation is almost complete when I whack).

One problem I had with this trick was that the loose plasma grenade often went off close enough to give the Jackal an extra boost, and that was no good because he'd reach the far wall too quickly for my second rocket, as well as bouncing off the ceiling. That grenade was nice to have around for most of my other kill plays, but for this one I really wish it hadn't been there!

Even if the launch went ok, it was hard trying to nail the second shot (sometimes I zoomed my aim). It needs to hit in just the right place to send the Jackal cleanly back over the ramp, and there's very little time to aim. As well as which, I wanted to try and show the initial arc of the Jackal for the sake of the movie, so that was another consideration.

Incidentally, at the start of the clip, I deliberately provoke the Jackal to release his plasma ball so I don't get it in the face when I go over the walkway.

04:40 (Face tag while he's pointing) Another comedy clip. As preparation for my approach, I'd fired my plasma pistol while still distant. Distant enough that he didn't get shocked. It's enough to alert him; and when he spots me, I know he's going to point, giving me ample time to embarrass him with a plasma grenade in the face.

04:48 (Rocket-tag-rocket-whack) Rocketing the Jackal from the walkway, I tag him as he sails over, then I keep him airborne with a ground strike and finish off with a whack as he comes down. Quite a tricky sequence.

05:01 (Overcharge wait) At one point I was thinking to end the movie with the point-blank rocket clip, which certainly would've made a decisive and amusing ending. But later I had the idea of waiting behind the Jackal with my plasma pistol overcharging, and then killing him when he finally noticed me. I liked the way that humorously turned the tables on him, and I also liked the tension aspect and the novel sound of two plasma pistols humming. So I decided to end with that instead.

I didn't shy away from using a clip with a longish wait. If it had been only short, I don't think the humour would've had time to kick in so much, nor the tension. Besides, I like seeing the movements of the Jackal waiting there, and hearing his muttering. To have a good chance of getting a longish wait, I needed to stand at quite a precise angle behind him, very slightly off 180 degrees. Just enough that he'd eventually see me but probably take quite a while.

When he finally notices me, I blast his shield before he can get mine (I circle left slightly too, as added safety), then when he rolls I circle and tag him on the rear end for an explosive finish. One little thing I like about this particular clip from among plenty I recorded, is the way his plasma pistol sails across my view at the end. I just found that amusing. Final score: Cyborg 29, Jackal 0. Hee hee!

Closing remarks The Jackal turned out to be in a great spot for playing about with, allowing multiple approaches, and it was also nice that he was overcharging his plasma pistol. Nice too that he was standing near a loose plasma, which provided extra bang on many occasions. I had a plasma pistol and needler, but also a few other weapons close by. Plus I had an overshield which allowed me to be close to explosions. The reason the usual loud music isn't playing is because I deliberately eliminated it, by letting it finish before getting a checkpoint.

The Jackal must've taken grenade damage earlier I think, because he turned out to be extremely weak. I found that he'd die from a single pip of plasma, or just two needles. Because of this I was unable to torment him with any sort of attritional damage, or even deliver a non-killing body shot during some other method. I probably wouldn't have done much of that anyway, but his weakness was a definite negative, and sometimes he died accidentally (e.g. from a plasma ball meant to remove his shield) so I had to revert.

With many of these kill plays, I did a lot of takes to try and get things extra nice. There could be many facets to that, but in general I wanted smooth technique, good views for the sake of the movie, best explosions, and so on. In some cases I even wanted to get or avoid certain bits of Jackal speech, either for effect (some can sound better than others in various ways) or for the sake of variation.

This Jackal actually wasn't the first one I found in that spot. If I recall correctly, what happened was this. While working on some other fun, one of the camo guards came down off that raised area, either because I threw a grenade or because of clumsiness, like rolling off when I shot back. He subsequently wandered into the area where the Grunts were, and I came across him later and killed him. It got me curious about where such a Jackal might go, so I later made a deliberate effort to get a Jackal down from that camo area. That was this guy, and interestingly I found him in just the same spot, namely at that corner. This time though, I had a convenient checkpoint too (and also perfect health and an undamaged overshield, unlike before), which led to my playing around with ways of killing him; and I soon decided I could make an amusing movie out of it. And I'm glad I did, because I think this is going to be one of my favourite movies to watch. Much like BCM15 in which I repeatedly killed some hilltop Grunts.

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