Caution: beware of low-flying exploding Jackals and Ghosts.

(6:22) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. There's been no heavy-duty combat for almost a dozen movies now, so here are three plays of a cavern megabattle save using the bridge assault plan, with a different weapon combo each time. Much like BCM165, except with new combos. I have 12 Marines in support against the 38 covies. Although, the way they handle those frags, sometimes they seem like the biggest danger!

Released May 19th 2016, gameplay recorded May 17th-18th 2016.

00:02 (Play 1 - Plasma combo) At the start here I briefly turn around to see the Ghost blockade being blasted to release the Marines. Haven't shown that before.

00:17 I open with a plasma throw aimed to land near a couple of Elites, and a few seconds later it can be heard killing one, reducing the danger while I'm dealing with the Hunter. As well as my plasma fire and whacking, he takes a blast from one of his spiky buddies, hah! Incidentally, you may've noticed that my flashlight was on the blink as I reached the first Grunt. That glitch often happens there for some reason.

00:37 With the squad now caught up with me, I get busy on the covies ahead. The Hunter is a serious danger and I lose a few health bars from a close blast, causing me to hang back a while to recharge. As well as using grenades and rifle fire, I send off a few plasma balls which are great with their homing. Marine fire will be more useful once I've brought Elite shields down. Eventually I advance to try and finish the Hunter. I misjudge things and take a whack, but he goes down before he can swipe again.

01:06 There's no let-up though. I finish two blue Elites with a frag, then advance, getting a Grunt with a plasma ball, and dealing with two Elites. My shield's ok so I press on to the far platform. However, I get hit by a close-range plasma ball from a Jackal, so it's just as well I was planning to go left, where the opposition is weaker, often just a few Grunts. After throwing a plasma their way I tag a fleeing Jackal, and I think the blast badly hurts the nearby Elite because he's subsequently heard growling. I'm busy finishing the Grunts and a yellow-shielded Jackal though - and I particularly enjoy whacking the latter while he's trying to recover from my plasma fire.

01:37 Heading back to the other side, I throw a plasma at a Hunter then go left for safety and zap a blue Elite, who I think is a different one than before. My grenade seems to trigger a major blast in which the Hunter gets audibly hurt. He's finished moments later from Marine fire. Meanwhile I'm dodging the final Hunter, making him go over the edge. He lands on the side of the pipe below but clumsily walks off after I tag him. The Marines have taken care of the last Grunt, and that just leaves a Jackal to easily kill.

02:10 (Play 2 - Needler and AR) This time I take care of the first Hunter with the aid of a few tags and a bit of fancy dodging. Then I get busy on the troops ahead with needles and grenades, before using a stanchion on the right for cover to recharge. Time to let the Marines take some covie punishment for a while! The covies are hurting too though; there's a big explosion while I'm recharging.

02:40 Recharged, I hop up for a nice perch. I heard an Elite growling after the explosion, and now I can see him standing on the bridge rim. I send a few needles his way to finish him off, then wreak some carnage on the other covies before jumping down.

02:57 Just after that, a long-range Hunter shot sails in and hurts Johnson badly. It also shunts a Marine over the left rim, and he's subsequently heard crying out twice. During a lull I take the opportunity to get more needles, from one of four full needlers placed along the bridge.

03:07 The push across the bridge continues, and I needle an advancing blue on the right. Could've got myself killed there, because the needle bang could easily have set off the plasma grenade he dropped. I should've backed off a bit. Behind me, Johnson warns some Marine to watch his fire, but is then heard screaming as he's blasted off the bridge. I'm not sure if that was due to a Hunter blast or a fumbled frag. A Hunter blast certainly hurt me, just as the Elite was dying. My shield is down and I back off for a while, then get fresh needles on the left.

03:28 I initiate the final advance now. I get one blue Elite with needles and another with AR fire and a few whacks, while also dodging the Hunter. When I advance around the pillar, a yellow-shielded Jackal tries to get me but kills one of his buddies instead. I don't have time for him though: a Hunter swipes at me and sends the overturned Shade flying. I hop over him and let him swipe again - which I dodge of course (judging it by his sound), letting him sail into the chasm.

03:52 After getting two Jackals with AR fire, I pick up some plasmas and double-tag the final Hunter. Actually the second turns out to be redundant; he's finished by Marine fire just before the second bang.

04:07 Only a few Grunts left now, and I charge them with my needler. I kill all three with my clip, but then get killed by a frag, thrown by some helpful doofus. It seems that I failed to pick up on the cry of "Catch!" - technically my fault of course. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I heard the frag bouncing.

04:19 (Play 3 - Pistol and rocket launcher) There's quite a neat start to this battle. My opening plasmas take out the two Elites, then I do a bit of pistol work and tag the final Grunt to turn him into a Grunt bomb - which takes out a red Elite. I follow with a quick rocket, hoping to hurt the Hunter, but the plasma blast is obscuring things and all I get is a Grunt. The Hunter has run off but I hurt him badly with my second rocket, before throwing a frag and backing off to cover to reload.

04:43 When I hop up onto the stanchion, I'm just in time to see the Hunter finished by Marine fire. He'd evidently been raging this way. I rocket the nearby two Elites, then get a more distant third.

04:53 I try to send a rocket towards an overturned Ghost on the far platform. I'm hoping to get it overturned so it'll get manned. However, my aim is off and I hit a stanchion. With Elites pressuring on the bridge, I switch to pistol fire to help the Marines. Sounds like Johnson is killed by friendly fire. The last three rounds of my clip are fired at a fleeing Jackal, but frustratingly they all miss.

05:04 With pistol reloaded, I see a distant Hunter bombarding the Marines, and I fire at him. Seven shots and he's down. In truth though, I didn't immediatly realize I'd killed him with the seventh shot. The reason I stopped firing at him was because I wanted to have another go at rocketing the Ghost, and that's what I did. This time the rocket looks good.

05:11 While a Marine foolishly rages towards certain death, I reload my launcher and slam a rocket into the covies at the end of the bridge, which is very satisfying. A Marine frag takes out a Jackal too. With things temporarily obscured I take the opportunity to reload the launcher, but that delays me opening fire on the Hunter who comes running out. The raging Marine is killed by a close-range blast but I quickly avenge his death with pistol fire.

05:27 The Ghost has got manned, hurrah! After headshooting a Grunt, I switch to the launcher and fire on the rapidly approaching machine. The rocket goes beneath as desired, and strikes the ground slightly behind, destroying the Ghost and sending it flying over the Marines. Nice!

05:36 That was a long spell of perching and it's certainly time to advance now. With all Hunters killed and the covies quite badly depleted, the final push is considerably less dangerous than usual. There's still a red Elite but I wear him down pistol fire, and the blue is easily finished.

05:52 I go left and quickly kill the Grunts, then head back. I'm not sure what's left but I see a Jackal, and after he rolls I blast him with one of my two remaining rockets. His buddy flees in panic, and naturally I have some fun, tagging and rocketing him. One of the Marines takes a spot of damage from the mid-air explosion, hee hee!

Closing remarks Originally I was thinking to open with the rocket launcher play and end with the plasma combo, but I decided to switch them around. The plasma combo play is more hectic and visceral, so I thought it would make the best opening. Also, the launcher play was relatively unusual due to perching for quite a while, but it had a memorable Ghost kill as well as a good ending for the movie.

In regard to the play with needler and AR, it's unusual for me to include a play in which I get killed. In fact this is the first such megabattle play I've shown. It was quite a comical end though, and a good illustration of the Marine hazard. And hey, at least all the covies got killed!

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